This document provides information about the TV Drama exam, including what will be assessed, the key technical areas students should be prepared to discuss, and how students will be assessed. It discusses that students will be expected to analyze and discuss how technical elements like camera shots, editing, sound, and mise-en-scène create representations of individuals, groups, events or places in a 5-minute TV drama clip. It notes the exam will have a 50 mark total and break down marks for analysis, use of examples, and terminology. It also provides homework of watching a TV drama and analyzing a representation using the four technical areas.

1. TV Drama

2. Learning Intentions: To understand what is assessed in Section A of the exam: ‘Textual Analysis and Representation’Blog!www.tvdramaexam.blogspot.com

3. What will you be expected to do? ‘Candidates should be prepared to analyse and discuss technical aspects of the language and conventions of the moving image medium, in relation to the unseen moving image extract, as appropriate to the genre and extract specified, in order to discuss the sequence’s representation of individuals, groups, events or places.’

4. Four Key Technical AreasCamera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition Editing Sound Mise-en-ScèneCandidates should be prepared to discuss, in response to the question, how these technical elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to articulate specific messages and values that have social significance.

5. It is acknowledged that not every one of the above technical areas will feature in equal measure in any given extract.

6. Therefore, it is not expected that each aspect will be covered in the same degree of detail, but as appropriate to the extract provided and to the discussion of representation.

7. The exam itself - 17th May You will have two hours for your exam (1 hour on each question)The 5 minute clip will be shown 4 timesYou will have half an hour to read the question, watch the extract and make notes

8. Assessment Criteria Familiarise yourself with thisHighlight key words Assign yourself an actor to reflect the marks you hope to achieve

9. How will you be assessed?TOTAL OF 50 MARKS20 Marks: Analysis of argument 20 Marks: Use of examples from the clip10 Marks: Use of terminology

10. 1. What is TV Drama?2. With the person next to you, brainstorm TV Drama’s that you know – share 3. Group these together and give labels 4. How have you decided to group them? Why?

11. TV Drama is…A story that is presented in a dramatic way and explores a range of genresDramatic programming that is scripted and normally fictional

12. TV Drama Sub-genres A ‘sub-genre’ is where genres are subdivided into even more specific categories. TV Drama sub-genres include:Teen Dramas: These depend entirely on the target audience empathising with a range of authentic characters and age-specific situations and anxieties, e.g. Skins.Soap Operas: These never end, convey a sense of real time and depend entirely on audiences accepting them as ’socially realist’, e.g. Coronation Street.Costume Dramas: these are often intertexually linked to ‘classic’ novels or plays and offer a set of pleasers that are very different to dramas set in our own world contexts and times, e.g. Sharpe.Medical/Hospital Dramas: These interplay our vicarious pleasure at witnessing trauma and suffering on the part of patients and relatives with a set of staff narratives that deploy sop opera conventions, e.g. Holby City.Police/Crime Dramas: These work in the same way as medical/hospital dramas but we can substitute the health context for representation of criminals and victims, e.g. The Bill.Docu-dramas: these are set apart from the other by their attempts to dramatise significant real events, which usually have human interest, celebrity focus or political significance, e.g. Heroes and Villains

13. 7 groups of representationClassSexualityDisabilityRegional identityAgeEthnicityGender

14. RepresentationWhat is meant by the term representation?Complete the handout

15. Get into these pairs/groups:Research media representations of:1. Class – Lauren/ Ben/ Frances2. Sexuality – Marcie/ Emma3. Disability- Gabriel/ Diva4. Regional identity – Mollie/ Harriet 5. Age –Charlie/ Zander6. Ethnicity – Imy/ Scott 7. Gender – Dan/ Hayley On iMacs produce a collage of images & words: depicting positive & negative representations of assigned social group.

16. Save in the shared area once complete, ready to share with the group. Link these representations to TV Dramas that you have seen

17. In shared area at 3.15 pmHomeworkChoose a TV Drama to watch before next lesson (Tues 15th) then choose a specific representation to anaylse (1-7)make notes on how the four technical areas add to the representation of your choice

18. What are the four technical areas you will be asked to analyse?How many marks are given in the exam for the correct use of terminology?