By Andrew Waller A2 Media Studies Chatham and Clarendon Grammar Schools

1. Institutions

2. Description
 Institutions are organisations that create media sources in
society. Institutions are what choose to put what they want in
their magazines and they can choose to convey a certain
image.
 Institutions can also use underlying principles in their texts to
help convey their image. If people agree with this it will
encourage them to buy more of the magazine as it has the
same opinion.
 Often different institutions may decide to be more extreme
with their points of view as it may gather more attention of the
audience.

3. Levi Strauss
 Levi Strauss used the idea of complete opposites to
understand meaning of productions within narratives. He
stated that a lot of constructive narrative meaning is based of
complete opposites.
 Here are some example of oppositions:
- Male vs Female
- Good vs Bad
 Each and every genre of any media piece will have a
complete opposite.

4. Barthes
 Barthes stated that many media texts are made up of
narrative codes. The two codes are used to create effects in
the piece which is mainly suspense.
 Enigma codes: These codes cause the audience to ask
questions about the current events in the piece i.e. Why did
that happen?
 Action codes: These codes are related to action created in
the piece which lead to further actions. Suspense is created
by the audience wanting to question what happened i.e.
What is going to happen next?

5. Todorov
 Todorov believed that there was a generic structure to every
narrative. It relates to how equilibrium is broken or changed and
how there are attempts to restore it.
 Firstly, it starts with everything as normal (Normal equilibrium).
Secondly, there is a change or disruption in the normal events
(Disrupted equilibrium).
 Thirdly, after the change in normal events, there are attempts to
return back to it’s normal state. (Revival of Equilibrium).
 Fourth, the attempts are successful to revive the equilibrium and
it is restored (Restored to normal state).
 Fifth, The events are back to normal but have been
remembered or have made permanent effects. (New Equilibrium
produced).

6. Symbolic code
 Symbolic codes are what the viewers see beneath the first
layer or surface. This could be involved in any prop, gesture
or music when executed correctly.
 A good example of this is to show how someone is feeling.
By raising their voice it may mean they’re angry or upset. By
lowering their voice, it may mean they’re scared. By using
this type of code it can be used to show different emotions
within personas.