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neurologyYou need to know

• Media Studies uses the framework of media language, representation, audiences and industries.
• Media products communicate meaning through codes and conventions.
• Signs consist of a signifier and a signified.
• Meanings are culturally constructed.
• Denotation is the literal meaning and connotation is the associated meaning of a sign.
• Icons, indices and symbols communicate meaning in different ways.
• Myths and ideologies are created through repeated signs and meanings.
• Genres are categories formed through repeated conventions.
• Genre conventions create audience expectations.
• Products may belong to subgenres or combine genres through hybridity.
• Neale argues that genres depend on repetition and difference.
• Genre categories are shaped by audiences, industries and culture.
• Narratives organise events into meaningful structures.
• Story and plot are related but different concepts.
• Diegetic elements exist within the story world and non-diegetic elements exist outside it.
• Enigma and action codes help engage audiences.
• Todorov's model explains narrative through equilibrium, disruption and resolution stages.
• Quest narratives involve goals, obstacles and transformation.
• Causality links events through cause and effect.
• Producers make deliberate technical and aesthetic choices to create meaning and meet genre expectations.

• Apply the theoretical framework to media products.
• Identify and analyse codes and conventions.
• Use semiotic terminology accurately.
• Analyse denotations, connotations, myths and ideologies.
• Categorise signs as icons, indices or symbols.
• Construct analytical interpretations using evidence.
• Identify genre conventions in media products.
• Analyse how genres create audience expectations.
• Explain genre hybridity and subgenres.
• Apply Neale's theory of repetition and difference.
• Analyse genre as a cultural category.
• Analyse narrative structure and organisation.
• Distinguish between story and plot.
• Identify diegetic and non-diegetic elements.
• Analyse the use of narrative codes.
• Apply Todorov's narrative theory.
• Analyse quest narratives and character functions.
• Explain causality within narratives.
• Analyse how narrative and genre work together.
• Apply media language concepts to practical production work.