C2 TV

 Tuesday 7th January 2025

TV Drama

LO: To explore the content and format of the unit.

Do Now:

1) There are two written media exams.

2) Each exam is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

3) Genre is a type of a media form, that involves a particular set of characteristics.

4) The target audience for The Archers is middle aged ABC1 women. Older, middle-class, British.

5) The BBC's remit is to 'inform, educate and entertain'.

Component 2: 'Understanding Media Forms and Products'

Written exam: 1 hour and 30 minutes, worth 60 marks.

Section A: TV Crime Drama - 'Luther' and 'The Sweeney'.

- Question 1: Media Language OR Representation

- Question 2: Media industries OR audiences OR media contexts.

Section B: Music Videos.

Crime Drama:

Genre - a type of media form that involves a particular set of characteristics.

Sub-genre - where a large genre is divided into smaller genres, each of which has their own set of conventions. For example, the genre of this unit is drama, the sub-genre that we are looking at is crime.

Hybrid genre - media texts that incorporate elements of more than one genre and are therefore more difficult to classify.

Within crime drama there are also multiple sub-genres such as: price procedural, period crime drama, forensic crime and more.

Crime Drama 1: The Responder

Narrative: Follows a police officer and opens with us seeing him and his family.

Setting: In the city at night.

Characters: Two characters are immediately established, one who is a police officer, and it seems that the other is a psychiatrist. Family is introduced.

Mise-en-scene and iconography: police uniform and car, medication.

Crime Drama 2: Happy Valley

Narrative: Police officer is immediately established as a strong female character, the introduction features small snippets of the setting and the TV show, money troubles, 

Setting: In a town during the day.

Characters: police officer is immediately established, we see her with another police officer dealing with some people drinking in a park, 

Mise-en-scene and iconography: fire extinguisher. lighter, alcohol.

Crime Drama 3: Line of Duty

Narrative: Opens immediately with a police car coming fast round the corner with the lights on, opens with action, a failed mission, killed the wrong person.

Setting: In the city, day time. A block of flats.

Characters: A man who looks like he's the commanding officer of the mission that is being carried out, family of man who has just been shot, 

Mise-en-scene and iconography: Guns, tactical gear, controlled explosion.

Similarities between all three crime dramas:

- They all are set in cities - urban areas.

- They all have low key lighting.

- Police officers in all of them.

- All start with trying to stop a crime from happening.

- They all have scenes in offices - police offices.

- Arial views following police cars and tactical scenes.

- We as the audience are positioned to be on the police's side as we are shown the programme from their perspective.

Typical Codes and Conventions of a TV crime drama:

- Set in urban areas.

- Have low key lighting.

- The main character is a police officer or detective and therefore we are on their side as it is told from their perspective.

- Arial views are often used to follow cars and tactical scenes.

- Guns are often featured.

Narrative: The story begins with a crime that has been committed, usually. with a victim.

Protagonist: The main character is intelligent and determined to solve the crime. they are usually flawed in some way.

Antagonist: The antagonist is also intelligent and crafty, and seems to be one step ahead of the protagonist.

Suspects: There are handheld suspects with motives and a reasonable opportunity to have committed the crime.

Clues: There are clues and red herrings that help or hinder the investigation.

Narrative arc: The story has a continuing narrative arc that unfolds over multiple episodes.

Character types: There are typical character types, such as a villain, a hero, a helper, and a dispatcher.

Representation: The representation of characters and themes can challenge pre-conceived ideas.

Media Language: Low key lighting; gritty, realistic settings; handheld camerawork; fast-paced editing; diegetic sound (sound that you would hear if you were there in the scene).

The impact of these conventions can help engage the audience as they create enigmas, tension and suspense. The fact that the storyline unfolds over multiple episodes forces people to remain hooked as the previous episode is almost always left on a cliffhanger, and it makes the audience want to watch the next episode to find out who did what and whether their guesses were correct. Because of all their elements, such as the multiple suspects, TV Dramas almost always get the audience involved as they will be continuously guessing and discussing their guesses. Furthermore, the realistic settings make us feel involved like we are within the scene and storyline.