Chapter 4 - Narrative

Question 0

What is intertextuality?

Answer 0

How one text draws on the meanings of another by referring to it, by allusion, quotation or parody, for example

Question 1

What is a narrative?

Answer 1

An ordered sequence of images and sound that tells a fictional or factual story

Question 2

What is flow?

Answer 2

The ways that programmes, advertisements, etc follow one another in an unbroken sequence across the day or part of the day, and the experience of watching the sequence of programmes, trailers, advertisements etc

Question 3

What is semiotics?

Answer 3

The study of signs and their meanings, initially developed for the study of spoken language, and now used also to study the visual and aural ‘languages’ of other media, such as television

Question 4

What does the language of television consist of?

Answer 4

Visual and aural signs

Question 5

What are some conventions, or codes, of the language of television that allow audiences to recognise and accept unreal objects (such as the Tardis) as if they were real?

Answer 5

Perspective
Proportion
Light and shade
Shot composition

Question 6

What is denotation?

Answer 6

In semiotics, the function of signs to portray or refer to something in the real world

Question 7

What is the basic narrative structural pattern according to Todorov?

Answer 7

A movement between two equilibriums
Equilibrium
Disequilibrium
New Equilibrium

Question 8

What is the Central Narrative Question?

Answer 8

The dramatic question that organises the story. Keeps audiences interested, and it hinges on fears and desires of the protagonist. It’s answered in the story’s resolution

Question 9

What is the difference between film and TV narratives?

Answer 9

Film narratives are finite, linear, plot-driven

TV narratives are ongoing, circular, character driven

Question 10

What are some characteristics of TV narratives?

Answer 10

TV narratives are:
Circular
Repetitive
Serialised
Fragmented

Question 11

What does fragmented mean?

Answer 11

Segmentation and discontinuity of TV texts and TV as a whole. Each program fragmented by commercials, while narratives tend to lack closure

Question 12

What is flow?

Answer 12

Relates to a carefully constructed TV schedule designed to keep viewers. Watching TV isn’t a case of consuming discrete products (as in going to watch a film); it is a unified act of watching TV

Question 13

What is lead-in?

Answer 13

Scheduling strategies in which a low-rating show is advertised and screened immediately after a higher-rating show to take advantage of the existing audience

Question 14

What is hammocking?

Answer 14

Scheduling strategy that brackets a lower-rating show between two very popular shows in the hope that viewers will stay tuned and form a liking of the weaker show

Question 15

What is tentpoling?

Answer 15

Scheduling strategy where two weaker or newer shows are scheduled on either side of a strong-rating show in the middle

Question 16

What are the codes used in Narrative Analysis?

Answer 16

Technical
Verbal
Symbolic
Structure
Characters
Narrative Conflicts
Narrative Questions

Question 17

What are connotations?

Answer 17

The term used in semiotic analysis for the meanings that are associated with a particular sign or combination of signs

Question 18

What effect does the loud major chords played on brass instruments during news title sequences have on audiences?

Answer 18

These signs carry connotations of importance, dignity and drama. Establish a status of authority. Differentiate one channels programme from another

Question 19

What is a syntagm?

Answer 19

In semiotics, a linked sequence of signs existing at a certain point in time. Written or spoken sentences and television sequences are examples of syntagms

Question 20

In a television programme, what are the two contrasting ways signs gain their meanings?

Answer 20

• By their similarity with other signs in the same programme

- By their difference from these surrounding signs

Question 21

What is binary opposition?

Answer 21

Two contrasting terms, ideas or concepts, such as inside/outside, masculine/feminine or culture/nature

Question 22

What is zapping?

Answer 22

Hopping rapidly from channel to channel while watching television, using a remote control

Question 23

What are the four narrative functions television news uses to give shape and meaning to reports?

Answer 23

Framing
Focus
Realising
Closing

Question 24

What is register in terms of television?

Answer 24

A term in the study of language for the kinds of speech or writing used to represent a particular kind of idea or to address a certain audience