TV DRAMA - A TV Drama is a story that is presented in a dramatic way and explores a range of genres, from soap to science-fiction.

REPRESENTATION - to represent something is to describe, or depict it or to call it up in the mind by description or portrayl. To represent also means to symbolise, stand for, and to be a substitue for.

MEDIATION/MEDIATED - a negotiation to resolve differences that is conducted by some impartial party.

STEROTYPE - An oversimplified, sometimes humorous representation which isusd to categorise and evaluate members of a particular group.

HEGEMONIC NORM - The processes by which dominant culture maintains its dominant position: for example, the use of institutions to formalize power; the employment of a bureaucracy to make power seem abstract (and, therefore, not attached to any one individual); the inculcation of the populace in the ideals of the hegomonic group through education, advertising, publication, etc.; the mobilization of a police force as well as military personnel to subdue opposition.

IDEOLOGY - a system of ideas and ideals. This is a complex concept - in its basic form it is a set of ideas or beliefs which are held to be acceptable by the creators of a media text. For example, a text might be described as having a feminist ideology, meaning it promotes the idea that women are the equal of men and should not be discriminated against on the grounds of gender.

SEMIOTICS - The study of signs, symbols and their use or interpretation.

CONNOTATION - a meaning attributable to an image beyond the obvious denotational level. Meanings can be metaphorical, symbolic or culturally genrerate and will vary line with the cultural background and attitudes, beliefs and values of the individual viewing the material.

SIGNIFIES - be an indication/symbol of.

SIGNIFIER - A sign’s physical form as distinct from its meaning e.g. sound, printed word or image.

Iconic – a mode where the signifier is seen as resembling or imitating the signified e.g. Portrait, cartoon.

Indexical – a mode where the signifier is directly connected in some way to the signifier.

Symbolic – a mode where the signifier does not resemble the signified but is determined by chance so e.g. language in general (alphabet, punctuation)

Binary opposites – a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning, e.g. good vs. evil in ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’.

MODE OF ADDRESS - in narrative studies, the way in which media texts talk to an audience.

ANCHORING - fixing of a meaning e.g. the copy text anchors (ie fixes to one spot) the meaning of an image (for instance, a single rose that could be used for an ad for anything from a dating agency to a funeral home) in a print advertisement.

CONVENTIONS - The widely recognised way of doing something - this has to do with content, style and form.

The conventions of TV DramaTV Dramas have got identifiable and simple locations; Cafe, Pub, Living Room, Kitchen, and a workplace. The location sets the tone of the TV Drama. For Examples - Scrubs is set in a hospital therefore, the plot revolves around medical incidents. The conventions of a British TV Drama are that it is a serialised drama that usually run week ins, weeks outs and all year round. Furthermore it has a continuous narrative dealing about domestic themes, personal or family relationships. There is generally a well-known opening theme tune and intro sequences which can have slight changed over the years. Though the casts for soap operas tend to be bigger than drama series, there is a limit to the number of characters available at any one time. This allows the soap to focus on a smaller number of characters. The plots are open-ended and usually many storylines are featured or even interlinked in an episode. Soap episodes often begin with a 'hook' in which one or more of the narratives from a previous episode is continued.

Conventions of TV dramaCharacters –there are always certain characters in a TV drama such as good and bad characters.

Familiar settings–settings such as homes, offices, hospitals etc. as the audience are able to relate to it easily.

Stories/narratives– many different storylines which the audience can usually relate to.

Dialogue – this is used to tell stories and occasionally monologues are used, for example in voice overs to tell the story.

Music – different types of music is used to suit different parts of the drama e.g.slow song would be use when a character is sad. It also usually makes the actions more realistic.

Cinematography – shot reverse shot is the main technique used as dialogue is key in TV drama which is demonstrated through shot reverse shot.