Language and Forms of Media

Any media product is made up of a bunch of codes, no matter what the final product is 

Of course you must be wondering what on earth are 'codes'. Basically a code is a system of components which gives a proper meaning to something, like captions give meanings to memes

Example:

In this specific picture, the caption gives a funny meaning to the picture, so basically codes are anything that give meaning to your media product. Some examples include dialogues, captions, body language, lighting.

Codes can be further divided into four categories to have a better understanding

> Technical code, this includes:

• Camera Technique including camera angles, how a camera is positioned for a specific scene, the distance from an object, and whether the camera is moving or stationary
• Depth of Field which measures how much area is covered in one shot
• Lighting and Exposure which covers things like whether the lighting is dull or bright. This can make an enormous difference on the final product, for example dull lighting usually represents sadness or seriousness of a topic

> Symbolic code, includes things like:

• Body language: A person tapping his/her leg represents anxiety
• Objects: A sign on road represents the speed limit
• Setting: Sets the mood for the scene, example rain usually represents sadness
• Clothing: Shows the characters personality like all black is associated with goth
• Symbols: like hearts represents love

                                                

> Written codes, including captions, headlines, and speech bubbles. You can take any meme as an example

> Audio codes: These include: 

• Dialogues
• Sound effects
• Voice overs

Media has 4 basic forms:

• Print: books, magazines
• Radio
• Video; Television like HBO
• Internet; social media

 Amongst these, the most popular for sure is the Internet