Codes and Conventions of TV drama openings

Codes and conventions of TV drama openings

Television drama is a story that is presented in a dramatic way and explores a range of genres.

Dramatic programming that is scripted and normally fictional.

TV drama sub genres

A sub-genre is where genres are subdivided into even more specific categories

Teen Dramas – Skins, Waterloo Road

Period/Costume Dramas- Downton Abby, Ripper Street

Medical/Hospital Dramas- Casualty

Police/ Crime Dramas- CSI Miami

7 groups of representation

Class

Sexuality

Disability

Regional identity

Age

Ethnicity

Gender

Analysing TV drama- Hotel Babylon

Shots Lots of close ups and medium shots, not very many long shots	Camera movement & Editing Lots of camera panning around characters, following characters Downstairs, there are lots of fast cuts and close ups. This gives a sense of fast work. Upstairs there are very few cuts and this gives a sense of calmness
Music/Sound Music in the background, adds suspense and tension. Tone makes the audience think that something is going to happen.	Mise-en-scene Downstairs is dark and dingy; filters have been used in editing. Gives the audience the idea that the workers do not have a good life

Mise en scene

Mise en scene

Literally means everything put in the scene

Refers to the composition, lighting, characters, settings, make-up, costume and how it all comes together to create meaning and supports the narrative.

Costume- Including hair and make up

Costume is another important aspect of a film and the rang of possibilities its huge it can:

Denote the time or place that the film is set in

Call attention to graphic qualities through stylization

Show narrative progression

Determine characters

Verisimilitude.

Notions of realism vary across cultures, over time, and even among individuals. To insist rigidly on realism for all films can blind us to the vast range of mise-en-scene possibilities.

Setting, décor and props

The place in which a film, or scene is set can be indicative of:

The historical time of the film

The state of mind of the film’s protagonist

The point in the films narrative that has been reached.

Lighting

Lighting shapes objects by creating highlights and shadows

A highlight is a patch of relative brightness on a surface

Shadows can either be shading or cast

Quality, Direction, Source, Colour.

Quality: Refers to the relative intensity of the illumination. Hard lighting creates clearly defined shadows; soft lighting creates a diffused illumination.

Direction: Refers to the path of light from it’s sources to the object lit.

Source: Directors and cinematographers manipulate the lighting of the scene typically decide on the two primary sources: a key light and a fill light.

Colour: Can be used in a variety of ways and is integral to the mise-en-scene of a film.

Only Fools And Horses title credits analysis

The title sequence for ‘Only Fools and Horses’ is basically a sequence of pictures with locations that could be relevant to the show with some graphics of the main characters but there is a lot more to it.

The music in the background sounds like normal blokes and sounds like something that would be sung down the pub. This suggests that the characters in the show are quite normal, pretty funny and mostly have a laugh.

During the sequence, a series of pictures are shown in the background such as; Sunday markets, the pub, housing estates, car parks. These are all very normal and typically British locations, which again, suggests to the audience the nature of the show. The use of pictures instead of video could represent photo albums.

While the background changes through the settings graphics transition over the top and show video of the main characters, with the actor’s name doing things the character is known for. Firstly, Del Boy is shown and he has a lump of cash in his hand, this shows the audience that his character is financially focused and loves money. Secondly, Rodney is shown and he empties his pockets and shrugs his shoulders. This portrays Rodney as having money troubles but as well as quite stupid as he shrugs his shoulders. Lastly, Grandad is sitting in an armchair eating a sandwich this gives the audience signals for what this character does the majority of the time.

The font used looks like the type used on signs advertising Sunday markets and car boots which again shows that it is a very British show.

Q analysis

Q

The target audience of ‘Q’ for this magazine is music fans that would buy the magazine regardless of who is on the cover as they are a fan of the magazine. As well as fans of the key signifier, Muse. This is one of the purposes of having a key signifier on the front cover; it allows a wider audience to be attracted and interested in buying this issue of Q. The secondary audience of this magazine would be people that are fans of Joy Division as it is shown that they feature in this issue as well as Muse. It is clear to the audience that Joy Division are featured heavily because there is a picture at the top.

On the front cover, there is a mid shot of the band with the lead singer, Matt Bellamy in the middle with the other members of the band either side of him. They have light shining on them from behind, which is very reminiscent of heaven. This could mean that this band is the pinnacle (or highpoint) of music. The background is very dark and so are the clothes they are wearing in the picture, in music videos, and when performing depending on the album. The hair and facial hair do give them a very alternative/rock look, which is the genre of music Muse generally produce and what is featured heavily in Q.

The colours used, white, black and red all contrast well to one and another and as well as can give a subtle idea about the feel of the music Muse produce and the type of music in the magazine. All of these colours have connotations to the genre of music covered in the magazine.

The text on the front cover is very bold but neat, the main point of attention being the word ‘Muse’, the text has a glow effect added which can also serve as a way to catch the audience’s eye.

Rolling Stone

The magazine “Rolling Stone” also portrays the artist Muse as quite dark by not having much lighting on the key signifier even though it is on the front cover. Similarly to Q, they only have one bit of light on the front cover but in general it is darker which suits the tone and genre of music Muse tend to produce. As well as Q, the key signifier is presented with a mid shot and is not looking at the camera. The use of light on Matt Bellamy’s eyes gives a dramatic feel to the shot which again, portrays the drama Muse create in their songs. The picture almost looks like it is from a film.

Instead of having the artist in front of a plain background to make the cover more eye-catching Rolling Stone have one picture as the front cover which gives it a more classic look which shows what kind of content is inside and also what audience tend to read the magazine.

I feel that there is a very split target audience for this magazine, there are die-hard fans of music and current pop culture that would buy the issue. On the other hand there are fans of the current key signifier, as there is only one image on the cover, compared to Q, which features more than one. It seems as though that Muse are the biggest part of this issue of the magazine.

There is also a secondary audience of just rock fans in general as above muse reads “Men In Rock” which could appeal to fans of the genre.

The house style is very classic which fits into the theme of the magazine. There is a use of using eye-catching colours; puffs all the codes and conventions are there to make a successful magazine cover. The colours of the text are very similar to the clothes they are wearing which are quite dingy again, giving the audience a feel for the artist. The words that stand out on the cover are “Rolling Stone” and “Muse” which shows that Muse is the heavy focus of this issue of the magazine.

Vogue

The target audience for the fashion magazine, ‘Vogue’ would most defiantly be women around the ages of 16-34 years of age, although I do disagree with this age bracket as it does not seem likely that 16 year olds would be reading this and have the same interests as women in their 30’s. The audience wants new fashion tips or just takes interest in the subject/ people involved in the issue of the magazine. Vogue is generally described as one of the ‘higher class’ fashion magazines, which gives an idea of the audience that purchases it. The secondary audience would be fans of the key signifier, Cara Delevigne or people that have interests in models.

The house style of the magazine relies on the colour red a greatly, mainly because one of the big articles inside is a guide to the red carpet style. Similar to other magazines there are puffs, use of buzzwords and eye-catching colours. Parallels can be drawn for conventions used to attract the audience to the magazine. These parallels are things such as; the key signifier, the house style, things being featured on the front cover and eye-catching colours and bold words. The key signifier, Cara Delevigne is shown as looking beautiful and stylish, this could interest women as they might like the way she looks or dresses and this could convince them to buy the issue. She is also looking at the camera which breaks the fourth wall and can again, catch the audience’s eye.

The key signifier is portrayed as very elegant, beautiful and stylish (all things that the target audience most likely aspire to be). Her hair is flowing she has nice makeup which again gives a sense of beauty, which can portray to the audience what the magazine, has inside and how ordinary people can look and dress like famous actors and models.

How do audiences influence institutional decisions?

The companies producing and distributing a movie will often make decisions to make the product appeal to the audience. This may be the way the film is promoted, an example of this could be if the film is targeted to an age less than about 40 years old it could be heavily advertised and promoted online. Distributors and marketers could do this because lots of teens, people in their 20’s and 30’s tend to use the internet a lot more than people older than this. James Bond is not necessarily a movie with the target audience of teenagers so apart from some adverts and trailers online, there was not a massive online marketing campaign for ‘Spectre’.

Another institutional decision that could be influenced by the audience could be the cast that is in the movie. If a movie is in a certain genre, or is targeted at a certain audience, the actors cast (main or supporting roles), could be chosen to generate interest from the audience that are interested in the genre/ actor. An example of bad casting in the eyes of the audience in the past would be Timothy Dalton in the James Bond movies. Audiences reacted to his portrayal of Bond very badly saying that his adaptation was too violent and gritty so the institution decided it would be best to find another actor to play Bond. Timothy Dalton’s movies over all time are the worst and 3rd least successful Bond movies according to the Box Office takings.

Films can be shown at festivals for the film company to be able to determine whether it is wise to make it available at the cinema. If the audience reacts badly to the film, often the film will not be shown at cinemas.

Casino Royal set such high expectations for the following movie in the Bond franchise audiences were very excited for Quantum of Solace. The movie didn’t hit high expectations, receiving poor reviews although; Quantum did make more money at the box office with a worldwide total taking of $586,090,727 and Casino Royal earning a little less. Despite this, after the poor reviews and reactions from fans the director was changed out for the next movie.