Language- mise en scene, camera work, editing, sound
Industry
Audience
Representation- female, male, young, old, etc
Definitions:
Drama- What is TV drama? drama is a broad genre. At its simplest, it is fictionalised action in narrative form
Long Form TV Drama- term coined to describe the recent shift of interest towards television series of high quality that many consider to have replaced the cinema as a focus of serious adult entertainment. Unfolding over multiple episodes, hours and even years, these TV shows are seen to provide content, often dark and difficult, and an innovative style that that strain against the conventions of cinema as well as network television
Media Convention- A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning. In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:
Technical codes- all to do with the way a text is technically constructed - camera angles, framing, typography etc.
Verbal cues- everything to do with language- either written or spoken
Symbolic codes- codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotation level verbal codes
Genre- a genre is basically the category of any type of art or literature, for example, categories of movie would be comedy, horror, thriller etc
Genre Hybridity- some media texts are hybrid genres, which means that they share the conventions of more than one genre, for example, Dr. Who is a sci fi action- adventure drama and strictly come dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show
Synopsis- a brief summary of the major points of a written work
Barthes' narrative codes
Roland Barthes
Narratives like a ball of string
Roland Barthes was a semiologist
If you imagine a text is like a ball of string, can it be unravelled in one way or in many ways?
Open or closed?
texts may be
-open [i.e unravelled in a lot of different ways]
-closed [i.e there is only now obvious thread to pull on]
Barthes also decided that the threads that you pull on to try unravel meaning are called narrative codes and that they could be categorised in the following five ways:
Hermeneutic/ Enigma code
Proairetic/ Action code
Semantic code
Symbolic code
Referential code
The Hermeneutic code- ENIGMA CODE
refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.
The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.
The Proairetic code- ACTION CODE
also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.
Action code applies to any action that implies a further narrative action. For example, a gunslinger draws his gun on an adversary and we wonder what the resolution of this action will be.
The Hermeneutic and Proairetic codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. Barthes described them as:
-dependant on two sequential codes: the revelation of truth and the coordination of the actions represented
The Semantic code-
refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word. Any element in a text that suggests particular, often additional meaning by the way of connotation
E.g. a rose can be romantic symbol, as well as being the new labour symbol
What genre is the media text?
What sub genre is the media text?
List the main characters.
- President elect Garrick walker
- Linda Vasquez The President's Chief of staff, woman, Latino! 'tuff as a 2 dollar cheque'
- Frank Underwood, narrator [ to the camera] protagonist/anti hero House majority whip- 'keep the sludge moving'
- Claire Underwood [owner of charity clearwater initiative] dependant on Franks electoral success [Sandcorp]
- Zoe Barnes journalist at Washington Herald
- Michael Kern, recently elected secretary of state [Frank's rival]
- Peter Russo, drink driver, socialisation, use of controlled substances
- Doug, Frank's sidekick
Editing
Sound
Camera Work
Mise en scene
Other genre hybridities include Family dramas-
a popular and well known genre, the family drama centres on conflicts at the heart of family life and family relationships. Not to be confused with family orientated drama, family dramas can touch on such adult topics as incest and political violence.
Thriller conventions;
Family Drama-
a popular and well worn genre, the family drama centres on conflicts at the heart of family life and family relationships. Not to be confused with family orientated drama, family dramas can touch on such adult topics as incest and political violence. Though some American directors such as William Wyler, Orson Welles and John Ford have produced some defining works in this genre, the family drama carries a particular potency in Asia where the conflict between duties to family and individual desires are more charged. Other Hollywood examples of this are in films such as the Godfather and To kill a Mockingbird.
Steve Neale's theory of repetition and difference-
Steve Neale states that genres all contain instances of repetition and difference, difference is essential to the economy of the genre.
Neale states that the film and it's genre is defined by two things:
- how much is conforms to its genre's individual conventions and stereotypes. A film must watch the genre's conventions to be identified as part of that genre.
- how much a film subverts the genre's conventions and stereotypes. The film must subvert convention enough to be considered unique and not just a clone of an existing film.
In House of cards there is no hero, they all have their own objectives and ambitions. There is no clear hero as of yet which is a break from the normal conventions of the genre in order to make it more unique and interesting to the audience. There is the family drama elements within the relationship of Frank and Claire.
Thriller Conventions
What is a thriller?
-uses suspense, tension and excitement as the main elements
-includes many sub genres: mystery, crime, physiological, political and paranoid
-atmosphere of menace, violence, crime and murder
-society is seen as dark corrupt and dangerous
-literay devices like plot twist, red herrings, and cliff hangers
Political Thriller Conventions
Political Thrillers
a political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle. They usually involve legal plots, designed to give political power to enemy, while protagonist has to try to stop the enemy. They can involve national or international political scenarios. The common themes are: political corruption, terroism, and warfare. Political thrillers can be based on true facts such as the assassination of John F Kennedy. In political thrillers there is usually a strong overlap with the conspiracy thriller. For example, in the 2012 film Argo, the protagonist has to rescue the America hostages from Iran.
Ideology Consumerism-
Codes and conventions:
a code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.
In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:
Technical codes- all to do with the way a text is technically constructed- camera angles, framing, typography etc.
Verbal codes- everything to do with language- either written or spoken
Symbolic codes- codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotational level- all the things which draw upon our experience and understanding of other media texts, our cultural frame of reference.
Codes can create feelings for the audience through effects and techniques, for example, rain in a film and a women looking upset can make the audience feel bad for the women and be emotional.
Conventions are what you would expect to see in a certain genre, for example: in a fantasy genred film you would expect to see maybe unicorns, demons, hero/villians, strange settings, basically things that are fictional and unreal in our world.
