Conventions of T.V Drama

Conventions of T.V. Drama

In this essay I am going to evaluate the conventions of T.V drama and how they are used in a wide range of T.V dramas. I am going to use Eastenders and Coronation Street as my examples.

Characters

Characters in a British TV drama such Eastenders usually have a conventional cast that has a Villain or criminal, in Eastenders for example, the villain would be Den Watts or the violent, wife-beating, Trevor Morgan. TV dramas usually also have couples with complicated dramatic relationships, these complex and realistic issues and relationships add to the verisimilitude (true or similar to real life). T.V dramas also have characters with attitude or mental problems like Stacey and sympathetic characters such as Vicky. The characters shown in T.V dramas are all stereotypes of real life situations which are egsadurated. In Eastenders the character of Danielle is blonde and therefore is portrayed as being stupid because the public believe that blondes only have looks and are not very smart. There are many stereotypes in Eastenders that are true to life and are what the public believe in. These characters are usually represented in an over simplified way so that they represent values and stereotypes.

The characters in Coronation street can all relate to those in Eastenders because they all have to deal with the same or similar every day life problems as in Eastenders. An example of this would be Ken Barlow, he has been in Coronation Street since it first came to air. He has dealt with many every day life issues and problems throughout the years. He has been married three times, twice widowed and once divorced. These are some every day problems that some people in reality have to deal with. Another example would be Roy Cropper, he married the first transsexual in British television; Hayley Cropper (Harold Patterson) although this is not as common as marriage and divorce it is still a problem to some people in reality.

Narrative

TV dramas all have a multi – stranded narrative. This means that it will show the audience part of a story then switches to another story and then these stories interlink with each other. These stories usually represent dilemmas or issues faced by people in real life. TV dramas use verisimilitude to link in with the audience to show problems faced by people in real life such as family issue or the credit crunch. The narrative is usually represented through the use of dialogue, and is used to make the audience aware of other problems that are shown in the drama.

Both Eastenders and Coronation Street do this to build suspense and drama throughout the episode. Examples of this would be if a scene had violence in it, it is likely that the story will change half way through to a different one and then go back to the violence scene later in the episode.

Mise-en-scene

Most TV dramas also have a Domestic Setting such as the Pub in Eastenders; this is where most of the drama and scenes are based. These locations are easily recognized by the audience of the show. The locations are based to be as true to life as possible so that it is believable for the audience for example in the pub there would be tables, chairs and bottles of wine and beer. In Eastenders the houses have ordinary objects in them that suggest that it is real. These objects could be tables, kitchens and cups/mugs.

Camerawork

The camera techniques and shots used in Eastenders are usually mainly Medium Long shots and medium close – ups. This is because all the dialogue and facial expressions would be harder to see if the camera shots where long shots, this helps the audience understand the emotions and feelings of the characters. At the beginning of each scene a long shot is used to establish the setting then a medium close-up is used to identify the characters and icons, then a close-up is used so the audience can see the facial expressions of the characters. Over the shoulder shots are often also used to film conversations so the audience can see what the character is looking at or who he/she is directly talking to. This also makes the audience feel as if it is them who is looking from the characters point of view.

The camera work in Coronation Street is similar to Eastenders apart from in Coronation Street there are more medium close-ups used as appose to close-ups. This is because although the facial expressions are not as clear to see, the audience can still identify the emotions of the characters. Also in a medium close-up the audience can see slightly more then a close-up (such as key props and icons) because close-ups only focus on the head of the characters.

Dialogue, sound and music

The dialogue and sound in TV drama are used to create a balance between verisimilitude and drama. In Eastenders all of the sound is non – diagetic there is no background music this lets the audience hear everything in the scene without being distracted by background music.
In Coronation Street however there is some background music involved, it does not distract the audience from the main points of the scene but it does add to the verisimilitude because if the scene is in the pub then it is likely that there will be background music. This is because it is important to show the audience that it is reality or similar to it.

Icons

The icons within the mise – en – scene are shown as it is so the audience can identify what the following scene is going to be about such as; The Rovers pub, this shows the audience that the scene will be based in the pub, with background music, alcohol and social conversations will be involved in the scene.

Other icons could be characters, this is because if a character has starred in a soap for a long period of time then he is recognized by the public as a character of the soap. For example ken Barlow is an icon of Coronation Street.