Is Sherlock a Television Crime Drama?
You can tell from the conventions shown in the trailer and episode clip from the TV programme “Sherlock”, that it is a crime drama. The show mostly fixes on investigation, the programme “Sherlock” being based from the popular fictional detective novel “Sherlock Holmes”, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
In the trailer it starts of in a warzone, it fades onto the face of Dr John H. Watson an experienced Doctor who recently returned from Afghanistan, we see this as a flashback or dream. It seems as if he is still traumatised from what occurred earlier ago; the likely problem being Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a common problem which that usually becomes apparent in soldiers years after the experienced trauma. In the background you hear a voice, most likely a therapist; this being a non-diegetic feature, that has been edited onto the scene. As the trailer goes on, the therapist suggests Watson to make a blog to record his events, followed by him saying “Nothing happens to me”. This is Dramatic Irony, when the words and actions of the character have different meanings to the onlookers than they do for the character. The screen turns pitch black, suggesting it is the end of the scene and moving onto another one. We see a P.O.V camera shot, where we the audience see in the eyes of another character, above we see Sherlock as if he is looking directly at you upside down. As the trailer furthers the music is added; sounding adventurous. We see Sherlock in a black cab, this being the same as in the novel but the only difference being the transport in the 1800’s were horses, these being called Hackney Carriages. There is a range of conventions shown that suggest it’s a crime drama such as; the magnifying glass signifying enlarging the image of an object, surgical/latex