RESEARCH: GENRE RESEARCH

I have made a list of crime drama that I intend to research in order to identify key codes in film and TV drama openings, starting with mainstream British and European, then American:

- Inspector Montalbano BBC TV

- Young Montalbano 
- Inspector Morse
- Lewis (sequel)
- Endeavor
- Murder She Wrote
- CSI
- Inspector Poirot 
- The Wire HBO


In order to research genre conventions for the type of film opening that I am planning, I looked at clips from similar productions. I identified visual and sound codes that I would like to use myself.

Last lesson, I planned the outline treatment for a crime drama involving a realistic British scenario with a young college student who works part-time on the fish counter of a high street supermarket and who witnesses a stabbing as he leaves work.

I need to familiarize myself with the crime genre as I do not watch much of it; my first port of call was the internet to see what other people watched, as boxed sets are very popular. I found that this is a huge genre ranging from genteel investigators like Poirot and Miss Marple to hard-hitting productions like The Wire and Taggart.