What is It

Discussion

Genre, Code, and Conventions

All media messages are constructed using a particular set of codes and conventions.
When we say media messages are constructed using codes and conventions, we mean that
every media product we encounter is a coherent body with its own rules. Take a look at the
previous exercise you had done. You are tasked to illustrate the description of the movie and
how this description is illustrated in the set of codes you may observe in the film.

In this lesson, we engaged with the thought that media messages are constructed.

We have established that the meaning is something that comes out as an interaction
between the message sent and its receiver, both of which are surrounded by a context that
bears on how the process of reading and receiving the encoded message is decoded.

Every medium has its own codes and conventions.

GENRE – It is a French word which means “kind” or “class.” The original Latin word is “genus”
and means a class of things that can be broken down into subcategories. It tends to be
understood to constitute particular conventions of contents and to follow a distinctive style in
terms of form and presentation.

The primary genres that media creators and producers invoke are the following:
entertainment, news, information, education, and advertising. These sample of the
subcategory of some of the given primary genre

1. News. These are stories that have critical importance to community and national life. News
stories are also told following the basic structure of beginning, middle, and end. Journalists,
people trained to report the news to an audience, are expected to be objective, comprehensive,
and bias-free. They work for newspapers, radio stations, televisions, and lately, online or web-
based news services.
Major Division for News stories: Hard or straight news; Feature, Soft News, Investigative
News, Opinion

2. Entertainment. It is derived from the French word “entretenir,” which means “to hold the
attention, keep busy, or amused.

This a comprehensive movie genres list:

(a) Action movies require stunts, set pieces, explosions, guns, and karate. They are
usually about a clear hero and a clear villain. Action movie stakes are huge, like saving the
world or the universe. They’re often bombastic and move quickly. Their pacing and
structure are built around scenes like car chases, and their climaxes often have the
biggest set-pieces.
(b) Adventure movies are usually built around a quest. They take place in faraway
lands or jungles. Many adventures may be period pieces, although more contemporary
adventure stories are coming back to the forefront. They can be swashbucklers or
treasure hunts.
(c) Comedy films usually are written with a few laughs at a scene. The stakes are usually
much smaller or interpersonal. Comedy films can vary in their darkness and the way they
deal with life and death. They tend to be shorter films, spoofs and can have broader casts.
(d) Drama is regularly mashed up with other genres because most movies and TV rely
 on character-driven stories to keep the audience involved. These are serious stories that
hinge on events that regularly happen in everyday life. They usually focus on character
and how these people arc over time.
(e) A horror film focuses on adrenaline rides for the audience that dial in the gore,
scares, and creative monsters. Horror is always re-inventing old classics, like adding fast
zombies, and CGI creatures. It also is seen as the most bankable genre with a huge built-
in audience. Ghouls, ghosts, slashers, creatures, and body disfiguring are some of its
settings
(f) Romance movies are about people coming together, falling apart, and all the
hurdles in between. Love is a universal language. They can be paired with comedy and
ram, but a straightforward romance focuses on two characters or an ensemble falling in
love.
(g) Thriller movies. What would you do when you were over your head? This is usually
linked with horror, action, and drama, but thrillers are about exciting situations that
have constant danger. They’re about stressed characters, corrupt investigators, and
criminals living on the edge.
(h) War/Conflict movies are about POWs, men in foxholes, tanks, and planes.
They’re about people finding commonalities, differences, and sacrificing their lives.

CODES – These are a system of signs that, when put together, create meaning.

Type of Codes

1. Technical Codes
The way in which equipment is used to tell the story (camera techniques, framing,
depth of fields, lighting and etc.)

Camera Techniques

Extreme Wide
Shot off, e.g., a large crow or a view of the
Shot scenery as far horizon.

Wide Shot A view of the situation or setting from a

distance

Medium Shot Shows a subject down to his or her waist

with space above to his or her head.

Medium Close-
Shows a subject down to his or her chest
up with space above to his or her head.
 Close- up
A full screenshot of a subject face

A two-shot is a type of shot in which the

frame encompasses two people. The
subjects do not have to be next to each
Two Shot
other, and there are many common two
shots that have one subject in the
foreground and the other subject in the
background.

It is the interruption of a continuous shot by

inserting a shot of something else. Usually,
you then cut back to the first shot. These
Cut Away
can be done within the same scene, cuts to
other scenes, or even as one continuous
shot as the camera pans across to
something else.

Over the shoulder, the shot is a camera

angle used in film and television, where the
Over the camera is placed above the back of the
Shoulder shoulder and head of a subject. This shot
is most commonly used to present
conversational back and forth between two
subjects.

Also known as POV shot, is an angle that

shows what a character is looking at.
Point of View Typically POV shots are placed in between
a shot of a character looking at something
and a shot showing the character’s
reaction.

Using a shallow depth of field, the subject

can be rendered in sharp focus with the rest
of the image blurring into the image
Selective Focus foreground and background. This
technique isolates the subject within the
image, drawing the eye of the viewer to the
exact point which the photographer wishes
to be observed.

It refers to when the level of your camera is

placed at the same height as the eyes of
Eye-Level the characters in your frame. It also
simulates standard human vision and thus
present visual information through a
familiar viewpoint.
 It is a cinematic technique where the
camera looks down on the subject from a
high angle, and the point of focus often gets
High Angle
“swallowed up.” High-angle shots can
make the subject seem vulnerable or
powerless when applied with the correct
mood, setting, and effects.

It is a shot from a camera angle positioned

Low Angle
anywhere below the eye line, pointing
upward.

A shot in which the camera shoots a scene

from directly overhead. It usually has an
Bird’s Eye View
extreme long shot to establish a setting.
We use this angle to look down at the
scene from a higher point.

is a shot that is looking up from the ground

Worm’s Eye and is meant to give the viewer the feeling
View that they are looking up at the character
from way below, and it is meant to show
the view that a child or a pet would have.

2. Symbolic Codes
It shows what is beneath the surface of what we see (objects, setting, body language,
clothing, color, etc.)

The setting is the time and place of the

narrative. When discussing the setting,
you can describe the setting of the whole
Setting story or just a specific scene. A setting
can be as big as the outback or space,
or as small as a specific room. Setting
can even be a created atmosphere or
frame of mind.

It is a French term that means

‘everything within the frame.’ In media
terms, it has become to mean the
description of all the objects within a
Mise en frame of the media product and how they
scene have been arranged. An analysis of the
mise en scene includes:
✓ Set Design
✓ Costume
✓ Props
✓ Staging and Composition
 Actors portray characters in media
products and contribute to character
development, creating tension, or
advancing the narrative. The actor
Acting portrays a character through:
✓ Facial expression
✓ Body Language
✓ Vocal qualities
✓ Movement
✓ Body contact

Colour has highly cultural and strong

connotations. When studying the use of
color in a media product, the different
Colour
aspects of being looking at are:
✓ Dominant color
✓ Contrasting foils
✓ Colour symbolism

3. Written Codes
These are the formal written language used in a media product. It can be used to
advance a narrative, communicate information about a character or issues and themes. It
includes printed language, which is the text you can see within the frame and how it is
presented, and also spoken language, which includes dialogue and song lyrics.

CONVENTIONS – These are the accepted ways of using media codes. These are closely
connected to the audience’s expectations of a media product.

Types of Conventions

1. Form conventions. These are certain ways we expect types of media’s codes to be
arranged. For instance, an audience expects to have a title of the film at the beginning and
then credits at the end. Newspapers will have a masthead, the most important news on the
front page and sports news on the back page. Video games usually start with a tutorial to
explain the mechanics of how the game works.
2. Story Conventions. These are common narrative structures and understandings that are
common in storytelling media products.
Examples of story conventions include:
✓ Narrative structures
✓ Cause and effect
✓ Character construction
✓ Point of View
3. Genre Conventions. It points to the common use of tropes, characters, settings, or themes
in a particular type of medium. Genre conventions are closely linked with audience
expectations. Genre conventions can be formal or thematic.

Today the capacities of the human mind aided by technology enable the process of
construction of media and information messages. The media employ more than words to
construct a more complex society. Film and broadcast communication use the language of
the camera, the tools, and techniques of editing and the power of words – as dialogue and
narration – to capture the world of a story, deliberately making choices on what not to include,
what to highlight, and what should serve as a backdrop. It is very important to keep in mind:
every media, every media form or, media text whether it is a printed advertisement prominently
lining on the streets we pass through to the television we watch every day.