American Drama

AMERICAN DRAMA

Examples of American Drama series include:

-Breaking Bad
-The Walking Dead
-Game of Thrones
-Hannibal
-Lost
-NCIS
-Suits

Format

Many American TV Dramas follow the ‘one episode a week’ method when releasing episodes. Each episode is about 45 minutes long and usually continues from the last and has a continuous narrative. However, on a rare occurrence, an episode will start off with a narrative device; usually a flash back and a flash forward. These episodes are divided into series, which usually consist of around 13 episodes, and the number of series is infinite until the producer draws the narrative to an end. Breaking Bad is the most popular American TV Drama to date; it recently finished its narrative after a 5 year period, releasing 62 episodes in 5 seasons.

Appeals

American Dramas have a variety of appeals, but for many the main appeal is escapism. As most of these Dramas are fairly long and have a lot of series, it’s possible to sink a couple of hours a day into a TV Drama to escape reality and relax. However, personally I enjoy American Dramas due to the engaging characters. What kept me watching each episode of Breaking Bad is following the main character, Walter White, making decisions that question my morals and challenge my expectation.

TITLE SEQUENCE - THE WALKING DEAD

I will now write about the technical, symbolic, and written codes in the Title Sequence for 'The Walking Dead':

he first mise-en-scene you see with images of people, are two smashed picture frames. This is not only is a unique, interesting and effective way to introduce two characters important characters in the show but it also has deeper meanings. It denotes that these picture frames have been vandalised and broken which is also shown by the broken brick around it which suggests terror and violence, creating the idea that someone or something has caused physical damage. It also connotes separation. The broken glass symbolises the loss and estrangement of these two peoples loved ones or even separation one another. As one is lying on the floor and the other is hanging on the wall. Another powerful mise-en-scene is a close up of a crow eating a dead squirrel. The crow itself is considered as a dark an evil bird and the fact that it is feasting on a dead animal furthers the gruesome and vulgar idea that is being conveyed.

There is only one sound throughout the whole of the sequence. One soundtrack of tense non-diegtic music. The music seems to anti-climax as it builds pace and then drops into a loop, and starts over in a lower key. This continues the running theme of mystery an obscurity that the other technical elements convey. The shot duration's are short. This again creates mystery within the audience because all these shots of terror are jumping around on screen and is difficult to follow. The shots are the perfect time to allow you take in what you see but not long enough to allow you to swallow the horrific images, which makes you feel emotionally engaged.

The low-key lighting that start the clip connote the mysterious atmosphere. The darkness straight away sets a sense of danger and uncertainty about what is about to unfold. This engages the audience and builds tension which is essential to the conventions of a thriller.

Between 10-12 seconds the whole screen is filled by a flash of red. Red is a colour that connotes suffering, danger and anger. The fact the whole screen is red suggest a mass of suffering, danger and anger. It also subtly tells the audience that there will be a mass of blood and gore.

There is only one sound throughout the whole of the sequence. One soundtrack of tense non-diegtic music. The music seems to anti-climax as it builds pace and then drops into a loop, and starts over in a lower key. This continues the running theme of mystery an obscurity that the other technical elements convey. The shot duration's are short. This again creates mystery within the audience because all these shots of terror are jumping around on screen and is difficult to follow. The shots are the perfect time to allow you take in what you see but not long enough to allow you to swallow the horrific images, which makes you feel emotionally engaged.

The last shot you see is a high angle long shot of a highway, and further in the shot, a city. The shot includes a lot of cloud which connotes a dark and miserable atmosphere. One side of the road is jam-packed with stranded vehicles. The other side is completely clear. This suggests that something bad is happening inside the city and everybody is urgent to get out of the city as quick as possible.

The last visual is a text of the title of the TV Show that reads 'The Walking Dead'. The order of appearance is the most notable thing. The first word you see is 'The' followed by 'Dead' and then in between those two words appears 'Walking'. The fact that 'The Dead' appears by itself suggest that the show will involve a lot of whether it be murder or another reason. Which let's the audience know what to expect from this programme.

CHARACTERS & REPRESENTATION

WALTER WHITE - BREAKING BAD

SETTING

WOODBURY - THE WALKING DEAD

Woodbury is an isolated area that is safe and unaffected by the ongoing zombie infection that is widespread across the US, and incidentally the rest of the world. This has been one of the first proper towns that the group of survivors we follow have found. It is used as a 'safe haven' for characters to develop without the threat that the infected present. In here, new characters are established, mingled with the existing developed ones, some characters die out and new threats are created as the narrative continues.

NARRATIVE - THE WALKING DEAD

Saying that The Walking Dead follows a specific Narrative path is difficult, the show is mostly linear in the sense that we follow the characters of Rick and his son Carl, but it also have elements from a non-linear narrative with plot devices like Flashbacks being used rarely. It also is Omniscient, the audience learn of branching characters before they are introduced to Carl and Rick. In The Walking Dead, for a few episodes in Season 4 we follow the life of 'The Governor' who was seen as a threat to the group throughout the story. We hear of his evil plans for the camp before the characters have existing knowledge of it, so this is a omniscient narrative.

This whole Narrative is based on the 'What if' scenarios presented by the director. These 'What if' scenarios include:

-What if the dead walked the earth and began to eat flesh.
-What if we had to survive in a world without the aid of technology or electricity.
-What if the human population was thinning out, and teamwork with strangers is needed.

TECHNICAL CODES