Sit-coms and Soaps are they really for real?

Genre 1
According to production technology

Film/Cinema
Often popular sitcoms can be turned into movies. A good example is Bad Education which is a British
TV sitcom about classmates in a school was turned into a movie in 2015 as it was quite a popular
sitcom, so they knew theyd get a great amount of people watching the film. The box office sales
reached to $3,121,196. However, not all popular sitcoms dont turn into films. The sitcom Im using
in this assignment is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and, even though it was one of the most popular
sitcoms in USA, it hasnt been made into a movie and will most likely never be turned into a film, one
of the main reasons being the death of the actor who plays Uncle Phil in 2013.

Soaps dont usually get turned into films as theyre on more or less every day, so theres not much
point making a film out of them as its on the TV so frequently.

Video
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is made as a moving image so its created as a video. This way you can watch
characters actions, facial expressions etc. When it is recorded, the most camera shots are wide shots
so you are able to see the iconic living room and kitchen sites.

Audio
The audio is the sounding on the programme. You have the characters dialogue which moves at the
same time as the characters mouths moving. You may also be able to hear in sitcoms especially the
audience laughing in the background.
Print
The print is anything that the show prints, so it could be billboards, adverts, t-shirts. Soaps
sometimes put adverts in places when theres a big event coming up so it gets promoted and more
people will want to watch the big event. Soaps have a lot of competition with each other, so its
important to promote. This may include interviews as well.

Digital
N/A.

Distribution method

Television
The majority of sit-coms and soaps are shown on the television. This is because its the easiest for
people to watch them on. You can watch sitcoms on mostly Channel 4, Comedy Central and MTV,
and for British sitcoms, BBC. You are then able to watch soaps on the main British channels such as
BBC, ITV, Channel 4 etc. On the television, you can watch shows on demand, too which is free so you
are able to get near enough all the episodes and can catch up too.

Radio
N/A
Internet
Nowadays, you are able to watch soaps and sitcoms through the internet, whether its on Netflix,
and iPlayers like BBC iPlayer, ITV player, Channel 4 on Demand or any other ones. Or you can now
watch shows on illegal websites by streaming the show. The internet is full of websites where you
can watch the show. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was never shown on major british channels like BBC
or ITV, but it is however available to watch on Netflix and any illegal website which you are able to
watch in HD on some of them.

When searching for Fresh Prince on the internet, I found many websites I am able to watch it on.
Altogether, 274,000 websites came up with the full episodes of season 1, the first result being
watchseries.

CD/DVD
If the show/series is popular enough, youll be able to buy a DVD boxset for when it goes off the TV
so youre able to watch it as much as you want, all the episodes in the same order. Fresh Prince of
Bel-Air has been made into a DVD box set ever since it stopped being aired on television. There are 6
seasons so there are 6 DVD box sets. Sometimes when you get the box sets, there is an extras menu
where you can watch more stuff like bloopers, deleted scenes and more.

Mobile phone/devices/iPods/Hand-held consoles

To be able to watch series on your mobile device, there are many apps you can download. Although
the screen may be smaller than a television or a laptop screen, the majority of devices will show the
programme in high definition. You are able to download apps such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer and many
more to be able to watch series on your devices. Or, there is the choice on iTunes to buy or rent the
series or an episode whichll download onto your phone, meaning you dont need wifi or internet to
watch, which is the best for plane journeys. You can also get sites such as Netflix on consoles like
Xbox and can even get them on hand held consoles like Nintendo 3DS and PlayStationVita

Home computer
Like mobile devices, you are able to watch shows on Netflix, illegal websites and on demand all on
your home computer. The quality will be higher as its on a bigger screen and you can probably see
more on it. You can sometimes connect your computer/laptop to the television and watch shows in
even better HD quality.

Genre 2
Generic codes and conventions

Content
This is what is in the show. In Fresh Prince, the content includes the main character Will, moving
with his Aunt, Uncle and cousins from West Philadelphia to Bel-Air. It is a sitcom which is a situation
comedy.

Style
The style of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is like 90s hip, meeting the elegance of 90s fashion, attitude and
homes. This is a massive contrast, and many in the show see Will as an outcast compared to the rest
of hos family. Their style is much more smarter, showing that they are a wealthy family in Bel-Air,
whereas Will has come from Philadelphia which is nowhere near how nice the Bel-Air is, so Will
wears quite crazy outfits compared, so they clash a lot.
Symbolic/Stereotyping
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air stereotypes a typical black American family who live in the rich suburbs of
Bel-Air. Of course living somewhere fancy in America you have many wealthy yet judgemental white
American families, who sometimes look down on them as a family. There are also episodes where
the police force arrest Will or Carlton which Will believes he did purely because of their skin colour,
so the police officer mustve thought they were black thieves as they were driving an expensive car.

Some women are symbolised in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, especially Hilary. As she is an attractive
young woman, she is stereotypically quite dumb. Some men take advantage of this as shown by
Judge Carl Robertson who makes some light-hearted sexist comments.

Cultural
In Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, it is obvious that the family are all black. The Aunt and Uncle always
teaches the children about how they had to fight for their rights when they were younger. All the
children understand, but however, as Carlton was brought up in an area where you have to pay for
education at a school full of white people so he is very influenced by them and tries to fit in and get
great grades, Will wasnt. Where Will was brought up, he had nothing compared to what Carlton
has. Obviously this is a huge shock to Will as the two different cultures clash in a way where Carlton
doesnt understand how lucky he should feel with what he has.
Technical
This is the techniques or the subject the show uses. It could be a certain style everytime, like lighting
and layout wise. In Fresh Prince, they use the same lighting and scenes to make it more recognisable
to the audience.

Changes over time

The target audience of Fresh Prince have more or less stayed the same throughout the 6 years it was
aired on the television. There was only one change which was that Aunt Viv had a character change
due to a feud on set with Will.

In audience
This means when there is a live audience watching the show. On sitcoms especially, they use in
audiences a lot, to show real laughter and reactions from the audience. Mrs Browns Boys is a good
example, as its all real and shows them bowing to the audience at the end of the show.
Ideological shifts
This is the beliefs of a person or a group of people. The characters and cast believe in black rights
and they have strong opinions on it, obviously being an African/American family.

Re-definition
This is when you define something differently. However, it isnt applicable.

Obsolescence
This is where something is no longer used. Fresh Prince of Bel-Air began in 1990 and ended in 1996.
It was still shown on the television for quite a long period of time after it stopped being filmed. Even
though its not shown on the television as much anymore, its not outdated. You are still able to buy
DVD boxsets and it has also come out on Netflix, so you can watch it on there. Most sitcoms arent
obsolescence because they are so iconic, but there are many soaps who are such as Family Pride
which lasted just over a year.

Spoof/parody
A spoof/parody is a mick take of an already made film/programme/event that has happened before
on television or in the cinema. When a TV programme makes a spoof, it usually is made as a comedy
instead of a serious drama. Spoofs and parodies are often made for fun for YouTube, but sometimes
you can get some on charity events such as Children in Need or Red Nose Day to raise money for the
charity. Some examples are Scary Movie being a parody of scream, and Victorious making a parody
of The Breakfast Club.

Pastiche
This is where the producer does something similarly to a previously made film or programme. To
make a pastiche different to a spoof or a parody, the producer will do it in a more respectful way
rather than comedic. However, sometimes the producer make exploit other peoples ideas without
giving credit.
 Narrative structures

Single strand/Equilibrium/linear
A single strand in TV sitcoms/soaps is where theres a story in it, it starts at the beginning of the
programme, and the story finishes at the end. Each of these shows usually are an equilibrium which
is where theres a normal start to the show and everyones happy, but then theres a disruption of
some sort which has a negative effect on one of the characters which gets resolved, then the show
ends. The next episode wont relate to the previous in any way.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a good example of a single-stranded sitcom. The main story is based on
Will Smith who has gone to live with his Uncle, Aunt and cousins. Each episode there is a situation
which occurs, mostly to do with Will but it however gets sorted by the end and thats the end of that
story. An example of an episode is where Will doesnt realise, but he goes up against a professional
snooker player in order to win some money. The professional player wins obviously, but Will has no
money so they take his Uncles expensive car. However, when his Uncle finds out, it turns out that he
use to play snooker and is quite good, so he wins the money back in the end and the car. The
episode and story ends there which is an example of a single strand.

A linear uses the same setout as an equilibrium, but doesnt necessarily need a disruption in the
middle. It just has a beginning, middle and end up a single-strand episode. Everything in an
equilibrium show works out fine in the end of it.

Multi-strand
Multi-strand is where there are two or more stories being told in an episode. This usually follows
individuals in their lives. This is used more in soaps, as there are many characters in them, so the
episode could follow families or individual people in each family and whats happening in their life
and what theyre doing, if theres anything interesting like a murder. Most characters have their own
storyline.

A sitcom could do the same, like how Friends does by following each cast member or Modern
Families where they follow each family and sometimes bring them together too. However, sitcoms
like Fresh Prince of Bel Air has one main character, an the whole show focus on this main character,
without jumping to his cousins lives and what they do; its just about Will.

Closed narrative
A closed narrative is where the opening and closing scenes are clear for the udience to understand.
It fits the whole story start to finish in a limited amount of time. In films, its a closed narrative as in
quite a few, you get the closing scene which says The End where you can tell that its the end of the
film. This is a closed narrative.

Open narrative
An open narrative is where the beginning and ending of the episodes arent clear for the audience to
understand whats going on. This can be a hit or miss for sitcoms especially. Because most sitcoms
are single-stranded, itll be an annoyance to the audience if they are left on a cliff-hanger from a
single-stranded sitcom episode. Soaps however are on more frequently, so the stories flow into each
other. They can have cliff-hangers as they will be using the next episode to carry on the story.

Non-linear
A non-linear episode is where it starts in the middle, then there is the actual beginning of the show
with flashbacks from the middle part of the show, but ending with the normal ending. This is more
used in detective/police/hospital programmes, where they show a disaster happening such as the
death of someone, then it may say 3 days before and go back to the beginning, so the lead up to
the death and possibly who killed them. The ending will be the revelation of it, so the back story.
This was used in How To Get Away With Murder (which isnt a soap or sitcom) but instead of just
being one episode, there were multiple episodes where it started with a murder, then there were
many flashbacks leading up to the murder throughout each episode, then the ending was clear of
what exactly happened.
Enigma
This is a puzzle, which are most used in police/detective drama soaps. Even though Pretty Little Liars
isnt a soap or a sitcom, they use enigma in their 7 seasons to engage the audience to have their own
theories as to who A is. This is an enigma as A plays games with them where the Liars have to find
out different mysteries like deaths caused by A. the audience can use social media like Twitter to talk
with other fans of the show about what their theories are.

Climax
Everything in a show or a series leads up to a climax which is the most exciting part of it. This is
usually shown in soaps when theres a major event on. When soaps have weddings, theres usually
the build-up and something drastic happens. However, there is such thing as an anti-climax which is
the complete opposite, and the build-up leads to a disappointing outcome.

Representation
Negative/Positive
If something is represented negatively in a show it literally means if someone or something has been
presented in a way which the audience will have a negative reaction against. There may be deaths of
favourite characters or deaths in general which is a dark, negative programme.

The positive is completely opposite to negative. Fresh Prince is more positive, although theres a lot
of trouble in it which Will has caused, its a happy show whichll make you feel relaxed and uplifted
in a way, which is why so many people like sitcoms.
Of social groups
A social group is 2+ people who are in a certain group who are known to have a similar
characteristics and attitudes. The representation of the social groups in Fresh Prince are a big clash.
Will and Jazz are one, being typical African-American hip teenagers vs Carlton and his friends from
school who are more into education and doing well in school, being the typical wealthy American
sort of snobbish/preppy teenagers.

Of social issues
This is issues people have to face in their society. In Fresh Prince,being an African-American family
they are occasionally faced with racism. This is shown when a policeman arrests Will and Carlton for
driving too slow, but Will believes its to do with two black guys driving an expensive car and tries to
get it into Carltons head. There is also an episode where Will and Carlton show how little they think
about women by wolf whistling them and rating them out of 10 which influences the youngest
sister, Ashley, to completely change her look and attitude so she gets male attention. This shows the
pressure of society and sex as she wants to have sex at a young age to fit in. These are social issues.

Presence and absence

The presence and absence of characters changes throughout Fresh Prince. There are many
characters who are in for a couple of episodes each season such as Wills mother and best friend
Jazz. Their absence in episodes arent too noticeable just because they arent the main characters
but their presence are highly noticeable.