Analysing TV ProgrammesNicole Melia

Form-Fiction• An example of a fictional TV programme is The Simpsons.

The Simpsons is an animated sitcom from the US, based on a family with the last name Simpson. The series centres on a family and their life in a typical American town with a middle class lifestyle.

• Fiction is peoples most favourite type of programme as because it can involve non-realistic themes and situations it can be humorous and can appeal to all target audience like The Simpsons.

• Fiction is basically something that describes imaginary events and people or something that is invented or untrue.

• The link below is a Simpsons episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qbJP-6K3_E

Form-Documentary• The definition of Documentary is the consisting of

or based on official documents and using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject.

• An example would be making a documentary on the Twin Towers. This would show clips of the horrendous incident, photos and interviews of people that were there or lost loved ones.

• This is a link to a documentary on the Twin Towers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3cS9f4CBPw

Form-News• The news is on every night, it tells us about information,

especially about recent events. Its a broadcast or published report of events that could have happened in the past, today or even about the future. The news doesn't just focus on what is happening in the UK it is worldwide and can tell you about anything.

• The news covers all topics such as weather, sport, celebrity and real life. An example of a news programme could be ITV news and weather. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJnrK-HuKwY This is a link to a example of ITV news and weather.

• In my opinion The News will always be an important part of the Media it keeps everyone aware of the good and bad things going on, keeping awareness to help others and also tells us what is going on in the world.

Form-Advertising•Advertising is when you produce advertisements

for commercial products or services. Advertising is used to market specific products such as an iPhone- Below is a link to a IPhone 5S Advert. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmTpgSMJ96c This is aimed at parents as it is trying to say to parents to be a good parent you need this phone. By showing different clips of handy things you can do with the phone like turning the light off when the baby's asleep on you would make the parent think I need that!

Form-Promotional

•Promotional is where it is advertising something to the exact date and time or of an event, this could be a lot of different things such as movie trailers or adverts for TV programmes. Below is a clip of the advert for ‘My Mad Fat Diary’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmkdk-Urm_8 This is promoting the new series of the programme and shows all the cast and clips of what's going to happen in season 3.

Form-Hybrid•Hybrid combines elements of two genre's to

make as an example DocuDrama- this is based on real life events featuring brutal, heart-pounding segments that happened in real life. An example of a film that made a DocuDrama would be a film called 127 Hours starring James Franco and it is based on a real life event from a extraordinary outdoors man called Aron Ralston. In the film 127 Hours they ended up showing a real life clip filmed by Aron Ralston when his arm was stuck under a boulder

Narrative-Linear & Non-Linear• Linear is a straight forward narrative that starts

with a beginning then goes through the middle and reaches the end without strain from the story. A main example would be a soap such as Emmerdale, this is because they follow a narrative linear because it moves from one story to an other based on specific characters in Emmerdale. Where as Non-Linear can make a bigger mystery within the TV series because it can show something from the start such as a flashback or something that can cause a dramatic effect.

Narrative-Single & Multi Strand• A Single strand narrative is when the focus of the

story is focused on one main character who is surrounded by other minor characters. An example of this is Harry Potter- It is his life and his story the people around him are just who are there when the events are happening.

• A multi strand narrative follows a large number of characters, telling there own story in there own way but they are all connected. An example of this would be friends. The main 6 people are all connected in some way either related or friends but all are a main focus.

Narrative- Realistic & Non Realistic• Realistic is where something that happens could

be seen as real life- which is realistic. A programme is Hollyoaks, its based on a daily life of people having problems with family and friends Where as on the other hand if something has a strong fictionalized idea put into a TV series it is classed as a Anti-Realist TV series. Some of the fictionalized ideas can range from the set to story and also fiction characters such as zombies. The Walking Dead is an example of a Non Realistic Narrative.

Narrative- Open Ended & Closed• A good example of this is dramas, they tend to use

a story that stretches from the first episode to the last. However when they show all of these episodes they won't give everything away at the start because they want to keep the viewers interested so they will continue to watch the TV series. They wont give the whole story line away otherwise they would loose viewers, this is why they tend to use cliff-hangers.  An example of a Closed narrative TV series would be a series called The Big Bang Theory. They can make a goodbye episode to inform the viewers that this will be the last episode.

Narrative- Series/Serial•Most TV shows have a number of seasons that

end up forming an overall TV series of the show. An example of a series narrative would be a series called The Inbetweeners. In this series narrative they will use a Open-Ended narrative so they can attract their audience back to watch he second season of the TV series.

•So on the other hand a Serial TV show follows a Closed narrative an example of this is the TV Programme Casualty.

Genre• There are many genres of TV Programmes

weather it’s a thriller, comedy etc. My favourite is Sitcom ( Situation Comedy) My favourite example would be Friends. This is based on 6 close friends who are all connected in different ways (family and friends) . By using these types of characters they tend to pick a effective set where a specific demographic might go and visit quite often such as a coffee shop. By relating there Sitcom TV show to real life and in my opinion this is what makes Sitcoms so humorous as you can compare it to your life events.

Analytical Approaches-Audience Profiting •  In audience profiling they will look at the

demographics of a specific group so they have a brief idea on what they might want to include on there advertisement. By looking at these demographics they might be able to attract more of an audience towards buying their product. Audience Profiling factors may include Age, Gender, Race, Sexuality etc.

• However this isn't always a good thing as sometimes stereotyping can lead to a lot of disagreements.

Analytical Approaches-Audience Analysing • Another Analytical Approach that can be used by film producers and

television producers is Audience Analysis. Audience analysis is mainly undertaken after an audience has watched or made contact with a specific product.

• By producers doing this they will calculate a total amount of people that liked the product and they'll use that as a percentage on their advertisement if one is created. Also after analysis producers will take it into knowledge and make one or multiple improvements if any have to be included on a specific product- This could help the final product more popular and be better than the original.  

• Another type of audience analysis that producers could use is online research because a good website to get reviews off of specific films off of the public is a website called IMDB (Internet Movie Database), by looking at some reviews on this website they can get a good understanding of what films their specific demographic profile like to watch. It can give you information on TV Shows or movies and tell you anything you need to know.

Analytical Approaches-Codes & Conventions• codes & conventions can help pick out some very major or

minor stereotypes to use in their TV programme as an example. This can show how someone in a specific demographic profile dresses or reacts to specific things happening around that type of person. By producers using stereotypes in their TV programme they have a bigger chance of making people laugh because it could show exactly what the people think about a student, adult etc. 

• There are four Codes that film producers might use to make their film better and these four codes spell out the word SWAT, this stands for Symbolic - Written - Audio - Technical. I think all these are important to make a successful TV Programme/Movie ETC.

Analytic Approaches- Narrative Analysing•  A narrative analysis is typically an academic pursuit.

A narrative analysis quite easily breaks down a final edit or end product in terms of how good the product or film is in other words it's ability to attract an audience.

•  Also narrative analysis can be structured in many ways such as Linear and Non-Linear. If producers choose to use a Linear narrative structure they will shown everything in chronological order and they will tend not to show anything from the past in the middle of the film as an example. I find  Non-Linear narrative's a lot more entertaining because you don't mainly suspect things until the end of the film.

Textual Analysis FRIENDS – The One Where No Ones Ready

The One Where No-Ones Ready• Friends is an American sitcom (situation comedy). The whole episode is

based on Ross trying to get everyone ready for a party where he works and with 22 minutes to go… still no one is ready. This story line I think makes it funny because everyone can relate to it, and we all have one friends that would be stressed if this was to happen as so this would make you laugh more.

• Ross is eager to have everyone ready well in time for his 8 PM speech at the museum's benefit, but they all have other priorities then getting dressed. Joey childishly steals Chandler's armchair while he used the bathroom, and obstinately keeps sitting in it, in the process getting a stain on Phoebe's dress; when finally chased, Joey takes the pillows with him, Chandler retorts by stealing all Joey's underwear, Joey takes sordid vestimentary revenge... Monica freaks when she hears an answering machine message from Richard, even although it's probably ancient, and keeps making it worse abusing his code... Worst of all is Rachel, who takes forever to pick an outfit till Ross insists she should hurry up, never mind what she wears, then she refuses to go altogether, until Joey's flippant suggestion is taken seriously.

• When the only person who is ready, Phoebe then gets hummus thrown at her that ruins her dress so this causes even more of a distraction. Whilst the girls help phoebe find something else to wear Joey steals Chandlers seat in anger, so chandler hides all of Joeys underwear. Then in retaliation, Joey ‘wears everything that Chandler owns’. This its self is the main comical part of the episode as it’s the banter between two friends which again the audience watching this can relate to. Monica is then late because her ex boyfriend Richard leaves a message on her answering machine which then makes her worry why and what he wants. Still Ross is stressing wanting everyone to get ready. Last but not least Rachel has still not decided what she's going to wear- as she is stereotyped as a blonde female.

• I think this episode is a brilliant example of a sitcom as it has scenes that everyone can relate to, whether having a friend that loves being on time, one that’s just laid back, a girl friend who is a typical girl etc. Its an everyday situation but very exaggerated as an example my first instinct if my friend hid my underwear wouldn’t be to put all there clothes on. But because its so unlikely to happen it makes you want to laugh more.

• September 22, 1994 was the first time for Friends to air, to May 6, 2004 where the last episode was shown. Friends lasted ten seasons and was such a big hit- and still is now 21 years later. Friends received positive reviews throughout its run, becoming one of the most popular sitcoms of all time.