Dramatic Story Telling
Serial Drama
A serial drama is a production where an entire season is based around one story, so the episodes must be watched in sequential order so the story can be understood. The whole story Arc can take up to a season or more for example Season 1 of 'The Strain' ended on a cliffhanger as the main story was not finished.
A serial drama is usually created when a writer chooses not to show the whole plot of their idea in a 2 hour long film they would prefer to spread out their idea in to episodes that can range form 30 minuets to an hour this can help properly explain a more complex plot to an audience so it has a greater effect. The story is slowly revealed to an audience over many weeks so they are not confused or get lost in lots of characters. Character development can make or break a show and it is essential to a writer that he makes sure the characters that are supposed to be liked are. A slower narrative reveal will have a much greater effect on an audience and can leave the show with a legacy take 'Breaking Bad' And 'Game Of Thrones' for example. They have both had a massive cultural impact on the modern world, their popularity is known worldwide, and 'Breaking Bad' is known to have a fantastic ending. At the beginning of some serial dramas there is a short recap that explains what has happened in the past episodes so returning audiences are brought up to speed. To get the full effect of a serial drama the audience must be grasped almost immediately or they might not pay any attention to next weeks episode this can happen through the characters it could be done through the shows writing or the visual effects or even the trailer.
Here the is the series trailer for 'Penny Dreadful' a serial created and written by John Logan, the show peaked peoples interest because of the well written characters that are all from 19th century Fiction Such as Oscar Wilde's 'Dorian Gray' and Bram Stokers 'Mina and Abraham Van Helsing' with Mary Shelly's 'Frankenstein' and Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Dr Henry Jekyll'.
The shows well written characters and haunting visual effects have both helped it gain popularity.
Soap Operas
A soap opera has many story lines within the programme that are based around the characters lives, it is mainly centered in one location and follows the characters lives, for example one of the most well known soap operas it 'Coronation Street'. It is the longest running soap opera in Britain starting in the 1960's and running into the present day. The story centers around the lives of working class people that live in Manchester. Originally created by Tony Warren the series has had well over 8000 episodes and is well into it's 17th series, there have been many episodes that stand out over the years and it is known for tugging at peoples heartstrings with the deaths of some characters with the death of the character Hayley being viewers saddest in the series, as she had been battling Pancreatic cancer the character decides to end her own life.
Most of the drama created in soaps is done through the different characters relationships and how emotionally strained they are the writer seeks to create conflict between the characters as this can resonate with the viewers watching, Conflict can be created by the writer in many different ways
say a character cheats on another character or two characters become embroiled in something illegal like a murder or a robbery. Here is an emotionally charged scene where a murder takes place you see that moment he decides to attack her and the beginning of the murder but it cuts away after that to show that she is helpless and no one knows what is happening
As there is no dominant story line in a soap there is a multitude of characters and episodes that have dealt with a multitude of themes from murder to rape. However because the writer doesn't want to confuse audiences they might make some of the issues simple for example a character cheats on another, the wronged party might be trying to deal with it but snaps and kills the character who cheated they would do this to cause interest and keep the series on it's feet so as to remain popular.
Single Drama
A single drama is different than a serial drama as it has the narrative told in one episode rather than stretching it out over multiple episodes the writer sees their idea as being able to be done in one show whether it's 30 minuets or 60. The length of the narrative does not reflect the quality of the show however. it could be a spectacular short piece and is easily told within the short span of time of the program. However it is becoming rarer to see a single drama on TV as 'one offs' are not done as much now as they used to be the most recent one off would be the 'Sherlock' episode 'The Abominable Bride' that was shown during the new Year. The episode contained many references and homages to the early 1900's which is when the original books were written and set. The idea was similar to Moffat's other series 'Doctor Who' who have regular season specials however they sometimes tie into the story
