Media vocabulary

Semiotics - The study of signs and also anything that stands for 'something else'.
Denotation - What we see when we look at the image.
Connotation - What we understand from the image.
Tableau - Still image.
Genre - A theme or style of media / A way of defining a type of media through clear conventions e.g. horror films, political music videos, fashion magazines.
Hybrid genre - A mixture of genres to appeal to a wider audience e.g. RomCom (romance and comedy).
Demographic - Way of organizing somebody by age, money and education.
Psychographic - Way of categorizing people through personality.
Platform - Way in which media is presented e.g. online, broadcast, print.
Form - Type of media e.g. TV, newspaper.

L anguage
I ndustries
A udience
R epresentation

Mise en scene - Everything put together to make a scene...
C ostume
L ighting
A ctors
M akeup
P rops (iconography)
S etting

Stereotype - Media industries use them because the audience automatically recognizes them, and are a 'visual shortcut'. They are repeated so often that we then believe they are true (cultivation theory).
Archetypes - The 'ultimate' stereotype e.g. white stiletto wearing, big busted, blonde brainless bimbo.
Counter-type - A representation that challenges stereotypes of groups, people or places.

Genre Analysis - 
D escribe 
I n detail
S etting (place, historical time period)
T hemes (love, guilt, revenge, good vs evil)
I cons (props)
N arrative (how story is told/plot)
C haracters (boy/girl, background)
T extual analysis (style of camera, editing, mise en scene and sound)

Gatekeeping - A term applied to the editing and filtering process where decisions are made to let some information 'pass through' to the receiver (audience) and other information remains barred.