Name:___________________________________

Codes and Conventions of Media Texts

When we look at any form of media, we read it trying to determine

what it says, or what it means. All media texts communicate
symbolically through the use of specific codes and conventions.

What are codes?

Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning.

Codes can be divided into two categories : technical and symbolic.

1. Technical codes are all the ways in which equipment is used to tell
the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film, or
lighting, or sound.

2. Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see.

For example, a character's actions show you how the character is
feeling. Colour can be used to represent ideas, such as red being used
to represent passion or aggression.

Some codes fit both categories : music for example, is both technical
and symbolic. By reading and recognizing the codes of a text, the
reader can more precisely identify how meaning is constructed.

What are conventions?

Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. In

mass media, conventions are also genre specific. For example, to
represent the start of a gun fight, westerns use a particular type of
music, or show tumbleweed blowing across a barren street. Westerns
use a series of codes that form a pattern of representation that the
audience can recognize making them conventional.

Genre is important to the idea of conventions. Genre is the

classification of any media text into a category or type. For example:
horror, action/adventure, westerns or science fiction. They tend to have
identifiable codes and conventions. These conventions and codes have
been developed over many years, and audiences have developed
particular expectations in regards to certain Genre types.
 Codes and Conventions (of Rants)

Codes Conventions (of a rant)

Camera Angle Hot topic or issue (of interest to
ranter)
Camera Movement Facts and/or evidence
Transitions Tone (serious/frustrated/mocking)
Music/Sound Real life examples
Lighting Heightened emotion
Camera Distance Hook at beginning
Body Language Emphatic conclusion
Weather Rhetorical questions
Setting
Language
Colour

Code/Conventi Specific example Explanation of how it

on/ Persuasive from this rant works/what it does
Strategy