TV as Culture as Communication
COMN 3316
Agenda
• Visit to website to look at resources
• Questions about exam
• Lecture: Genres
– Sit Com •Commercials •News •Talk shows
•“Public Television”
Genre in TV
• Is a recognizable pattern that allows us to sort
and categorize television shows, personalities,
technologies connected
Genre and TV: Ancestry
• The patterns may have historical roots in
genres that preceded television
• The patterns may have historical roots in
genres that preceded them (ex. reality TV)
Example 1: The Littlest Hobo: 1963-1965, and
also 1979-1984
Rin Tin Tin: Radio and movie; Call of the Wild:
Jack London; Lassie (book, TV (1954)
Genre and TV: Place
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at necessary
ties to place:
examples: Sports; News, Canadian Idol, This Hour has 22
min
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at artificially
constructed ties to place:
Examples: Survivor ; Soap Operas; Sit Com (Corner
Gas)
?Gilmore Girls (SET?): comedy drama
?Road to Avonlea? (drama/book adaptation)
Genre and TV: Place
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at necessary and
artificial ties to place and also by looking at
broadcasting, distribution, channel information
example:
Corner Gas: Originally, created and distributed by CTV (CTV
distributes a commercial television, that satisfies CRTC and
Domestic Heritage Standards, and such programming is
eligible for federal supports in tax grants and other funding
options), and is now also available through YouTube and
other variants, On Demand (and its variants), DVD.
Corner Gas: Broadcast in varied forms, but is only currently
easily accessed in broadcast forms through cable stations
that air in Canada (or borders).
Genre and TV: Place
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at necessary and
artificial ties to place and also by looking at
broadcasting, distribution, channel information
example: Reality TV:
Love It or List It: Takes place in varied Canadian Cities, and
allows a glimpse of our country. Yet never identifies
these cities. Canadian reality shows around home
improvement rarely ID the place, thus they can be
marketed in US on HGTV (at least 50% of its programs
are Canadian, but the only programs that identify the
place they are in for the home improvement – are US.
Genre and TV: Place
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at necessary and
artificial ties to place and also by looking at
broadcasting, distribution, channel information
example: Reality TV:
Love It or List It: W the Woman’s Channel: there is nothing
like this channel in the US. It is unavailable there:
Mandate seems to be: Home Reno, Domestic support
shows; Style shows (not so much any more); Romance
movies and now TV crime dramas which feature women,
and sitcoms women audiences like.
Genre and TV: Place
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at necessary and
artificial ties to place and also by looking at
broadcasting, distribution, channel information
example: Reality TV:
Love It or List It: W the Woman’s Channel: Was originally
started as a channel to support women in response to
varied CRTC concerns through 80’s & 90’s: example
Genre and TV: Place
• Genre maybe analyzed by looking at necessary and
artificial ties to place and also by looking at
broadcasting, distribution, channel information
example: Reality TV:
Love It or List It: Original WTN programming was to support
women in struggles, concerns that were under-supported by
other channels. Example: Movie night would be followed by
a discussion: For example the 1997 made for TV movie Prison
of Secrets which tells a true story of a wrongful conviction of
a women. The call in discussion following would be around
wrongful convictions in Canada and how to help family
members who have been or are are affected by a wrongful
conviction.
Love It or List It: Current programming. Features the dual of the sexes in
which a strong designer woman leaves her mark through winning most
of the design challenges. Explores family issues through the contest.
Genre and Production: Style
• Choices in lighting, staging, entry, exit,
audience address
• Choices in transitions between shots
• Interfacing shots
• Length of shots
• Even choices in color pallets
Genre and Production: Style
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EXAMPLE News:
Even choices in color pallets
Choices in lighting, staging, entry, exit, audience address
Choices in transitions between shots
Interfacing shots
Length of shots
Rhythm of the shots
Choices in what is shown
(Choices in distribution styles)
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Fox news excerpt
CTV news
Internet News: Local
BBC
Al Jazera
Al Jazera/Fora.tv
Genre and Dramatic Form: Plot
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EXAMPLE : CSCI (crime show) VS Historical Drama vs?
Even choices in color pallets
Choices in lighting, staging, entry, exit, audience address
Choices in transitions between shots
Interfacing shots
Length of shots
Rhythm of the shots
Choices in what is shown
Storyline numbers
– CSI A
– CSI B (see next image)
– CSI C
– Hockey, a People’s History
– Heritage Minute example
– Investigations on violence
Genre and Dramatic Form: Plot
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EXAMPLE : Commercials
Even choices in color pallets
Choices in lighting, staging, entry, exit, audience address
Choices in transitions between shots
Interfacing shots
Length of shots
Rhythm of the shots
Choices in what is shown
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fido
CC
CC like to
CC historical? (see next slide)
• H and S