KS4 Media with Mr Barton

WALT: Understand genre and how meaning is created in texts

WILF: Is for you to take appropriate notes and complete tasks to show an understanding of

genre and semiology

JunaidAleemKolsuma

Nawaz

SamranYahya

Shahbaz

Jordan

BAJ

AyaanleYasin

Rhiannon

Unzila

Cameron

Chadwick

Samiya

Neil

What Is Genre?• Genre is a way of

categorising a media text according to content and style.

Genre

Content Eg Westerns always have cowboys You have a set of expectations as to what a genre text will contain in terms of transportation, costume, character, setting, soundtrack, stars etc.

Style Eg women's magazines present an attractive model on the front cover who may have very little to do with the contents of the magazine Media texts follow sets of conventions in the way that they are constructed. You have contents pages in a magazine immediately inside the front cover. A romantic comedy always ends with a wedding. Often content and style are closely interlinked.

Does belonging to a genre mean that a text has to be exactly the same as other texts within

that genre?No — genres are described as dynamic, ie their boundaries are constantly changing. Individual texts can challenge conventions, and defy certain parts of the genre categorisation — for instance Scream brought a lot of parody and humour into horror films of the late 1990s. Genre texts would get very boring and predictable if they all followed exactly the same conventions — no audiences would want to consume them, they'd just keep revisiting the old ones.

Why is genre important for ...

Producers of media texts?Gives a pattern for construction, a template

• Genre pieces have an established audience

• Certain personnel can develop their skills working within a particular genre

• Stars can associate themselves with a particular genre

• Fans of a genre know the codes, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel all the time

•Distributors? Clear channels for marketing and distribution — easily targetable audience

• Concentration of distribution resources — no point in trying to get eg football matches to a non-sports audience

• Fans of a genre as a whole can easily be persuaded to buy other texts in the same genre eg dance music compilation cds

• Provides a structure for retail outlets (HMV!)

Semiology – The Study of Signs

Signifiers Signified?

“Compare the representation of the police in ‘La Haine’ with police in another text of your choice”

“Compare the representation of the teenagers in ‘La Haine’ with teenagers in another text of your choice”

Assessed Essay Questions – You have a choice!

Deadline: Friday 7th November 2008

Essay IdeasWhile some people believe that the media reflects

reality and shows accurate interpretations of social groups through movies, video games and television programs, the true purpose of the media isn’t to directly mirror reality but instead re-present it through messages and techniques.

Indeed, it is very rare for movies not to generalize social groups because they are dominated by stereotypical characters that try and affect how we relate to others and ourselves. Although this can be an unfair and inaccurate representation of people who belong to a particular social group, it is also inevitable for the media to use stereotypical characters because they act like codes that give audiences a quick, common understanding of a person or a group of people. For example, the youth are sometimes represented as being irresponsible young people who hang around in groups and cause trouble in movies such as ‘La Haine’ but outside of the media there many young people that contradict these views and are in reality polite and civilized.

Understanding of how texts represent social messages

Accurate use of technical terms

Use of examples

How might this essay continue?