3. TV Drama
This revision guide is linked to Question 1 of the AS Media exam.
In this question you have studied a variety of TV Drama’s from
the UK and US. You have also studied the Technical aspects of
TV Drama and Representation theory.
All of this will be included in this question.
Here are a list of the TV Drama’s we have looked at and their
corresponding genre.
Hustle (Crime)
Merlin (Action/Adventure)
Misfits (Contemporary/Teen)
Cranford (Period)
Eastenders (Soap – Traditional)
Hollyoaks (Soap – Youth)
24 (US Drama/Action)
Other Suggested Viewing…
New Tricks (BBC – Police Drama)
Spooks (BBC – Spy Drama)
One Tree Hill (E4 – US Teen Drama)
Downton Abbey (ITV – Period Drama)
4. Example Question
Here is the type of question you will see in your exam…
You will be shown a 4 min extract from an unseen TV Drama
from the last 5 years (Terrestrial and Digital Channels).
You will watch the extract through once
without taking
notes, and then 3 more times where you will be allowed
to make notes.
USE THIS TIME WISELY
5. Question Break Down
So this question is asking you to do a number of things…
1 - DISCUSS – or analyse and articulate why
2 – CONTSTRUCTS – Creates using technical codes
3 – REPRESENTATIONS – Class, Age, Genre, Ethnicity, Disability,
Sexuality (They will only use one)
So in order to answer the question you must do the following…
Technical Codes + Semiotics
Representation
Reactio
n
Full
Understanding
6. Semiotics
Signs make help us decipher what exactly is being represented. Signs are the smallest piece of meaning we can
use to decode meaning. Almost anything can act as a sign
and more than one sign makes up a code.
For example:
Glasses + bowtie + pocket protector
= Nerd
The Sign
Signifier: The materiality of the sign (what it is made of –
image, sound, object).
Signified: The idea, the mental concept to which the signifier
refers
Signification: The ‘external’ meaning created by these two
components.
Concept of
a heart
Heart
Word ‘Heart’
Picture of a Heart
Pronunciation of ‘Heart’
7. Semiotics
There are 3 different categories of signs in Media Studies…
1. The symbolic sign – You have to learn what the sign represents.
What you actually see has nothing to do with what the sign
represents.
e.g. McDonalds logo, blackberry logo, Adidas logo.
2 – The Iconic sign – Looks like the object or
concept it refers to in some way.
e.g. Women’s toilet logo.
3 – The Indexical Sign – Is produced by
the object or concept that it refers to.
e.g. Lipstick mark is produced by a kiss.
Signification
According to Roland Barthes, there are two orders of
signification:
Denotation: the common sense, obvious meaning of the sign.
Connotation: The associated meanings that accrue to the
signs through different usages and contexts.
8. Representation
Describes the signs that stand in for and take the place of something
else. It is through representation people know and understand the
world and reality through the act of naming it. Signs are
manipulated in order to make sense of the world.
To look like or resemble.
To stand in for something or someone
To present a second time to re-present
This means that media texts are intentionally
composed, lit, written, framed, cropped,
captioned, branded, targeted and censored by
their producers, and that they are entirely
artificial versions of the reality we perceive
around us.
Any representation is a mixture of:
The thing itself.
The opinions of the people doing the representation
The reaction of the individual to the representation
The context of the society in which the representation
is taking place.
10. Textual Analysis
Literally means analysing text and in
our case the text will be a 5 minute clip
from a television drama.
You will have to look at…
• Denotation and Connotation.
• What lies beneath the text. What
ideologies are being created or
reinforced?
• How are they portraying the world
and different social groups?
11. Class
Questions to consider…
How is class represented?
What are status symbols?
How is a certain class being
misrepresented?
Is there another class being represented in a better light?
Is class being linked to race?
Some Representations that can be seen in TV Drama
Status Symbols
•
•
•
•
•
•
Clothing or lack of it
Cars
Jewellery
Brands
Houses/mansions
Gadgets
Poor/moneyless/bum
Lower class
Lower middle class
Working class
Upper middle class
Upper class
Elite/rich/millionaire
Status Symbols are used to…
To establish class
To silently assert power over those who aren’t quite as fortunate or
successful.
To fit into a stereotype or set of individuals.
12. Age
We quickly deem other people too old, or too young, or criticise
them for being immature or fuddy-duddy (conservative and dull).
We criticise mature women for going about as mutton dressed as
lamb, and young girls for tarting themselves up as jail bait.
Thanks to the media, we appear to
live in an age obsessed world: a
world obsessed with youth and its
attendant beauty. Old people are
often subject to the most rigid
stereotypes of all (old = ugly,
weak, stupid). The future looks
pretty bleak for all of us.
What are some common
representations of age, are negative
representations always dealing with the
elderly or can it spread to all ages?
Rebellious teen
Senile old woman/man
Cradle robbing woman
Male in a mid-life crisis
Middle-age woman clinging to her youth
Silly old man
And the list goes on.
13. Gender
The representation of men and women.
Gender is perhaps the basic category we use for sorting human
beings, and it is a key issue when discussing representation.
Essential elements of our own identity, and the identities we
assume other people to have, come from concepts of gender what does it mean to be a boy or a girl?
Many objects, not just humans,
are represented by the media
as being particularly masculine
or feminine - particularly in
advertising - and we grow up
with an awareness of what
constitutes 'appropriate'
characteristics for each gender.
Representations of women across all media tend t
highlight the following:
beauty (within narrow conventions)
size/physique (again, within narrow conventions)
sexuality (as expressed by the above)
emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings
relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom)
14. Gender
Women are often represented as being part of a context (family,
friends, colleagues) and working/thinking as part of a team. In
drama, they tend to take the role of helper (Propp) or object,
passive rather than active.
Often their passivity extends to victimhood. Men are still
represented as TV drama characters more frequently than women,
and tend to be the predominant focus of news stories.
The representations of women
that do make it onto page and
screen do tend to be stereotypical,
in terms of conforming to societal
expectations, and characters who
do not fit into the mould tend to
be seen as dangerous and deviant.
America seems to expect its
women to behave better than
their European counterparts British viewers adored the
antics of Patsy & Edina in
Absolutely Fabulous, but these
had to be severely toned down
(less swearing, NO drug taking)
for the US remake, High Society
(which was a flop).
15. Gender
Representation of Men
'Masculinity' is a concept that is made up of more rigid
stereotypes than femininity. Representations of men across all
media tend to focus on the following:
•
•
•
•
•
Strength - physical and intellectual
Power
Sexual attractiveness (which may be based on the above)
Physique
Independence (of thought, action)
Male characters are often represented as isolated, as
not needing to rely on others (the lone hero). If they
submit to being part of a family, it is often part of the
resolution of a narrative, rather than an integral
factor in the initial balance.
It is interesting to note that the
male physique is becoming more
important a part of representations
of masculinity. 'Serious' Hollywood
actors in their forties (eg Willem
Dafoe, Kevin Spacey) are expected
to have a level of 'buffness' that
was not aspired to even by young
heart-throbs 40 years ago (check
out Connery in Thunderball 1965).
16. Gender
Increasingly, men are finding it as difficult to live up to their
media representations as women are to theirs.
This is partly because of the increased media focus on
masculinity - think of the growing market in men's magazines,
both lifestyle and health - and the increasing emphasis on even
ordinary white collar male workers (who used to sport their
beer-gut with pride) having the muscle definition of a
professional swimmer.
As media representations of
masculinity become more specifically
targeted at audiences with product
promotion in mind (think of the huge
profits now made from male fashion,
male skin & hair care products,
fitness products such as weights,
clothing etc), men are encouraged
(just as women have been for many
years) to aspire to be like (to look/
behave in the same way) the role
models they see in magazines. This
is often an unrealistic target to set,
and awareness of this is growing.
Bradley Cooper: Sexiest Man Alive???
17. Ethnicity
Ethnicity, like sex, is a set of genetically defined, biological
characteristics. However, like gender, it is also a set of culturally
defined characteristics.
Representation of race in the media can consist of the same sort
of rigid stereotypes that constitute gender portrayal. However,
stereotyping of race is seen as more harmful than stereotyping
of gender, as media representation may constitute the only
experience of contact with a particular ethnic group that an
audience (particularly an audience of children) may have.
Racial stereotypes are often based on social myth, perpetuated
down the ages. Thus, the media depiction of, say, Native
American Indians, might provide a child with their only
experience of Native American Indian culture and characters,
and may provide that child with a set of narrow prejudices which
will not be challenged elsewhere within their experience.
Most work on Race & The
Media has concentrated on the
representation of black men
and women. This has partly
been because there is a strong
African-American counterculture which provides viable
alternative role models and
demands that they are
represented.
In recent years, the success of
actors such as Denzel Washington,
Whoopi Goldberg, Laurence
Fishburne and Morgan Freeman in
a diversity of roles has meant that
black characters in movies and on
TV are no longer 'stock' types.
18. Ethnicity
However, there are many negative representations of black
people, portrayals which seem deliberately designed to
inflame the fear and hatred of other cultures
how positive a representation is the archetypal AfricanAmerican gangsta? Yet these are representations coming from
within black culture itself...
Attention is now being paid to the representation of other
ethnic groups, notably Asian Americans and Latinos, who
represent a much larger proportion of the US population than
their TV coverage would suggest.
Things are changing - on the one hand the success of John
Woo and Ang Lee in Hollywood is pushing the boundaries
back for Asian Americans, and the Latin Music Explosion of
1999 has led to much wider acceptance of Latino performers.
19. Common Representation of
Ethnicity
African decent
-Gangster
-“Token black guy’’
-Impoverished
-Criminal
-Victim
-Hero
Asian decent
Intelligent
Martial artist
Obsessed with electronics
Quirky or weak
Lack emotion
Women can be seen as ditzy in
some cases
Latino decent
Ugly
Uneducated
Silly/not taken seriously
Illegal aliens
Partiers
Involved in drugs (dealing/taking)
Sex symbols (Antonio Banderez, Penelope
Cruz, Salma Hayek).
20. Common Representation of
Ethnicity
Middle Eastern (Arabic) decent
Terrorists/violent
Very religious
Physically strong
Strict/stern/not a push over
Serious
Victims
Villains/rarely seen as heroes
White British/American
Powerful: physical/intellectual
Often the hero
Serial killer
In charge (dominant race)
Lead role
21. Disability
Questions to Consider…
Are there any disabled people represented within the show?
Why or why not?
How are these people being represented? Are they victims?
Does everyone have pity on them? Are they treated like
everyone else?
What part do they have within the show, is it a crucial role?
What message are you getting about this specific disability
or ability being represented in the clip?
Are the actors within the show actually disabled? If not why
do you suppose they chose not to use an actor with a
disability?
Is it right for actors to pretend to be something they are not.
Can this be compared to the times when white men wore
black makeup to play black men in minstrel shows.
22. Disability
Or Physical Ability/Disability
Who are we talking about
• Those who are physically disabled (paralysed,
deaf, blind, amputees).
• Those who are limited in how much they can
do due to morbidly obese, cancer, aids, etc).
• Those who are in good shape i.e. star athletes,
superheroes, average person, one with special
abilities.
Sexuality
How is one’s sexual orientation constructed?
There are many types of sexual orientations out there, our main
focus will be on:
- Heterosexuality (most common type)
- Homosexuality (gay and lesbian)
Sexual orientation is biological, although sceptics think it is based
on choice. What we are concerned with is how is sexual
orientation expressed?
23. Sexuality
How is one’s sexual orientation constructed?
There are many types of sexual orientations out there, our main
focus will be on:
- Heterosexuality (most common type)
- Homosexuality (gay and lesbian)
Sexual orientation is biological, although sceptics think it is based
on choice. What we are concerned with is how is sexual
orientation expressed?
Heterosexual Women
Loving/Respectable/average
(monogamous)
Promiscuous
Frigid (uncomfortable)
Pure (virginal/naive)
Alternative (‘gold digger’,
‘pregnant teen’, ‘cougar’)
Heterosexual Men
Respectable (monogamous)
Promiscuous
‘Ladies Man’, ‘Heart throb’
Bumbling man who has trouble
talking to women
24. Sexuality
Homosexual women (Lesbian)
Monogamous
Promiscuous
Embarrassed (In the closet)
Homosexual Males (Gay)
Promiscuous
Monogamous
Overbearing
Embarrassed (In the closet)
Important points to consider
Gender closely ties in with
sexuality.
Sexuality is often expressed
through physical means; clothes,
props, setting, acting.
Understanding how a particular
characters gender is constructed
will help you analyse how their
sexuality is being represented.
25. Technical Codes
In your answer you will be asked to write about how the specific
representations are created, this means that you will need to say
how a representation of gender is created using technical aspects
of moving image.
The technical codes are…
Mise-en-scene
Props, Setting, Costume, Makeup, Décor, Lighting & Colour
Cinematography
Framing (Close up, establishing shot etc), Camera Movement
(Zoom, Track, Pan etc) & Position (characters on screen)
Editing
Pace, Length of shot, Choice of shot, type of transistion
Sound
Diegetic & Non-Diegetic Sound, Music, Leitmotif, Dialogue
YOU MUST USE THE CORRECT TERMS
THROUGHOUT YOUR ANSWER
26. Mise-en-scene
A French term literally meaning ‘put in the scène’.
Studying mise en scène involves reading the contents of the film
frame.
Every aspect of a frame is carefully constructed in order to
generate particular meanings for the audience.
A film’s mis en scène includes:
Setting inc studio
Décor
Establish location, time period and
atmosphere.
Establish characters within the film.
Props
Highlight key aspects of a narrative.
Highlight themes of a film.
Costume
Make-up
Lighting
Establish GENRE – usually through use of
ICONOGRAPHY (mise en scène that is
shared between a group of films).
27. Cinematography
Cinematography is:
The use of the camera and lighting to
record movement on to film.
Shots: establishing shot, master shot (an angle that keeps
all characters in play) , close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide
shot, two-shot (encompassing two people), aerial shot, point
of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations
of these.
Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam,
hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.
Composition: framing (Close up etc), rule of thirds (nothing is
central always off to one side), depth of field – deep and
shallow focus, focus pulls (from out of focus into focus).
28. Editing
Includes transition of image and sound
Cutting
shot/reverse shot – seen in a reaction or in horror movies when some one is being
followed and looks around
eye-line match – when two shots are cut together matching the eye lines of two
characters
graphic match – Match of two similar shapes (ie Psycho plug hole cut into eye)
action match – when something happens in a scene and there is a cut, the next shot
will show the same action
jump cut – a transition between two shots which appears to jump
Crosscutting – interweaving of two or more separate scenesCutaway – interruption of a scene with another image (often related ie hands) avoids a
jump cut.
Dissolve
Fade-in
Fade-out
Wipe – One scene wipes over the next, often from one side
Superimposition – The placing of a clip or image over another (you will still see both
images)
long take
short take
slow motion
Ellipsis – a sudden leap from one subject to another
expansion of time – how time is shown through the editing
post-production – Editing, SFX, Sound
visual effects – Specific computer effects
29. Sound
Diegetic and non-diegetic sound – Diegetic means what sound you can
see coming from the frame – Non-Diegetic is the opposite
Synchronous/asynchronous sound – Synchronized sound, if the show
has a piano player and you hear him playing. Asynchronous is the opposite, i.e. not
synched.
Sound effects
sound motif – or Leitmotif – a sound that can be heard when a specific character is
present, i.e. Jaws with der dum…
sound bridge – running any sound across from one shot to another to keep it
uninterrupted.
dialogue & voiceover
mode of address/direct address – Talking to the audience
sound mixing
sound perspective - A sound’s position in space as perceived by the viewer
given by volume, timbre, and pitch
Score - Music
Incidental music – Background music
Themes and stings - a short musical phrase, primarily used in television shows
and films as a form of punctuation
Ambient sound – natural sound from the location, ie humming computers in an
office.
30. How to Answer?
In an answer for question 1 you should consider the following format
Introduction
Introduce the representation and the TV drama you will be analyzing
1st Paragraph
Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
Write a statement point, explain the representation, then
give your evidence of how this is shown through
cinematography, then say what it means and how I links back to
the representation. Do this around 3 times a paragraph.
2nd Paragraph
Editing
Do the same as the last paragraph but focused on editing
3rd Paragraph
Sound
4th Paragraph
Mise-en-scene
Always Think!!
How does the code
they produce decode
for the audience
Conclusion
Highlight how all of the representations have been created and sum
up your key findings.
31. Hustle
Hustle is a British television drama
series made by Kudos Film and
Television for BBC One in the
United Kingdom. Created by Tony
Jordan and first broadcast in 2004,
the series follows a group of con
artists who specialise in "long
cons" – extended deceptions
which require greater
commitment, but which return a
higher reward than simple
confidence tricks.
Hustle is a crime drama and will have signs that help us to associate
with this genre. For example you will have police involved and specific
signs such as Police uniforms, or Money will be prevalent and will often
be on show or exchanged. Think about the typical briefcase idea.
Hustle is very slick and filmed with a cinematic style, meaning that a lot
of time and thought is put into the lighting, cinematography and miseen-scene.
On Youtube search for Series 3 episode 6 or use this url
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9geww9UrQNM&feature=related
How does Hustle use mise-en-scene to create a representation of
Women being eye candy?
32. Merlin
Merlin is a British fantasy-adventure television programme by
Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps. It
began broadcasting on BBC One on 20 September 2008. The
show is based on the Arthurian legends of the wizard Merlin and
his relationship with Prince Arthur but differs from traditional
versions of the legend in many ways. It is produced by
independent production company Shine Limited.
Merlin is set in medieval times and is part of the action adventure
genre, again this means it will be coded in a specific way. For example
you will see swords, armour, and cloaks which all represent Knights,
who in turn are coded as being honourable and just.
Go to youtube search for Merlin Season 2 Episode 2 or type this URL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8PL_W81TPE&feature=related
Look at the interaction between the Servant (Merlin –who is also the
star of the show) and the Prince (Arthur – The soon to be king) How
are cinematography, sound & MES used to create a representation of
Class?
33. Misfits
Misfits is a British science fiction
comedy-drama television series
about a group of young offenders
forced to work in a community
service programme, where they
obtain supernatural powers after a
strange electrical storm. The first
series started broadcasting on 12
November 2009 on E4, and was
produced by Clerkenwell Films.
Misfits is a contemporary drama and has a cast of teens/young
people, they are all young offenders and therefore the orange jump
suit is a clear sign of there status. The Main representations here are
AGE and ETHNICITY.
Go to Youtube and search for Misfits Season 2 Episode 1
How does the cinematography highlight representations of Class and
age?
In the graveyard scene, how is a representation of Ethnicity created?
Think about dialogue.
34. Cranford
Set in the early 1840s in the
fictional village of Cranford in the
county of Cheshire in North West
England, the story focuses
primarily on the town's single and
widowed middle class female
inhabitants who are comfortable
with their traditional way of life
and place great store in propriety
and maintaining an appearance of
gentility.
Cranford is a Period drama, and deals heavily with representations of
class. This can be seen through the way that people talk (SOUND)
and the behaviors and costume (MES) of the characters.
In Cranford you wont see many ethnic minorities, this may be
because it is set in 1842, a time when the UK wasn’t such a
multicultural country.
Go to Youtube and search for Cranford episode 1 part 1 (it may look
like a funny spelling of Cranford)
How is Class represented in Cranford?
What is the significance of the way that true Ladies eat oranges?
What does the Editing in this drama suggest? Does it help to signify
any representations?
35. Eastenders & Hollyoaks
Eastenders is a Soap Opera set in the
East of London in the fictional town of
Walford. The show has been running
for many years and offers a slice of
real London life. As you watch the
show you will be able to see many
typical stereotypes from the ‘tarty’
barmaid to the cockney ‘geezer’ (Alfie
& Kat Moon). Enders offers a look at a
range of people from all walks of life. Hollyoaks has been shown
since the mid 90’s and is
relatively new (as compared
to Corrie and Enders). The
show is set in the fictional
town of Hollyoaks, near
Chester (North England) and
is renowned for being a
youth skewed soap, often
having the ‘beautiful’ people
adorning the screen. This in
Soap
TV Drama
itself offers us a clear
Representation of Gender.
Realism
Fictional
Continuous story Single Narrative
Multi-narrative
Often Single Camera
Watch any current
episode of each soap,
Cliff hangers
More Money put in
what are the key
Deals with social More time spent on
representations, and how
issues
each episode
are they created?
Multi-camera
Quickly made
36. 24
24 is an American television series
produced for the Fox Network and
syndicated worldwide, starring
Kiefer Sutherland as Counter
Terrorist Unit (CTU) agent Jack
Bauer. Each 24-episode season
covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer,
using the real time method of narration.
24 is an example of an American TV Drama,
typically it is incredibly fast paced and full
of action. There are some key
representations here, namley Age – Jack is
not young! And Ethnicity – You have a
variety of different ethnic groups as Top agents or Villains.
The way that the US make drama’s often puts ours to shame,
they often spend a lot of money and time producing TV which is
cinematic and intense.
This is only one example of a US Tv Drama please also consider
the following and more…
The Sopranos - Gangsters
The Wire – Corrupt Cops
The West Wing – Politics
House – Medical
Gilmore Girls – Women Talking (great on for negative Gender rep)
