Difference between pages "Melodrama Variations: TV Soap Opera (Discussion)" and "Style and Stylistics (Discussion)"

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==Readings==
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=="Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s"==
==="Television and Zero-Degree Style"===
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<gallery mode="packed" heights=200px>
[[Image:Fig113 ATWT20080201qq00 30 40qq00020.jpg|left|thumb|400px|Katie and Brad in an ''As the World Turns'' screen shot, from :30:40 in the episode broadcast 1 Feb 2008.]]
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File:Table 5.3-resized.jpg|alt=Television Style, table 5.3|''Television Style'', table 5.3 "Multiple-camera and Single-camera Schemas," full table.
#What are the main characteristics of soap opera's style of sound and image? And what significance do they have? In other words, what/how does style ''signify'' in terms of:
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File:Table 5.3 part 1 Cinematography.jpg|alt=Television Style, table 5.3|Table 5.3: Cinematography.
#*'''Group 1''': Sets?
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File:Table 5.3 part 2 MeS and Editing resized.jpg|alt=Television Style, table 5.3.|Table 5.3: Mise-en-Scene and Editing.
#*'''Group 1''': Lighting?
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File:Table 5.3 part 3 Sound and Misc resized.jpg|alt=Television Style, table 5.3.|Table 5.3: Sound and Miscellaneous.
#*'''Group 2''': Multiple-camera production?  ''In terms of how it looks on the screen'', how does multiple-camera production differ from single-camera production?
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</gallery>
#'''Groups 1 & 2''': Dialogue? Music? How are these characteristics present (or not) in the scene from ''ATWT'' episode we viewed in class? How would you compare/contrast the sound in ''ATWT'' with that of the radio soap, ''Backstage Wife''?
 
#'''All Groups''': How does the excerpt from ''Guiding Light'' we watched ''violate'' soap-opera style?
 
<br style="clear: both;">
 
  
==="'I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV'"===
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View a scene from ''The Mindy Project'' (see Blackboard and [http://tvcrit.org/Classes/Jbutler/BUI301/MindyProject_20131112/index.html screenshots online]).
[[Image:ATWTRyan.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Screen shot of Frank Runyeon and Meg Ryan in ''As the World Turns'' (1984).]]
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[[Image:ATWTFrost.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Screen shot of Frank Runyeon and Lindsay Frost in ''As the World Turns'' (1985).]]
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*'''Table 5.3''' in "Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s" (see above) lists elements of the "single-camera televisual schema".  
#'''Group 3''': How does Jean-Louis Comolli's notion of a "body too much" in historical film apply to the soap opera?
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**How many of those single-camera elements do you see in ''The Mindy Project'' scene? Each group will account for one or two groups of elements (click a thumbnail above to enlarge it):
#'''Group 4''': What is the "commutation test"? How does it apply to soap-opera recasting?
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**#'''Group 1:''' cinematography
#*'''All Groups''': How might the commutation test be used with Humphrey Bogart's Charlie Allnut character in ''African Queen''?
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**#'''Group 2:''' mise-en-scene
#'''All Groups''': How do Lindsey Frost's character/performance signs differ from Meg Ryan's? What meaning does that difference connote?  
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**#'''Group 3:''' editing
#'''All Groups''': What makes Meg Ryan an atypical soap star?
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**#'''Group 4:''' sound ''and'' "miscellaneous"
#'''All Groups''': How does the position of soap actors resemble that of early-film actors?
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*'''All groups:''' '''Table 5.6''' from the essay outlines a "televisual continuum"--ranging from ''very'' televisual (''The Simpsons'') to not televisual at all (school-play recordings).
<br style="clear: both;">
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*#What does the term "televisual" mean--as conceived by John Caldwell (see p. 175)?  
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*#Where does ''The Mindy Project'' fit on the continuum? Table 5.6 puts ''The Honeymooners'' in the second category, ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'' ([[Editing: Multiple Camera Mode (Discussion)|which we discussed three weeks ago]]) in the third category, and ''Scrubs'' in the fifth category.
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*#Where would you place ''The Office'' (see Ethan Thompson's and Brett Mills's discussion of comedy ''vérité ''; p. 214?
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<gallery mode="packed" heights=400px>
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File:Mindyproject 20131112qq00 00 55qq00040.jpg|alt=The Mindy Project screenshot.|Morgan, Mindy, Cliff, and Yana (from left).
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</gallery>
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==''Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture''==
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#'''All groups''': Explain how the textbook defines the term "style" in your own words.
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#'''Group 1:''' Explain the work of "evaluative" and "descriptive" stylisticians. How might they approach ''The Mindy Project''?  
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#'''Group 2:''' Explain the work of "analytic" stylisticians. How might they approach ''The Mindy Project''? Be ready to define the following purposes or "functions" of style discussed in the textbook.
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#*symbolize
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#*decorate
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#'''Group 3:''' Explain the work of "analytic" stylisticians. How might they approach ''The Mindy Project''? Be ready to define the following purposes or "functions" of style discussed in the textbook.
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#*persuade
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#*hail or interpellate
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#*differentiate
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#'''Group 4:''' Explain the work of "historical" stylisticians. How might they approach ''The Mindy Project''? Be ready to define these terms: "craft practices" and "schemas."
  
 
== Bibliography ==
 
== Bibliography ==
#Jeremy G. Butler, "Television and Zero-Degree Style" in ''Television Style'' (New York: Routledge, in press), 55-120.
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#Butler, Jeremy G. ''Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture''. NY: Routledge, 2018.
#Jeremy G. Butler, "'I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One on TV': Characters, Actors, and Acting in Television Soap Opera," ''Cinema Journal'' 30.4 (1991): 75-91.
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#Butler, Jeremy G. "Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s," in ''Television Style'' (NY: Routledge, 2010), 173-222.
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
*[http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T440/SoapOperaIllustrations.htm Soap Opera Illustrations]
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*[https://www.tvstylebook.com/ ''Television Style'' official homepage]
*[http://picasaweb.google.com/jgbutler/1TelevisionAndZeroDegreeStyle02?authkey=Gv1sRgCL6IkaO_2KPVTA&feat=directlink "Television and Zero-Degree Style" illustrations]
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*[https://tvcrit.org/Classes/Jbutler/BUI301/MindyProject_20131112/index.html ''The Mindy Project'' screenshots]
**[http://www.tvstylebook.com/eo/ATWT20080201.php QuickTime clip]
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*[https://criticalcommons.org/Members/jbutler/clips/blending-multiple-camera-and-single-camera/ Hybrid mode of production] in ''How I Met Your Mother''
*[http://www.tcf.ua.edu/EO/ATWTAlums.htm ''ATWT'' alumni.]
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*[https://tvcrit.org/Classes/Jbutler/BUI301/NewAdventuresofOldChristine/ ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'': screenshots]
*Johanna Schneller, [http://www.tcf.ua.edu/Classes/Jbutler/T577/ryan.htm "Meg Ryan"], ''Us Weekly'', April 1998, pp. 50-54, 96.
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*[https://tvcrit.org/Classes/Jbutler/BUI301/NewAdventuresofOldChristine/Table%20502_OldChristine.pdf ''The New Adventures of Old Christine'': découpage]
*[http://www.cbs.com/daytime/guiding_light/video/ ''Guiding Light'' episodes]
 
  
[[Category:TCF440-540]]
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[[Category:BUI301]]
[[Category:TCF440/540 Discussion]]
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[[Category:BUI301 Discussion]]
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[[Category:JCM311]]
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[[Category:JCM311 Discussion]]

Revision as of 18:24, 22 October 2020

"Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s"

View a scene from The Mindy Project (see Blackboard and screenshots online).

  • Table 5.3 in "Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s" (see above) lists elements of the "single-camera televisual schema".
    • How many of those single-camera elements do you see in The Mindy Project scene? Each group will account for one or two groups of elements (click a thumbnail above to enlarge it):
      1. Group 1: cinematography
      2. Group 2: mise-en-scene
      3. Group 3: editing
      4. Group 4: sound and "miscellaneous"
  • All groups: Table 5.6 from the essay outlines a "televisual continuum"--ranging from very televisual (The Simpsons) to not televisual at all (school-play recordings).
    1. What does the term "televisual" mean--as conceived by John Caldwell (see p. 175)?
    2. Where does The Mindy Project fit on the continuum? Table 5.6 puts The Honeymooners in the second category, The New Adventures of Old Christine (which we discussed three weeks ago) in the third category, and Scrubs in the fifth category.
    3. Where would you place The Office (see Ethan Thompson's and Brett Mills's discussion of comedy vérité ; p. 214?

Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture

  1. All groups: Explain how the textbook defines the term "style" in your own words.
  2. Group 1: Explain the work of "evaluative" and "descriptive" stylisticians. How might they approach The Mindy Project?
  3. Group 2: Explain the work of "analytic" stylisticians. How might they approach The Mindy Project? Be ready to define the following purposes or "functions" of style discussed in the textbook.
    • symbolize
    • decorate
  4. Group 3: Explain the work of "analytic" stylisticians. How might they approach The Mindy Project? Be ready to define the following purposes or "functions" of style discussed in the textbook.
    • persuade
    • hail or interpellate
    • differentiate
  5. Group 4: Explain the work of "historical" stylisticians. How might they approach The Mindy Project? Be ready to define these terms: "craft practices" and "schemas."

Bibliography

  1. Butler, Jeremy G. Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture. NY: Routledge, 2018.
  2. Butler, Jeremy G. "Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s," in Television Style (NY: Routledge, 2010), 173-222.

External links