Genre

Research

News
Deni0ons - newly received or noteworthy informa0on, especially about recent events.
"I've got some good news for you a broadcast or published report of news. plural
noun: the news "he was back in the news again synonyms: report, announcement,
story, account; More informal nforma0on not previously known to (someone).
"this was hardly news to her"

Conven0ons - This report is 5 minutes and 36 seconds long and shares a lot of traits with the previous one;

such as the smartly dressed studio reporter, the centre frame on the reporter and the the people he is
interviewing, the opposing ideologies conic0ng. The dierences between this report and the previous one is
that this report has no cutaways to anything which is a visual reinforcement of what people are saying, for
exxample there is frequent men0on of polls but no sta0s0cs are shown on the screen. Another major dierence
is that the people being interviewed are in seperate loca0ons and not in the studio. The 2 men being interviewed
are shown on 2 seperate screens which they are in the centre of their respec0ve frames and they are smartly
dressed, however these men make no ac0ons with their hands and they seem to be greenscreened in front of
backgrounds to represent the places they are in. This could be some used to help the audience tell who is who,
another interes0ng point is that the man whom works for the President has the white house in his background
which a well known place of government so the audience may interperet this as this man is in the government.

Oxford (2016) News, in Oxford Dic0onary. Available at:
h\p://www.oxforddic0onaries.com/deni0on/english/news
(Accessed: 13 April 2016).

Blog and Theme, T.T. (2012) The codes and conven0ons of broadcast TV news.
Available at: h\ps://seanmaguireblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/the-codes-
and-conven0ons-of-broadcast-tv-news/ (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

News Example
Examples:
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6I7DlZiqHUE

TV Live (2015) BBC news at Ten: Opening - 16th april 2015.

Available at: h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=6I7DlZiqHUE (Accessed: 13 April 2016).

Documentary
Deni0ons - Consis0ng of or based on ocial documents: documentary evidence of
regular payments from the company. Using pictures or interviews with people involved
in real events to provide a factual report on a par0cular subject: a documentary
programme about Manchester United

Conven0ons A narrator is used to move the narra0ve along. They also are used to push and idea or a view on the topic

forward. A narrator is important to hold the narra0ve together. Dige0c and Non-Dige0c Sound is used to represent emo0on or a
topic. Graphics can be used on screen to note down an interviewee's name and rela0on to the subject. Archive footage is used to
show a variety of views on a topic. A sound track may accompany the visuals. Chroma-key- used in interviews Interviews are a key
element of Documentaries, they bring the story together, usually Talking heads/Interviews with eyewitnesses, experts and persons
related. Conven0onal edi0ng is used, which means in the nal produc0on only answers and no ques0ons will be on screen
During interviews, the camera remains mainly sta0c so the audience aren't distracted away from the interview by any movement.
Documentaries contain lots of cuts because there is such a varia0on of interviews, archive footage etc. To communicate complicated
informa0on in a way for that the average viewer can understand End credits are also used to credit everyone involved in the
produc0on of the Documentary Interviews are mostly in close up or a medium close-up shot lmed on a lem or right alignment. The
mise-en-scene of the documentary is always portrayed in the interview, e.g. a documentary about a band so a concert venue or
studio may be the senng of the interview An Establishing shot is used in most Documentaries to set the scene.
The gender of the narrator depends on the topic and target audience. The tone of voice, accent and vocabulary of the narrator all
depends on who the programme is aimed at. interviewee looks at interviewer not the camera. Eye line of the interviewee is in line
with the top 3rd of frame.
Cutaways are edited into an interview to illustrate what the interviewee is talking about. Graphics are normally just two lines and in a
simple font not to distract the audience.

Oxford (2016) Documentary, in Oxford Dic0onary. Available at: h\p://

www.oxforddic0onaries.com/deni0on/english/documentary (Accessed: 14
April 2016).

Terms, P.I. (2016) Codes and conven0ons documentary. Available at: h\ps://
prezi.com/kulnf914ja0/codes-and-conven0ons-documentary/ (Accessed: 14
April 2016).

Examples Documentary
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy_u4U7-
cn8

Eric Seaton (2014) Brainwashing children: A

camp Jesus Documentary(2006). Available at:
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy_u4U7-
cn8 (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Docudrama
Deni0ons - A docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of radio and television
programming, feature lm, and staged theatre, which features drama0zed re-enactments
of actual events. On stage, it is some0mes known as documentary theatre.

Conven0ons Narra0ve Structure: - Open or closed or circular depending on subject ma\er - Linear or non linear -
Nearly all documentaries are single strand Camerawork: - Interviews framed to lem or right, CU or MCU, following
rule of thirds. - Handheld cameras used for actuality footage to react to ac0on - A variety of shot types are used to
entertain and sustain the audiences interest - Pan and zooms used on s0ll images Mise En Scene: - Background of
interviews reects subject or person - Chromakey - Loca0on - Back drop - Mise en Scene is used to anchor person
to subject or relevance - Ligh0ng can be used crea0vely on interviews Sound: - Voiceover narrator: Standard
English, glue that holds narra0ve together. Age and Gender usually reects target audience. - Sets scene - Introduce
topic - Links items - Concludes narra0ve - Music is used as a bed. (usually relevant to topic or to heighten emo0on) -
All ques0ons edited out - Background sound or noise kept to minimum - SFX can be used in re-construc0ons Edi0ng: -
Cut (most common edit) - To not distract from subject ma\er - Dissolve can be used, but eects are kept to a
minimum, e.g fast mo0on, slow mo0on - Eects can be used as ellip0cal edi0ng, such as fade to black - Montage -
Can be used to give audience avour for show - Can be used to show mul0ple examples of archive material Archive
Material: - Examples: lm/video, TV, newspapers, magazines, photo s, websites - Always relevant to subject ma\er
or what is being said. Graphics: - Titles are unique to programme (logos) - Name of interviewee and relevance -
Anchors who they are?? - Usually opposite side to interviewee - Top line bigger than bo\om - Simple typography -
Credits scroll and include tribute to archive material - Can anchor period of 0me - Sub0tles where necessary

Docudrama (2016) in Wikipedia. Available at: h\ps://en.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Docudrama (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

daniellecleary (2012) Codes and conven0ons of the documentary drama.

Available at: h\p://www.slideshare.net/daniellecleary/codes-and-
conven0ons-of-the-documentary-drama (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Example Docudrama
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=nAyn1gDBc7s

JoBlo TV Show Trailers (2015) American crime

story: The people vs. O. J. Simpson - ocial
trailer. Available at: h\ps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAyn1gDBc7s
(Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Docusoap
Deni0ons - a documentary following people in a par0cular occupa0on or loca0on over
a period of 0me.

Conven0ons - These reality shows take people out of their own worlds and place them
in a formulated or specially constructed environment to see how they behave. The Big
Brother format is an example of a formulated docusoap. So too are the shows that place
modern people in specially reconstructed historical senngs.

Woodford, K. and Cambridge Dic0onaries Online (2016) Docusoap meaning in

the Cambridge English dic0onary. Available at: h\p://dic0onary.cambridge.org/
dic0onary/english/docusoap (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

h\ps://trinitycollegestage2media.wordpress.com/
reality-tv/formulated-docusoap/

Example Docusoap
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VKacZMt_viE

Training in Care (2015) The specials episode 1

learning disability docusoap. Available at:
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=VKacZMt_viE (Accessed: 14 April 2016).

Infotainment
Deni0ons broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to inform. A term and popular buzzword for a media
device or service that delivers a combina0on of informa0on and entertainment. The content delivered via infotainment is
designed to be informa0ve yet entertaining enough to a\ract and maintain the consumer's interest.
Infotainment can refer to a variety of content served through tradi0onal media such as television, print, radio or the Internet.
Television channels like Animal Planet and the Food Network are prime examples of media serving infotainment content. The
term infotainment is also frequently applied to devices designed to serve infotainment content, such as in-car entertainment and
informa0on systems (in-vehicle infotainment).

Conven0ons more chat show like, the they usually have host and involve looking at factual
things in an entertaining way.

Raji, B. (2010) Sammwas. Available at: h\p://

www.slideshare.net/belair1981/reality-tv-
revision-4525638 (Accessed: 15 April 2016).

Example Infotainment
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo-
yxrHKFzA

Good Morning Britain (2016) Nigel Farage Doesnt trust

David Cameron | good morning Britain. Available at: h\ps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo-yxrHKFzA (Accessed: 15
April 2016).

Reality TV
Deni0ons television programmes in which ordinary people are con0nuously lmed, designed to be
entertaining rather than informa0ve.

Conven0ons Media Languages: forms and conven0ons A diculty in the study of Reality Television is in
arriving at a precise deni0on of this genre which has changed over 0me. Originally used to describe
programmes that showed how the emergency services worked, the term has now expanded to include a
number of dierent formats. Arguably it is now one of the most popular television genres, inhabi0ng a
borderline territory between informa0on and entertainment. The genre has a\racted a lot of cri0cism and is
omen used to illustrate arguments about the alleged dumbing down of television. However, a star0ng point in
dening Reality Television is that it presents us with real people who are followed in a par0cular real life
situa0on. Furthermore, that situa0on is unscripted and unrehearsed, providing the viewing audience with an
opportunity to follow events as they happen, which is undoubtedly an important contributory factor to its
appeal. As the genre has evolved a variety of formats and techniques have been set up which essen0ally have
been borrowed from exis0ng genres. Some deni0ons of Reality TV: Reality television is a genre of television
programming that presents purportedly unscripted drama0c or humorous situa0ons, documents actual events,
and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors. (Wikipedia, h\p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Reality_television) Reality TV is a catch-all category that includes a wide range of television programmes about
real people. Some0mes called popular factual television, reality TV is located in border territories, between
informa0on and entertainment, documentary and drama (Anne\e Hill: Reality TV, 2005) Programming that is
unscripted and follows actual real life events as they unfold, usually involving members of the public or
groups of celebri0es. h\p://www.skillset.org The television genre where situa0ons are created by the shows
producers, but the show itself is unscripted. Cameras capture the par0cipants natural reac0ons and responses
to the situa0ons created, which are then edited as a programme or series. (Product Placement Glossary,
iTVX.com)

Raji, B. (2010) Sammwas. Available at: h\p://
www.slideshare.net/belair1981/reality-tv-revision-4525638
(Accessed: 15 April 2016).

Oxford (2016) Reality TV, in Oxford Dic0onary. Available at:

h\p://www.oxforddic0onaries.com/deni0on/english/
reality-tv (Accessed: 15 April 2016).

Example Reality TV
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=lICvsbDIzDA

Jus0n Tan (2015) Survivor 31: Second chance Ponderosa #2 Andrew Savage.
Available at: h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lICvsbDIzDA (Accessed: 15
April 2016).

Educa0onal
Deni0ons providing knowledge; instruc0ve or informa0ve:

Conven0ons The structure of case-study programmes can vary enormously, from a simple
story, with a con0nuous, single, sequen0al thread, to a collage of unconnected shots, with
no underlying ra0onale for the ordering of these shots apparent to the viewer. related to
this is whether a case-study deals with single or mul0ple cases.

Another aspect of the structure of a programme - and also related very closely to the
'didac0c/open-ended' dimension - is the role of commentary and the rela0onship of
commentary to visuals. Very omen the structural links are provided by the 'academic'
commentary, either direct or to camera, or, more omen, by voice over lm. Commentary is
not necessarily needed to provide structure, however: structure may be provided by the
ordering of the shots, perhaps in a chronological or geographical sequence.

The structure and format of a case-study should as far as possible reinforce rather than
detract from the educa0onal aims of the programme. Where a programme's structure is
complex, it ought to be because the pedagogic inten0on was for students to try and sort
out the issues, and themselves impose some sort of structure on what they are seeing,
rather than the result of bad planning or ar0s0c and technical considera0ons.

Educa0onal TV Programme structure and style (no date) Available at:
h\p://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/short/tvstyle.html
(Accessed: 15 April 2016).

Farlex (2003) Educa0onal. Available at: h\p://

www.thefreedic0onary.com/educa0onal (Accessed: 15 April 2016).

Example Educa0onal
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IjJhAyj-
Bw

Science Channel (2014) Through the Wormhole - is there a

creator?. Available at: h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=9IjJhAyj-Bw (Accessed: 15 April 2016).

Wildlife
Deni0ons A natural history lm or wildlife lm is a
documentary lm about animals, plants, or other non-human
living creatures, usually concentra0ng on lm taken in their
natural habitat. Some0mes they are about wild animals, plants,
or ecosystems in rela0onship to human beings.

Conven0ons This type of mode omen uses a narra0ve and shows the
dierent conven0ons of voice overs, footage that was lmed as stage and
talks directly to the audience. So this type of documentary only looks at the
truth and displays facts. This type of mode may have the conven0on of
realism as it as it wants to display a truth about the topic and teh realsim
looks simply at the facts and using actuality footage for almost a source of
proof.

Nature documentary (2016) in Wikipedia. Available at:

h\ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_documentary
(Accessed: 24 April 2016).

MorganMedia and prole, V. my complete (2012b) Unit 27-Factual Programme

produc0on techniques for television. Available at: h\p://
produc0ontechniques12.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/codes-conven0ons-of-
documentary.html (Accessed: 25 April 2016).

Wildlife Example
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=L7tWNwhSocE

Movieclips (2011) March of the Penguins

ocial trailer #1 - (2005) HD. Available at:
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=L7tWNwhSocE (Accessed: 25 April 2016).

Special interest
Deni0ons A program about something more
specic, its made more for more a knish market and is
about something less mass market and is only more
about that. It focuses on one thing.
Conven0ons there are less conven0ons as each
program can be about something totally dierent so it
might call for a dierent form of presenta0on and
format each 0me. The main conven0on being that it
talks about something that most people dont know or
care about, its more for a specic market.
Merriam-Webster (2015) Deni0on of SPECIAL INTEREST.
Available at: h\p://www.merriam-webster.com/dic0onary/
special%20interest (Accessed: 25 April 2016).

Special interest Example

h\p://www.dailymo0on.com/video/x32nold

BroathersInArms and Dailymo0on, 2016 (2015) Ancient aliens - season

8 episode 5 HD- the alien evolu0on. Available at: h\p://
www.dailymo0on.com/video/x32nold (Accessed: 25 April 2016).

 Makeover
Deni0ons a complete reconstruc0on and renova0on of
something.

Conven0ons The transforma0on or makeover of people
and places has long been a standard feature of popular
womens magazines and is now a dominant form of television.
The television design program oers an uneasy interface
between the private world of the domes0c and the public
world of television, a tension apparent in the conven0ons that
surround the encounter between ordinary people and
television personali0es in interior decora0on programs such
as Home Front and Changing Rooms.
Farlex (2003b) Makeover. Available at: h\p://
www.thefreedic0onary.com/makeover (Accessed: 25 April
2016).

Philips, D. (2015) Transforma0on scenes: The

television interior makeover. Available at:
h\p://eprints.brighton.ac.uk/6576/ (Accessed:
25 April 2016).

 Makeover Example
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=inT4y5e3tE4

Oliver Harman (2010) Extreme makeover UK:

Carol Frazer. Available at: h\ps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=inT4y5e3tE4
(Accessed: 25 April 2016).

Magazine
Deni0ons A periodical containing a collec0on of ar0cles,
stories, pictures, or other features. A television program that
presents a variety of topics, usually on current events, in a
format that omen includes interviews and commentary.

Conven0ons programs on various topics that include
analysis or discussion, for example, talk or panel shows,
consumer aairs or reviews, newsmagazines and
documentaries t. This category excludes programs presen0ng
informa0on primarily for entertainment value.

The Commission notes that "Docutainment" programs, gossip
or entertainment.
Farlex (2003b) Magazine program. Available at: h\p://
www.thefreedic0onary.com/magazine+program (Accessed:
25 April 2016).

Canada, G. of, Radio-television, C.,

Commission, T. and CRTC (2011) Television
program categories. Available at: h\p://
www.crtc.gc.ca/canrec/eng/tvcat.htm

Magazine Example
h\p://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/

Interac0ve, C. (2016) 60 minutes. Available at:

h\p://www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/
(Accessed: 25 April 2016).

Discussion
Deni0ons talking about something with
another person or a group of people : a
conversa0on about something.
Conven0ons A group of people sit around
discussing a chosen topic. These conversa0ons
are usually more serous and bring up
controversial or key issues in the media at that
0me.
Merriam-Webster (2015a) Deni0on of DISCUSSION. Available at:
h\p://www.merriam-webster.com/dic0onary/discussion (Accessed:
26 April 2016).

Discussion Example
h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=YFmDePLUNV0

liarpoli0cians (2016) George Galloway lets rip

in daily poli0cs interview on Brexit (22Feb16).
Available at: h\ps://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=YFmDePLUNV0 (Accessed: 26 April
2016).

Review
Deni0ons to think or talk about something again, in
order to make changes to it or to make a decision
about it: If cri0cs review a book, play, lm, etc. they
give their opinion of it:

Conven0ons They have people who have knowledge
and experience and maybe a host and the talk/discuss
the movie, book or what ever it is they are reviewing.
Breaking it down giving opinion and saying If its good.

Woodford, K. and Cambridge Dic0onaries Online (2016b) Review meaning in
the Cambridge English dic0onary. Available at: h\p://
dic0onary.cambridge.org/dic0onary/english/review (Accessed: 25 April
2016).

Review Example
h\p://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06ym8sf

BBC (2016) Hail, Caesar!, hail Caesar!, truth,

Anomalisa, lm 2016 - BBC One. Available at:
h\p://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03lcrqy
(Accessed: 26 April 2016).

 Chat show
Deni0ons a radio or television show in which
a host interviews or chats with guests, esp.
celebrity guests.
Conven0ons ne person (or group of people)
will discuss various topics put forth by a talk
show host. Ricky Lake Some0mes, talk shows
feature a panel of guests, usually consis0ng of a
group of people who are learned or who have
great can involve interviews.
ecclestona and ecclestona (2010) Chat show

intro ppt. Available at: h\p://
www.slideshare.net/ecclestona/chat-show-
intro-ppt (Accessed: 26 April 2016).

Chat show Example

h\ps://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=GNlQjzje2gw

The Graham Norton Show (2015) Grahams top

10 moments from season 17 - the Graham
Norton show. Available at: h\ps://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNlQjzje2gw
(Accessed: 26 April 2016).