Crime Drama Conventions.

"Narrative: usually closed episodes (ie a story each episode), 3 part structure (beginning - crime is established, middle-solving it, end - resolving the crime and making an arrest), a crime (usually a murder), set pieces such as discovering the body, making an arrest, chase scenes, interviewing suspects.
Character: police detectives, private detectives, crime teams (eg CSI). Often duos of crime solvers - a main detective and a sidekick. Main detective tends to be clever but cold, sidekick is the "brawn" and is more relatable. Women often play scientific roles and the victims.
Setting: often city settings but some rural settings. Police stations, interview rooms, police cells, dark empty streets, crime scenes.
Style: Naturalistic and realistic - uses realistic props and noises, music is used to add effect to dramatic scenes, often quite dark and eery. "


http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120129091048AAl9vPx


"Characters

 The lead character will often be a detective or some sort of police investigator.  They will usually be a white male - 40 years old plus.  The lead character will have some sort of major personality defect or flaw such as a failed marriage, alcoholism, gambling addiction etc, sometimes there may be a physical one as well eg Ironside is confined to a wheelchair whilst Columbo has a glass eye..

There will often be a sidekick character - a younger and more inexperienced individual.  This is sometimes a woman though women are usually in scientific advisor roles.  If there is a woman there will usually be some sort of sexual tension between the two.

There will often be a group of support characters or 'gang' who help the lead character in their investigation.

There will often be a superior officer or 'police chief' who the lead character must report to and will often be in trouble with.

Narrative and Theme
The narrative will usually be centred around a detective trying to solve a crime - often a murder.  There will be an investigation taking place which involves clues and red herrings.  The killer's identity will often be revealed at the end of the episode.

There will often be chase scenes present.  There may also be an interrogation scene.  There will usually be a teaser or 'hook' sequence at the start which shows the crime being committed or maybe the body being discovered.  Its purpose is to draw the viewer into the narrative.

The theme of justice and good vs evil will be prevalent in the narrative.

Format  

Episodic but usually with stand alone episodes.
Iconography

 Police cars, blue flashing lights, crime scenes, police tape (do not cross), murders, dark lighting, guns and weapons.  Flashlights in dark places.

Sound

Serious and dramatic non-diegetic music.  Often this is very sombre and brooding during dark
moments and fast-paced and bombastic as action sequences occur.

Settings
Interview rooms, urban settings, police stations, crime scenes, forensics labs, morgues, the killer's lair - often dark, ominous and threatening."


http://trinityfilmandmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/conventions-of-television-crime-drama.html


"Television and film crime/cop drama is very popular with a wide audience. Crime Dramas seek to anchor the representations of all types of police officers, criminals and victims as ‘believable’ characters, with ‘realistic’ plot lines, set in urban locations.The genre has been taken up in the US under the heading of American Quality Televsion (AQT) - see under heading AQT.

Codes and Conventions

Crime dramas:

• are constructed realities
• depict constructed versions of reality that appeal to audiences
• encode hegemonic values and ideologies
• represent current societal responses to crime
• use formulas
• employ some stereotypical representations
• make iconic use of hand guns, police cars, banks, uniformed and ununiformed police, and explosions

Modern TV crime dramas put the reconstruction of realism at the forefront of their appeal to audiences, particularly in their use of media language – see further down.

Representations

Television crime dramas have ongoing characters who slowly evolve over time as in a soap opera. The audience develops a relationship with main characters like Morse, and Bergerac who change very little. For an audience a main part of the attraction of a crime drama is knowledge of a main character, the enigma of the plot and a sense of suburban comfort with the genre.


http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/understanding-crime-drama/

"Codes and Conventions of a Crime/Drama.

Typical codes and conventions of a crime/drama film would be:
- A chase (usually car).
- A lot of involvement with props that can be harmful such as knifes or guns.
- The villain (protagonist) would usually have some unidentified problems that will be revealed at the very end of the film.
- The hero (protagonist) who saves everyone will have a partner (usually very intelligent or very dopey).
- Characters will usually include someone vulnerable and gangs.
- Crimes will usually be murder/dramas will usually be to do with family of the protagonist.
- Conflicts due to difference in policing.
- Someone’s private life becoming public.
- Betrayal."

 

 

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