Category: Year 12 (AS)

• Fictionalised action in narrative form produced for TV; Diverse sub genres but all TV drama.
• The link is that the way all use characters to tell a story
• Controversy is rooted in whether it is high or low culture – the high prestige of the single-authored drama versus supposedly lower prestige of soap operas etc – economic compromise!
• But different audiences find different values in the dramas they watch!
• TV drama is vital to attracting large audiences
• ‘in a digitally converging environment where new platforms are providing new forms such as ‘mobisodes’ and interactive drama and new means of distribution such as downloadable drama, the impact of the genre is se to continue…it is thus important to find out how audiences relate to them and what kind of influence they may have.’
• How do institutions shape media products? What are the different ways audiences respond?
• How far does the media influence the way people think and feel?
• The media deals not with a ‘window on the world’ but is a constructed representation of it.
• Genre and conventions associated with the different ones. Also hybrid.
  • Repeated motifs.
  • How industry and audience needs are balanced e.g. if audience turns away then it is modified.
  • Flexible and open to change
  • Reinforcing of dominant ideological beliefs = conservative.
  • But can also challenge and raise social issues.
  • Audiences know what to expect and genres became formulas of predictable ingredients which audiences liked.
  • Central purpose of genre is reaching a mass market.
• Narrative –
  • Fast-paced, elliptical, challenging, series form, flexi narrative approach.
  • Positioning audiences through character and narrative structure.
  • Conveying of ideologies
  • Reinforcing the idea of causal links e.g. crime leads to punishment.
• Realism
• Representation e.g. –
  • Gender
  • Ethnicity
  • Age
  • Sexuality
  • Region
• Institution
• Audience – readings of text: preferred / dominant / oppositional / negotiated see p 51.
• Characters – see Vladimir Propp’s character theory – a set of stock characters with some variations
• Narrative theory see Todorov :– equilibrium –- disruption -– disequilibrium – -resolution –-equilibrium
• Representational issues – see Levi Strauss’ binary oppositions – the attraction lies in the mythical resolutions which are possible in narratives in the way that they were not in real life.
• Gender appeal – some dramas appeal to women others to men.
• Connotations of mise en scene – creating realism also underlines issues of narrative and representation [think of Desperate Housewives]
• Intertextuality
• Camera work – TV drama is most associated with establishing shots, shot reverse shot, medium close up and close up for emotional moments. These particular help to tell the story without getting in the way.
• Sound – diegetic and non-diegetic which helps to punctuate the action and create effects such as suspense or tension and underline emotional moments.

‘How do camera angles privilege some characters over others?’

(In other words how does the use of the camera show that some characters have status and some are important to the story; also how does the camera show us which character/s viewpoint is going to be the one the story will be told from?)

For example we realise immediately that Merlin himself will be the central character from the opening shot which is a tracking long shot which enables us to see Merlin approaching from the other side of a small hill. The camera follows him as he walks through a variety of landscapes towards his ultimate destination, Camelot. As he goes we get a variety of camera angles from long shots, through pans and wides to set his journey in a context; we see what he sees through the use of over the shoulder shots as he looks around at the people and happenings in the market square of Camelot. Master shots of the castle and the market place give us a context for the story we are about to be told. Close ups of Merlin’s face show his excitement, curiosity and amazement at the scenes he witnesses while seeing him from a high angle emphasises his vulnerability in these unfamiliar surroundings.

The shot reverse shot as the camera focuses first on the King, Uther, on his balcony pronouncing the sentence of death on the man accused of sorcery, and then on Merlin’s horrified face and then back again, immediately indicates the differences between these two in their stations in life and in their beliefs and also make us aware of the potential for conflict between them.

Uther himself is seen in a low angle shot high on a balcony above the crowd gathered for the execution; although not alone the two men standing with him are perceived as inferiors because they are lower than the king. Merlin by contrast is just one among many seen in a high angle shot in the crowded market place yet the camera keeps coming back to his face and his reactions.

The final character introduced in this opening section is Morgana. She, like the king, is seen from a low angle shot almost hidden in the opening of a window in the castle. The close up on her look of disgust at the beheading and her retreat into the shadows immediately informs us that here is a character who may be an ally of Merlin’s while making it obvious that she does not necessarily agree with the king’s actions despite clearly being a member of his household.