The document discusses the conventions of teen drama television shows and how the author's production will adhere to and challenge some of these conventions. It identifies the teen drama genre as focusing on the lives of teenage characters and their friend groups. Key conventions mentioned include the use of non-diegetic soundtracks, dialogue incorporating slang, multi-strand narratives, close-ups to show emotion, and symbolic elements like exaggerated real-life situations and character archetypes. The author plans to represent characters differently through clothing, actions and shots while also challenging conventions like having no single protagonist or licensed music.

1. Max Cochrane

2. Genre of my production
My production is going to be of the drama genre, some
examples of TV dramas would be:
1. Mad Men
2. Californication
3. Peaky Blinders
4. Game of thrones
5. Breaking Bad

3. Sub genres
Like any type of main genre, drama has its own sub-genres which are almost
always used in part of TV to add more character to the series. Some examples of
these would be:
• Crime genre – This involves themes involving criminals, law enforcement
and the legal system. More often then not featuring closed episodes, and 3
part structures throughout the seasons. Examples: Peaky Blinders,
Breaking Bad.
• Historical drama – Focusing on dramatic events which are a part of history
or loosely based off of a historical event/person. The series should feature
events that actually happened but will involve improvised fictional
moments to keep up excitement or progress on character developments.
Examples – The Tudors.
• Teen drama – Focusing on lives of teenage characters. Often focusing with
a multi strand narrative, characters deal with dramatic issues that arise
within their friendship groups and how they handle them throughout the
series. Examples – Skins
For my own production I am planning to make its genre teen drama.

4. Conventions of Teen
drama – written/audio
Non diegetic soundtrack is used to also add drama or
make a scene more emotional in various scenes for
example to change our opinions of a certain character
within the series or cause a certain scene to be much
more memorable for its effect. Dialogue can involve
common slang which most younger audiences know and
may use to create a more relatable connection between
viewers and the characters. The narrative usually
revolves mostly around a main character such as Will in
the inbetweeners and he narrates the story, it allows
audiences to connect more with the character. In most
series they will feature a mutli strand narrative focusing
on several characters.

5. Conventions of Teen drama
trailer – written/audio
Within the trailer there will feature a non diegetic
soundtrack throughout it all which will set the general
tone for the season, it will often feature some dialogue
from certain characters to give plot details or build
interest and excitement.

6. Conventions of Teen
drama – technical
There are many shots that would be shown at different
times to show different things for example there would
be close ups in tense times to show the characters
emotion through their facial expressions, perhaps there
would be a long shot when showing someone's house or
surroundings to show their social status.

7. Conventions of teen
drama trailer –
technicalWithin a TV drama trailer it is usually just montage
editing showing characters and explaining us to them
simply through their clothing choices and actions within
the quick shots, the overall shots that we are able to see
may show us an actual plot idea for the series, all main
characters have screen time on the trailer however if
there is a more main character they will naturally gain
more screen time.

8. Conventions of Teen
drama – symbolic
Usual feature a “coming of age” story, they feature
examples and relatable situations focused on real life
however to boost entertainment and drama they are
exaggerated. Character clothing is usually pretty
standard due to it being based on teenagers but
different clothing can be used to show class and status.
Throughout the series characters are often represented
as having strong differences for example one would be
the nerd while others may be portrayed as a troubled
one with another as a more leader role. Most series
often focus mainly on female characters.

9. Conventions of Teen
drama trailer – symbolic
There is not much symbolism within the trailers of a tv
drama but will show clothing choices and actions within
shots that try to give us some key information about the
character informing us if we will actually be on this
certain characters side or another's, it can ready us to
know which characters we will like and for what
reasons.

10. How my production will
adhere to the conventions
I am planning to keep my production following some
conventions of the teen drama trailer by featuring
several different characters all represented in a
different way through the use of clothing, dialogue and
the persons actions. I will be using several different
shots such as close up, long shots, tracking for various
reasons to help represent certain characters in a specific
way, I will be trying to create some emotion and
attempt to get my audience to dislike one character and
favor another due to what I will show within the trailer.

11. How my production will
challenge the conventions
I am planning to challenge some conventions such as
having an actual main protagonist and keep all the
characters as important as the rest, I will be trying not
to use properly licensed music but if I do will aiming for
a more independent artist to place more emphasis on
the characters and the storyline other than the
recognition of a popular song. One more convention I
will be challenging is the gender breakdown seeing as
most series often focus on more female characters so I
will focusing on more male characters however still
featuring characters from both sexes.