TV Crime Drama Conventions

Conventions are things you expect to see. For example, in TV Crime drama you expect to see the police (a bit obvious).

Think about TV Crime Drama (or even films) that you have seen and do the following:
list as many conventions as possible. 

• Give clear examples from a TV programme or film for each convention.
•  Add images to each one to illustrate. 
• Aim for at least 15 conventions.

You will be doing something similar after you have watched Cuffs and The Avengers.

Extension task

Cuffs research

Find out the following:

• Cast names
• Director
• Writer
• Producer
• Location
• Brief plot outline for episode 1

Add images - particularly of the cast.

Cuffs - Research

• What company produced it?
• How many episodes were made?
• Where was it filmed?
• What channel was it broadcast on?
• Find viewing figures for every episode?
• What was the critical response for the series? In particular, focus on episode 1 - find a number of reviews that express different opinions (if possible).
• What is the mission statement and/ or ethos of the BBC?
• What type of programmes are broadcast on BBC1? Why is this?

TV Drama: Textual Analysis clip

Watch the opening sequence of the TV crime drama Cuffs. The extract lasts until 3.29 mins and you should make notes on a textual analysis grid looking at:

• Camera
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene

Task: Answer this exam-style question in your book. 

The question is worth 10 marks and so you will need to write just over a side in your book. Deal with each bullet point in turn and remember to use media terminology to describe the examples from the extract in your answer.

Analyse how far the extract depicts the police's point of view rather than the criminal point of view. In your answer you must:

• analyse aspects of the extract using examples to support your analysis
• judge how far these aspects depict the police's point of view.

TV Drama: The Avengers Textual Analysis

Watch the first part of the episode, making notes about how the programme uses television conventions that suit the 'spy genre' of the 1960s era and how it portrays stereotypes of the traditional British upper-class in the 1960s. You are going to complete a textual analysis of a clip from the episode next lesson, looking even more closely at the use of camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene.

Task: Copy these questions on to a Word document, to help structure your initial notes. Save your document at the start as The Avengers Textual Analysis

1. How does the opening sequence engage the audience?
2. Why is this monochrome episode a good example of the technical limitations of television at the time?
3. How is mise-en-scene used at the door of Emma Peel's apartment and what does it suggest about the main character?
4. How is mise-en-scene used again to convey characteristic traits of the female lead character?
5. What elements of the narrative inject a comic tone into the episode and does this surprise you as a convention of a 'spy genre' programme?
6. How is sound and the camera used to create suspense about the man at the train station?
7. How is tension created in the action sequence across the fields?
8. How would you compare the pace of the narrative scenes in The Avengers with the modern crime drama Cuffs? Can you comment on what this suggests about the different audience expectations from the era to modern viewers?

TV Drama: The Opening Title Sequences

Task: Watch the title sequence from The Avengers and answer the following questions in your book.

1. How does the music style suggest what genre the show is?
2. What does the typography of the graphics suggest about the show's era?
3. Explain how Patrick Macnee's character is represented via costume, props and facial expression.
4. How is the flower prop used to link the two characters together?
5. Explain how Diana Rigg's character is represented via costume, props and facial expression.
6. What does the term 'teleplay' mean or what is the modern terminology? Why do you think The Avengers is called this?
7. How is editing linked to the music?
8. How are the use of props and body language used to present the characters towards the end and what are the audience expectations of the show as a result?

Extension Task: Compare this opening sequence with the one below by picking out the similarities and differences and explaining what they suggest about how television technology has developed and how audience expectations have changed.

Tv Drama: The Avengers Research

Find out as much information as you can on the following:

• The company or companies that produced the show.
• The TV channel that it was broadcast on.
• The number of UK TV channels in 1965.
• The most popular TV programmes on UK TV in 1965. What type of programme was each one?
• The viewing figures for the show with reasons for the figure.
• The main political events in the UK and around the world in 1965.
• The main cultural events in 1965 - which bands and singers were popular and what films were in the top ten of the UK box office that year.
• Information on Patrick Macnee and Dianna Rigg as famous celebrities in the 1960s.
• Reasons for Diana Rigg's character Mrs Peel being so groundbreaking.
• Reasons for this sort of programme being so popular at the time. What other similar TV shows and films were produced around the same time.

Tv Drama: Cuffs - textual analysis

How have the technical elements been used to introduce setting and character in the TV Crime drama Cuffs?

Refer to your notes. Also, make sure you use the terminology we discussed in class last lesson.

Terminology you must include:

• continuity editing
• cross cutting
• shot reverse shot
• cut
• establishing shot
• close up 
• mid shot
• non-diegetic sound
• diegetic sound

Cuffs - Analysis

We're going to watch Cuffs and try to identify some of the techniques used in the making of the programme.

Make notes on the use of the following:

• Continuity editing
• Shot reverse shot
• Cross cutting
• Fast pace editing
• Establishing shot
• Point of view shot
• Aerial shot
• Hand held camera
• Steadicam
• Tracking shot
• Diegetic sound
• Non-diegetic sound

Moving Image Glossary

Moving Image Glossary from MissCTurner

TV Crime Drama - Media Representations

Media representations: how the media portray events, issues, individuals and social groups.

With reference to episode 1 of Cuffs you need to make notes on all the following:

• Events that take place in the episode (what are they?)
• Issues that the episode deals with (first decide what they are)
• How individuals are represented (first identify what individuals are represented)
• How social groups are represented (again, first identify what social groups the episode identifies)

You'll also be thinking about the following at some point soon:

1. Social Context – how media products reflect the society in which they are produced and that of their target audience.
2. Cultural Context – how media products reflect the arts and culture, including popular culture, of their time.
3. Historical Context – how media products reflect historical events and social changes.
4. Political Context – how media products reflect political viewpoints, messages, values and beliefs.

TV Crime Drama Conventions

The following are things that are normally seen (conventions) in TV crime drama:

• Car chase
• Villains
• Police jargon
• Rookie cop
• Experienced tougher cop
• Dramatic music
• Detectives
• Violence/ fighting
• Tension between characters and in scenes (both between cops and in knife fight)
• Teamwork
• Hierarchy - the bosses and the other ranks
• Victim
• Mystery - e.g.: who was the man at the end of the episode

Referring to episode 1 of Cuffs add examples to each convention.