- Historical contexts
- LIAR
- Theorists
Institutional Context:
US network broadcasters must satisfy their advertisers and hold market share.
↳Controlled by federal regulation.
Impact on Context:
Reliance on highly formalised genre conventions
- HBO launched in 1970's→ the first national subscription cable tv channel
- BY 2000's, The Sopranos and The Wire won awards→ this eventually created 'water cooler tv'.
'Water Cooler' TV
- This effect occurs when employees at a workplace gather around the office water cooler and chat about recent TV dramas.
- It is sort of a TV drama gossip
Trouble with UK TV Drama:
- UK broadcasters failed to meet the challenge of US cable channels (risk-taking content and style)
- BBC and ITV relied on genre based, formula drama (period drama)
ABC1 Audience:
Intelligent kind of people who want to watch
programmes like this→Change 4 and BBC 4 have identified foreign language TV dramas; eg. The Killing or Deutschland 83.
Changing Platforms?
- Content viewing via TV still dominates in UK.
- 3/4 of households (UK) have PVR (personal video recorder) uptake but it has plateaued.
- Use of time shift is increasing
- Growth SVOD (subscription video on demand) web based channels such as Netflix, Amazon and Now TV (Sky).
- Netflix dominates with 24% of UK market and 5 million subscribers
- 10% growth in 2015-2016
Audiences:
- Rise of binge-watching started with DVD in late 90's.
- A move from 'water cooler' TV to 'shared universe' fandom (cinema)
- US long form drama often uses Easter eggs and mid-season breaks to generate fan intensity and maintain media profile.
'Easter Eggs'
- Long running hidden jokes in TV shows.
- You want to be the one that spots them.
- They can be in TV, video games.
Why do audiences love LFTVD?
- High quality drama.
- Multiple episodes, hours, years.
- Content can be dark and difficult but innovative.
- It now attracts some of the best and innovative writers and actors.
- Time shifting, easily accessible.
-Rise of streaming services means that people can more easily catch up at home.
TV Drama compared to movies?
- Movies are expensive and you have to watch the whole thing before you know what the audience makes of it.
-TV is producing a higher volume of creative quality programming that people are watching at home.
'State of the nation' TV?
- Long form shows challenged the simplistic storylines and stereotypical characters that dominate network TV e.g. CSI in US
- Time shifting, easily accessible.
-Rise of streaming services means that people can more easily catch up at home.
TV Drama compared to movies?
- Movies are expensive and you have to watch the whole thing before you know what the audience makes of it.
-TV is producing a higher volume of creative quality programming that people are watching at home.
'State of the nation' TV?
- Long form shows challenged the simplistic storylines and stereotypical characters that dominate network TV e.g. CSI in US
-HBO launched The Sopranos in 1999 (to 2007), which was a huge commercial and critical hit. increasingly→ these shows were about the crisis of US identity and hegemony.
↳The Sopranos made people see a different side to criminals e.g. mental illness
Deadwood:
Genre- Western
Themes: Race, prostitution, misogyny, violence, politics and immigration
Narrative structure and storylines: The town of Deadwood, South Dakota in the weeks following the Cluster massacre is full of crime and corruption. there is a disillusioned and bitter ex-lawman and a man hoping to find a new start for himself. both men find themselves quickly on opposite sides of legality and morality.
Character types: criminals, a woman with cerebral palsy.
Visual Styles and production values: quite slow-paced, seamless integration of CGI effects with sunlit western landscapes.
Memes/accessories:
Mad Men:
Genre- Period drama
Themes: Identity and memory, Gender and sexuality, Alcoholism, Counterculture, Racism, Smoking
Narrative structure and storylines: Set in the 1960's, it follows the lives of the competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising living in an ego-driven world where key players make an art of selling.
Character types: ruthlessly competitive men and women
Visual Styles and production values: every episode has immaculately composed shots where lighting, framing and performance combined tell a whole story in a single image.
Memes/accessories:
The Returned:
Genre- Supernatural, Mystery/suspense, Fantasy and Drama
Themes:
Narrative structure and storylines: opens in a small mountain community when it is disrupted by local people who are presumed dead and re-appear at their homes even though they had passed away years earlier. The 'dead' people are determined to reclaim their lives and start over. a gruesome murder is similar to a serial killer from the past.
Character types: Ghostly characters
Visual Styles and production values: French style
Memes/accessories:
The Handmaids Tale:
Genre- Utopian and Dystopian drama
Themes: Women in subjugation in a patriarchal society
Narrative structure and storylines: it follows a Second American Civil War wherein a totalitarian society subjects fertile women called 'Handmaids' into child-bearing servitude.
Character types: Young women
Visual Styles and production values: the series has captured the eeriness of the story in the mist en scene. Shafts of light shine through windows making the rest of the room dark and the light is only natural (low-key). use of symmetry and close ups. the entire show lacks vibrant colour , each shot has a pale mix of neutral colours instead to make the show feel more like early 20th century.
Memes/accessories: Big hat
Walking Dead:
Genre- Horror fiction, zombie apocalypse
Themes:
Narrative structure and storylines: the only thing that stops people is the 'Walkers' aka the zombies. the Walking Dead tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors led by former police officer, who travel in search of a safe and secure home.
Character types:
Visual Styles and production values: opening scene has a lack of characters in the setting, use of abandoned settings makes the audience feel isolated and uneasy to fit in with the horror genre. Most of the shots are sort of yellowy/faded.
Memes/accessories: Coral (carl)
Oz:
Genre- Crime drama
Themes: is about political cynicism and a morally bankrupt penal system.
Narrative structure and storylines: Set in 'Emerald City'. in the experimental unit of the prison, unit manager emphasises rehabilitation. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment with a carefully managed balance of members from each racial and social group, indeed to ease tensions among the various factions.
Character types: criminals
↳The Sopranos made people see a different side to criminals e.g. mental illness
Deadwood:
Genre- Western
Themes: Race, prostitution, misogyny, violence, politics and immigration
Narrative structure and storylines: The town of Deadwood, South Dakota in the weeks following the Cluster massacre is full of crime and corruption. there is a disillusioned and bitter ex-lawman and a man hoping to find a new start for himself. both men find themselves quickly on opposite sides of legality and morality.
Character types: criminals, a woman with cerebral palsy.
Visual Styles and production values: quite slow-paced, seamless integration of CGI effects with sunlit western landscapes.
Memes/accessories:
Mad Men:
Genre- Period drama
Themes: Identity and memory, Gender and sexuality, Alcoholism, Counterculture, Racism, Smoking
Narrative structure and storylines: Set in the 1960's, it follows the lives of the competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising living in an ego-driven world where key players make an art of selling.
Character types: ruthlessly competitive men and women
Visual Styles and production values: every episode has immaculately composed shots where lighting, framing and performance combined tell a whole story in a single image.
Memes/accessories:
The Returned:
Genre- Supernatural, Mystery/suspense, Fantasy and Drama
Themes:
Narrative structure and storylines: opens in a small mountain community when it is disrupted by local people who are presumed dead and re-appear at their homes even though they had passed away years earlier. The 'dead' people are determined to reclaim their lives and start over. a gruesome murder is similar to a serial killer from the past.
Character types: Ghostly characters
Visual Styles and production values: French style
Memes/accessories:
The Handmaids Tale:
Genre- Utopian and Dystopian drama
Themes: Women in subjugation in a patriarchal society
Narrative structure and storylines: it follows a Second American Civil War wherein a totalitarian society subjects fertile women called 'Handmaids' into child-bearing servitude.
Character types: Young women
Visual Styles and production values: the series has captured the eeriness of the story in the mist en scene. Shafts of light shine through windows making the rest of the room dark and the light is only natural (low-key). use of symmetry and close ups. the entire show lacks vibrant colour , each shot has a pale mix of neutral colours instead to make the show feel more like early 20th century.
Memes/accessories: Big hat
Walking Dead:
Genre- Horror fiction, zombie apocalypse
Themes:
Narrative structure and storylines: the only thing that stops people is the 'Walkers' aka the zombies. the Walking Dead tells the story of the months and years that follow after a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of survivors led by former police officer, who travel in search of a safe and secure home.
Character types:
Visual Styles and production values: opening scene has a lack of characters in the setting, use of abandoned settings makes the audience feel isolated and uneasy to fit in with the horror genre. Most of the shots are sort of yellowy/faded.
Memes/accessories: Coral (carl)
Oz:
Genre- Crime drama
Themes: is about political cynicism and a morally bankrupt penal system.
Narrative structure and storylines: Set in 'Emerald City'. in the experimental unit of the prison, unit manager emphasises rehabilitation. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment with a carefully managed balance of members from each racial and social group, indeed to ease tensions among the various factions.
Character types: criminals
Visual Styles and production values: dark style, mainly set in prison
Memes/accessories:
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