ABSTRACT
The analysis of visual style in media texts suffers from an abundance of meanings commonly associated with the term "style." This chapter examines how style is interpreted in media studies and explains how the history of style is charted. When stylisticians examine how visual style can denote aspects of narrative setting and character, they are looking at its most basic function. Elements of style came to be associated with the live broadcasts: haphazard framing and clumsy editing, low-resolution black-and-white video, handheld camerawork, inadequate lighting, and poorly recorded audio. To understand properly the function of style in a specific text, one must know the historical context of media style. There are four factors that govern the historical evolution of style: economics, technology, industry standards, and aesthetic codes. Narrative continuity style in visual media has grown ever more intensified since the 1980s—incorporating accelerated editing, extravagant visual effects and baroque lighting design.
