TV Drama: Media Language (Genre and Narratology)

Genre



Long Form TV Drama is a media form with specific codes and conventions that help us recognise it as such.

TASK: Answer the following questions either on a new blog post entitled: Stranger Things Narrative and Genre or as a subheading in your Stranger Things blog.

1. What are the formal codes and conventions of Long-Form TV Drama? 

2. How similar or different are the formal conventions used in Stranger Things? 

3. How does this help to develop the genre and the way in which audiences respond (positively or negatively) to long form TV dramas? The genres of the set texts for example, Stranger Things as a Science Fiction/Horror hybrid genre drama or Deutschland 83 as a Spy Thriller genre drama. 

4. What codes and conventions are used to help audiences recognise their genre? Make reference to specific examples. 

5. How may these two set products contribute to changes or developments within the genre in their current form? 

6. What similarities and/or differences are there between the genres in Stranger Things? How do these help to popularise the form?


Narratology


Narratology can be defined as a ‘branch of knowledge or criticism that deals with the structure and function of narrative and its themes, conventions, and symbols’

This analysis of narrative can be broken down into a number of ways: 

  • narrative structures 
  • narrative endings 
  • story beats 
  • character arcs (more on this later)

TASK: Using the subheading 'Narratology' answer the following questions.

1. How is the episode, and the way the events unfold within it, structured?

2. How does the episode begin and finish? 

3. What are the story beats* between the beginning and end of the episode? 

*Story beats are the points of action upon which you hang your basic story. When you connect the actual individual action points, they build up to story, like a puzzle. These are the story moments that are the X happens, and then Y happens… and then Z happens… and on.

4. How is the pace set by the narrative structure and the events as they unfold? Does this support or challenge the narrative conventions of the genre?

5. Are there multiple story-lines and how are these set up within the narrative structure? What are the benefits of multiple story-lines? 

6. How can these help to develop the media form of Long Form TV Drama? 

7. How can these additional story-lines attract an audience? 

8. How effective is this structure in the way in which it communicates multiple meanings? Refer to examples from Stranger Things.

9. How does the chosen narrative structure help reinforce the genre conventions (science-fiction/horror) of the product? 

Todorov's Narrative Structure

Every Story is the Same



Technical codes

TASK: TBC

How are camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scène elements and devices used to construct meaning and specific representations or ideologies about different groups, events, places and people? 

How do the technical codes of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scène elements used support, challenge or develop formal and genre conventions? 

Are there any intertextual references made through the use of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scène and what is the significance of their use in the drama? 

How effective is the use of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scène in attracting audiences and inviting the interpretation of multiple meanings?