Definitions

Genre -

Media products can be classified into categories or genre. The word 'genre' comes from the French word meaning 'type' or 'class'. Media genres appear within a medium (film, television) such as the "horror" film or the television "situation comedy". A genre can be recognised by its common set of distinguishing features (see discussion on codes and conventions). These features associated with a genre's style and content may be, for example, a particular setting, character types, technical codes (lighting or music). You may also find that some media texts blur genre boundaries.

Narrative-

The way those events are put together to be presented to an audience. Therefore, when analysing a narrative we analyse the construction of the story ie the way it has been put together, not the story itself. You also need to consider what the story is about in its most basic terms, ie the theme (eg Love, war, winning)

 

Representation-

Understanding representation is all about understanding the choices that are made when it comes to portraying something or someone in a mass media text. It's impossible to portray every aspect of an individual in a photograph, or even in a feature film, so certain features of their personality and appearance get highlighted, and are often enhanced, when it comes to constructing the representation that the audience will see. When representing a person, media texts often focus on their:

• Age
• Gender
• Race/Ethnicity
• Financial Status
• Job
• Culture/nationality

Audience-

'Audience' is a very important concept throughout media studies. All media texts are made with an audience in mind, ie a group of people who will receive it and make some sort of sense out of it. And generally, but not always, the producers make some money out of that audience. Therefore it is important to understand what happens when an audience "meets" a media text. Who will this attract?

 

Media language-

Media conventions, formats, symbols and narrative structures which cue the audience to meaning. The symbolic language of electronic media work much the same way as grammar works in print media.