Television Genres - 2nd semester

Objectives

a) Decoding the basic principles of audiovisual language.
b) Mastering the concepts of programme and television genre.
c) Understanding the set of narrative strategies and coordinates which determine the composition of the different television genres.
d) Adopting a critical view on programming strategies and mastering the set of conceptual tools which contribute to the innovation of modern television discourse.
e) Analysing and discussing examples of different modern television genres, from advertisements to reality-shows, from news to soaps, from documentaries to TV movies.

General characterization

Code

711011021

Credits

6

Responsible teacher

Jacinto Rosa Godinho

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

None.

Bibliography

ALVAREZ, L (1985). Poétique du Direct Télévisuel. Louvain-la-Neuve, Ciaco Éditeur
CÁDIMA, F. R. (1996). O fenómeno televisivo . Lisboa: Círculo de Leitores
JOST, F. (1997) - “La promesse des genres”, revue Réseaux, pp 13-31.
BRANDÃO, Nuno Goulart, (2006) Prime time: do que falam as notícias dos telejornais. Cruz Quebrada: Casa das Letras 2006.
SHAEFFER, J-M (1986). Théorie des Genres, Paris: Seuil.

Teaching method

Oral exposition of the syllabus (70%), supported by critical reading of excerpts from the bibliography. Video projection of film excerpts, television programmes, advertisements, video clips, photographs, paintings, magazines and newspapers.

Evaluation method

Individual research assignment on a television genre (7- 20 pages) followed by oral discussion. Intermediate exam (frequência) at the end of the semester. Final exam.

Subject matter

1 – Introduction to Audiovisual Language.
2 – Concepts of Genre and Programme.
In order to understand television genres one must understand the set of generative laws which enable the narrative composition of different programmes within the television experience. As these laws are linguistic in nature, it is therefore necessary to determine how the television language is formed and its basic grammar looks like.
3 –Television Genres
After presentation and discussion of these programme composition laws we proceed to a specific and detailed analysis of major modern television genres:
3.1 - Informative (live broadcasts, news, debates, interviews, reportage, magazines, etc.);
3.2 - Ficcional (soaps, TV movies, etc.)
3.3 - Hybrid ( reality-show, talk-show, advertisements, etc.).
The purpose is not to make a mere inventory or to organise cataloguing grids for each television genre. The pair news/soap has been ruling over Portuguese television’s primetime for decades. Therefore the purpose is primarily to understand which are the strategies aimed at regulating the subjects’/spectators’ television experiences.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: