LO3: Applying textual analysis techniques to the study of television and video products

Sherlock

Sherlock is a UK hybrid crime drama TV series. Sherlock was created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and is based off Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's  Sherlock Holmes detective stories.  It aired on BBC One in early 2010 and is co- produced by the network The BBC. It consists of a detective named Sherlock and his sidekick, John, who investigate and solve murders in London. The show is fiction as it is based of a story that is not true and follows murders that did not actually take place as well as Sherlock bizarre way of thinking to solve the murders. As Sherlock is a crime drama, it consists of weapons and murder as well as relateable situations and themes such as love and anger. This gathers a wide variety of audiences. Sherlocks main audience would consist of a small female audience and a large male audience  aged 18 - 28 years old. This audience will be known as the dominant reading as they can accept and relate to almost to all the aspects the show provides. The male audience will be able to relate to the male characters as well as the enjoyment of crime aspects such as weapons and violence. The female audience will be able to relate to the few female characters as well as the aspects of drama such as love and relateable situations. The secondary audience will be the negotiated reading. This audience consists of 30 - 40 year old males and females. They will relate to the series through the use of higher education language and references as well as a small amount of characters. Both the main and secondary audiences fit into the mainstream phsycographic as the show consists of mainstream aspects and themes such as drama and romance. The oppositional reading audience will be females and males aged 10 - 16 as they will not be able to relate to any characters or situations taking place as well as having a limited understanding of references and education needed and used in the show. Sherlock has a linear as well as a circular strand narrative. The single strand narrative is represented through the situations that happen in Sherlock's personal. Things unravel in his personal life that affect the circular strand narrative. The circular strand narrative is represented by each case that takes place in each episode. Each episodes starts with a death that is resolved by the detective therefore giving it a begging and an end in each episode. However the singular narrative consists throughout each episode up until the end of the series. 

Britain's Got Talent

Britain's got talent is a UK reality TV show created by Simon Cowell. It was released on ITV in June 2007. The shows consists of regular English people who have talents they would like to show to the world. These individuals enter Britain's got talent to show off their talent and have the chance of winning money and potentially becoming famous. This series is a reality TV series as it is not staged nor is it fake instead it is genuine people in their genuine life trying to show the world what they can do, making it reality not fiction. The target audience for Britain's got talent is family audiences therefore being all genders and ages as they can relate to the contestants and their talents as well as the judges. A younger audience such as 7 - 13 year old males are more likely to be the oppositional audience as they will be more interested in cartoons and less in others lives as well as being in bed by the time these shows are broadcast. The negotiational reading will be females and males ranging from 45 - 60 year olds as they might find it amusing as well as relating to the contestants. Therefore making females and males aged 16 - 40 the dominant reading as they will find it most interesting and can relate to the contestants and judges the most. However, all audiences are considered to be in the mainstream psychographics as the show consists of reality and mainstream themes. The show is realist and circular stranded narrative. The realist strand is represented by the fact that it is a reality TV show therefore showing reality. The circular strand narrative weaves in through the structure in each episode.Each episode consists of contestants competing, then some getting accepted and others get cut off the show. This happens throughout every episode up until the end of the show when someone wins.

Planet Earth

Planet earth is a British documentary series created by George Fenton. The show was released on the 5th of March 2006 on BBC One and is produced by BBC's natural history unit. The show consists of the exploration of many places around the earth and investigates what it is inhabited by and how the inhabitants survive. For example, in Planet earths episode on Antarctica they find that penguins and polar bears inhabit it and investigate how they survive in those conditions. As Planet earth is a documentary series it consists of reality and non fiction aspects instead of fictional stories. The dominant audience would be females and males aged 20 - 40 year olds, although it is a family show. This audience is most likely to watch informational shows such as these as well as having the interest in specific places on earth. The negotiated audience would range from 40 - 60 year old male and females as they might enjoy learning about new places, however some might find it boring and seek entertainment instead. The oppositional audience would be female and male children aged 10 - 16 as they will find it boring and be more interested in watching cartoons and fictional stories. All audiences for this show would be succeeders as informational and non fictions shows tend not to be mainstream, therefore making the audience decide whether they want to watch it or not on their own instead of being influenced by society. Planet earth has a realist and circular stranded narrative. The realist strand is represented by the fact that it is a documentary show that consists of the truth about our planet instead of non fictional stories. The circular strand narrative weaves in through the structure in each episode. Each episode consists of an introduction to the place they are exploring, then the inhabitants are found and explored. This created a circular structure as it starts and ends on the same point.