This document discusses the conventions of TV drama genres. It defines conventions as the shared ingredients or "rules" that allow audiences to recognize a work as belonging to a particular genre. It then provides examples of contrasting TV drama genres like crime shows, medical dramas, and teen dramas to analyze. Finally, it lists some common conventions across TV drama genres, such as character archetypes, familiar settings, camerawork, use of dialogue and music, and symbolic icons that identify the genre.

1. worksheet 3
TV drama
conventions 1
The conventions of a genre are the ingredients which all examples of
a genre share. They act a little like rules – not necessarily rigid rules
but rules you need to follow in order to create something which
audiences will recognise as part of a particular genre. Like other
conventions – governing speech and behaviour, for example –
audiences seem to assimilate the conventions of genres
unconsciously.
Establishing the conventions of TV drama
Choose three or four contrasting TV dramas and look at short
extracts from them. Here are some suggestions: a single drama like
Yasmin, a crime or medical series like The Shield or Green Wing, a
US drama series like 24 (2001), Lost or Desperate Housewives, a
drama serial like the classic literary adaptation Bleak House (2005),
a sensational drama like Footballers’ Wives or a teen drama like
The OC.
©British Film Institute 2007
What is different about
the drama series 24? Did
it establish a new trend?
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2. worksheet 3 TV drama conventions 1
What do they have in common?
You will find that TV dramas all have the following ingredients:
G Characters – even particular kinds of characters: eg, at its most
simple, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters.
G Stories – they all tell stories, whether those stories involve
adventure, crime or romance and they often, but not always, end
happily.
G The stories are told against familiar backdrops: – eg, homes,
police stations and offices (for crime dramas), hospitals (for
medical dramas) – most of which are created in studios. However,
most dramas also use outside locations to create particular
effects.
G Camerawork – particular kinds of shots are used: eg, sequences
involving establishing shots followed by mid-shots of characters,
shot/reverse shots to show character interaction and, in particular,
close-ups to show the characters’ emotions.
G Stories use dialogue to tell the stories. Occasionally, monologues
are built in (as voiceovers, a character telling a story).
G Music is used to punctuate the action, create effects (suspense,
tension) and underline emotional moments.
G Particular subgenres tend to have items which make them
immediately identifiable – police cars, blue lights, operating
theatres and scalpels, triage/reception areas in hospitals. Icons of
the genre, they symbolise the (sub)genre.
©British Film Institute 2007
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