Conventions of TV Drama - Waterloo Road

Name of drama - Waterloo Road
Broadcaster - BBC One
Scheduling Details - Wednesday evenings at 7.30pm
Writer - Ann McManus
Director - Julie Edwards
Producer - Johnathan Leather

Conventions

Characters
- Teacher: Mrs. Hopewell. She doesn't have any control over the class. When she speaks to her student when the student is sitting down she seems quite angry and strict but then when the student confronts her she changes and seems quite scared. Also, she does not intervene when the two girls are fighting, the fight actually gets broken up by a male member of staff - this is a stereotype of women because it shows that she is 'weak' and the man is the dominant character because he is the one who solves the situation.


- Michaela: she is the one that starts the trouble by confronting the teacher. Stereotypes have been used because they have made her school uniform look quite rough and not as smart as some of the other students - this could imply that she is trying to be rebellious and not abide to school rules. You could also say that racial stereotyping has been used as she is mixed race and sometimes coloured people are portrayed to be bigger 'trouble makers' - such as a black criminal.


- Lindsey : stereotypes have definitely been used with this character .. she and her friends are the quiet ones of the class and they clearly want to get on with their work - they show this by dressing them very smartly to show that they abide to the school rules. However, you could also say that the producer is challenging the stereotype as she is the one that starts the physical fighting and typically people would not expect a 'geek' character to be the one who starts a fight. 


- Male teacher: as mentioned above, he is the one that actually steps in and breaks up the fight so this represents men as being dominant and 'tougher' than women. You could also say that it tries to make him look like the 'hero' of the situation. 


- Headmistress - Authority is clearly shown as she is very serious and stern with the two girls, and also threatens to phone their parents, which one of the girls is clearly not happy about therefore she would view it as being a good punishment. 


- Other students in the class: They represent a stereotype that many people often have concerning teenagers - 'the youth of today'. They are quite disruptive and mess around in class, and when the fight breaks out, instead of trying to help many of the students start to video the fight.

Narrative
In this clip, the storyline is that an argument that originally starts between the teacher and Michaela, turns into a full on physical fight between two students. The clip ends on a bit of a cliffhanger because the audience doesn't know what's going on at home with Lindsey's family and why she is so desperate for the head mistress not to phone her family.


Mise En Scene
- Location: The whole series of 'waterloo road' is set in a 'troubled' comprehensive school in Manchester, so it makes sense that the fight takes place in a classroom because it shows that the school is definitely troubled, which is important to the story line.

- Costume: All the students are in school uniform, but they all vary .. again, the girl who we can assume is the main trouble maker (Michaela) is wearing school uniform but it doesn't look like it is a perfect uniform so this could suggest that she is a bit of a rebel. The girls who say that they are trying to learn are wearing smart uniform, including a blazer so this re-inforces the stereotype that they are 'geeks'.

Sound
- Key dialogue: the key dialouge in this scene is probably when Michaela shouts 'Helen' at the teacher and asks if that is her name. This is patronising to the teacher becuase the students are not supposed to call teachers by their first names - Michaela knows she is being rude by saying this. This piece of dialogue is important because it starts off the whole argument.
Another piece of key dialogue is when one of the students tells Michaela to 'shut up because some of us are trying to learn', as this re-directs the focus from the teacher to the students, who's friend is the one she eventually ends up having the fight with.

-Sound effects: There aren't really many sound effects used in this scene. A little bit of music is played, at the very beginning and when the girls are being sent to the headmistress' office. The music is quite ominous and reflects the mood of the scene.