From the article “Multiple Media Literacies” by Joshua Meyrowitz, there are at least three different types of media literacy. Media content literacy, media grammar literacy, and medium literacy. Basically, media literacy is an ability, which can communicate by media, like reading a newspaper, watching tv program, reading an advertisement.
The media content literacy will show an obvious aspect of mediated communication, and the most important part is the media content. The media content literacy will show a specific concern of media. Different groups of people will have a different understanding of the contents.
Different form of media will have different rules. Thus the media also have grammar like using language, everyone has a standard range of production, and the range used to shape perception and response to mediated communications. Like the print media, they care about the size, shape, color, thickness of paper, and the design of the texts. Some of them share the same grammar of media literacy, for example, the television program has the same consideration about choosing photography and audio with the film. However, even they have similar form of displaying, they still have the differences.
These two pictures are all the advertisements which shown by Jessica alba. The first one is a public service advertisement and the other one is a commercial advertisement. Both of them are using a large face of Jessica and using the most area of the print, and a dark background. The public service advertisement shows a suffering face of her with mask and writes “you only can slience yourself” on the other half of the print, people can receive the message of keeping quite easily by the facial expression and the word easily. On the commercial advertisement, jessica had made-up and show a charming face, the red lip and nail made the picture bright and attractive. These two advertisements tell us how the color and design change the expression of prints, that we can understand the grammar of the media literacy.
What is the best way to transfer the information is also an important part of media. How do we connect to the audience? Do we need their responds? Some of them can be understanded easily by using a picture rather than a long story. The environment of content need to be considered.
picture link: http://www.pretapregnant.com/health-beauty/3570-beauty-moms
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20230002,00.html
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