Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Codes and conventions

Codes= symbols or icons of a particular genre e.g. medical drama, stethoscope

Conventions= unwritten rules of audience expectations e.g. good vs. evil  
Conventions of TV Dramas
·         Parallel narratives
·         Realistic locations
·         Shot reverse shot
·         Realistic narratives
TV dramas all need the following ingredients –
·         Characters
·         Stories (not always happy endings!)
·         Stories told against familiar back drops e.g. homes, polices stations and offices (for crime dramas) hospitals (for medical dramas) – Most of this is created in a studio
·         Camerawork – sequences involving establishing shots followed by a mid-shot of characters, shot reverse shot to show character interaction and particularly close up to show character emotion
·         Dialogue is used to tell stories, occasionally monologues are brought in for example in voice overs to tell the story and this is mainly used to recap
·         Music is used to punctuate the action to create effects such as suspense and tension and underline emotional moments
·         Subgenres tend to have items which make them immediately identifiable eg police cars for crime drama.

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