sub genres
DESCRIPTION
Lesson TwoTRANSCRIPT
Technical Aspect
Age Gender Ethnicity Class and status
Physical ability/ disability
Regional identity
Camera
Editing
Sound
Mise-en-Scene
To identify the generic conventions of TV Drama
To identify and explore conventions within different TV Drama sub-genres
To understand how TV Drama conventions are
used to engage a target audience
Television drama is the most expensive form of television genre
A prime time American TV series such as House can cost up to $12 million per hour – that’s about £6 million.
The average cost for US drama is more like $2 – 5 million per hour.
British drama such as Dr Who (60 mins) costs about a £1 million per hour.
the Nadal/ Federer Wimbledon final 2008 attracted over 13 million viewers – but drama pulls them in regularly, and this is what channel bosses and advertisers like.
Bleak House averaged between 6- 7 million viewers which was the same as Life on Mars
This represents 25 – 30% of the audience share in an average week.
Which of the following are TV Dramas? Why? Skins True Blood Glee Casualty The Simpsons Waterloo Road Eastenders Luther Jeremy Kyle Smallville The Apprentice Big Brother Downton Abbey TOWIE
Single or one off drama A drama that begins and ends with one episode. Now seen as event TV. Examples: White Girl, Boy A, Ghosts
Two-Parter Extended drama which encourages the audience to watch across two episodes often by a narrative surprise or cliffhanger Examples: Britz, Trial and Retribution
Serial A continuing narrative set over a number of episodes using featuring some sort of conclusion at the end of a serial run. Examples: Footballers Wives, This Life, Waterloo Road
Series - linked programmes with the same lead characters
where each episode is a complete story. Examples: Spooks, Heartbeat, Casualty, Dr Who Soap Opera – an ongoing, multi-stranded television serial drama,
typically set in an enclosed location Examples: Eastenders, Coronation Street
Using I- Player/ 4od/ ITV Player/ The Radio Times to find examples of each these
Revision Cards – What, where, why,when and how????
Conventions of TV drama and sub genres
Discuss the TV dramas you watch How did you know they were TVD’s? As a group brainstorm what
you think are the essential ingredients for any TV Drama…
Characters – a crucial element, deeply embedded in narratives, consider the roles they play
Narrative – both its overall structure and how it is constructed
Sets and settings – locations against which the story unfolds and which frequently take on a symbolic significance
Camerawork – particular kinds of camerawork are often associated with particular sub-genres
Dialogue, sound and music – sound and music create effects and often underline emotional content
Iconic Signs – these tend to be associated with particular sub-genres
Sub genre Generic Hybrid
Particular sub-genres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable. Icons that symbolise the sub-genre:
Police cars or ambulance Blue lights Operating theatres and scalpels,
triage/reception areas in hospitals.
Look at you list of TV Dramas
Try to sort the programmes into different types of TV dramas
Each have the same codes (camera,sound etc) but different conventions within that
Each of you will be given a different TV Drama sub-genre to plan independently
You will need to decide Title
Target Audience and appeal
Format
Potential Storyline
Themes
Characters
Mise-en-Scene
Iconography
Key Representational issue in your work
Teen drama – depend on target audience empathising with characters, situations and themes
Skins, Hollyoaks, Grange Hill The costume drama - typically an adaptation of a classic text Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, or a Dickens' novel such as Bleak House. Crime Drama – same as medical but crime instead of health The Bill, Life on Mars , Ashes to Ashes Medical/ Hospital Drama – Interplay between trauma and suffering of patients and staff
narratives that use soap conventions ER, Casualty, Holby City
Consider that this sub-genre concerns age specific situations and anxieties. Relies upon target audience empathising with a range of authentic characters e.g. Skins
Consider that they are often intertextually linked to classic novels or plays and offer a set of pleasures different to own time and space can be one off or a series e.g. Bleak House
Consider the similarities with soap-opera conventions, the interplay between victim and villain and the use of a set of staff (forensic scientists) for narratives e.g. CSI
Crime Drama Conventions
Consider the similarities with soap-opera conventions, the sense of the patients and the doctors, the use of open and closed narratives e.g Holby City
Medical Drama Conventions