1. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
TV Drama Notes
Textual Analysis and Representation
Key Words
Representation is related to regulation, economic
forces and technology (as audience is able to Textual Analysis – an
watch series in a staggered fashion or all at once advanced form of media
or with a range of interactive features) literacy.
A basic level of media literacy means that a Representation – a cultural
person is able to look at a television drama and force as it relates to tastes,
understand the narrative as well as make a identity and interests that are
critical response in comparison to other shaped by the culture we
programmes (E.g. is it realistic?) inhibit.
An advanced level of media analysis enables an Ideology – world view,
individual to be able to ‘deconstruct’ a television common sense.
drama (understand what was done in order to
put it together)
Working at a micro level is pulling apart the detailed aspects of a frame and
analyzing it for camera angles and movement, use of point of view, specific
edits and transitions, visual effects, dialogue, music and sound effects,
lighting choices, props and costume.
This then leads you onto macro analysis where you begin to make
conclusions such as how the sequence has represented particular people,
events, places from all the things you found out from your micro analysis.
Three Stage Process
1. Analyse the micro elements of the text
2. Conclude from the micro elements a range of macro representations
3. Consider how different people might respond differently to these
representations.
Representation
Connotations – Something that in itself makes no difference but carries
cultural meaning (e.g. a tie is just a piece of material and shouldn’t really
have any meaning but in society a tie is a symbol of showing formality.)

2. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
Metaphors
Metaphors play an important role in media in a way that when we see
something, we resemble it with something in particular to get a sense of what
this thing is actually like without being told so (e.g. a tie).
Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude – the construction, in a text, of a plausible, believable world.
When we look at media, we usually look at how difference elements or
represented (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity, themes, places), this all work
together to form verisimilitude where such worlds have different logic to
others, for example, in ‘Doctor Who’ time travel exists where as in a soap
opera such as ‘Eastenders’ it relies on a sense of reality in order to engage
the audience.
To explore representation in TV/radio drama, these
questions are important to ask:
What kind of realism is being attempted by the
programme?
Who is being represented in the drama (who is
present), and how?
Who is not being represented in the drama (who
is absent), and why?
Can we identify any characters that are
stereotypical representations?
Is there a dominant view of the world
represented in the drama, or are there several
different views to choose from?
What different responses might audience
member make to these representations?
Representational Codes
‘Life of Mars is an example of a drama that contains lots of representational
codes. It relies on a sense of ‘authenticity’ (the clothes, props, settings and
music and most importantly dialogue). The dialogue represents Northern
England in the 1970’s in a way that is familiar and nostalgic.

3. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
Crucially, entire drama depends on juxtaposition of the characters view of
the world and the policing methods and dominant ideology of the 1970’s
characters.
If an audience can’t understand this particular contrast, then the text is
meaningless.
Representation in crisis
As digital technology becomes quicker, easier and cheaper for people to
create and upload videos to the internet, then is it the case that the
representation of people by the media is increasingly replaced by people
representing themselves?
For example, the research of Gonzalez, Martinez and Fernandez (2007) found
that secondary school students would frequently produce and upload
video’s to YouTube of what they thought of one another’s work. It appeared
that three groups had emerged from this,
1. A group that uploaded video’s for only each other to see
2. Another group that were uploading their video’s for a potential
audience to see but weren’t concerned about the impact either way.
3. And finally the group that uploaded their video’s in the hope that they
would gain a broader audience by actively pursuing a critical
audience online.
Television Drama
British television drama still attracts huge viewing audiences. Many of these
shows are watched collectively as one-off peak time broadcasts and this
may provide some evidence that we are not yet consuming all of our media,
creating our own viewing schedules or turning to YouTube and other aspects
of the web for all of our media.
Despite the large numbers of viewings for programmes such as ‘Doctor Who’
or ‘Coronation Street’, the figures do show a large downward trend in
audience ratings for British TV Drama and with the addition of less investment
and more competition has led to some critics worrying for the future.

4. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
Technical and symbolic elements the are important and
need to know:
Camera shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up< mid-
shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, POV shot,
over the shoulder shot.
Camera angles: high angle, low angle, canted angle.
Camera movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam,
hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.
Editing: transition of image and sound, continuity and non-
continuity systems, cutting, shot/reverse shot, eyeline
match, graphic match, action match, jump cut,
crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway, insert, dissolve, fade-
in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take,
slow motion, ellipses and expansion of time, post-
production, visual effects.
Sound: diegetic, non-diegetic, sound effects, sound motif,
sound bridge, dialogue, voiceover, mode of address/direct
address, sound mixing, sound perspective, soundtrack,
score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound.
Mise-en-Scene: production design, location, studio, set
design, costume and make-up, properties, lighting, colour
design.
Background to TV Drama
In order to analyse a short sequence of media it is easier to be aware of
contextual detail rather than things such as breadth, history, funding or
critical reception.
When learning about TV drama, it is expected that a good understanding of
how serious fictional television engages it’s viewers by representing real world
events, themes, people and places through a variation of symbolic and
technical devices. There are, however, a set of sub-genres or dramatic types
that have different conventions:
Teen dramas (depend entirely on the target audience empathizing
with a range of authentic characters and age-specific situations and
anxieties)

5. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
Soap operas (which never end, convey a sense of real time and
depend entirely on us accepting them as ‘socially realist’)
Costume dramas (are often intertextually linked to ‘classic’ novels or
plays and offer a set of pleasures that are very different to dramas set
in our own world contexts and times)
Medical/hospital dramas (interplay our vicarious pleasure at witnessing
trauma and suffering on the part of patients and relatives with a set of
staff narratives that deploy soap opera conventions)
Police/crime dramas which work in the same way as medical/hospital
dramas but we can substitute the health context to representation of
criminals and victims)
Docu-dramas (are set apart from the other by their attempts to
dramatise significant real events which usually either human interest
celebrity focus or political significance).
Teen Dramas
Teen dramas are concerned with creating a entertaining balance between
social issues that are of concern to the target age group (such as social
pregnancy, date rape, alcohol and drug abuse, sexuality, youth crime and
relationships) and portraying an attractive, representational range of
recognisable character types. Whilst analysing them, it’s helpful to consider
how they serve to represent teenagers to the adult culture as well as
themselves.
‘Hollyoaks’ while less ‘shocking’ than other teen dramas also represents a
range of ‘real life’ social issues pertinent to the teenage audience. Because
of this sensitivity of many of the storylines, and the youthful nature of the
audience, a full time researcher is employed for the programme, who acts as
a mediator between the scriptwriting team and the audience during
production.
With teen dramas such a ‘Grange Hill’ there is still the controversial question
on whether the drama should illustrate a sense of ‘reality’ that is already
there, in this case ‘the way kids are’ in inner city comprehensive schools.
Alternatively, the producers also have the responsibility for promoting a
positive view, or the other way should the programme makers worry about
kids that watch the programme be influenced by the badly behaved
characters.
‘Grange Hill’, like all long running TV dramas, can be viewed as a ‘social
document’, representing a range of social changes.

6. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
Soap Operas
The soap opera genre can be an area of study in its own right, and once
again the important interplay between the micro and macro elements of
textual analysis. Soap opera has a range of conventions that make it distinct
from other forms of television drama, these conventions add up to an overall
representation of domestic ‘real life’ that tries to be both recognisable to the
public as ‘everyday’ and at the same time melodramatic and exciting.
Distinctive conventions found in soap opera:
the constant illusion of real time
precise continuity
tease devices and cliff hangers
combinations of action (information for the
viewer) and enigma (questions raised for the
viewer)
the dominance of two-shots and over-the-
shoulder shots of conversations
establishing shots (of locations) and tableaux
(groups of people composed dramatically)
coverage of current issues
meeting places that allow for gossip to circulate
narrative flow and nostalgic and perhaps
outdates depictions of community
interweaving storylines in each episode
partial closure of story lines
music used as motif (e.g. drums at the end of
‘Eastenders’
the dominance of diegetic sound (with the
exception of ‘Holloaks’
highly symbolic costumes and set designs
a ‘kitchen sink’ mise en scene (naturalistic,
domestic, personal)

7. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
How this balance of drama and realism is struck is the focus of our analysis.
Key questions to ask of soap opera extracts:
How is the representation of particular group of
people within the broader focus on ordinary
communities and families mediated through the
specific televisual language of this kind of text in
comparison to other form of television drama?
How does the verisimilitude achieved by the
‘illusion of ongoing real time’ established a
greater sense of realism than other texts?
In what ways are soap topical and sometimes
controversial in their treatments of current
affairs/social issues? Related to this, what is the
responsibility of a soap opera producer? Is it to
reflect society’ as it is or as it should be?
What is the balance of realism and drama
particular soaps? This balance is very important
to the remit of a soap opera – it must cling to a
very specific verisimilitude which may be
outdates, or at least nostalgic and romantic, at
the same time as competing for ratings with
other soaps through the development of the
exciting, ongoing and climaxing storylines.
The representation of family life in soaps is often to topic of debate. Research
explains that children are encouraged by soaps to believe that family
breakdown is the norm and that soaps fail to promote moral values. However
it was also discovered by research that the plot of soap operas were regularly
discussed by parents to their children.
Soap operas tend to rely on intertextual and/or extratextual meanings more
so than other television dramas. Tabloid newspapers commonly confuse
actor with characters and drama with reality which ultimately creates and
second-hand representations. Furthermore, soap opera trailers are becoming
more sophisticated due to the use of thriller and film noir conventions in their
promotional campaigns which offer and range of additional meanings for
the audience. In terms of popularity, it is important to consider whether the
pleasure of the soap opera is to do with to recognition of the everyday in

8. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
these programmes, or are they ‘just’ good drama? And ultimately, is it
possible to learn about the history from old episodes of soaps, or are these
programmes a form of addictive and distracting entertainment to keep ‘the
masses’ happy.
Period Dramas
Not all period dramas are literary adaptations, but these account for a
substantial part of the sub-genre and for many audience members, a key
pleasure is to e gained from this way of consuming ‘classic’ fiction. Some
writing is more cultural value than other fiction. Period drama is famously
expensive to produce given the demand for authenticity and high fees
earned by the kinds of acting personnel expected by the audience.
Due to their relatively high production values, we can say that period dramas
rend to be more ‘filmic’ in quality. An interesting thing about this sub-genre is
its ‘intermedial’ dimension – how the television interpretation offers a different
‘spin’ on the representational devices. In some cases the time period context
might be shifted or some of the characters might be changed to give a
difference set of potential meanings.
The individual viewer’s perspective of social, cultural, political beliefs and life
experiences will play an important role in how they interpret the differences
they will see in period dramas and how they live and perceive life in this day
and age. So it is important that when you analyse any sequence from a
period drama, you should deconstruct not only the representations on screen
but going further to consider how these representations might be of interest
to viewers when interpreted from a contemporary point of view.
Carter (2005) argues that period drama needs to have a ‘contemporary
impact’. Carter believes that there are a range of approaches which allow
this impact to be made:
One is to go back to themes that have been dramatised and produce
new connections to fit with modern times.
Another is to foreground a writer’s specific, individual interpretation of a
historical period.
Another approach is to appeal to an international market.
Hospital Dramas
Similarly to crime dramas, hospital dramas balance two different narrative
themes, public health and the treatment of illness on the one hand, and the

9. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
workplace interactions and relationships on the other. The second point uses
some of the same conventions as a soap opera.
Hospital dramas usually contain characters that are very stereotypical and
often portray the idea of what the public is like. Programmes in this genre can
be made to be comedic (Green Wing) or can be made to be more realistic
(No Angels). Even though a hospital drama may be less comedic than the
other, the characters still show an inconsistency in the drive for their career.
Instead, the practice of nursing acts as a backdrop for a drama about
contemporary female identity and relationships.
Crime Dramas
There are two types of crime drama which have important distinctions
between the two.
One-off crime dramas: focus on the types of crimes that create the most
anxiety amongst an audience. They are distinguished by which aspects of
law enforcement they focus on (e.g. police inspector, psychologist, and
lawyer)
Long-running crime dramas: have a variety of sub plots over time that help
build up a more sustained audience interest in the relationships between
characters.
Each crime drama will have its own unique representational aspects that are
not directly related to crime being investigated.
Dunne (2006) suggests that media representations of
crime normally set up five key binaries
Crime/the police
Criminals/the criminal justice system
Lawyers versus court
Social workers versus the police
Victims versus the public
Each programme can be analysed using this system of oppositions and we
can this get a sense of how each programme represents crime and law and
order differently. Dunne suggests that this is changing and that the
representation of crime is never neutral.

10. Emily Barrett 12.5 – Media – Mr Dunford
Shared Conventions
Conventions that all these forms share:
Characters who offer ‘shorthand’ representations of real types of
people (or stereotypes).
Narrative which is visually presented and demands high levels of active
audience understanding (of what is assumed to happen in between
edits – the difference between plot and story).
Mise en scene (costume, props, lighting, locations, elements of
performance – these thing add up to and instantly recognisable
atmosphere which is ‘authentic’ for the events, themes and people that
are being represented in the drama).
Camerawork that ensures continuity and creates drama through visual
conventions.
Dialogue, sound and music which create and balance between
verisimilitude (the believable logic of the text’s world which appears
real)and drama (dialogue which might be less ‘polished’ in the real
world, music which tells the audience that we should feel scared,
happy, tense, romantic, sad or amused).
Questions that will allow it to become a bit easier to analyse TV drama:
Which sub-genre does it represent?
How is its narrative structure typical of this sub-genre?
How does the mise en scene create verisimilitude?
What visual codes are used as representational devices?
How do sound, dialogue and music help balance realism with drama?
Does the programme/series employ intermedial references?
Overall, who and what are represented and how?
What ranges of audience responses are possible?