Television is a place for us to escape reality, we come home sit down and choose something we find interesting to watch. It might be a documentary in the Sahara or it might be “Misses Browns Boys”. Whatever it is television is catered to our own tastes. With lots of genres to pick from such as a comedy sit-com, soap, drama, sci-fi or entertainment reality TV we can find something to fit our moods.
Programs on the television vary a lot throughout the year changing with the seasons and world events, such as “The Pacific” which was a “mini-series” aired over the Easter. Soaps also follow the pattern of the world, whether we’re watching Eastenders in Albert Square with all the fake snow and decorations around Christmas time getting ready for a juicy murder plot like they always do or in Coronation street when they’re sitting in the pub counting down to new years.
It’s easy to talk about the Genre “soap” and explain about how easy it is for say, Coronation Street and an audience to relate to it. Because it’s a TV show set around real working environments, (locations such as the cafe, pub, work place (for coronation street it’s “the factory” where they produce lingerie), street, church weddings and someone when the characters plot requires them to take a trip to either a sunny beach or a trip into the countryside) and based on real everyday people. Coronation Street is able to appeal to a large audience because the program contains characters from each level in the socio-economical ladder such as upper and middle class down to lower middle and working class and unemployment and students. These characters play roles throughout the multiple plots such as Doctors, top management, pub workers, mechanics and street merchants. The main story characters also vary in age, jumping from an elderly person and they’re story and hitting about every age category within 10 years of each other, 10-20, 20- 30, 30 – 40, 40 – 50 and so on. Having characters feature in a soap like Coronation Street for a long period of time, maybe an actor will stay in the series for 10 years on-going or leave and come back, but the audience grows up with the actor and relates better as if knowing that person.
I want to talk about a very different television series shown on HBO and Sky Atlantic. A Game of Thrones is a series brought to us by HBO who develop very different kinds of material from Coronation Street. They deal with series which contain very talented and famous movie stars who usually fit their roles perfectly. HBO are known for they're high adult content usage giving most of they're material an age rating of 15 and above. A Game of Thrones has been quite tame compared to other series like Rome or Deadwood.
A television series is a set of programs shown over a lengthy period of time, usually for HBO as we only see HBO material through Sky or Sky Atlantic in the UK, a series is shown once a week recurring on the same day of the original appearance. They are mostly 45 to 55 minutes long except from the first and or last episodes where they may go over an hour. Usually at the beginning of a series a short 5 - 10 minute clip is shown, this establishes Genre, setting and usually introduces the main characters, this clip is shown in front of the title scene. These clips are recurring but after the initial first episode usually they are only used to recap the previous episodes, unless a Sit-com which uses these opening scenes to include humour and state that "this is a comedy" and mostly doesn't have anything to do with the main story line in that particular episode.
A Game of thrones is a TV series created from the book, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. It was shown worldwide and contained 10 episodes. EW.com states tht A Game of thrones drew in around "2.2 million viewers" for both premiere and the second episode, and they're "repeat drew another 732,000".
It starred actors and actresses such as Sean Bean, Mark Addy and Lena Headly. An audience might be attracted to A Game of Thrones seeing Sean Bean cast in yet another Honourable role, Sean Bean is cast at his best when he's holding a sword. He's know for his long period drama Sharpe where he plays Major Richard Sharpe of the 95th Rifles set in the Napoleonic war. He has also been cast in fantasy medieval movie Black Death and eastern fantasy movie Troy. He ALSO played Boromir in Lord of the Rings, a huge three part fantasy medieval franchise about good vs evil. For A Game of Thrones audience members of aged 15 - 40 year old males may enjoy watching Sean Bean, he plays a high northern noble lord, Hes also portrayed as a father figure and women may also enjoy watching him, "Empires 20th sexiest man out of 50 2009" so hes also some eye candy thrown in there for the ladies.
Lena Headly who plays the spiteful incestious hellwhore Cersei Lannister. She plays the Queen who constantly plots agaisnt the King played by Mark Addy. "When you play the game of thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground" said by Queen Cersie to Sean Beans character Eddard Stark. Lena Headly
Directed by Tim Van Patten who had directed other hit shows such as Boardwalk Empire, Rome,Deadwood and the Wire. Recently to return to the screen in April. All these people mentioned above can draw in they're own fan base and bring in a larger audience.
The genre is “Medieval Fantasy Drama”, almost period. The story is very similar to medieval Europe. The main and conventional fantasy storyline is Good vs Evil clearly shown in Lord of the Rings and a key story line in A Game of Thrones but is faded out as the series continues, as characters develop making it harder to tell who is on which side i think. The kinds of audience that would be attracted to this series and series like it would be people who i think would read fantasy novels or who grew up as a child reading such books, who enjoy RPG’s (role playing games) such as Skyrim, "named game of the year 2011 at the game developers choice awards". Maybe people can relate to other games such as dungeons and dragons, a popular board game which has been built upon by a tv show, several movies and video games. Fantasy is very big at the moment we have a HUGE increase of films been brought out from a book, recently to come there is The Hobbit, The Hunger Games and John Carter. We're now in a post Lord of the Rings Era so if you saw Lord of the Rings your most likley to see and enjoy A Game of Thrones. It is a very political and dramatic story revolving around several noble families in the land of Westeros.
A Game of Thrones can be seen to having similar traits as a soap, having a multi-strand narrative where we follow several noble houses and characters from each, we also witness the stories of the different age groups. The Starks are the main focus of the westeros story plot, we follow every member of the house from Bran who is 9 we follow his curiousity and see him recover from a near death fall, through the rest of the Stark children Jon Snow who is the ligitimate bastard of Eddard Stark who travles to "The Wall" and becomes a man of the Nights watch, and the main story line of Eddard Stark the father, parent figure who travles to kings landing to investigate a plot against the King. Following all these stories much like in a soap there is a story for everyone, most likely there is a story you are more interested and can relate more to, Jon Snow is seen as a loner and an outcast by many but also a friend by others.
Conventional locations of a fantasy medieval drama are usually set around a court or throne room, here the court can be found at Kings Landing in front of the Iron Throne. Usually a court is held to discuss the future or the beginning of a quest, i can think of a place in Lord of the Rings where members of each race of middle earth meet in Rivendell to discuss the future of the one ring that they have in they're possession. Sometimes a Pub or a Brothel, boarders, the Kingdom of Wersteros is bordered against the Narrow Sea where the story world changes to a Mediterranean land. Locations shot while filming this series where shot over northern Ireland, Croatia and Iceland to provide the stunning scenery needed to be filmed for this traditional high-fantasy film. Keeping to a parallel fantasy universe the castles such as Winterfell looks almost medieval north European but with oddities such as the weirdly shaped towers. Other reminders to prove they are in a fantasy universe are the places such as the “godswood” in Winterfell where Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) Lord and Warden of the north still worships the “old Gods”. The further north we go the more inhospitable the land is until we reach “The Wall” which is a colossal fortification which stretches 300 miles along and 700 foot high. Guarded by the men of the Nights Watch who’s numbers dwindle while protecting the south from the white walkers.
A television series is a set of programs shown over a lengthy period of time, usually for HBO as we only see HBO material through Sky or Sky Atlantic in the UK, a series is shown once a week recurring on the same day of the original appearance. They are mostly 45 to 55 minutes long except from the first and or last episodes where they may go over an hour. Usually at the beginning of a series a short 5 - 10 minute clip is shown, this establishes Genre, setting and usually introduces the main characters, this clip is shown in front of the title scene. These clips are recurring but after the initial first episode usually they are only used to recap the previous episodes, unless a Sit-com which uses these opening scenes to include humour and state that "this is a comedy" and mostly doesn't have anything to do with the main story line in that particular episode.
A Game of thrones is a TV series created from the book, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. It was shown worldwide and contained 10 episodes. EW.com states tht A Game of thrones drew in around "2.2 million viewers" for both premiere and the second episode, and they're "repeat drew another 732,000".
It starred actors and actresses such as Sean Bean, Mark Addy and Lena Headly. An audience might be attracted to A Game of Thrones seeing Sean Bean cast in yet another Honourable role, Sean Bean is cast at his best when he's holding a sword. He's know for his long period drama Sharpe where he plays Major Richard Sharpe of the 95th Rifles set in the Napoleonic war. He has also been cast in fantasy medieval movie Black Death and eastern fantasy movie Troy. He ALSO played Boromir in Lord of the Rings, a huge three part fantasy medieval franchise about good vs evil. For A Game of Thrones audience members of aged 15 - 40 year old males may enjoy watching Sean Bean, he plays a high northern noble lord, Hes also portrayed as a father figure and women may also enjoy watching him, "Empires 20th sexiest man out of 50 2009" so hes also some eye candy thrown in there for the ladies.
Lena Headly who plays the spiteful incestious hellwhore Cersei Lannister. She plays the Queen who constantly plots agaisnt the King played by Mark Addy. "When you play the game of thrones, you win or die. There is no middle ground" said by Queen Cersie to Sean Beans character Eddard Stark. Lena Headly
Directed by Tim Van Patten who had directed other hit shows such as Boardwalk Empire, Rome,Deadwood and the Wire. Recently to return to the screen in April. All these people mentioned above can draw in they're own fan base and bring in a larger audience.
The genre is “Medieval Fantasy Drama”, almost period. The story is very similar to medieval Europe. The main and conventional fantasy storyline is Good vs Evil clearly shown in Lord of the Rings and a key story line in A Game of Thrones but is faded out as the series continues, as characters develop making it harder to tell who is on which side i think. The kinds of audience that would be attracted to this series and series like it would be people who i think would read fantasy novels or who grew up as a child reading such books, who enjoy RPG’s (role playing games) such as Skyrim, "named game of the year 2011 at the game developers choice awards". Maybe people can relate to other games such as dungeons and dragons, a popular board game which has been built upon by a tv show, several movies and video games. Fantasy is very big at the moment we have a HUGE increase of films been brought out from a book, recently to come there is The Hobbit, The Hunger Games and John Carter. We're now in a post Lord of the Rings Era so if you saw Lord of the Rings your most likley to see and enjoy A Game of Thrones. It is a very political and dramatic story revolving around several noble families in the land of Westeros.
A Game of Thrones can be seen to having similar traits as a soap, having a multi-strand narrative where we follow several noble houses and characters from each, we also witness the stories of the different age groups. The Starks are the main focus of the westeros story plot, we follow every member of the house from Bran who is 9 we follow his curiousity and see him recover from a near death fall, through the rest of the Stark children Jon Snow who is the ligitimate bastard of Eddard Stark who travles to "The Wall" and becomes a man of the Nights watch, and the main story line of Eddard Stark the father, parent figure who travles to kings landing to investigate a plot against the King. Following all these stories much like in a soap there is a story for everyone, most likely there is a story you are more interested and can relate more to, Jon Snow is seen as a loner and an outcast by many but also a friend by others.
Conventional locations of a fantasy medieval drama are usually set around a court or throne room, here the court can be found at Kings Landing in front of the Iron Throne. Usually a court is held to discuss the future or the beginning of a quest, i can think of a place in Lord of the Rings where members of each race of middle earth meet in Rivendell to discuss the future of the one ring that they have in they're possession. Sometimes a Pub or a Brothel, boarders, the Kingdom of Wersteros is bordered against the Narrow Sea where the story world changes to a Mediterranean land. Locations shot while filming this series where shot over northern Ireland, Croatia and Iceland to provide the stunning scenery needed to be filmed for this traditional high-fantasy film. Keeping to a parallel fantasy universe the castles such as Winterfell looks almost medieval north European but with oddities such as the weirdly shaped towers. Other reminders to prove they are in a fantasy universe are the places such as the “godswood” in Winterfell where Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) Lord and Warden of the north still worships the “old Gods”. The further north we go the more inhospitable the land is until we reach “The Wall” which is a colossal fortification which stretches 300 miles along and 700 foot high. Guarded by the men of the Nights Watch who’s numbers dwindle while protecting the south from the white walkers.
Even the music in the opening titles its telling the audience that this is going to be an epic fantasy series and you should watch this!
