Final updated version

1. Crime Drama
James Golightly.

2. What is a ‘genre?’(and the other key vocab)
• A genre is a type of media, this could be for example for a TV show, genre means
what category a show for example is in.
• Conventions – the genre is recognizable to the audience having shared
characteristics, for example: characters, narrative, audio and representations
• Sub genre – a genre within a genre, for example a sub genre in horror is
supernatural because that is a type of horror, horror just means all types of
horrors not the specific sub genres. To be more formal it means that they have
similar conventions.
• Hybrid genre – some programs share conventions with multiple genres. An
example: Comedy-horror (an example of a comedy-horror movie is Zombieland)
• Source (s): https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/genre
• https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/subgenre

3. Time slots within media
• Stripping - this is where a particular program is scheduled at the same every single day, the big examples are
with ‘soaps’ such as EastEnders, Coronation Street etc who’s time on air rarely changes, loyal viewers of
these soaps know and like this schedule and are more likely to view at the time rather than catch up.
• Two-parters – when the program is scheduled over two-nights, usually over Friday-Saturday/Saturday-
Sunday etc, it’s to encourage audience to watch the channel over the two-nights.
• Primetime – this is the time when most people watch television, the peak time as you will. The belief is that
the primetime is ‘7pm – 9:30pm’ or ‘7pm-8pm’
• Watershed - this is after 9pm, anything after this time will be more adult themed, for example there’ll be
more swearing more inappropriate jokes etc, this is usually because the younger audience won’t be viewing
this sort of programming
• Zoning – this is when part of the daily schedule is dedicated to a particular genre, for example Channel 5 is
usually dedicating parts of the schedule to crime-drama’s such as CSI Miami, this is in the hope that fans of
CSI will watch the programme on that channel thus bringing an audience to it
• Source (s): http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/time-slot.html

4. Why are ratings are important?
• TV channels are in competition with each other every day for audiences, they want as big of an
audience as humanly possible. The way they measure this is with TV ratings, these ratings report
who has attracted the highest amount of viewers. For commercial channels the ratings will help
with advertisements, because more advertisers will want to advertise on your network if it is
pulling in the viewers, it’s beneficial for all parties. For example the BBC use these ratings help to
justify the license fee. This is even more important for producers of the programme itself,
because: good figures = another series and poor figures = program disappearing/axed. In 2010 ITV
decided to axe: The Bill and Heartbeat as the ratings for these 2 programs had fell, so ITV took
action and made cutbacks. Some programs may run as ‘Pilots’, which asses whether the audience
is interested before the full series is even made. Ratings are central to the TV world, they’re
household, because these ratings usually defy the sizes of networks and audiences for specific
programs. Networks and stations set their advertising rates based on viewers of their programs.
Network revenue is related to ratings. Ratings however is rather confusing because it has both:
specific and general meaning. Specifically, rating = percentage of all people in particular locations
tuning into a program. General = term is used to describe a process that determines the number
and variety of viewers watching TV.
• Source (s): http://www.museum.tv/eotv/ratings.htm

5. Crime Drama definition.
• Crime cinema = is the cinematic genre inspired by analogous to the
crime fiction genre. Films usually involve certain aspects of crime. The
genre might overlap and combine with other genres, such as: drama,
gangsters, comedy and many other sub-genres.
• Television crime drama usually focuses on the committing of the
crime and the aspect of solving the crime. Sometimes these programs
are based on real life examples
• Source (s): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_film

6. Promotion
• Trailers for new television drama’s usually appear just before it is due to air,
maybe a few weeks before, their goal is to draw the audiences attention to
this program and raise the audiences expectation. If the program has
recognizable stars then the trailer will mainly focus on them, because to
some people only a specific actor is needed to draw them into a new
program. If there is no ‘stars’ then the trailer will focus on the
narrative/plot to see what happens. Voice-overs are added to give the
suspense. Even long running series will trail storylines in order to attract
viewers and to improve ratings.
• Further examples of promo is: newspapers and magazines advertising it,
interviews with the stars of the show, billboards
• Source (s): https://blog.resellerclub.com/why-is-promotion-important-for-
a-business/

7. ENIGMA
• ENIGMA = when the amount of info given to audience is controlled to
capture interest and to raise questions about narrative. EG = shadow
on the wall creates a suspense to any program.
• Flagship program = this is a program that is important to a channel,
the program that keeps that channel afloat for example, this’ll be
because this particular show has high ratings and has ran for a while.
(Usually these shows have loyal audiences)
• Source (s):
http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/keyconceptsgcse/keycon.php?p
ageID=keyterms

8. Credits + opening scenes
• A title and opening scene is important, because they establish the
(sub) genre of the program and raise the audiences expectations of
what they will be seeing. This is important for new drama’s because
it’s important to establish the narrative as soon as possible so the
audience won’t be bored. More recognizable drama’s will have an
intro rather than an opening scene.

9. Narrative techniques
• Split screen narratives = this often occurs in television drama’s where the screen will be
split into 3 or 4 sections with each having a different narrative going on in each small
screen
• Three-strand narrative: this is a common technique of regular TV crime drama’s. At the
start of the program there’ll be 3 narratives: continuing tensions between colleagues, the
investigation of a case that started in a previous/particular episode. As the program
develops the narrative interweave until the final conclusion. One strands may continue
into the next episode and the others may finish in this episode. This creates: loyal
viewers or one off viewers.
• Flexi-narrative: more complex narrative structure with layers of interweaving narratives.
This challenges the audience and keeps them viewing, there’ll be twists and turns,
surprises which’ll keep the audience watching still. An example is ‘The Killing’ where the
audience is lead among various narratives. At the end of each episode there’s always a
surprise or a twist which challenges what the audience may be originally thinking. The
use of cliffhangers encourages people to watch the next episode.

10. Narrative
• Narrative – all media texts tell some sort of story, both fact and fiction, these are
called narratives. All media texts unfold info using a set structure or sequence.
The producers of media texts use a variety of techniques to convey narratives.
• Narrative structure = in crime drama’s there’s 2 types of structures, linear and
non-linear. Linear = audience is introduced to hero/heroine and the world in
which he or she lives in, then the world is disturbed usually with some sort of
invasion etc. Linear was considered by Tzvetan Todorov, who concluded that the
narrative progresses through certain chronological (in order) stages.
• During the narrative, the characters undergo a transformation as a result of what
occurs and equilibrium and the end might be different from how it was at the
start. Sometimes: the ending produces a closed narrative, but in some examples
the main strands are left unresolved resulting in an open narrative

11. Moving image texts
• Flashbacks, are used to give the audience info. They might also involve the viewers with the
character by showing the characters past which can contribute the understanding of the
narrative, also these flashbacks could make you feel sympathetic towards the said character.
• Another method that creators use is point of view, which is what it says, it’s the film from the
main characters point of view, a more recent example of a point of view film is Hardcore Henry, it
allows us to get a better experience as it is all from that persons perspective which makes us feel
connected as we feel like we’re them.
• Privileged spectator: places the viewers in a superior position within the narrative. The audience
gets shown aspects of narrative that others cannot see. For example we usually see characters in
films/shows pulling out a weapon and going up to another unsuspecting character.
• Action codes are shortened and get the narrative across quicker. Example = a packing of a suitcase
signifies a journey.
• Voice overs are usually done to fill the audience into to any information they may have missed.
• Source (s): https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Moving+image