What is representation?
Representation is the way media texts present thing such as age, gender, ethnicity, identity, social issues and events to an audience. The media is very powerful as it can influence an audience's attitude in relation to these ideas and issues.
When analysing media texts we need to understand the representations being presented on issues and ideas and how they are being constructed.
Watch this video the learn more about representation.
When analysing media texts we need to understand the representations being presented on issues and ideas and how they are being constructed.
Watch this video the learn more about representation.
What are Codes and Conventions?
What are codes?
Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning. Codes can be divided into two categories - technical and symbolic.
Technical codes are all 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 is feeling.
Some codes fit both categories – sound for example, is both technical and symbolic.
What are conventions?
Conventions are the 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.
How codes and conventions apply in media studies
Codes and conventions are used together in any study of genre – it is not enough to discuss a technical code used such as camera work, without saying how it is conventionally used in a genre.
For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in all film genres. 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.
(words sourced from: http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codes-and-conventions)
Technical Codes
Framing Composition Shot Type Camera Angle Lighting Sound Editing |
Symbolic Codes
Symbolic Objects and Colour Set Design/Mise en Scene Body Language/Acting Costume/Appearance/Make-Up Lighting Sound |
- Technical codes are codes used to construct your representations
- Symbolic codes are used to convey messages and meaning to the audience
- Technical and symbolic codes work together to create a representation
Activity:
Select any TWO genres and list how each code is conventionally used in each genre.
Select any TWO genres and list how each code is conventionally used in each genre.
Social Media and Self-Representation
What do you think the image on the left is suggesting about the way we represent ourselves on social media?
Take a moment to consider whether what you have posted or have seen on social media recently is truth? Is is possible for something to be half true? Have a look at this article for some examples. Can you think of any of your own that you have witnessed or posted yourself recently? Share an example with your partner and discuss what makes it truth or not. Self-Representation has been going on for long before social media came into our lives. Jill Wagner Rettberg considered the history of self representation in the opening of her article 'Self-Representation in Social Media' Here's what she said: For millennia, humans have used media to represent ourselves. Children draw stick figures with a stick in the sand. Stone age Australians blew ochre dust around their hands to leave marks in a cave. Vikings carved runes on sticks to tell the world their names. Our grandparents kept diaries hidden in drawers. Today we post selfies to Instagram or Snapchat and write updates on Facebook or Tumblr. With social media, ordinary people share their self-representations with a larger audience than ever before. Have you ever looked back on drawings you did as a kid? Or read old postcards that belonged to grandparents?
Share some examples of how you have seen people represent who they are. |
Small Group Discussion
Create a table in your workbook that considers the positives about being able to represent ourselves through social media on one side and the negatives on the other.
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Celebrations with family and friends are most often the times when we snap and share our photos. Read the article on the link below. What are some of the things it reveals about line between what is represented and reality?
- Are you happy to be living in a time where you have so many opportunities to share who you are with the world?
- Have there been times when you have felt misunderstood through Social Media? What were the reasons you came to feel this way?
Create a table in your workbook that considers the positives about being able to represent ourselves through social media on one side and the negatives on the other.
More...
Celebrations with family and friends are most often the times when we snap and share our photos. Read the article on the link below. What are some of the things it reveals about line between what is represented and reality?
More interesting articles...
Creating your own Self-Portraits
Starting questions:
- What do you want people to see in you?
- What is a Portrait?
Your Task:
Plan and Produce a series of 3 self-portrait representations.
Plan and Produce a series of 3 self-portrait representations.
- Brainstorm all the aspects of who you are. (physical, emotional, personality, relationships, hobbies etc.)
- Plan and draw your three images that aim to represent different aspects of who you are. Use arrows and annotations to explain the codes you will be using to portray these traits.)
- Have your teacher sign off on your plans.
- Capture your photographs and use PhotoShop to enhance these images if required.
- Write a reflection for each image discussing how successfully you believe you have represented what you aimed to represent. Also consider in what ways you could have improved.
- Submit on Compass.
(Submission should include your original sketches, your final three images and a reflection for each image.)