Formats and Other Features

Question 1

Shot.

Answer 1

A single run of the camera or the piece of film resulting from such a run.

Question 2

Scene

Answer 2

A dramatic unit composed of a single or several shots. A scene usually takes place in a continuous time period, in the same setting, and involves the same characters.

Question 3

Sequence

Answer 3

A dramatic unit composed of several scenes, all linked together by their emotional and narrative momentum.

Question 4

Genre

Answer 4

Broad category of television or film programme. Genres include: soap operas, documentaries, game shows, ‘cop shows’ (police dramas), news programmes, ‘chat’ shows, phone-ins and sitcoms (situation comedies).

Question 5

Series

Answer 5

A succession of programmes with a standard format

Question 6

Serial

Answer 6

An ongoing story in which each episode takes up where the last one left off. Soap operas are serials.

Question 7

Talking Heads

Answer 7

In some science programmes extensive use is made of interviews with a succession of specialists/ experts (the interviewer’s questions having been edited out). This derogatively referred to as ‘talking heads’. Speakers are sometimes allowed to talk to camera. The various interviews are sometimes cut together as if it were a debate, although the speakers are rarely in direct conversation.

Question 8

Vox pop

Answer 8

Short for ‘vox populi’, Latin for ‘voice of the people’. The same question is put to a range of people to give a flavour of ‘what ordinary people think’ about some issue. Answers are selected and edited together to achieve a rapid-fire stream of opinions.

Question 9

Intertextuality

Answer 9

Intertextuality refers to relationships between different elements of a medium (e.g. formats and participants), and links with other media.

Question 10

An aspect of intertextuality is…

Answer 10

One aspect of intertextuality is that programme participants who are known to the audience from other programmes bring with them images established in other contexts which effect the audience’s perception of their current role. Another concerns issues arising from sandwiching advertisements between programmes on commercial television (young children, in particular, may make no clear distinction between them).