Media Series - TV
Genre codes and conventions


Media Language - Pages 3-5
EDUQUAS

Use the images (and watch 'Humans' episode 1) as stimulus material for students to work with. It may help them to think about style as well as the more obvious codes and conventions.

Identify 5 aspects of recurring situations you would expect to find in science fiction.

Recurring situations

  • What if…?
  • Exploration of space
  • Battling aliens/machines
  • Creating a monster (or machine)
  • Hubris/over-reaching/playing God
  • Self-sacrifice (for the greater good)
  • Robots develop human characteristics
  • Explanation of laws governing environment
  • A central quest
  • Personal freedom is threatened
  • Manipulation of mind and memory
  • Attack by the creature/virus/aliens
  • Countdown to destruction
Suggestions

Identify 5 aspects of elements of narrative you would expect to find in science fiction.

Elements of narrative
  • Usually clear disruption of equilibrium
  • Reliance on enigma codes throughout
  • Narrative positioning with hero(es) on a quest
  • Binary oppositions of earth v space, human v alien, man v machine
  • Flashbacks and manipulation of time and space
  • Narrative closure offers Todorovian resolution for audiences
  • Restriction/de-restriction of narrative
  • Often epic/mythical in scale with recognisable archetypal situations and characters
Suggestions

Identify 5 aspects of elements of style you would expect to find in science fiction.

Style

  • GFX - particularly in title sequence and SFX
  • ES of settings - closed frames or vast open spaces
  • Usually glossy - UK/US, dependent on production values and budget
  • Music to suit mood and pace – parallel or contrapuntal
  • Verisimilitude
  • High key and low contrast OR low key, chiaroscuro lighting
  • Slow panning shots
  • Hard focus
  • Colour palettes of cold white/silver/blue green
Suggestions

Identify 5 aspects of elements of iconography you would expect to find in science fiction.

Iconography

  • Sci-fi jargon – technical
  • Technology – screens, data etc.
  • Robotics
  • Spacesuits
  • Lasers and hi-tech weaponry
  • Control panels
  • Reflective surfaces and clean lines
  • Scientific iconography
Suggestions

Identify 5 aspects of elements of settings you would expect to find in science fiction.

Settings

  • Dystopian settings
  • Destroyed future worlds
  • Parallel universe
  • The future
  • Different times
  • Space/spaceships
  • The Lab
  • Distant planets
  • Inside the machine or production line
Suggestions

Identify 5 aspects of elements of themes you would expect to find in science fiction.

Themes

  • Sociological debates – hierarchies
  • Science v humanity
  • Man v machine – reflects society’s fears about technology
  • Divided society and prejudice (ideological context)
  • Freedom and slavery
  • Nature/nurture
  • Sacrifice
  • Mortality
  • Man over-reaching - playing God
  • Notions of order/chaos within society – reflecting contemporary fears (e.g. 1950s sci-fi and Communist threat)
Suggestions

Identify 5 aspects of elements of stock characters you would expect to find in science fiction.

Stock characters

  • Mad scientist/creator of the monster
  • Final girl – tough female survivor
  • Aliens – aggressor or misunderstood
  • Robots or AI – sentient and emotional or not
  • Corporate rep - usually villain
  • Eccentric professor
  • Super-intelligent sidekick
Suggestions

In 'Humans' what other genres/generic features are evident? What makes it “different”?