Analysing TV ProgrammesBy Zara Yaffe

Form - Fiction

• The most common form of entertainment is arguably fiction. Fiction is where the content, usually the narrative, is derived from imagination rather than using facts or history. The content of the television programme, film, book, drama and so on, is not necessarily based on facts. A fictional character, for example, may never have been real. As well as other events that occur in the programme may not be real either.

• An example of a fictional film is ‘Charlie and The Chocolate Factory’. In this film, there is a boy that some people may be able to relate to. He and his family are stuck in poverty, which is relatable. The story begins being relatable for the viewer and then begins to spiral off into a completely fictional film. The story goes on to tell us about a chocolate factory that is run by ‘Oompa-Loompas’ which are basically orange dwarves with green hair from a jungle that are there to make chocolate. The whole factory is apparently edible. There are characters which turn into blueberries and tiny computer figures. This is a fictional film which engages us due to how unfamiliar it is to us as the audience, as obviously we have never experienced this before. If a person who was in poverty was watching this film, they may get a feeling of positivity from it. The little boy, Charlie, wins a golden ticket and a trip of a life-time. Although this trip to a fictional chocolate factory may never be real for the viewer, they might be able to relate to it in another way. Maybe by winning on a scratch card, or something smaller that will give them something to be happy about. The events in this story are completely unrelatable, but the story line of winning something when in a dark time in your life may be real – it’s just a matter of time until you get your winnings. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367594/

Form - Documentary

• Documentaries continue to play important roles in defining, exposing, and transforming social realities. Documentary is a form of entertainment that is based on reality, facts or history. Documentary type shows are designed to educate and inform the viewers. The work, a film or television programme for example, will present a political, social, or historical subject matter. It would be in a factual and informative manner, often consisting of actual news or interviews, accompanied by narration. An example of a documentary would be Planet Earth on BBC. It’s a 2006 TV Series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit. Each episode featured different habitats around the world, including jungles, caves and deserts. This documentary used footage of these areas and narration to show what was happening in them. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0795176/

Form - News

• A news television programme is there and broadcast in order to inform us, as the public, what is happening locally, nationally, and worldwide. Common news topics include war, politics, sport, business and celebrities. The problem with news is that Rupert Murdoch owns a lot of it, with the big, overall company being News Corp. In England, News Corp owns The Sun, The Times, Sunday Times, and Press Association. These are some of the main newspapers and news go-tos in England. This means that he personally can persuade what is shown worldwide and what people think of worldwide events. Murdoch can decide on what is shown and what is not, which is very biased. Viewers have no reason to not believe what is on the news because the newspapers and television news shows should be truthful and reliable sources. Murdoch being in control of this much of the media is a disadvantage as it’s too much power for one person. We, as the public, have a right to know what is going on around the world, but, if Murdoch is biased and not letting us see what is going on then it’s not fair on us being manipulated by him.

• The typical news programme will begin on the main story of that day/week and the programme will spend time on that particular section. The news can be quite saddening sometimes, with very sensitive stories, facts, footage and images. This is the reason why they will usually end on a happier note, with a quirkier story that will lighten the mood after such sad, negative stories from throughout the programme. Throughout the programme, there will usually be a correspondent that will be in the area of disaster interviewing or showing what is happening there, usually to evoke sympathy from the viewer. They will usually cut in and out of interviews they have made throughout the day of that day’s reports too. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1870479/

Form - Promotional

• The form of promotion, or promo, is a way of advertising used in broadcast media, either television or radio. They are usually used to promote an upcoming release of a film, television or radio programme on a radio station network, cinema or television channel. Promotion is when it’s informing you that something new is out, but is not telling you to buy it or go to see it. An example would be a film trailer – when a new film is coming out in cinemas, the trailer will have a date that officially comes to cinemas. The trailer will contain some footage from the film to tease you and make you want to watch the film in full. This persuades a viewer to actually want to pay to watch the film. They are not saying that you must go and see it on the date mentioned, they’re just letting you know that it is there if you want to. Rather than the company selling the film, they’re informing you that it’s there as an option. If they were persuading you to buy it or go to see it, they’d use the form of advertisement rather than promotion.

• Another example is where people go out with merchandise such as stickers, t-shirts, balloons and leaflets that relate to an upcoming film. This is pushing the idea forward to a person that the film is there as an option, but it’s still not telling the person that they must watch the film. The merchandise is used as a persuasion method by those working for the film or cinema to encourage people to go and watch it.

• A promotional film trailer for the film Unfriended is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgj4GjqCFlY

Form - Hybrid

• The form ‘Hybrid’ or more commonly known as ‘cross-genre’ is a genre, usually fiction (imaginary, made up or not completely based on facts), that puts themes and elements from two or more different genres together. Examples that include cross-genres are comedy-dramas, or dramedys - these are a mix of comedy an drama. Secondly, comic science fiction is a mix of comedy and science fiction. RomCom, or romantic comedy, is a blend of romance and comedy. The list goes on as there are many different cross-genres. Cross-genres keep the audience’s attention as it’s a newer way of creating and producing television, film and video. It’s a fresh way to keep the audience interested and the producers may even put two genres together that might not originally seem like a good match, but thy end up complementing each other working very well together.

• Usually, horror is where the makers intention is just to petrify the audience. When romance and horror are mixed together, this creates a whole different experience for the viewer. They can either focus on the horror aspect of the film with romance in the background, or they can make romance the main element of the film with horror in the background. Either way, the romance will almost always evoke sympathy for the viewers which makes it even more terrifying when something scary happens to them.

• Shaun Of The Dead from 2004 basically kicked off the horror romance genre, with comedy added in too. It is more romantic than horrific and is mainly focused on fixing a relationship whilst a zombie apocalypse is taking place. It’s known as not being insanely scary, but still being a romantic horror. The trailer for this film is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDUv3ZjH2k

Narrative – Linear & Non-Linear

• A linear narrative of a television show or film is when the whole story follows straight from start to the end in chronological order. There are no flashbacks or dreams, it’s just clear and straight to the point. In a linear narrative, there is no bouncing back and fourth, even if the whole programme or series is completely predictable. The show will still get viewers because it’s less confusing to watch as there is no jumping between scenes. Reality shows are a good example of this as it shows what’s happening basically as it’s happening. There are no flashbacks because practically none of it is edited in this way as this is not the style of a reality TV programme. An example of one is Keeping Up With The Kardashians that gets broadcast on E! - http://watch-series-tv.to/serie/keeping_up_with_the_kardashians

• A non-linear narrative is one that does not follow a straight forward structure. The television show or film is not in chronological order. The television programme or film may jump backwards and forwards to give hints of what has happened in the past or what may be happening in the future. It may be more confusing for the viewer but I, personally, find it more engaging. I find that a non-linear pattern contains more suspense and understanding because you finally realise something important when flashbacks take place and everything you didn’t seem to understand becomes clear to you. This is something I particularly enjoy about non-linear films or television programmes. A great example of a film with a non-linear narrative is Holes. This contains many flashbacks which all go back to different places in time to reveal the story every so often throughout the film. The film is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YltWhu5tCLk

Form - Advertising

• The form of advertisement is where the company is actually trying to sell a product, contrary to promotion which is just making awareness of a product. They are marketing in a persuasive way in order to encourage an audience to take some sort of action – whether it be buying a cinema ticket, purchasing a film on DVD or just simply watching a new television programme. Advertisements would be aimed at a certain demographic audience, the same one as what the film or television programme is aimed at, in order to gain views. They will include certain things, such as darker colours for something sad which will gain the attention of people who are interested in things like that, red for horror, danger or romance which will gain the attention from those that enjoy horror, danger and romance, and upbeat music for an action TV programme or film, which those who would enjoy action movies or programmes would take an immediate interest in. A TV advert can be any length, but tends to be in 30 second slots. If an adverts is 32 seconds long, they would have to pay for a whole minute of advertising. This means that if they don’t want to make a whole minute long advert and they don’t want to pay for a minute, they’d have to get all the relevant information and selling techniques across to the audience within a matter of a short 30 seconds. An example of a good typical advert is for the Apple Watch. This includes upbeat music and somebody active which would be the target audience for the Apple Watch. The advertisement for this is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPpMeRCG1WQ

Genre

• A genre is a category of something, for example a film, television programme/series, video, radio station and so forth. This is a way of defining the difference between the type of production something is. The film Unfriended has a horror/thriller genre. There are many conventions within a horror/thriller genre including sharp blades, blood, screaming, spirits and a main protagonist. All of these things were included in the film Unfriended which is what makes it a good horror movie, in my opinion. I think that this filmed was aimed at people age 15 to 30 year olds. This is because the film used things such as social media throughout which would not be suitable for an older audience who do not understand this as much as those that are younger. The main characters in this film were also teenagers or in their young 20s. This would therefore bring an audience of that age as these characters would relate to them. An older set of characters would bring in an older audience too. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/

Narrative – Realist & Anti-Realist

• A realist television show is something that looks completely natural, something that would happen in every day life. It is relatable for the viewer and would be something that the viewer would expect to see within their own lives. It engages the viewer because it’s something that is real, but is also an escape from their own life. It’s like they’re indulging into other peoples’ lives. A realist TV show would be both relatable and also believable for a viewer. An example of a realist narrative advertisement would be this Wii advertisement. It’s a realist narrative because you would see a family playing on their Wii. It would be completely normal and natural to be having family fun together or being with your friends and having a competition on the Wii. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mftku6Eta-I

• An anti-realist television show is something that is completely opposite to a realist television show. It’s something that would definitely not happen in a viewer’s day-to-day life. It engages the viewer due to how different it is compared to the viewer’s life. It would be something that’s fictional (not based on the truth) and completely unrealistic. The viewer would want to watch something like this as it’s so out of touch with reality. It’s something you would want to watch because of how false it is and because it can’t happen to you, you would want to watch it. An example of a anti-realistic film would be Jurassic Park. This is the film trailer for this film - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc0UehYemQA

Narrative – Open Ended & Closed

• An open ended narrative is a television programme that will have a story that stretches out throughout a whole series. The story will always be open in the sense that it will never just finish within one episode of the programme, it will carry on through a number of episodes. This will make the audience want to carry on watching as they will always want to know what’s happening in the story and will miss out if they miss an episode. The programme would usually end on a cliff hanger which persuades and encourages you to watch the next episode, which would finish on a cliff hanger too, and so on.

• This is a narrative almost always used in soap operas such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale, and other shows such as Orange Is The New Black and The Returned. They usually have one primary storyline and a few storylines that are less important in the background too. This is to keep a wide target audience interested so that at least one of the characters relates to them and they’d want to watch it because of them. There is no foreseeable ending with an open ended narrative. Orange Is The New Black on Netflix releases a new series each year and is always left open ended to keep the suspense. As well as every episode ending on a cliff hanger, the series ends on one too. An episode of Orange Is The New Black is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Wgoa15oA4

• A closed narrative is used more commonly in SitComs (situation comedies). It’s basically the exact opposite to an open ended narrative. The whole story is told within one episode and there is near enough no suspense throughout. Because they have so much to fit into one single episode, the makers would usually compress everything together. They’re also found in films too because unless the makers know that there will be a second follow-on film or a sequel, they would end it right after the first one. In SitComs, a closed narrative keeps the humour wrapped within one episode so that none of it gets lost. The way that the series will end would be with a ‘goodbye’ episode. This would usually consist of something significant that has clearly pointed out that this is the last episode of the series. Similar to open ended narratives, there would be more than one storyline in it too – but some would be more prominent than others.

• There are many closed narrative SitComs including The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Little Britain, The Inbetweeners and The Simpsons. All of these SitComs have all of the story given away within the episode. In The Simpons, there are the main family – Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie – and these characters are what make the main storylines in The Simpsons. Other characters, such as Sideshow Bob, Ned Flanders and Krusty the Clown, make up other storylines too. An episode of The Simpsons is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUxzs344GAU

Narrative – Single & Multi Strand

• A multi-strand narrative as many works put into it to create one whole piece. There would be one storyline within the film or TV show. A multi-strand film would have man different view points from all different characters and their lives. It’s as though there ae all different strands within one story, which makes the name ‘multi-strand’. They would interweave the storylines to create one thing that all comes together and is all connected. The viewer would no only be interested in the storyline itself, or the characters themselves, but they’d also be interested in how the different storylines actually connect with each other. The comic ‘X-Men’ is a good example of this. There is not one central hero in X-Men and there are different groups with different central characters. There are different view points from different characters that are all put together to be used as a juxtaposition. The trailer for X-Men is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGYgArIxt9k.

•  A single-strand narrative is just the opposite of a multi-strand narrative. There is one storyline/set/plot that focuses on only one central character. There is only one single character who’d be surrounded by other very minor characters. There would be both an antagonist and a protagonist, but the story would mainly be based on the protagonist. A perfect example of this would be Spiderman, who is the central character in the films but is surrounded by other characters too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfV-0Yv5vNY

Narrative – Series/Serial

• A series is a set of a particular television programme that has a certain amount of episodes before it finishes, has a break and then begins again at another time. There is no defined number of episodes in a series in order for it to actually be called a series. It would be set or a sequence of a television programme. For example, Skins has 4 series with two seasons each within them, except for series 4 which only has 3 episodes as it’s a follow-on series. For each of the first 3 series, there are some different characters and some that follow on from the previous one. Effy is in season 1 and 2, as well as season 4. To be able to understand Effy’s mind set in the second series, you’d have to watch the first series. Also, to be able to understand her in the fourth series, you’d have to be able to watch the first two too. Other characters, such as Gracie in series 3 or Pandora in season 2. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/skins

• A serial narrative is a television programme that doesn’t have a definite end and runs continuously throughout the year. The makers of a serial narrative television programme are not aiming for the end of a story and therefore do not have to base all of the episodes on the run-up to the big ending, as there is never a big ending. They can have stories that run for weeks and weeks because they never have to actually come to an end, they could run over years if they wanted to choose to. The best example of a serial narrative is a soap opera. Soap operas run continuously throughout the year, they even usually have set days on when they’ll be on. Coronation Street is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This is evenly spaced throughout the week and very rarely changes when it’s on. This is so that the stories can flow. There’s also a Coronation Street omnibus at the end of the week which puts the episodes together and runs through them all. There is never a big ending that needs to be ran up to in Coronation Street, they’ll always have an on-going big story. - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053494/

Analytical Approaches – Audience Profiling

• Audience Profiling -Audience research is research that is about their current audience, who they want their audience to be, what their audience enjoy and basically finding out as much as possible about their audience. It is gathered by using both primary and secondary methods, which makes qualitative and quantitative results. Researchers can find out the habits of their audience which is qualitative, or researchers can find out how many magazines they actually buy which is quantitative .When a film/television producer is creating something new, they have to think about who they’re aiming their work at. They have to cater for who they’re aiming at too. Many things are included, such as age, gender, religion, sexuality and race. To aim at a 7 year old, you’d have to choose highly different things than if you were to make something aiming at 17 year olds. Some profiling is just based completely on stereotypes, such as homosexuals being a fan of Lady Gaga or males liking football, which may be unreliable as, of course, not everybody that is in the same group will enjoy all of the same things. Sometimes, producers and makers create surveys or questionnaires in order to gain a real feel of what the real public enjoy or do not enjoy. This gives accurate answers and would guide a producer in the right direction whilst trying to produce a new piece of work. Demographic profiling is classifying people due to what they do or what they enjoy. Typical media companies will classify by the things in this table

•

Other things that could be added to the table are magazines and newspapers the classes buy, advertising in those magazines and newspapers and what television shows they watch. Of course, these classifications are approximate and not always exact or completely accurate. My mum is a Paraplanner and would therefore be in C1 Middle Class. The table I have says that she should enjoy the Guardian or Express newspaper, although she does not and does in fact enjoy the Sun which should stereotypically be read by lower class than my mum. These classifications are made by what the majority do, watch or .Researchers use classifications and audience research for their company to see their competitors and what their company should aim for. The research they do includes how much money classes own, what they do in their spare time and also what they enjoy to do in their spare time. This is used for magazines and newspapers to advertise what they feel will suit the class they are targeting. The more research a company does about their audience, the more chance of success they have with their product.

Analytical Approaches – Codes and Conventions

• Codes & Conventions – These things are particular stereotypes such as signs, whether they’re technical or symbolic. An example of a technical code would be multicam. This is particularly used in sitcoms, where the camera angles will jump from one to another. This shows the story from different angles and gives more of an insight for the viewer to what is happening, as they are obviously not actually there. A symbolic code is something that is a reflection of what’s on the surface. For example, background music can show sadness but can also show happiness. It goes much deeper than what we can see, and gives more information about what is happening and how characters are feeling. Also, rain would portray sadness, sunshine would convey happiness. Sometimes, codes include text on the screen which say “24 hours later” or however long. The list goes on. A convention is something that is just generally accepted. For example, if I put my hand out, you’d know to shake my hand. That’s a convention. Conventions in media, particularly visual media such as television and video, include red for danger/love/hate/pain, canned laughter in sitcoms or comedies, cowboys with hats in Western movies with a strong Texan accent and so on. These are just generally accepted things as you tend to know what to respond to. You’d laugh along with canned laughter because people tend to laugh when other people are laughing. This adds to the humour of what’s happening because even if you didn’t understand the joke, some people laugh along anyway. Overall, it’s basically something, such as an object, in a film which can indicate to you the genre of the film. A dark house while there’s a thunder storm outside would typically be a horror film, and you’d generally know this from the first glance of seeing it. Also, a gun with fast paced music would typically be used in an action film. It’s things you can see and instantly be able to see and understand the genre of the film from these things.

Analytical Approaches – Narrative Analysis

• Narrative Analysis – This is usually breaking down of a text, either a film or TV programme, in terms of its genre or its importance. Those that are doing a narrative analysis would typically be students, whether they’re in college or university.

Analytical Approaches – Audience Analysis

• Audience Analysis – This is where the makers of a product, movie, television programme etc. create surveys or questionnaires in order to find out the public’s opinions on this. This can be done in focus groups, test screenings or surveys. A test screening is basically prior to the release of a film, for example, a selected group of people would watch the film and be given a questionnaire afterwards. This would help the company or makers decide what needs to be improved, added or completely changed in the new film. This can even decide whether the film gets put into cinemas or not. This is, obviously, one of the fundamental parts of media, particularly television and video. If questionnaires, surveys and focus groups were not completed by the real people of the public then the company and makers would probably lose money in creating and broadcasting their work, which would be a disadvantage. For something so easy to do, it’s worth their time and money to conduct surveys, questionnaires and focus groups. They also help define the target audience, if more 15-25 year olds enjoyed a film more than 40-65 year olds, then I’d think that the makers would add things in that would appeal to their target audience. Audience Analysis obviously analyses the opinions of the audience to improve what’s already there.