MEDIA AND INFORMATION LANGUAGES: GENRE, CODES AND CONVENTIONS
Learning Competency: Present an issue in varied ways to disseminate information using the codes, convention and
language of media.
GENRE, CODES AND CONVENTIONS
GENRE- It is a French word which means “Kind” or “Class”. The original Latin word is “genus” and mean class of things
that can be broken down into subcategories. It tends to be understood to constitute particular conventions of contents and
following 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 sub-category of some of the given primary genre
1. News.
2. Entertainment
This a comprehensive movie genres list:
(a) Action movies
(b) Adventure movies .
(c) Comedy films
(d) Drama
(e) Horror film
(f) Romance movies
(g) Thriller movies
(h) War/Conflict movies
CODES- These are system of signs that when put together create meaning.
Types 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.)
a. Camera Techniques
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b. Video Techniques
2. Symbolic Codes- It shows what is beneath the surface of what we
see (objects, setting, body language, clothing, color, etc. )
a. Setting- Setting is the time and place of the narrative. When
discussing setting, you can describe the setting of the whole 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.
b. Mise en Scene- 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 frame of the media product and how they
have been arranged. An analysis of mise en scene includes:
Set Design
Costume
Props
Staging and Composition
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c. Acting- Actors portray characters in media products and contribute
to character development, creating tension or advancing the
narrative. The actor portrays a character through:
Facial expression
Body Language
Vocal qualities
Movement
Body contact
d. Color-Colour has highly cultural and strong connotations. When
studying the use of colour in a media product the different aspects
to be looking at are:
Dominant colour
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 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 expectations of a media product.
Types of Conventions
1. Form conventions. These are the 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.
2. Story Conventions. These are common narrative structures and
understandings that are common in story telling 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.For example, comedy films are expected to
feature bright colors.
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