BTEC Media L3 Unit 22 Single Camera Productions LO1 - 3. series vs serials genres

2. SINGLE VS MULTI CAM RECAP: POST IT NOTE
• On your 1st post it note, write down one of the advantages of single camera production.
• On your second post it note, write down a disadvantage of single camera production. Place your
post it notes in the correct column of the table below
Single Camera Production
Advantages Disadvantages

3. UNIT 22 SINGLE CAMERA PRODUCTIONS: OVERVIEW
Learning Outcome 1: Understand the features of single camera production
Formats: eg series, serial, single drama; genre, eg period, dramadoc, crime, soap opera, comedy
Narrative structures: eg linear (or sequential), non-linear (or non-sequential), flashback, realist,
anti-realist; endings, eg open, closed
Technical: camera; lighting; sound; editing; scripting; building a scene; building a story

4. SERIES VS SERIALS
• TV programmes with more than one episode can be divided into two types: Series and
Serials
• Which category they belong to depends upon how their narrative is structured.
• But what is narrative?

5. SERIES VS SERIALS
• TV programmes with more than one episode can be divided into two types: Series and
Serials
• Which category they belong to depends upon how their narrative is structured.
• But what is narrative?
• Narrative refers to ‘the way that the story is told’

6. SERIES
• A series is a set of episodes where each programme is connected, but the narrative finishes
within the episode. They can be watched in isolation or in any order and still make sense to
the audience without knowledge from previous episodes. At the end of each episode, the
story feels finished and ‘closed’, without any cliffhangers or unanswered questions.
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Examples?

7. SERIAL
• In a serial, the episodes are interconnected, like chapters in a novel. The narrative ‘arc’
stretches across several episodes and need to be watched in order to make sense.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Examples?

8. MULTI ARC AND FLEXI NARRATIVES
• Some TV serials may contain multiple, overlapping narrative arcs, such as soap operas.
As one over arching storyline resolves, another begins.
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Examples?

9. SERIES VS SERIALS
Series Serial
Stranger Things
The Simpsons
EastEnders
Watchdog
Blue Planet
Game of Thrones
Mock The Week
Walking Dead
Black Mirror
The Graham Norton Show
TASK: Go to www.tvguide.co.uk and find two more examples of each (i.e. 4 in total).

10. SERIES VS SERIALS
TASK: Go to www.tvguide.co.uk and find two more examples of each (i.e. 4 in total).
• Write down the name of a TV show on your post it note.

11. SERIES VS SERIALS
TASK: Go to www.tvguide.co.uk and find two more examples of each (i.e. 4 in total).
• Write down the name of a TV show on your post it note.
• Stick it on the board below, where you think it belongs
Series? Serial?

12. GENRES
• Genres are another way of categorising TV programmes (and other media products such
as films, music, magazines, video games and even adverts).
• How many TV genres can you name?

13. GENRE CONVENTIONS
• TV programmes are grouped together based upon shared, common characteristics or ‘genre
conventions’.
• For instance, a talent show might feature the following genre conventions:
• Contestants: celebrities or members of the public performing
• Judges – panel of industry experts to give opinion, including ‘pantomine villain’
• ‘Back story VT or contestants
• Live audiences
• Public voting
• Host(s)
• High production stage shows/theatrics – pyrotechnics, light shows, dance routines

14. TASK: GENRE
• Choose a TV genre and create a presentation about it.
• You presentation should include an explanation of the genre conventions and at least 3 real
life examples.
• When identifying the genre conventions, consider the following headings:
• Characters
• Events
• Settings
• Props
• Music/sound
• Camera/editing