Codes and conventions
Different media texts have The familiar tools used by media texts to communicate ideas through technical, visual and audio techniques that define their genre and set up audience expectations.
The main genre codes and conventions are:
Narrative
This is how the story is told in a film or television programme through plot devices, situations, characters and actors associated with specific genres.
Magazines and other print texts such as newspapers contain a narrative
The narrative in magazines and newspapers includes the cover design and all the content, including regular features, horoscopes, readers' letters and advertising.
Websites also have a narrative that grows and builds as the user is navigated from page to page within the website.
On a news site, this could be a breaking news item which is linked through to more in-depth analysis and archive footage. On a magazine-style website, the narrative may build to encourage the user to watch related videos hosted by the same site.
Settings and iconography
The Everything included in a scene and how it is staged or arranged. This includes the setting, the props, the costumes, the lighting and the people or characters is everything included in a scene and how it is staged or arranged. This includes the setting, the props, the costumes, the lighting and the people or characters.
The hospital setting and equipment in the mise-en-scene in Casualty help the audience to determine the genre
The --èԱ plays a big part in determining genre, whether in a hospital drama, a gardening programme or a horror movie. For example:
| Component | Hospital drama | Gardening programme | Horror movie |
| Setting | Hospital ward | Back garden | Haunted castle |
| Props | Medical equipment, hospital bed | Spade, plants, soil | Spider webs, candles, stone floors |
| Costumes | White coats, nurses' uniforms, surgical gloves | Wellington boots, windbreaker, heavy duty gloves | Black cape, grey dress, rags |
| Lighting | Stark and bright, artificial | Warm and natural | Candle light, dark shadows |
| Characters | Doctors, nurses, patients, family, friends (played by actors) | Well-known TV gardener, members of the public | Monster/ghost, hero/heroine, victims (played by actors) |
| Component | Setting |
|---|---|
| Hospital drama | Hospital ward |
| Gardening programme | Back garden |
| Horror movie | Haunted castle |
| Component | Props |
|---|---|
| Hospital drama | Medical equipment, hospital bed |
| Gardening programme | Spade, plants, soil |
| Horror movie | Spider webs, candles, stone floors |
| Component | Costumes |
|---|---|
| Hospital drama | White coats, nurses' uniforms, surgical gloves |
| Gardening programme | Wellington boots, windbreaker, heavy duty gloves |
| Horror movie | Black cape, grey dress, rags |
| Component | Lighting |
|---|---|
| Hospital drama | Stark and bright, artificial |
| Gardening programme | Warm and natural |
| Horror movie | Candle light, dark shadows |
| Component | Characters |
|---|---|
| Hospital drama | Doctors, nurses, patients, family, friends (played by actors) |
| Gardening programme | Well-known TV gardener, members of the public |
| Horror movie | Monster/ghost, hero/heroine, victims (played by actors) |