Tv

• The resources are intended to support teachers delivering the new GCE A level specification
• The resources have been created based on the assumption that many teachers will already have some experience of Media Studies teaching
• There is overlap between the different areas of the theoretical framework and the various contexts, and a "text-out" teaching structure may offer opportunities for a more holistic approach
• Explanatory notes for teachers and suggestions for teaching are in the Teachers' Notes
• The resources are intended to offer guidance only and are by no means exhaustive
• It is expected that teachers will subsequently research and use their own materials and teaching strategies within their delivery
• Television as an industry has changed dramatically since its inception
• Digital technologies and other external factors have led to changes in production, distribution, the increasingly global nature of television and the ways in which audiences consume texts
• It is expected that students will require teacher-led delivery which outlines these changes, but the focus of delivery will differ dependent on the text chosen
• There is a work pack available for students with this resource
• The Bridge/ 'Bron, Broen'


  Swedish/Danish co-production
• Series 3, Episode 1 is the 'set' text but you may also want to look at others in this series, particularly the final episode
• Episodes 2 and 3 chart the developing relationship between Saga and Henrik
• Series 1, Episode 1 is useful for establishment of character and themes, backstory and narrative exposition
• Series 2, Episode 10 establishes the narrative up to the point of the set text
• Television


  • Production, distribution and consumption have changed considerably since the advent of digital technology
  • It has become a global, rather than a national industry and has become increasingly commercial, with public service broadcasting forced to adapt its structure, role and function
  • International co-production is growing and broadcasters such as HBO have achieved global success
• Broadcasters


  Now "narrowcasters", with multiple channels targeting different (sometimes niche) audiences
• Audience


  • Consume television texts in a variety of ways as the industry has increased portability via new platforms such as tablet and mobile phone and patterns of consumption have changed alongside this, for example box-sets & binge-watching, on-demand and catch-up, Netflix, Amazon etc.
  • Interactive social media channels such as You Tube have increased accessibility for the 'prosumer' audience, and social media and viral promotion have become a crucial part of marketing television texts
• Students must consider television and your texts in terms of: Media Language, Representations, Media Industries, Audience
• This should be linked where relevant to: social and cultural, economic, political, historical contexts
• Bron/Broen/ The Bridge


  Series 3, Episode 1 aired on 21 Nov 2015 9pm BBC Four, written by Hans Rosenfeldt, originally aired on SVT1 Sweden and DR1 Denmark, 3 seasons and 30 episodes in total
• Series 1 began with a body found half way between Sweden and Denmark on the Øresund Bridge linking Malmö to Copenhagen
• Series 2 ended with Saga turning in her partner Martin for murdering the man who killed his son
• Series 3, Episode 1: When a prominent Danish gender campaigner is found murdered in Malmo, Swedish detective Saga Norén is assigned a new Danish colleague to help with the investigation, but their relationship does not get off to a good start with feelings still running high about her involvement in sending her previous Danish partner to jail for murder
• The documentary "Imagine UK - Season 7 Episode 9 - And Then There Was Television" from Dec 19, 2006 is to be watched and students are to answer questions about the development of TV
• The BBC's own homepage has a wealth of information, historical timelines, factsheets and clips about "The Digital Revolution", information about PSB, funding and the Licence Fee
• BBC Research Task


  Look at the BBC website on the "Inside the BBC" section and make notes on: How did the BBC develop historically? What is Public Service Broadcasting? How is the BBC structured? What is the Licence Fee, how is it collected and how is it used? What impact has digital technology had on the BBC?
• As an initial task, there are some excellent resources on crime drama created by Principal Examiner Christine Bell on the WJEC GCSE website
• Students will need to consider how the different modes and language associated with different media forms communicate multiple meanings, how the combination of elements of media language influence meaning, the codes and conventions of media forms and products, including the processes through which media language develops as genre, the dynamic and historically relative nature of genre, how audiences respond to and interpret the above aspects of media language, how genre conventions are socially and historically relative, dynamic and can be used in a hybrid way, the way media language incorporates viewpoints and ideologies
• Theoretical approaches


  • Semiotics – Roland Barthes
  • Narratology – Tzvetan Todorov
  • Genre theory – Steve Neale
  • Structuralism – Claude Lévi-Strauss
  • Postmodernism – Jean Baudrillard
• Analytical toolkit for television


  • Technical Codes (camera: angles, shots, movement, focus; lighting: position, key, contrast; audio codes; editing; FX)
  • Visual Codes (costume, setting, colour palette, framing & proxemics - (mise-en-scène); performance and NVC)
  • Genre (what type of programme it is, setting, characters, repeated situations)
  • Narrative (the story, flashbacks, narration)
• Technical codes recap Blockbusters task uses the digital resource 'Technical codes – Blockbusters'
• Technical codes

  • TS - A FRAME CONTAINING TWO PEOPLE, USUALLY HEAD AND SHOULDERS (TWO- SHOT)
  • CU - A SHOT OF HEAD AND SHOULDERS USED TO CONVEY EMOTION OR REACTION (CLOSE-UP)
  • MES - THE FRENCH TERM USED FOR "EVERYTHING WITHIN A FRAME" (MISE-EN-SCÈNE)
  • ES - AN EXTREME LONG SHOT USED TO SHOW WHERE WE ARE, OFTEN USED AS AN OPENING SHOT (ESTABLISHING SHOT)
  • HAS - THE CAMERA LOOKS DOWN ON THE SCENE, SUGGESTING WEAKNESS (HIGH ANGLE SHOT)
  • LS - A SHOT WHICH CONTAINS FULL LENGTH FIGURES OF PEOPLE FROM SOME DISTANCE AWAY (LONG SHOT)
  • LAS - THE CAMERA LOOKS UP AT THE SCENE OR CHARACTER, SUGGESTING DOMINANCE AND POWER (LOW ANGLE SHOT)
  • D - THE TYPE OF SOUND WHICH NATURALLY OCCURS WITHIN THE FILM'S STORY (DIEGETIC)
  • ND - SOUND WHICH IS IMPOSED ON TOP OF THE FILM E.G. MUSICAL SOUNDTRACK (NON-DIEGETIC)
  • MS - A SHOT WHICH SHOWS CHARACTERS FROM THE WAIST/HIPS UP (MEDIUM SHOT)
  • CF - A FRAME WHICH HAS BOUNDARIES OR BARRIERS ON EACH SIDE OR ABOVE (CLOSED FRAME)
  • SRS - USED FOR CONVERSATION, THE CAMERA SWITCHES FROM ONE PERSON TO THE OTHER AND BACK AGAIN (SHOT-REVERSE-SHOT)
  • OSS - OFTEN USED IN CONVERSATION - THE CAMERA IS POSITIONED BEHIND A CHARACTER, LOOKING AT THE OTHER (OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT)
  • WAS - A SHOT WHICH USES A WIDE LENS TO CAPTURE MORE IN THE FRAME (WIDE-ANGLE SHOT)
  • BEV - AN EXTREME HIGH ANGLE SHOT LOOKING DOWN FROM THE SKY (BIRDS' EYE VIEW)
  • WT - 'NATURALLY' OCCURRING BACKGROUND NOISE E.G. BIRDSONG (WILDTRACK)
  • DF - A SHOT WHICH SHOWS BACKGROUND INFORMATION IN DETAIL WHILST CLOSE UP MAY BE BLURRED (DEEP FOCUS)
  • F - AN EDIT WHEREBY THE PICTURE GRADUALLY DIMINISHES TO BLACK OR WHITE (FADE)
  • SB - AUDIO WHICH CONTINUES OVER AN EDIT, FORMING A LINK BETWEEN SCENES (SOUND BRIDGE)
  • PF - FRAMING WHICH USES ONSCREEN 'LINES' LEADING US DEEP INTO THE FRAME (PARALLEL FRAMING)
• A quick introductory task to get students thinking about genre and sub-genre is to identify the types of Crime Drama in a week's viewing and try to group them according to sub-genre, then move on to hybridity
• Crime sub-genres


  • Cold Case
  • Gangster: 'geezers with guns' (British gangster), mafia
  • Prison
  • Vigilante anti-hero
  • Heist/caper/scam
• Crime drama hybrids


  • Period Drama
  • Soap Opera
  • Comic Book
  • Sci-fi
  • Comedy
  • Teen
• Recurring situations in crime dramas

  • Murder
  • Planning/committing the crime
  • Secrets revealed
  • Double-cross/betrayal
  • Arrest
  • Fights, beating up suspects
  • Gunshots
  • Car chase
  • Street chase
  • Trial
  • Verdict
  • Finding clues
  • Collecting evidence
  • Forensic analysis
  • Reading the rights
  • Interrogating suspects
  • Questioning witnesses
  • Doorstep challenge
  • Searches
  • Stakeouts and tailing
  • False accusations, framing & bribery
  • The red herring
  • Confession
  • Autopsy
  • The line-up
  • Stunts
  • Illegal activity
  • Sexual tension
• Codes and conventions of a crime drama

  • Recurring situations
  • Elements of narrative
  • Style
  • Iconography
  • Settings
  • Themes
  • Stock characters
• Elements of narrative in crime dramas

  • Crime as disruption (link to Todorov)
  • Sometimes this has already occurred
  • Investigative narrative
  • Intellectual puzzles and enigma codes throughout (link causality to Todorov)
  • Narrative positioning with detective/investigator as hero on a quest (could link to Proppian functions)
  • Binary oppositions of justice v vengeance, personal v professional, cop v killer
  • Denouement
• Genre - Crime drama


  Central construct is crime (including the preparation for, or aftermath of)