Media products can be classified into categories or genre. The word 'Genre' comes form the french word meaning 'Type' or 'Class'. Media genres appear within a medium (film, television) such as the 'Horror' film or television 'Situation comedy'.
A subcategory within a particular genre.
Some films and programmes share the conventions of more than one genre. For example, Jonathan Creek is a crime drama with elements of the paranormal.
Codes and Conventions
codes are systems of signs which create meaning . Codes can be divided into 2 categories - technical and symbolic.
Technical codes are the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film.
Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character's actions show you how the character's feeling.
Some codes fit both categories - music for example, is both technical and symbolic.
Conventions are generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.
Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre - it is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camerawork, without saying how conventionally used in a genre.
Genre tropes
In literature, a trope is a familiar and repeated symbol, meme, theme, motif, style, characters or thing that permeates a particular type of literature. They are usually tied heavily to genre. For example, tropes in horror in literature and film include the scientist or a dark stormy night. Tropes can also be plots or events.
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