TV drama introduction

TV drama

 Section A - Media industry and audience:

Q1 – contextual analysis of industry – 15 marks – 25 mins

Q2 – convergence – 15 marks – 25 mins

Section B - LFTVD

Q3 – long answer – 30 marks – LIAR, theorist 50 mins.

Q4 – apply a theory – 10 marks – 17 mins

Context:

·      US network broadcasters must satisfy their advertisers and hold market share. They are also controlled by federal regulation.

·      The impact of this on content is reliance on highly formalised genre conventions and normative values which meet mainstream audience expectations but generate conservative drama.

US cable TV:

·      HBO (Warner), FX, Showtime, AMC.

·      These can take more risks with content and form.

·      These are subscription-based channels – no advertisements.

Trouble with UK TV drama:

·      Less risk taking, BBC and ITV dramas relied on crime and heritage drama.

·      Sky co-opted success of US long form with Sky Atlantic.

·      Commissioning remains tightly controlled and conservative in outlook.

Target audience – ABC1:

Scandi – noir – genre – Scandinavian, dark. E.g. the Killing

Channel 4 and BBC4 have identified foreign language/subtitled long form shows get the highest ratings. E.g. Deutschland 83.

Changing platforms:

·      Streaming – Netflix, Amazon, Now TV (Sky)

·      Content viewing by a TV still dominates in the UK. However this is changing.

·      Netflix dominates with 24% of UK market.

Audiences:

·      Rise of binge watching started with DVDs in the late 90s as there were problems with getting TV dramas on UK television.

·      US long form drama often uses Easter eggs and mid-season breaks to generate fan intensity and maintain media profile.

What attracts audiences to LFTDV?

·      High quality drama.

·      Multiple episodes, hours, years.

·      Content can be dark and difficult but innovative.

·      It attracts some of the best and innovative writers and actors.

·      Time shifting, easily accessible – watch when you want.

·      Long term narratives – attracts an audience for a long length of time.

·      Allows you to play with character development in unique and extreme ways which can be more detailed than films or short TV dramas that end after 1 season.

Top TV dramas:

·      West Wing.

·      Buffy the vampire slayer.

1.    Genre

2.    Themes

3.    Narrative/storylines.

4.    Character types

5.    Visual styles and production values.

6.    Methods and platforms.

7.    Cultural zeitgeist.

8.    Memes, accerssories.

West Wing:

1.    Serial political drama.

2.    The sacrifice of personal life for political duty.

3.    Set in the west wing of the white house, where the oval office and the offices of senior presidential staff are located.

4.    President, presidential staff.

5.    $2.7 million budget per episode.

6.    Available to buy on YouTube and google play. Originally released on NBC.

7.    X

8.    No official merchandise.

Buffy the vampire slayer:

1.    Supernatural drama,

2.    Friendship, second chances, the evil can be redeemed.

3.    Series based on the 1992 film. Follows a vampire slayer who battles against vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness.

4.    Students, main character is a young woman chosen by fate to battle evil forces, a vampire (Spike).

5.    X

6.    Available to buy on YouTube and google play, Facebook streamed the series in 2018. Available on Prime video. Originally released on the WB network.

7.    X

8.    No official merchandise.

Conventions of LFTVD:

·      Tend to be more cinematic – high production values.

·      Stranger Things has excessive amounts of detail e.g. being set in the 80s it has a lot of detail in all the sets.

·      One chapter flows into the next – makes it easy to binge watch – enabled by Netflix autoplay.

·      Immersive world that provides escapism.

·      Less traditional storytelling structure with unexpected twists. E.g. Game of Thrones.

·      Encourages audiences to respond with their own media and take part (Clay Shirky). E.g. talk about it on social media.

·      Cultural parlance – TV shows become a part of life e.g. ‘Shalom’ – Friday Night Dinner. TV becomes embedded into culture.

·      It goes ‘beyond the binary’ so characters move beyond simply good or bad.

·      ST – Steve Harington and Hopper are examples of more complex characters.

·      Novelistic – multiple storylines and characters that arc over a number of episodes and seasons.

·      We may see flashbacks that explain their background.

·      Systematic change – isn’t just focused on one individual.

·      Communities facing challenges and dealing with them by embracing or rejecting their own diversity.

·      Dramatic cliff-hangers

·      Stock characters