The use of Digital Visual Effects in contemporary TV-series : An analysis of the use of digital visual effects as a narrative device in the television series Doctor Who, Defiance and Terra Nova

Abstract: In this thesis the argument of a new visual language as a narrative device will be discussed and looked at, by analyzing four different TV-series in the science-fiction genre: Terra Nova 2011, Defiance 2013-, Doctor Who 1963 – 1989 and Doctor Who 2005-. It will be possible to see the use of digital visual effects as a narrator in the image. To do this one main question has been asked and to be able to answer that question a framework model has been created, consisting of seven different questions: How are DVFx used as a visual language in the TV-series? What key elements drive the TV-series forward? What influence did DVFx have on the TV-series? How is DVFx used in the series as a narrator? What does DVFx represent in the image? Could the series have been created without DVFx? Techno-enhancement, visual language or hybrid?