The Art Of The Multiple-Clue In TV Dramas

From the narrative traits of the contemporary TV dramas, we canfind that the structure of contemporary TV dramas is becoming more andmore complex. Multiple-clue has become the most popular productionpattern in TV dramas ever since the early1980s. The dramas with thispattern usually involve various characters, numerous threads and multiplestorylines. Every storyline is independent from the others. However, all ofthese storylines are also closely intertwined. The aim of this thesis is todefine the conception of the “Multiple-clue TV Drama”, and it alsoanalyses how to construct the dynamic mechanism between parallel cluesand how those multiple clues intertwine and develop in one single drama.The narrative pattern of multiple-clue exists in a variety category ofarts. For example, we can find polyphony in music, multi-line narration innovels and multiple-structured storyline in dramas. Based on the study ofthe multiple-clue narrative pattern in TV dramas, this thesis puts forwardthe conception of “Multiple-Clue TV Drama” in view of the unique characteristics of TV arts, and establishes a theoretical framework for“Multiple-clue TV Drama” through the analysis of the traits, theconstruction techniques, the dynamic mechanism and the types ofmultiple-clue structure in certain typical dramas for theoretical referencefor current TV drama production.This thesis includes five parts. The preface part introduces the reasonfor this study, and brings up the meaning, purpose and development statusof this study on the background of increasing complication andmultiple-clue structure in TV dramas. The first part summarizes differentmultiple-clue narration in various categories of arts and puts forwards theconception of “Multiple-clue TV Drama”, which could be applied tocontemporary TV dramas. The second part puts forth the multiple-cluetheory and the basic theoretical framework for “Multiple-clue TV Drama”on the basis of minute description of the overall style characteristics, theconcrete elements, the construction techniques and dynamic mechanismof multiple-clue. The third part analyses an American TV drama,24,which is a typical case of multiple-clue TV drama. This part makes detailed exemplification on construction elements, techniques anddynamic mechanism. The conclusion part is the summary on the train ofthoughts and theoretical system of the whole thesis.