Signs, codes and conventions — Eduqas GCSE Media Studies C680
Eduqas GCSE Media Studies · C680
Signs, codes and conventions
Media language
What you need to know
Semiotics: signs, denotation and connotation, and anchorage, where words fix the meaning of an image.
The codes of media language: technical codes (shot types, angles, camera movement, editing, lighting and sound), visual codes (colour, costume, gesture, expression, setting and props), print codes (typography, layout and mode of address) and audio codes.
Selection, combination and exclusion: every element of a product is a choice, and choices build narratives, points of view, messages and values.
How technology, from digital photography and image editing to online platforms, shapes what products look like and how they're made.
Short worked examples from the set products, with the subject terms examiners expect.
The set products for 2027 and 2028 exams are the Vogue and GQ covers; the Man with the Golden Gun and No Time to Die posters; the Guardian of 18 January 2022 and the Sun of 1 January 2021 (2027 exams only), then the Guardian of 6 May 2025 and the Sun of 22 March 2025 (2028 exams); the Quality Street and NHS 111 adverts; the Sun, Desert Island Discs, No Time to Die and Fortnite for industries and audiences; Trigger Point with The Sweeney, or Man Like Mobeen or Modern Family with Friends; and Lizzo or Taylor Swift, Stormzy or Justin Bieber, and Rio or Waterfalls. This Girl Can, The Archers and Luther were last set for 2026 exams, so past questions on them are practice only.
