Period

What is a period drama?

A period drama is a period piece in which elaborates with costumes, set and properties that are featured in order to capture the ambiance of a particular area. 

The costumes that the characters where will cause the audience to feel and believe that it is real. For example, you have a a film about cowboys. If the characters within the film were dressed as we to today however spoke western, the audience would question and think that the film is pointless because there is no resemblance to the area in which the film is aimed at. 

The sets are important to make the audience feel like the locations of the film are real. It makes the audiences overall experience of the film enhanced by making it realistic. For example, if a film was setting a scene in a castle, the inside of the castle would not be a normal house, it would be the insides of a real castle at least it would look like one. 

The properties are also important in period dramas because if certain properties are embedded within the film, the audience will question and feel like the film has been poorly made. For example, if you had a film set in a time where the Tudors existed, you would not have a smart TV in one of the characters houses. 

An example of a period drama would be "Lady Audleys secret". This is a good example because the you noticed the time it was set by the characters lavish costumes. 

The film is below: 

Genre

What is genre?

The official definition of genre is that it is a category of artistic composition, as in music or literature, characterized by similarities in form, style or subject matter.

I like to think of genre as categorizations things into sections that have similarities.

There are a number of genres in film:

• Sci-Fi
•  Horror
• Comedy
• Action 
• Adventure 
• Romance 
• Drama 

Below is an example of a Sci-Fi image: 

As you can see form the image, it is very futuristic and space like. Sci-Fi stands for science fiction. This genre will include things such as futuristic land structure, a sky that id different form earth, aliens and extra terrestrial activity. All of these things are known as conventions. Conventions is what a film must include for it to be the genre it claims to be.  

You might begin to wonder how the term genre came around, in terms of film. What needed to happen first before someone thought of naming films with similarities a specific genre? 

A filmmaker needed to make a film. He made the film. The film that he made, people enjoyed and liked the film. Other filmmakers used the idea of the film and made it slightly different but included some of the things that made the film. His film was also enjoyed and liked. Then another filmmaker caught on to people liking the film made by the filmmaker and he too made a film similar to theirs. 

Here is where a genre is created. 

Single drama

What is a single drama?


A single drama is a programme that is essentially a one off. It is broadcasted via television for the audience to view once and one time only.

Single drama's are based on a topical issue that is more suitable for television rather than cinema.

An example of a single drama would be "Marvelous", which was releases one time on BBC two on September the 25th.

Serial

What is a serial? 


A serial is usually a fictional story, which is divided into parts and broadcasted perhaps everyday or once a week. The story is ongoing. This means that one episode flows onto the next releasing continuous information for the audience. A good serial would be at the end of each episode it ends with a cliffhanger, which is where information is held for the next episode, because the audience are left to wonder what happens next.

An example of a fictional serial would be the Netflix original "Stranger Things".

Stranger things is about a child that goes missing and his beloved ones attempt to bring him home, in the adventure they begin to unravel a mystery that may have been the reason for his disappearance. The story slowly unravels and the audience is left to anticipate what is going to happen to the characters.

Other examples of serials would be soap operas that fans religiously watch as each episode is released. The same principal occurs in this type of serial where each episode flows onto the next. An example of this type of serial would be EastEnders. 

Series

What is a series? 

A live TV show set and cameras. A television program (British English: programme) is a segment of content intended for broadcast on over-the-air, cable television, or Internet television, other than a commercial, trailer, or any other segment of content not serving as attraction for viewership.

 -(google)


There is not just one type of series. Their are different type of series. 

Firstly, their are series that are based on facts rather than fiction. An example of this would be the documentary series "Planet Earth". This particular series spans out weekly and covers different parts of the planet, for example one week will be on the desert and another week will be on the arctic life. 

Planet earth is a set of related programmes however does not carry on form the next. Each episode is about a different sector of planet earth but overall falls under the genre of life within our planet.

Other example of series would be the Netflix original "Making a Murder".

Other types of series are series that are on going and each episode flows onto the next. A good example of this would be the famous television series Breaking Bad. The episodes within BB are not self contained, which means they do not have a beginning, a middle and an end. The episodes flow one after another to create a story which is seams realistic in the audiences point of view.