Codes and Conventions

Codes:
Symbols or icons of particular genres.

eg:

Knife - Horror
Blood - Horror
Mask - Horror

Ambulances - Hospital TV drama
Surgical masks - Hospital TV drama
Uniforms - Hospital TV drama

Conventions
Unwritten rules of audience expectations.

eg:

Parralell Narratives - TV drama
Realistic locations - TV drama
Use of shot reverse shot - TV drama


TV Dramas all have the following ingredients:

• Characters - even particular kinds of characters: e.g, at it's most simple; 'good' and 'bad' characters.
• Stories - They all tell stories, whether those stories involve adventure, crime or romance and they often, but not always, end happily.
• The stories are told against familiar backdrops - e.g, homes, police stations and offices (for crime genre), hospitals (for medical dramas) - most of which are filmed in studios.
• Camerawork - particular kinds of shots are used: e.g, sequences involving establishing shots followed by mid shots of characters, shot/reverse shots to show character interaction and close ups to show characters emotions.
• Stories use dialogue to tell the stories. Occasionally, monologues are built in (as voiceovers, a character telling a story)
• Music is used to punctuate the action, create effects and underline emotional moments.
• Particular sub-genres tend to have items which make them immediatley identifiable - police cars, blue lights.