Annotated Catalogue
Statement: The genre conventions between CSI: Crime Scene Investigation & Silent Witness and compare their similarities and differences.
T.V Programmes
Item One: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – This will be one of my main focus points.
- American
- I chose this highly popular T.V Police Procedural Drama as it focuses deeply on the matter at hand, which is assessing the murders & collecting a theory of who committed the offence. I am interested in this as it captures the incident very graphically whilst keeping the target audience interested with deep storylines with the characters.
- Primary
Item Two: Silent Witness – This will be one of my main focus points.
- British
- Silent Witness focuses on themes of realism & silencium – which is the theme tune. This creates a much more darker approach to finding the mysterious killer. You capture the genre easily through the conventions they use, therefore thought it was a great topic to pick.
- Primary
Item Three: Waking the Dead
- British
- Waking the Dead uses cases that happened several years ago, so they don’t focus on the present day incidents. This inspired me, as I don’t have to choose ‘today’ cases. It uses the traits of British T.V Crime Dramas with cold, very deep stern characters.
- Primary
Item Four: NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service)
- American
- Revolving around the U.S Navy and Marine Corps, this T.V Crime Drama covers the whole basis of police through all the major criminal offense storylines. Through organized cinematography, the NCIS team are shown to be respectable, determined and successful.
- Primary
Magazines
Item One: Media Magazine
- Crime & The Media
- Media Magazine has a current and relevant article referring to the crime that is alive in our society. It makes use of rhetorical questions and makes you realise the effect and whom the effect hits.
- Secondary
Item Two: Forensic Magazine
- Current Issue August/September 2010
- This is a current magazine that releases every couple of months displaying different articles about crime labs, DNA & Micro sites. The magazine selects interesting, relevant articles that the public would read, while keeping it around the genre.
- Some articles are secondary.
Books
Item One: The Crime Scene: How Forensic Science Works
- By W. Mark Dale & Wendy S. Becker, Published in 2007
- Evidence, Methods, Situations and autopsies are all present in this book. It suggests that this book is ideal for a college student that needs to focus on criminal justice and how the forensics is broken down. This book is perfect for what I am looking for as demonstrates what happens continuously in the police force therefore this outlines the genre.
- Secondary
www.amazon.co.uk
Item Two: Criminalistics: An Introduction to Forensic Science
- Richard Saferstein, Pearson Education; 10 edition (12 Mar 2010)
- This book establishes the basis of forensic science and how practices are made so they are successful in the real thing.
- Secondary
Item Three: Forensic Science Series
- Books include Identifying Criminals and Victims; Collecting Crime Scene Evidence; Solving Cybercrime; Stopping Counterfeit Crime and many more
- By Carol Ballard & Leon Gray, Published By Franklin Watts
- It explores the popular subject and portrays it in an encouraging way. It is in a series of books so would take a lot of reading to cover the whole genre but very worth it.
Documentaries
Item One: BBC’s International Radio Station
- Queenan’s Crime Scenes
- This article explores the nature of crime in two cities, one of them being Washington D.C. Although it concentrates more on the actual crime and whether people feel safe in their communities, the underlining point is about crime and it does relate to what I’m looking for.
Item Two: Channel Five – True CSI
- Documentary Series
- It’s a documentary series exploring closed cases from 20/30 years ago that had been reinvestigated & questioned further. It’s a powerful and deep series capturing how forensic science is so important in mysterious, suspicious cases.
Online
Item One: Basis to Forensic Science Website
- To find out how scientists actually exhume a body & why, exploreforensics, Is a great website to look at. The easy access to the website and clear information indicates the genre conventions.
Item Two: World of Forensic Science
- Every inch of forensic science is listed on this web page. Here I can find the genre conventions because it shows all the aspects that lie in forensic science. The easy setup and headings direct you to your destination with no hassle. Whether you’re looking for Animal Evidence or Criminology.
Item Three: FactualTV – Forensic Science Documentaries
- The online channel consists of documentaries of all genres including Comedy, Biographies and Food & Drink; I would be focussing on Crime & Law and Forensic Science. They are video clips lasting approximately an hour, rated and each showing a different perspective to the world of forensic science and crime.
