Research Genres: Codes and Conventions

 What are codes?

Codes are sign systems that generate meaning. Technical and symbolic codes are the two types of codes that exist. Technical codes refer to all of the different ways that equipment is used to tell a storey in a media text, such as camera work in a film. Symbolic codes reveal what lies beneath the visible surface. A character's actions, for example, reveal how he or she is feeling. Music, for example, is both technological and symbolic, so it falls into both categories.

What are conventions?

Conventions are ways of doing things that are widely accepted. In any medium, there are general conventions, such as using interviewee quotes in a print article, but there are also genre-specific conventions.

In media studies, how do codes and conventions apply?

In any study of genre, codes and conventions go hand in hand; it's not enough to talk about a technical code like camera work without also talking about how it's used in the genre. The technical code of lighting, for example, is used in all film genres in some way.It is a convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense – an integral part of any horror movie.