Media Literacy: Mass media

Question 1

What is media?

Answer 1

means or vehicles for the communication of content, Media is the vehicle through which people communicate and express themselves.

Question 2

What are some examples of media we see everyday?

Answer 2

the newspapers we read, the movies, television, and online videos we watch, the billboards we drive by, the radio and podcasts we listen to, the internet, and even the video games we play.

Question 3

What is mass media

Answer 3

forms of media used to reach large numbers of people

Question 4

What is mass media intended to do?

Answer 4

is intended to reach a very large audience.

Question 5

What are the 4 major categories of mass media?

Answer 5

• print media
• broadcast media,
• digital media,
• outdoor media.

Question 6

What is print media

mass media

Answer 6

media that uses writing and visual images to communicate

Question 7

What is broadcast media?

Answer 7

media that transmits content mainly through television and radio; shares audio content through broadcast, electrontic, digital or satelitte technolgoy

Question 8

What is digital media?

Answer 8

media that transmits content electronically as data; transmits content through the use of numeric data

Question 9

What is outdoor media?

Answer 9

media that communicates content to people away from home

Question 10

What is a trend?

Answer 10

a movement or general direction in which something is developing or changing

Question 11

When advertisers sell a product what else are they doing?

Answer 11

When advertisers sell a product, it’s not just the product they’re selling. They’re also selling ideas about how to live our lives.

Question 12

To unlock themes and ideas conveyed in mass media, you can ask the kinds of questions you ask of other texts to help you understand them. For example:

Answer 12

I listen to a lot of podcasts, which I like for the feeling of being immersed in the stories. I like hearing voices for what their tone adds to the meaning of words. I like how listening rather than reading sometimes frees me up to imagine more of what I would see if I were in the story.

I don’t like commercial interruptions, which not only disrupt the story but nearly always play at a higher volume and with too much noise for me. I also think the commercials send both explicit and implicit messages that I have no choice but to listen to. That can muddy up how much I enjoy the podcast and its meaning for me.

Question 13

To unlock themes and ideas conveyed in mass media, you can ask the kinds of questions you ask of other texts to help you understand them. For example:

Answer 13

• What is the mood of the media? What does it intend to make me feel and why?
• What images does the media include? How does this imagery affect me?
• What are any explicit messages conveyed by the media?
• What messages can I infer from the content?

Question 14

Imagine you are sponsoring an event to raise money for an after-school arts program in your town. If you wanted to reach as broad an audience of students as possible, what category of mass media would you start with and why?

Answer 14

I’d start with digital media because of the number of people who use social networking. In addition, digital media could be used to create a related virtual reality event that lets people experience the arts program in action.

Question 15

Which of the following describes a current trend in mass media?

A. use of print media surpassing broadcasting media

B use of digital media surpassing print media

C. use of broadcasting media surpassing digital media

D. use of outdoor media surpassing broadcasting media

Answer 15

use of digital media surpassing print media

Question 16

Say you want to sell a product by conveying the idea that it will improve students’ social lives. Explain how you would use three types of media to communicate that theme. Identify what category of mass media the media belongs to in your response.

Answer 16

Sample answer: I’d start with print media, and specifically a comic book, to write and illustrate a story that shows how my product works. From outdoor media, I’d use billboards on trains and buses for additional scenes from the comic book. Finally, I’d create a virtual reality event, from digital media, where students could experience the product in action.

Question 17

Digital media is trending! Drawing on your experience with digital media, why do you think it is currently the most popular mass media or vehicle for content delivery to the public? What might be some drawbacks of relying primarily on digital media to communicate with the masses?

Answer 17

Digital media is engaging. It does things other media can’t, like help you experience things with both your mind and your body, as in the case of virtual reality. It also lets you actively interact as part of the experience, like in video games or websites where you follow a journey. It feels like a more active experience than other media can produce.

One drawback may be that you have to know how to move around the digital world to experience it. You also need access to the technology, which many people don’t have. I also think that sometimes there’s so much going on in digital media that it’s distracting and can overload the senses. Overusing digital media could distance some potential consumers and confuse the message.

Question 18

What are 3 visual techniques filmmakers often use?

Answer 18

three visual techniques filmmakers often use: a close-up shot, a reaction shot, and a wide shot.

Question 19

What is a close up shot?

Answer 19

image created when a camera focuses tightly on a person’s face or on another object

Question 20

What is a reaction shot?

Answer 20

image created when action onscreen shifts to a separate shot showing how a character or characters react

Question 21

What is a wide shot?

Answer 21

image created when a camera films something from far away

Question 22

What are some editiing techniques?

Answer 22

What you see is also affected by editing, or the way that different shots are sequenced. Editing techniques include:

• cutting or lengthening scenes to affect pacing or rhythm
• using a jump cut, or slightly different angles of the same scene, to move forward in time
• using a cutaway, or abrupt jump from one shot to another, to reveal what a character sees

Question 23

How does noise affect the watchers experience?

Answer 23

Background music, voices, noise, and even silence all help engage an audience with the media’s content; so do technological effects like surround sound. These sound effects especially help to establish the mood, or atmosphere, of the media, as well as its tone, or attitude toward the content.

Question 24

How does establishing a clear mood and tone impact an audience?

Answer 24

A clear mood and tone can create emotion and hint at how the audience should feel, which is important, because getting an audience to feel a certain way can make them more open to whatever message the media is sending.

Question 25

Which technique or techniques might a piece of media use to show that soccer creates a sense of community? Choose all that apply.

A. cutaway shots of players seeing fans in the stands

B. music that gets louder when the players win the match

C. wide shots of players on the field

D. reaction shots of fans after the game

Answer 25

a. cutaway shots of players seeing fans in the stands
d. reaction shots of fans after the game

Question 26

How might a commercial for a sports drink use a visual technique, and for what purpose?

Answer 26

The commercial might use a closeup shot of a frosty glass of the drink to make it look cold and refreshing to viewers.

Question 27

How might sound be used in the sports drink commercial to create a certain mood?

Answer 27

The commercial could feature sounds of people cheering in the background as an athlete gulps down the drink. This would create a successful and triumphant mood that viewers might associate with the drink.

Question 28

Think back to the last advertisement you saw, whether it was a TV or radio commercial, a newspaper ad, or a popup ad on social media. Chances are that the ad used language in a very specific way:

Answer 28

• It may have told a suspenseful story or presented factual evidence to prove a point.
• It may have attacked a competing product.
• It may have flattered the audience.
• It may have used language to draw people together or to emphasize their differences.

Question 29

What is rehortic?

Answer 29

language used to persuade, inform, or provoke a response

Question 30

What is ethos?

Answer 30

attempts to persuade through appeals to the audience’s respect for authority

Question 31

What is logos?

Answer 31

attempts to persuade through appeals to the audience’s reason

Question 32

What is pathos?

Answer 32

attempts to persuade through appeals to the audience’s emotions

Question 33

A commercial selling running shoes uses examples of people from different cultures. The ad shows the people at different ages, from babies to adults, learning to roll over, stand, walk, and run. What technique do you think is being used to engage the audience?

Answer 33

I think identification is being used. The hope would be that many viewers would see themselves throughout the different stages and therefore want to see themselves in the final stage.

Question 34

Choose a different technique you could use to advertise running shoes, and explain how you might do so.

Answer 34

I could use inclusive language in a commercial that shows how everyone benefits by wearing the shoes. For example, a voiceover might say things like, “We all like to fly a little” and “When we run, we get there faster.”