Codes and Conventions

Codes

Codes are signs that have a meaning, they can be distinguished into 2 catgories – technical and symbolic.

Technical – Techinical is the way equipment is used to tell a story. For example, the way a video camera is used in film.

Symbolic – Symbolic codes show what we can’t see. For example, a characters actions reflect the way the character is feeling.

But some codes fit both technicle and symbolic. For example, music falls into both technical and symbolic.

Conventions

Coventios are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.

How codes and conventions apply in media studies

Codes and conventions are used in the study of genre – it’s not enough just to say how the technical code is used such as how a camera is used, without saying how it is conventionally used in a genre.