Long Form Television Drama | OCR A-Level Media Studies (H409)
Long Form Television Drama
- 179 questions
- 13 subtopics
- Component 02: Evolving media
- Component 02
Long Form Television Drama is examined in Component 02, Evolving media.
It covers mr Robot and the unreliable narrator, killing Eve and the gendered spy thriller, atypical and the representation of neurodiversity, stranger Things, nostalgia and the Netflix franchise, lupin, disguise and postcolonial Paris, money Heist and the second life of a national drama, trapped, Nordic noir and the Icelandic industry, deutschland 83, the Cold War and the export of German drama, the streaming economy and the funding of long form drama, global distribution and the travel of non-English language drama, genre hybridity, intertextuality and multiple narrative strands, media language and representation in long form television drama and audiences, fandom and the regulation of on-demand drama.
Sample questions from Long Form Television Drama
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Mr Robot and the unreliable narrator
Describe the distinctive framing used throughout Mr Robot.
Show the answer
Figures are pushed to the very bottom or the extreme edge of the frame, with large areas of empty space above and beside them, breaking the conventional rules of headroom and balance. -
Killing Eve and the gendered spy thriller
Which production company made Killing Eve, and for which channel?
Show the answer
The British independent Sid Gentle Films made it for the American channel BBC America. -
Stranger Things, nostalgia and the Netflix franchise
Identify the film-makers and authors Stranger Things draws on, and state what it takes from each.
Show the answer
Steven Spielberg, for suburban children meeting the extraordinary; Stephen King, for small-town dread and children with powers; and John Carpenter, for the synthesiser-driven score. -
Lupin, disguise and postcolonial Paris
Why is Lupin significant in the development of non-English language streaming drama?
Show the answer
A French-language series with a Black French lead became one of its platform's most widely watched titles worldwide, showing commissioners that a national story could travel without being remade in English. -
Trapped, Nordic noir and the Icelandic industry
List four conventions of Nordic noir present in Trapped.
Show the answer
A bleak northern landscape, a desaturated colour palette, a slow and sombre pace, and a flawed detective uncovering the secrets of a small community. -
Deutschland 83, the Cold War and the export of German drama
How does Deutschland 83 use analogue technology as part of its period setting?
Show the answer
Cassettes, typewriters, dead drops and bulky listening equipment make espionage slow and physical, so tension is built from the delay between gathering information and sending it. -
Global distribution and the travel of non-English language drama
Why do streaming services invest heavily in dubbing?
Show the answer
Dubbed versions reach viewers who will not read subtitles, including those watching while doing something else, and so widen a title's audience in large markets. -
Genre hybridity, intertextuality and multiple narrative strands
Explain how a cliffhanger works differently in weekly broadcast and in a released box set.
Show the answer
A weekly cliffhanger must survive seven days and drives conversation between episodes, whereas in a box set it simply removes the pause before the next episode begins.
The 13 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Mr Robot and the unreliable narrator | Recall questions on Mr Robot: Elliot Alderson's double life and voiceover, why he is an unreliable narrator, off-centre framing and colour, fsociety and E Corp, its genre hybrid, Baudrillard's hyperreality, its post-2008 context, Fight Club and The Matrix, mental illness, and USA Network's commission. | 14 |
| Killing Eve and the gendered spy thriller | Recall questions on Killing Eve: Eve Polastri and Villanelle, how it subverts the spy thriller, Villanelle's first scene and costume, Carolyn Martens, van Zoonen and Butler applied to it, Sandra Oh's casting, black comedy, Sid Gentle Films and BBC America, its UK release and the characters' mutual obsession. | 14 |
| Atypical and the representation of neurodiversity | Recall questions on Atypical: Sam Gardner's goal and Antarctic narration, the Gardner family and Casey's storyline, its sitcom and coming-of-age hybrid, therapy scenes, criticism of its first-season portrayal of autism and the response, nothing about us without us, its Netflix release, and Gauntlett applied to its audience. | 13 |
| Stranger Things, nostalgia and the Netflix franchise | Recall questions on Stranger Things: its 1983 Hawkins setting and opening disappearance, the Dungeons and Dragons scene, the Upside Down, its debts to Spielberg, King and others, the title sequence, Cold War anxiety, Joyce Byers, Baudrillard, Todorov and Neale applied to it, its ensemble strands and value to Netflix. | 14 |
| Lupin, disguise and postcolonial Paris | Recall questions on Lupin: Assane Diop and Arsène Lupin, the Marie Antoinette necklace and the Pellegrini family, racial invisibility in the heist, Gilroy's double consciousness, the Senegalese immigrant backstory, heist conventions, non-linear narrative, Paris, dubbing, Barthes's myth and Assane as a father. | 13 |
| Money Heist and the second life of a national drama | Recall questions on the heist at the centre of the first episode, the city names, the voiceover, the Dalí masks and red jumpsuits, and how that imagery travelled. | 13 |
| Trapped, Nordic noir and the Icelandic industry | Recall questions on Trapped: its isolated Icelandic town, the torso in the harbour, the blizzard as a narrative device, Andri Ólafsson and Hinrika, Nordic noir conventions and landscape, the harbour investment storyline, its pacing, its importance to Icelandic television, BBC Four and dubbing. | 13 |
| Deutschland 83, the Cold War and the export of German drama | Recall questions on the year and political situation, how Martin Rauch is recruited and held, the identity he takes in the West, and how consumerism is established. | 13 |
| The streaming economy and the funding of long form drama | Recall questions on subscription video on demand and how its income shapes commissioning, Hesmondhalgh on risk, the budgets of American long form drama, vertically integrated streaming services and owned originals, Curran and Seaton on concentrated ownership, independent producers' rights, all-at-once release and public service broadcasters. | 14 |
| Global distribution and the travel of non-English language drama | Recall questions on co-productions and pre-sales, subtitling and dubbing, cultural discount and how streaming reduces it, algorithmic recommendation, windowing, convergence, the influence of Nordic noir on European commissioning, and dependence on a single global distributor. | 14 |
| Genre hybridity, intertextuality and multiple narrative strands | Recall questions on genre hybridity and Neale's theory of genre, intertextuality and audience positioning, multi-strand narratives and story arcs, episodic and serial elements, cliffhangers in weekly and box-set release, cold opens, and Todorov and Lévi-Strauss applied to long form drama. | 14 |
| Media language and representation in long form television drama | Recall questions on camera angle, mise-en-scène, lighting, editing pace, sound and title sequences, Barthes's denotation, connotation and myth, costume as a sign, representation as construction and discourse, bell hooks on intersectionality, Gilroy's double consciousness, and representation across many hours. | 15 |
| Audiences, fandom and the regulation of on-demand drama | Recall questions on Stuart Hall's encoding and decoding and reader positions, Gerbner's cultivation theory and mean world syndrome, Bandura and his critics, Shirky and Jenkins applied to fandom, demographic and cultural factors in reading drama, Livingstone and Lunt, and regulating on-demand drama. | 15 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
OCR A-Level Media Studies Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 1,986 questions with their answers.