1. TV drama
Amber bush, Amelia barrett, Steph
webb.

2. A genre
A category of artistic composition, as in music or
literature, characterized by similarities in form,
style, or subject matter.
Horror, romantic, comedy, action, western.

3. Sub genre
A subcategory within a particular genre:
drama – crime, soaps, medical, costumes

4. Medical drama
A medical drama is a television drama in which
events center upon a hospital, an ambulance
staff, or any medical area.
Medical/hospital dramas play on the human
fascination of witnessing horrific events.
They often share narrative similarities with
soaps but can also be more
informative/educational than soaps
Casualty, holby city, er

5. conventions between all medical
dramas
A convention is a widely accepted device used in
television dramas.
Setting – ambulance, hospital
Characters – doctors, nurses
Mis-en-scene – hospital clothes, props,
equipment
Narrative – experience for caring for patients
technical language

6. Conventions of Crime
Setting- Crime genre are set in a well known city or capital that is created to be a dangerous place
this is because there is a high crime rate there.
Characters- two crime solve discuss with each other are crime solvers, criminals, victims, family and
friends of victim.
Narrative- includes a crime that needs to be solved, at the end the crime is solved and criminal is
punished, lead characters will have a back story and include there personal life in the narrative,
there is also a mystery for the audience to solve.
Camera angles- the camera normally follows the detective who is solving the crime, there is close
ups and extreme close ups when the crime is on the verge of being solved or intense moments.
Lighting- the lighting is often dark when showing the criminal
Mis-en-scene - include guns, weapons, laboratory equipment, police cars/banners, magnifying glass
and newspapers, and the criminal is in dark clothes this is to stereotype of a criminal.
Music- monotone humming in the background to create tension towards the audience.

7. How do we know Crime is a TV
Drama?
• Involves a crime and a criminal.
• Is a program not a film.
• Follows the different types of characters.
• The crime is always solved by the end of the
episode or series.

8. Soap Opera
• Conventions that are found in soap operas
include:
• Domestic themes and personal or family relationships occur
repeatedly between the characters.
• Setting – The setting of soap operas are usually set around a
small, central area where the soap opera is filmed.
• Central meeting points – These are points in the soap opera
where all the characters regularly go.
• Cliff hangers – These are used when a dramatic situation
happens in the soap but the end is not shown until the next
episode.
• Characters – these are used to allow for the audience to
relate to the situation and the help pilot the plot.

9. • On going – Series do not have a particular start or end as they usually run all year
round.
• Scheduling – Soaps are usually scheduled for target audience and is usually shown
on specific days and specific times related to the target audience.
• Includes real life issues – things like death, birth and marriage are often shown to
Example are, eastenders, emmerdale, coronationstreetmake the soap as real as
possible.

10. • Emmerdale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHztlneqn
Vo
• Er
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6mb_Nz
9rsw
• Gladiator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNGVMIwa
mL8

11. Conventions of costume
• Any costume dramas are set in
earlier times.
• Costume dramas give the audience
a sense of how life in those days
were different to how life is today.
• Relies heavily on mise en scene due
to the costumes, props, lighting and
setting.
• Plotline usually concentrates on
love, family and relationships.

12. Costume TV dramas as usually based upon/or simply includes a
distinguished historical event that occurred. They also feature
characters from that historical event to clarify the event properly.
Downtown abbey, gladiator, spartacus

13. Narrative theorists
Russian theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a three part
structure. They begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as
something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution,
when equilibrium is restored this is used in the TV drama’s crime, medical and
costume.
Vladimir Propp, who came up with the theory that there are only a certain
number of characters, who appear in narratives. It is easy to spot the hero and
villain in most cases. Example is the hero who leads the narrative, is usually
looking for something to solve like a mystery.
Claude Levi-Strauss suggested that all narratives had to be by conflict that was
cause by a series of opposing forces. he called this the theory of Binary
Opposition, and it is used to describe how each narrative has its equal and
opposite. Examples include good/evil or poverty/wealth.