Genre Research.

1. Genre Research

2. TV Dramas:
Drama is an integral part within the range of genres that ITV has to offer, as they offer
a variety of programmes within the drama genre in order to entice a primarily adult
audience. Dramas on television channels can either include mini-series that would
typically run for a couple of weeks or specifically made for television dramas that will
conventionally run for over an hour. This genre of programming is typically shown at
night because this genre costs a lot of money to make, with shows like Doctor Who
costing up to £1 million for an episode that is broadcast for an hour – though it makes
this money back plus profit due to the fact that it attracts such a mass audience.
Furthermore, this programming is depicted to be targeted at an adult audience,
though this depends on the channel that a drama is being shown on, for example –
Skins is a drama that is shown on E4 with the audience being teenagers as this is the
integral audience for this particular channel. However, on mainstream channels like
ITV and BBC – the focus is put upon an adult audience at night as the children will be
expected to be asleep.
Different types of TV dramas aim at different audiences and this is conveyed through
several different factors, with one of these aspects being the channel that a drama is
shown on.

3. Hollyoaks
Hollyoaks is a long running teen drama, which is shown
on Channel 4 which is very effective due to the fact that
Channel 4’s subsidiary channel E4 are predominantly a
teenage audience – subsequently meaning that they will
tune into this drama because it appeals to their
demographic. It targets teenagers and this is represented
due to the fact that most of the cast members within the
show are around the ages of 16-35, connoting that similar
people of this age group are likely to view the drama.
Moreover, an audience that find delving into the theme
of escapism will like Hollyoaks because they can immerse
themselves within a storyline – though this is concurrent
for people that enjoy aspects like soap operas also.

4. Downton Abbey
Downton Abbey is broadcast on ITV, with this being a period
drama which differs entirely from Hollyoaks and this connotes
that different types of genres are intrinsically dependant on
the channel that they are broadcast on. The resigned
demographic are targeted for Downton Abbey, due to the fact
that the show is set in former traditional times, hence
meaning that an older audience is primarily aimed at due to
the fact that they will gain a sense of nostalgia from watching
the show. ITV show this programme because of the fact that
they are able to attract an older audience through their
programming as they have to have a diversity within their
ethos, depicting that by having a show for aspirers that they
can find status alike how the characters in the show do.

5. Casualty
Casualty is yet another sub-genre of the drama category with
this being shown on BBC One – it is a medical drama series
that has been running for many years and becomes part of a
flagship Saturday night on BBC. This show targets a variety of
audiences, with the psychographic audience that are aimed at
being succeeds due to the fact that they will seek a sense of
prestige, meaning that the audience will see the doctors
within the show and subsequently gain satisfaction from this
genre. It varies an audience from between 25+ to around 50,
with the flagship Saturday night time of around 9 o’clock
typically highlighting that male and female adults with kids
can watch the show – as well as those already in the
profession of healthcare.

6. Genre Theory
Jonathan Culler states that ‘generic conventions exist to establish
certain expectations’ – with this applying in all genre theory but I see it
as paramount within the drama genre due to the fact that there is such
a variation within this genre with a mass of sub-genres, though
fundamentally the narrative structure stays relatively similar to
Todorov’s narrative structure. Freytag’s drama theory is divided into 5
different segments, with this being highlighted to represent a similar
sense of Todorov’s theory, with the rising action being the
disequilibrium in order to entice the audience towards the show,
especially in drama’s that are shown over several episodes or are part
of a series. Storylines can run over in different episodes which means
that equilibrium may not be seen for several episodes, or in the case of
a show like Hollyoaks, potentially a storyline could run over months
without denouement ever being achievable until months ahead, with
this technique being used to attract an audience back towards a drama
until the climax is ultimately reached.

7. Reality
Reality television presents unscripted and follows ‘real life’ events as they
occur – though this genre of programming is among the most mediated
shows on television – with shows like ‘The Only Way is Essex’ having to
convey before they even start their shows that some of the events that unfold
have been purposely set up, which instantly gets rid of the unscripted aspect
of the genre. This genre attracts a lot of criticism subsequently, as it appears
to utterly contradict itself due to the fact that unscripted aspects are shown
to not be reality at all. Stereotypes play a massive part in reality TV, with
characters from Made in Chelsea shown to be extremely posh and wealthy
through their possessions, highlighting that a psychographic of materialistic
people will enjoy these programmes as they aspire to have the possessions
that these people have. A massive example of a stereotype within reality TV
involves Jade Goody, with her entire life and death focusing upon her
following the ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype though she had the intention of
subverting this stereotype through her portrayal on reality TV, in order to get
the audience to like her.

8. Reality
The entire reality TV format allows the audience to have a sense of
interactivity within the shows, with audience’s able to potentially vote
for people that they enjoy watching, or with shows like ‘The Only Way
is Essex’ represented on ITV 2 to an audience focused around
teenagers, meaning that synergy within their adverts of drawing
audience users to the Twitter hashtag ‘#TOWIE’ is vital for the
audience to have their view. This involves the uses and gratifications
theory, as an audience can find entertainment through shows like
Geordie Shore as they see how a specific demographic of people act in
a partially controlled environment, though shows like Crimewatch are
vital for learning about new stuff in the world and therefore acquiring
new knowledge about cases of crime. Ultimately, this allows people to
find a personal identity due to the variety of reality TV sub-genres, as
they can reinforce their own views by looking up to others – hence
highlighting that those lower on the demographic scale are the
predominant audience for this genre of programming.

9. Infotainment
This includes shows like Crimewatch which is shown on
BBC 1 as a flagship show typically once a month. This is
seen as the oldest type of reality show and differs
tremendously from modern reality television – as this
includes information on very important crimes so that
the audience can respond to the reconstructions to
help out issues that have occurred. BBC represent the
audience of this show by having a sense of superiority
of the audience, with a very professional identity of the
show, as well as specialists in specific areas to add
authority.

10. Docusoap
These programmes appear as more realistic than the average
reality TV show, effectively using cameras to depict unscripted
situations as they occur as they are set up within an atmosphere
but then events unfold themselves. Airline was formerly a
prevalent example of this as this was shown on ITV at flagship
times to attract a massive audience, as they represent the lives
of what appear to be ‘ordinary people’. They are extremely
cheap to make and this is why they are broadcast so frequently,
though the critical theories upon this sub-genre involve the fact
that mediation occurs due to the fact that people will know they
are being filmed. Furthermore, there is criticism upon this genre
as participants will not like their views being shared, though will
then willingly allow themselves to be represented on television
in front of millions of people.

11. Lifestyle Programmes
This will involve programmes that involve ordinary people being transformed
infront of the audience’s very eyes. This instantly creates a sense of hyperbole
within the show and seeks out a lower demographic of people and a
psychographic of people that wish to reform themselves alike the person that
is undergoing a change on television. This includes shows like Gok’s Fashion
Fix as women will be severely abused (though not to their own knowledge)
and then suddenly appear as dominant feminine figures, highlighting that this
genre can place a massive importance upon highlighting conventional
stereotypes of men and women. According to Neale’s genre theory, ‘specific
systems of expectations constitute genre’ – with this being shown as vital
within lifestyle programmes due to the fact that there is an expectations put
upon females in order to look beautiful and for image to be the predominant
aspect in their life, but then with a gay man being the person to sort their
problems out, connoting an expectation upon the aspirer psychographic to
conform to the stereotypical expectation of gay men and women.

12. Reality talent show
This involves putting people into massive manufactured and mediated
situations in order to show off their talents – or deliberately to make
the audience laugh which highlights that comedy plays a paramount
aspect within this sub-genre. Britain’s Got Talent is a flagship show for
ITV which is why they consistently bring it back year after year because
they know that they will gain a massive audience for each episode,
therefore generating money for ITV themselves also through the use of
audience participation due to voting. These shows are constructed in a
way to portray each contestant in a specific way – for example by
making a character appear as one of Propp’s character types initially
through portraying them as a victim – but then if they perform
extremely well then the audience get a sense of satisfaction and are
ultimately more likely to spend money on voting for this person which
creates more money for ITV.

13. Reality game show
This acts as a popularity contest which involves the use of celebrities in
order to entice viewers towards a show. Shows like ‘I’m a Celebrity get
me out of here’ involve 24 hour surveillance of putting celebrities
within an environment to let events unfold, though there is an added
aspect of the shows being deliberated portrayed so that ITV has an
element of control under what does actually occur. There is a sense of
unpredictability however, as it is unknown how all the people will react
together in a certain environment – and this is shown with Channel 5’s
flagship show Big Brother. This involves people that are not celebrities
but still acts as a popularity contest, drawing audiences in by allowing
them to vote for their favourite person to win which therefore makes
money for the institution. This show uses all of Propp’s character types
to allow the audience to have the opportunity to find their favourite
character and then this also involves disequilibrium as Channel 5 will
purposely wish for the ‘characters’ in the game show to clash to
subsequently create entertainment.

14. Comedy
The comedy genre can differ upon its audience, with different
demographics finding different things funny which means that when
the comedy genre is looked into, that a programme must specifically
target the audience with its initial advertising so that a specific
audience can become engaged with the programming. ‘You’ve been
Framed’ has been an integral show for ITV since 1990 which means
that it has longevity and it is also popular among a range of audience’s
that are young and old because of the way that it involves slapstick
comedy – which can be humorous to anybody that is watching. ITV
have used this show extremely smartly, as I aforementioned, a show
typically needs to be aimed at a specific audience with a purpose,
though because this show is literally numerous slapstick moments that
occur frequently, anyone is able to find it funny regardless of which
social class or psychographic audience that you belong to.