Introductions and Context for Media A2

Genre is the categorisation of media products using conventions of a specific genre to appeal to a target audience (Ryall). These conventions are constructed through narrative, visual and audio codes in order to make the targeting process easier. In the film industry, producers may choose to employ conventions from multipul genres to appeal to a mass audience. 

Narrative is a construction; it is not synonymous with 'story' as it is how the story is told. A narrative is constructed of visual, audio and technical codes and is normally created in a causal, linear structure. Such narratives can be evaluated using Proppian or Todrovian theories with architypal characters and adhering to audience expectations. More recently, more complex narrative structures are employed to challenge and engage a more culturally competent audience. 

Representation is the construction of media products often employing stereotypes to portray groups of people, ideas and places. A media producer may choose to conform to stereotypes to create easily recognisable characters; hoever, they could choose to challenge such such stereotypes in order to construct a more modern and realistic portrayals of society. The film industry, in more contemporary exaples, have chosen to encode this more realistic ideology within its texts to create more ambiguous and relatable characters. 

Audiences are non-homogenous; they are fluent and ever-changing. Thus, producers must be flexible when constructing media produtcs reflecting their own ideologies. Audiences respond differently due to charactereistics constructed by gender, age and cultural compitance. Such responces can be theoretical, in accordance with Halls 'Reception Theory' or literal in the form of ratings and reviews. For example, some active audiences may take an oppositional reading to....

Marketing is the way in which a media producer publisises their product. A multitude of creative stratagies are employed in order to appeal to the texts target audience, such as trailers, posters and cast interviews. In the television industry, marketing methods need to be innotive and contempoary in order to appeal to a mass audience, growing in cultural compitance. 

• Interviews
• Free marketing (social media)
• Poster
• Teaser trailers and posters
• Convention panels
• Q+As, Meet and Greets
• Video messages
• Official merchandise
• Websites
• BTS
• Interactivity
• Gamification
• Intertextuality