ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to the basics of how to analyze a media message. We need to become savvy at deconstructing, or identifying and analyzing, the creative elements of media messages. When we deconstruct a message, we understand how the message seeks to create meaning and influence our beliefs and actions. The chapter explains how media construct reality and differentiates between manifest and latent readings of a text. Part of reading media texts is noticing and evaluating the point of view, which describes the perspective and viewpoint (literally and conceptually) of the creator. The chapter helps students to identify the codes and conventions in a media message. It describes how gaze functions in advertising and evaluates the effect of one of the following elements in a message: camera work, composition, colors and lighting, editing. The chapter also helps students to identify the use of various propaganda techniques in a political campaign.
