Codes : The familiar and predictable forms and techniques used by producers when creating media texts. These are used to communicate certain ideas or to convey a desired impression. Indicators or signs contained within a product that when identified by the audience create meaning.
There are two types of code: the technical and the symbolic. Technical codes are created through the way equipment is used to produce a media product. For example a camera can be used to present a particular characters point of view. Symbolic codes point the audience towards meaning that are not always apparent. For example in early Hollywood films the villains always wore black as this was seen in western culture as representative of evil.
Conventions: The commonly accepted ways of doing things. There are general conventions in all products, such as the use of opening credits in audio visual products. However, conventions can also be genre specific, such as the chase in action/ adventure films.
Genre: Media products are usually classified into categories and sub-categories. These categories are referred to as a products genre. By categorising a product, its audience will have a set of expectations that they will look forward to being met. For example, the audience for a horror film will expect to be scared. A product within a genre can be identified by its distinguishing features; its codes and conventions.
Verisimilitude: How real the world of the story or narrative of a fictional media product appears to the audience (for example, is the world presented to the audience believable?)
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