Narrative
· The story line & structure of a media text.
· Fictional television & film tends to operate on a simple structure of balance, conflict & attempts at resolution.
· Narrative describes the processes of balancing what we see or hear and what we assume in addition.
· Narratives are structured within genres which provide frameworks of expectation, predictability and outcome.
Genre
· A category of media products classed as being similar in form and type.
· Film, magazine, newspaper and television are all media genres.
· Types of film (westerns & musicals), magazine (lifestyle & music), newspaper (tabloid & broadsheet) and television shows (sitcoms, crime dramas & soap operas) are also genres.
· Genres operate alongside narrative constructions in line with audience expectations, for example, magazines of a particular genre are expected to contain a specific kind of narrative discourse.
