Chapter 4 - Narrative Flashcards
What is intertextuality?
How one text draws on the meanings of another by referring to it, by allusion, quotation or parody, for example
What is a narrative?
An ordered sequence of images and sound that tells a fictional or factual story
What is flow?
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
What is semiotics?
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
What does the language of television consist of?
Visual and aural signs
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?
Perspective
Proportion
Light and shade
Shot composition
What is denotation?
In semiotics, the function of signs to portray or refer to something in the real world
What is the basic narrative structural pattern according to Todorov?
A movement between two equilibriums
Equilibrium
Disequilibrium
New Equilibrium
What is the Central Narrative Question?
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
What is the difference between film and TV narratives?
Film narratives are finite, linear, plot-driven
TV narratives are ongoing, circular, character driven
What are some characteristics of TV narratives?
TV narratives are: Circular Repetitive Serialised Fragmented
What does fragmented mean?
Segmentation and discontinuity of TV texts and TV as a whole. Each program fragmented by commercials, while narratives tend to lack closure
What is flow?
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
What is lead-in?
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
What is hammocking?
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
What is tentpoling?
Scheduling strategy where two weaker or newer shows are scheduled on either side of a strong-rating show in the middle
What are the codes used in Narrative Analysis?
Technical Verbal Symbolic Structure Characters Narrative Conflicts Narrative Questions
What are connotations?
The term used in semiotic analysis for the meanings that are associated with a particular sign or combination of signs
What effect does the loud major chords played on brass instruments during news title sequences have on audiences?
These signs carry connotations of importance, dignity and drama. Establish a status of authority. Differentiate one channels programme from another
What is a syntagm?
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
In a television programme, what are the two contrasting ways signs gain their meanings?
- By their similarity with other signs in the same programme
- By their difference from these surrounding signs
What is binary opposition?
Two contrasting terms, ideas or concepts, such as inside/outside, masculine/feminine or culture/nature
What is zapping?
Hopping rapidly from channel to channel while watching television, using a remote control
What are the four narrative functions television news uses to give shape and meaning to reports?
Framing
Focus
Realising
Closing
What is register in terms of television?
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