SMST21606B Television

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SMST216-06B Television

• Week 30 (July 26)
• Ways of Studying Television Codes
  Conventions/Narrative/Genre

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• Codes and conventions
• Narrative
• Genre

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I Codes and conventions (1)

• Television has become a significant part of
  almost everyones lives and reaches more people
  than any other socialising institution, apart
  from the family and schooling?. This has led,
  however, to a common belief that television is an
  activity that requires little or no skill, and
  understanding it is an intrinsic quality,
  embedded in us from birth but we have to learn
  the codes and conventions of the medium, in order
  to understand it and benefit from it, similar to
  learning to read or speak a verbal language.
• Katie Harris (2002), Is Television Like a
  Language Which We Read?,
  www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/kjh0001.html

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codes and conventions (2)

• Codes are collections or groupings of signs,
  which construct and represent meaning.
  Conventions are the rules which organise signs
  into a code, and produce meaning through encoding
  and decoding. Television can be described as an
  elaborate sign system, arranged into complex
  codes and conventions which become naturalised
  or accepted practice. (Lealand Martin, 2001)

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Codes and conventions (3)

• In terms of television convention refers to
  normal or established practices understood by
  both programme-makers and audiences. An
  audiences familiarity with the conventions of
  television explains the ability to tune in midway
  through a previously unseen programme and
  understand what kind of programme it is genre
  and, indeed, what is going on.
• Casey et al Television Studies The Key Concepts
  p. 43
• video MTV3

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Codes and conventions (4)

• It is frequent repetition of such conventions
  that makes us accustomed to them so we can
  appreciate the meanings in television programmes.
  (Fiske Hartley, 1978)
• We have become so accustomed to the codes and
  conventions of television that we only now
  recognise when they the rules are disrupted or
  violated in some way.
• video Brass Eye Animal rights (Channel Four)
• This is David Lander
• Northern Exposure

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Codes and conventions (5) Television News and
Current Affairs

• Television news, most usually presented in a
  nightly bulletin of 30 or 60 minutes, is a high
  status television genre. Television news (eg ONE
  Network News) is often regarded as the flagship
  programme, gathering the highest ratings and
  revenue for its host channel.
• Television current affairs are less frequent
  programmes (usually weekly), distinguished from
  the news by their ability to background and
  detail events in greater depth, within magazine
  formats (eg 60 Minutes, 20/20) see Mirrors pp.
  154-156

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Codes and conventions (5) Levels of codes

• As with all television genres, News and Current
  Affairs are distinguished by
• Level One codes Reality
• All television content is already constructed
  (encoded) by social codes, which include
  appearance, dress, speech, accent etc.
• News personnel (reporters, presenters) are
  customarily middle-aged, white (Pakeha),
  well-groomed, well-spoken, well-educated (imagine
  a Rastafarian reading the news!)

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• Level Two codes Representation
• Social codes are further encoded by technical
  codes, such as camera angles, lighting, editing.
  These codes, in turn, transmit the conventional
  representational codes which shape and determine
  the structure and meaning of narrative, action,
  character.
• As in the authoritative news presenter addressing
  us directly, explaining events within 50-60
  second news stories, in an atmosphere of
  importance and urgency.

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• Level Three codes Ideology
• Social codes, technical codes and conventional
  representational codes are organised (by
  convention) into ideological codes (familiar,
  socially acceptable codes) of individualism,
  national interest, gender, race and class, power
  relationships etc
• For example ideological assumption determines
  what is news-- a focus on the 52 people killed
  in the London bombings, rather than the estimated
  25,000 killed in Iraq language choice
  determines our responses to events eg suicide
  bombers rather than martyrs ..

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News values

• Closely aligned to the codes and conventions of
  news and current affairs, are those factors which
  determine what is news--or, more significantly,
  what journalist and editors determines what is
  news. from Galtung Ruge, 1965
• frequency threshold
• unambiguity meaningfulness
• consonance unexpectedness
• continuity composition
• reference to elite nations reference to elite
  persons
• personalisation negativity
• Video The Making of a News Bulletin (TVNZ)

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• This suggests that there is nothing natural
  about television news and current affairs (and
  news generally?) it is a matter of
  construction--constructed by
• The medium of television--its codes and
  conventions
• Journalistic practice

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As well as presenting the news..

• Television news and current affairs claims to be
  objective and neutral. But this is impossible,
  given its constructed nature--and its emphasis on
  conflict
• TV news/current affairs is also entertainment
  the audience has to be persuaded to watch, and
  continue to watch
• Such news is also a commodity it delivers very
  valuable audiences to advertisers

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II Narrative (1)

• everything on television is connected in some
  way In all television narratives, and across
  all programmes and genres, the objective is to
  assemble all story elements in a coherent and
  logical stream of meaning, to ensure we keep
  watching and understanding Lealand Martin. p.73

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Narrative (2)

• Narrative in television is shaped and determined
  by
• Repeated patterns of story construction and
  story-telling (as in the news story the 30
  minute sitcom)
• Individual authorship (eg director, scriptwriter)
  is rarely important in television. The
  imperatives of genre and format are more
  important eg it is more important to produce a
  good sitcom, rather ascribe authorship to a
  sitcom director

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Narrative (3)

• 3.Television narratives are constrained, and
  constructed, by the need to tell stories within
  very strict time-frames eg the 60 sec news story
  the 30 sec TVC the 30 minute sitcom
• 4.Television narratives are frequently fragmented
  or incomplete (eg serials, coming up after the
  break), interrupted or suspended (eg ad breaks
  episodic drama), frequently non-linear (eg
  flash-backs, flash-forwards), multiple and
  complex storylines (especially serial drama),
  highly repetitious content (eg TVCs)--all
  occuring within a relentless flow of programmes
  and continuity.

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Narrative (4)

• 5. Television needs to tell public, general and
  familiar stories which connect with both the real
  lives and fantasy lives of a wide diversity of
  viewers ie to match our expectations that stories
  should have a beginning/middle/end
• 6. Nevertheless, 50 years of television has
  enabled the development of variations on
  traditional story-telling (cf. the
  fairy-tale)--most particularly in respect of
  complex plots, multiple story-lines, disruption
  of linear narratives (eg Six Feet Under, The
  Sopranos, The Simpsons)

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Narrative (5)

• Over the decades, television narratives have
  become increasingly dominated by seriality, or
  the continuing story. This is now characteristic
  of both fictional programmes (eg soap opera
  story strands in episodic drama), and factual
  television (eg TV news reality TV)--sometimes
  with unexpected consequences
• video The Suzanne Smith story

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III Genre (1)

• Television genres are groupings of categories
  whereby programmes are defined, produced and
  placed in the schedule (the timetable of
  television). Examples of TV genres include soap
  opera/serial sitcoms news current affairs
  sport lifetstyle programmes, childrens youth
  etc. Some genre categories are now very broad and
  loose, due to programme diversity and genre
  hybridisation or borrowing eg reality TV
  dramedy

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Genre (2)

• The television industry uses the term to
  categorise and identify the various parts of its
  programming mix. Audiences use it to identify and
  choose their viewing preferencesIt is a
  particularly tidy way of describing the mess and
  muddle which characterises television
  programming, across the multitude of channels and
  hours upon hours of programming. Lealand Martin,
  59

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Genre (3)

• The genre approach within television studies is
  a way of theorising how television programmes are
  classified and organised. It includes a
  consideration of the codes and conventions within
  and between television programmes but Given the
  proliferation of television forms and channels,
  classification into recognisable genres is
  becoming increasingly difficult, even on a
  common-sense level. Casey et al, 108-111

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To summarise

• One can regard the concepts used today as
  stepping stones in the construction of both
  content and meaning in television.ie
• signs (the smallest component of content)
• are combined into codes and conventions
• (such as narrative codes conventions), and
  thus into genres (groupings of programmes), and
  then placed in the schedule