Theory's

Vladimir Propp – 7 Character Roles Theory

Vladimir Propp (1969) developed a character theory for studying media texts and productions, which he says that there were 7 broad character types. These 7 character types were:

1. The villain (struggles against the hero)
2. The donor (prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object)
3. The hero
4. The princess (person the hero marries)
5. The princess father
6. The dispatcher (sends the hero on his way)
7. The false hero (pretends to be something they are not)

He said all these 7 characters are usually present in media (television, films etc) and productions (plays).

Tzevetan Todorov – Equilibrium Theory

Tzvetan Todorov, suggests that all narratives follow a three part structure. They begin with:

1.      Equilibrium: everything is balanced

2.      Progress: something comes along to disrupt that equilibrium

3.      Resolution: the equilibrium is restored.

Claude Levi Strauss – Binary Opposition Theory

Levi-Strauss looked at narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which reveal the structure of media texts (e.g. smart and dumb).We understand that the opposite of smart is dumb , the opposite of good is evil etc. Levi –Strauss was not  interested in looking at the order in which events were arranged in the plot. He looked instead for themes.

Why is Sound Important in TV Drama?

No TV Drama can be successful without sound. Sound is important because not only does it help exaggerate the plot of the TV drama but is also manages to build suspense within a TV drama. Even with no dialogue, sound just by itself manages to say a lot. Sound can plays with audience’s feelings and emotions. For example if there was a love scene it would be much more effective if a love song was played to help show the lve.

In “Lost” the digetic sounds of the rustling of leaves gave the audience an awareness that the man was in a forest of some sort, the sound of footsteps and the panicking breath gave us the impression he was either running or struggling. The splash of the water made it obvious he was going through water. We also heard the sound of a dog which made it aware that a dog was in the scene. The non-digetic sounds of the music playing in the background helped build the intensity of the scene so we knew that something was not right.

Also in “Doctor Who” sound is important because from the beginning by just hearing the sound we know that the drama is going to be a scientific alien one as the music is very space like. The exaggeration of every little thing tells us that something big is happening.

If there was no sound in TV drama we would not only not be able to hear anything but we wouldn’t get the full effect of the TV drama and it would be like we was witnessing an ordinary conversation recorded between people. 

Eastenders 1

Over the Shoulder Shot
The point of an over the shoulder the shot is so you can see both people who are engaging in conversation. As we can see in this picture you can see the back of Eddies head and the front of Vanessa's face. This indicates to you that eddie is talking to Vannessa.

Full Shot
This is shot allows you to see the whole body of the characters. If this was not a full shot we would not be able to see what Peter and Mandy was carrying (water guns) and the way there bodys are positioned to show that they was moving.

Panning/Zoom Out
The camera was doing a panning shot which allowed us to see everythign in the room. It alsow as zoomed out as Phil and Ben look like they are in the background and the pole looks as though it is in the foreground.

Close Up
Shows the characters expression and how they are feelign as the camera is postioned to show from the top of the head to the shoulders.

Zoom In
The camera is zoomed in to the furniture in Tiffanys dolls house so we can clearly see them but in the background Tiffany looks a bit blurred.The next move which the camera will do is a zoom out for effect so we can see Tiffany clearly.

 Medium Shot
This medium shot shows the face all the way down to waist. This is so we can see the characters face and how they are positioned in order to tell there feelings. Also so we can see what they are holding or how there arms are.