When analysing or creating Media products, we must understand that there is a rich history from which products are created and understood. Over time, audiences have held and built expectations around what types of products they wish to consume, and what products should include on order to be engaging and successful. This has resulted in the creation of specific 'rules' that act has a guideline for the way that media products are created. Media products are governed by particular codes and conventions that are established ... they are the associated 'rules' by which a media form is structured, created or understood. The audience expects these codes and conventions to appear consistently within particular media forms.Heinemann Media (2nd edition)
Rules or generally accepted ways of constructing form and informing meaning in media products including story principles, form and structure, generic structures, character and story arcs, cause and effect, point of view, the structuring of time, elements of page layout, paper stock for print, titles and credits sequences, hyperlinking and mounting and framing of images. VCAA VCE Media Study Design page 10