TV Drama: Key conventions and NCIS

The most important aspect of Media Language that you need to learn is the key conventions of TV Drama.

In order to analyse existing TV dramas and create your own, it's vital you understand the components that make up a TV drama. A lot of the work we completed for Assignment 2 on film genre and conventions will help you here.

Key conventions of TV Drama

• Multiple characters played by an ensemble cast (often each character with their own storyline)
• Specific technical codes e.g. realistic lighting and editing for social dramas
• Use of stereotypical characters to introduce lifestyle and motivation quickly
• Narrative formula that is followed in every episode e.g. Casualty (3 Strand); Homeland (multi-strand narrative)
• Common use of flashback, point of view shots, dialogue and voice over, enigma and action codes

A good way to analyse TV Drama is to use NCIS - exactly what we used for film genre in Assignment 2:

N = narrative (storyline)

C = character (people/character types)
I = iconography (what we can see)
S = setting (where it takes place)

These four aspects will provide enough evidence to identify the subgenre of TV Drama (or a hybrid of genres if the TV drama fits more than one category).

TV Drama subgenre

One of the key details TV broadcasters use to market a TV Drama is subgenre.


Remember, a film or TV genre is made up of a repertoire of elements. That repertoire could include particular iconography, lighting, sound, or actors associated with the genre. This list of features is known as a ‘repertoire’ because any given TV Drama within a subgenre may not use all of the possible elements, but it will use some.

Blog task / Homework

Your blog task today is to analyse this short clip from the BBC1 TV Drama Waterloo Road:

Answer the following questions on your blog:

Narrative: What does the clip suggest about this particular storyline for Waterloo Road? What do you expect to happen? How might the new character impact on existing storylines?

Character: What school-based stereotypes can you recognise in the clip? How does the clip introduce the new characters in the show?

Iconography: What elements of the clip help to quickly introduce the school subgenre of TV Drama?

Setting: How does the clip quickly introduce the school setting?


Example: The Night Manager (BBC1)




Narrative
The trailer for The Night Manager cleverly introduces several narrative strands. There is the main series arc introduced with the government agents trying to bring down the villain, Richard Roper. However, within this overall narrative there are clearly many other stories including romantic relationships, a boy being kidnapped, the main character going undercover with Roper and a war in a foreign country. At one point, a character actually lists some of the narrative strands: "Murder, theft..." while an American agent emphasises the threat to the main characters: "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?" It is clear to the audience that there is an overarching good v evil storyline but plenty of other narrative strands in each individual episode. These are all classic conventions of TV Drama.

Character
The characters are typical of a TV Drama in the subgenre of a spy thriller and largely follow Propp's theory of character types. The villain, Richard Roper, is established in the very first shot with ominous music accompanying a shadowy close-up: "War is a spectator sport." The trailer then goes on to introduce other key characters - the hero, who is going undercover to bring down Roper, the intelligence officer who is running the operation, a love interest (Propp's 'heroine') for both the hero and villain and various other minor characters.

Iconography
There is plenty of iconography of the spy drama genre - and at points the trailer almost feels like a James Bond movie. The props include guns, private jets and yachts to quickly introduce the money and power of the villain Richard Roper. Costumes such as sharp suits reinforce this. Alongside the costume and props, glamorous international locations feature throughout - snowy mountains, island villas or war-torn cities. All of these are typical of the spy subgenre for TV Drama and offer the audience excitement and action.

Setting
Some locations are designed to be familiar to the audience - the office of the British intelligence officer is a good example of this. However, the main settings are international and glamorous - hotels, yachts, island villas and war-torn foreign countries. This promises the audience a variety of vicarious pleasures as they get to travel the world with the main characters as they find out if the hero succeeds in his mission. These settings may remind audiences of action or thriller films such as James Bond, Taken or Fast and Furious that feature exotic, international locations. 

Anything you don't finish in the lesson is homework.

Due: Tuesday