Textual Analysis

• -representation is linked to economic forces
• -representation is shaped by technology, which is described as a fragmented audience

• textual analysis is an advanced form of media literacy and a basic level of it allows somebody to understand the narrative of a tv drama and to make criticisms in relation to other programmes

• For us to deconstruct a tv drama we need to know how its been put together and to do this we need to work at micro and macro levels of the text

• micro level means pulling apart aspects of the texts frame by frame construction

• frame construction includes camera angles and the movement, shot types, editing transitions music/sound effects and mise-en-scene (lighting choices, props and costumes)

• To work at macro level it means drawing up conclusions from micro work about how the sequence represents themes and people

• also witness the interpretations that viewers will create

Representation 

• when people say did you watch the game last night?' you would say yes but strictly speaking your not..because your are really watching a meditated constructed re-presentation of the match

Metaphor

• Gauntlett (2007 developed a research method using lego, he asked people to make a metaphorical model with the lego so it represents their identity, he didn't expect them to make models that resemble them so that way he can get a better sense of how people see themselves and present them

Verisimilitude

• when we look at how a media text represents the world we are usually concerned with the representation of age, gender, ethnicity social groups, places and themes

• to explore representation in a tv/radio drama we will be asking

• What kind of realism is being attempted by the programme, who is being represented in the drama, who is not being represented and why, whether we can identify any stereotypical characters, is there a dominant view of the world that has been represented and what different responses might the audience members make to the representations.

Representational codes

• 'Life On Mars' is a good example of a tv drama that is rich with representational codes. the drama depends on the juxtaposition. Without the audiences complicity in understand the contrast the text is meaningless.

Chapter 2.1- TV drama

• British TV still attracts huge viewing audiences and many of the shows are watched as one off peak time broadcasts
• drama series has huge potential to produce ongoing revenue through sales to other countries and channels as well as DVD sales, but 'propor TV drama' brings prestige to institutions that attempt to make it
• but british TV drama is no longer as big as it was

• Connolly concludes that while British TV drama is now something of a poor relation in comparison to the america producer, it is still a fairly healthy state
• camera shots- establishing shot, master shot, close up, mid-shot, long shot, wise shot, two shot, aerial shot, point of view shot and over the shoulder shot

• camera angles- high, low and canted angle

• camera movement- pan,tilt, track,dolly,crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom

• camera composition- framing, rule of thirds, depth of field, deep and shallow focus, focus pulls

• editing- transition of image and sound, continuity and non systems, cutting, shot/reverse shot, eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut cross cutting, parallel, editing, cutaway, insert, dissolve, fade in and out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time

• sound-diegetic, non, synchronous, sound effects, sound motif, sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, model of address, sound mixing, sound perspective, soundtrack, score, incidental music themes, ambient sound

• Mise-en-scene- production design, location, studio, set design, costume and makeup, properties, lighting, colour design

Background to TV drama

there are different types of tv drama that have different conventions

• teen dramas
• soap operatas
• costume dramas
• medical/hospital dramas
• police/crime dramas
• docu dramas

Teen dramas

• it is a broad sub-genre, generally these are concerned with striking an entertaining balance between social issues that are of concern of the target audience, and creating an attractive representational range of recognisable character types. But the other issue of it is should kids copy the negative behaviour they see?

Examples of teen dramas such as 'grange hill' can be views as a social document that represents a range of social changes.

• teen dramas are unlike the rest of our examples as they do not set out to appeal to such a broad audience

Soap operas

• the soap opera format can be a area of study in its own right and can be the important interplay is between the micro and the macro elements of textual analysis.

• soap operates rely on intertexual or extra textual meanings. However soap trailers have become increasingly sophisticated.

• terms of popularity we need to consider whether the reason for the longevity of the pleasure offered by these texts is to do with representation

Period dramas

• not all of them are literacy adaptation but they do account for a substantial part of the sub-genre.

• period drama is expensive to produce because of the high demands and fees earned by the kinds of acting personnel expected by the audience.we can say that they tend to be more 'filmic' in quality and that those that are based on literature will represent people and issues largely in keeping with the original novel or play

Hospital dramas

• they balance two different narrative themes; public health and the treatment of illness and workplace interactions and relationship, this shares many conventions with soap operas

• they feature a range of character types that are referred to as stereotypes

Crime dramas

• there are 2 kinds; one off crime tends to focus on the kinds of crime that create the most anxiety among the viewing public and long running tv crime dramas will have a variety of sub-plots over time that build up sustained audience interest, each one will have its own unique representational aspects that are not directly related to the crime being investigated

• media representations of crime normally set up 5 key binaries

• crime/the police, criminals/the justice system, lawyers versus courts, social workers versus the police and victims versus the public, each one can be analysed using this system to get a sense of how each programme represents crime and law differently