Unit 22 - Single Camera Production

Task 3

Compare and contrast

EastEnders is realist TV soap, which is based in the east end of London. The realist locations include: a pub, a club, a garage, a cafe, an Indian takeaway, a boxing club, a market, a square, an allotment and the characters houses. The characters feel stress, joy, betrayal, abuse and complex relationships, which the viewers can relate to. The stories deal with real life situations and have included issues such as homosexuality, drug abuse, racism and poverty. This may explain why ‘Eastenders’ is so popular as it is shown three times a week and has run for twenty years. EastEnders shows three or four different narrative per episode. It is both linear (sequential) and often open ended. It has a mix of restricted and unrestricted narrative. This keeps the audience guessing and excited about the next scenes keeping them glued to the soap.

In contrast, Doctor Who is anti-realist drama with a realistic element., which is based in parallel universes and on earth, this series will include a lot of aliens and monsters, such as the Daleks, Cyber men and many more. Directors use anti-realist characters to give the audience a feel of fantasy and imagination and takes them to a place full of adventures. Doctor who is also realistic is certain scene because its shows the real life dramas in “Rory and Amy’s” relationship, this mix of both realism and anti-realism gives the audience a feel of both worlds in a single series and creates an excitement in the audience’s views.

The equilibrium in 'Doctor Who' series 33, episode 1: Asylum of the Daleks, is when they all get kidnapped and then the recognition is when they speak to the main commander of the Daleks. 'Doctor Who' has 2 main storyline going on at the same time.The scene in which we see 'Oswin' view point is objective narrative because no one knows whats going on. 'Doctor Who' can also be classed as a subjective narrative because we see what the doctor sees. 'Doctor Who' is a non-linear program because it includes flash backs and its not sequential.

The differences between 'Doctor Who' and 'Eastenders' are that Doctor Who is based upon a fantasy therefore making it an anti-realist TV series. Eastenders on the other hand  is a realist program because it is based on real life events. 'Doctor Who' uses the Propps theory because the main  character is the 'Doctor' therefore making him the hero, in 'Doctor Who' the helpers are 'Amy and Rory', In this episode the villains are the 'Daleks', the dispatcher is the 'Daleks' leader and the damsel in distress is 'Oswin'. Eastenders uses Todorov's theory, where everything is calm at the start then comes the storm. 'Doctor Who' consists of 2 story lines going on at the same time and 'Eastenders' consists of 4V story lines going on at the same time. Doctor Who is non-linear because it contains flash backs and 'Eastenders' is linear because its structured.    

Task 4

Period drama: A period drama is a fictional TV story, Period dramas often reflect the important history of the country in which the drama is set. Sherlock Holmes is a  fictional period drama based in London, its a drama about a detective who uses his forensic science skills to solve cases. This drama will be based in rural environment, this drama will not include urban building such as skyscrapers and towers. The language of this drama will be formal due to it being based in London in the 19th century. 

Fantasy drama: Combines elements of fantasy fiction and the drama genre. This genre deals with  fictional characters such as 'Daleks', 'Cyber Men'  and many more.The story lines of fantasy dramas have always been centered around magic or unexplained circumstances. An example of a popular Fantasy drama:  'Merlin', which is broadcast on the Saturday prime time slot on the BBC1 channel. This 'Fantasy Drama' genre programme is based on the life of a young Merlin, discovering and then learning to master his magical gift. 


Shameless is a real life drama, this show is broadcasted once a week. A drama is usually set in the same location with  the same characters every week, a drama is also based on a set number of series. A drama normally portrays how people live their lives, this show will include real life situation faced by the audience. A good example would be shameless, which is drama  which is located  in Stafford which in Manchester.  t

Crime-watch would come under the genre crime due to the fact that it displays police officers solving crimes and difficult situations. Crime programs commonly involve detectives and crime fighters. A brilliant example would be crime-watch as they show police officers fighting crime.