1. Tv Drama - content that is scripted and (normally) fictional
along the lines of a traditional drama. It is a story that is
presented in a dramatic way and explores a range of genres.
Representation - Understanding
representation is all about understanding the
choices that are made when it comes to
portraying something or someone in a mass
media text.

2. Mediation/Mediated - Mediation is a process media
companies such as newspaper companies go through to
alter information that is within the Newspaper, News Report,
Documentary etc. It allows the product to be enhanced and
changed so the end product is more pleasing for the
consumer.
Stereotype - The definition of a stereotype is any
commonly known public belief about a certain
social group or a type of individual
Hegemonic norm - Leadership or
predominant influence exercised by one
nation over others.

3. Ideology - The body of ideas reflecting
the social needs and aspirations of an
individual, group, class, or culture.
Semiotics – the study of signs.
Anything that is used for human
communication is defined as a sign
e.g. Facial
expression, commercials, films.
Connotation – The way in which meaning is
created by what someone would usually
associate with the meaning. E.g. red could
connote danger, passion, anger, love.
Signifier – the object itself e.g. tattoo, clothing, a
picture.
Signifies – the meaning conveyed by the signifier.

4. Iconic Signifier – a mode in which the signifier is
perceived as resembling or imitating the signified
and being similar in possessing some of its
qualities.
Indexical Signifier - the signifier is not arbitrary, but is
directly connected in some way to the signified (but not
by resemblance)
Symbolic signifier – When an image or sign stands for
something it does not directly resemble.
Binary Opposites - A relation between the
members of a pair of linguistic items, as a pair
of distinctive features, such that one is the
absence of the other, as voiceless-ness and
voice or that one is at the opposite pole from
the other as stridency and mellowness.

5. Mode of Address - The way a media
product ‘speaks’ to it’s audience. In
order to communicate, a producer of
any text must make some
assumptions about an intended
audience; reflections of such
assumptions may be discerned in the
text (advertisements offer particularly
clear examples of this).
Anchoring – fixing or limiting a particular set of
meanings. One of the most common forms of
anchorage is the caption underneath a photograph.
Conventions - Conventions are the widely recognised way of doing something which is to do
with content, form and style. There are two types of conventions which consists of:
- Technical Conventions - A convention in a technical area. These conventions, apply to the
majority of music videos for e.g. the video being the same length as the song and fast cuts
- Genre Conventions - this is where conventions are associated with a particular genre. An
example of this would be Pop videos, that ba e dance routines and bands performing songs
with instruments.

6. Conventions of a TV Drama
Conventions of TV Dramas
· Parallel narratives
· Realistic locations
· Shot reverse shot
· Realistic narratives
TV dramas all need the following ingredients –
· Characters
· Stories (not always happy endings!)
· Stories told against familiar back drops e.g. homes, polices stations and offices (for crime
dramas) hospitals (for medical dramas) – Most of this is created in a studio
· Camerawork – sequences involving establishing shots followed by a mid-shot of characters,
shot reverse shot to show character interaction and particularly close up to show character
emotion
· Dialogue is used to tell stories, occasionally monologues are brought in for example in voice
overs to tell the story and this is mainly used to recap
· Music is used to punctuate the action to create effects such as suspense and tension and
underline emotional moments
· Subgenres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable eg police cars for
crime drama.