Television Drama Question on Hotel Babylon.

http://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/65263-question-paper-unit-g322-key-media-concepts-tv-drama.pdf

Discuss the way in which the extract constructs representation of ethnicity using the following:

• camera shots, angles, composition and movement
• editing
• sound
• Mise-en-scene

Representation in British Comedy both past and present.

Comparison in representation in British Comedy including Only fools and Horses, Dads Army, Fawlty Towers, Bluestone 42, Not going out and Citizen Kahn. The change in representation between the past and present British Comedy is quite different.

Representation of gender – Primeval Series

Representation of gender – Primeval Series 2  episode 3 part 1/5

Camera Angles

Camera shows point of view shot of creature but never see the creature even when mans being attacked.

Low angle - Looks up to man

Tracking as they run gives sense of speed

May camera angles level for male and females showing equality

Editing

Shot reverse shot shows all conversations

Sound

Howl of wild creature

Females scream in shock of after hearing howl then someone jumps out at them.

‘’get in the car Connor’’ à woman seems to have power over male

New creature attack à spooky worried music

Music in forest suggest creature creeping about.

Mise-en-scene

Paintballing course in woodland, some crates and blocks to hide by

Scientific technical research centre

All in suits apart from clever science one bit more unconventional

Discuss the ways in which the extract of ‘the missing’ constructs representations of gender

Discuss the ways in which the extract of ‘the missing’ constructs representations of gender using the following:

·         Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

·         Editing

·         Sound

·         Mise-en-scene

 

·         Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

o   Close up of boys drawing on the wall

o   Over the shoulder shots as tony, Julian and female copper have conversation outside the house.

o   Curly haired man à known paedophile is looked down on by a high angle shot making him look powerless and has a point of view shot from police looking for him and down the ladder at him.

o   Zoomed in on paedophile in interrogation as if it’s wanting to see in his mind.

o   Point of view shot as tony keeps looking through gap in door at police station as door is mostly shut as if it’s hiding something.

o   Lots of mediums shots shown when looking at main characters in conversations.  

 

·         Editing

o   Cuts through important clips from previous episodes and has a direct cut between the different ones.

o   Disjointed editing of opening credits

·         Sound

o   Slow haunting music in opening scene as goes through previous clips suggesting the haunted scenario.

o   As tony and his wife leave anywhere public we hear the sound of cameras and flashes of paparazzi

 

 

·         Mise-en-scene

o   All builders are male

o   Female policewoman represented as a strong willed woman and is just as important as male officers

o   Tony holds onto the picture all the time as a memory, but he gets angrier as other detective talks more calm.

o   Tony has a lot of alcohol suggests drink problem

o   Tony looks older in present day compared to 2006 due to grey hair and change in clothing.

o   Wife/mum acts weak in 2006 and struggles with everything due to the event and doesn’t see angry at tony for losing the child.

o   Wears very female clothing

o   Nobody ever has a strong enough story for where they are keeping everybody a suspect and allowing the plot to thicken and tension to build with certain characters.

o   Julian limps in present day but not in 2006

 

Editing

EXAMPLES OF EDITING

Glossary of EDITING terms


Cutting: the point at which one camera shot moves instantly to another

• Shot/reverse shot – this is an editing pattern that cuts to the view in the opposite direction. It is most commonly used in dialogue, cutting from one speaker to the other, following a master shot that has shown us where the speakers are standing.
• Eyeline match – part of continuity editing, where we see a character look in a particular direction then the next cut gives a shot of what they see
• Graphic match – is when we cut (or more often transition, such as a cross fade) to a shot showing an object of a very similar shape in the same place on the screen. For example, a shot of a round traffic light crossfades into a shot of the rising sun where the round sun emerges through the circle formed by the traffic light.
• Action match – this is part of continuity editing where a shot of a character making an action is followed by a cut to a shot of the next (or a subsequent) logical action. For example, we see a character reach for a door handle and open the door by 30 cm. We then cut to the other side to see the door swing open and the same character walk through. Here, after the cut, the door must be open by at least 30 cm for the continuity to look right.
• Jump cut – unusual edit pattern and not to be used when we actually mean ‘cut’. A jump cut is where a few frames have been removed from a continuous action, giving a jerky, unnaturalistic feel to the presentation of the action. It is an arty device to make the drama look more edgy and is unusual in verisimilitude TV drama styles although drama aimed at a teen or 20 something target audience eg BBC Three might use it – Being Human, for example and the work of film director Jean-Luc Godard in the film Breathless.
• Crosscutting – a cut to a piece of action that is happening at the same time (concurrently), or, perhaps, in and out of a series of flashbacks (which show the past but are memories happening concurrently inside a character’s head).
• Parallel editing – running two or more sequences of action that are happening at the same time and we cross cut between them – see episode 1 of Criminal Justice (2009) where Joe Miller is trying to phone his wife and we see what he is doing and what is wife is doing at the same time but in different places.
• Insert – a cut from a wide shot or a master shot to a closer shot of detail that is already within the first shot. A good example of this is football coverage where we can see much of the pitch but when something interesting happens we cut down to the 2 or 3 players involved seen from a similar angle. An insert must not be confused with a zoom because we go from the master shot to the insert in one cut: an insert is an edit whereas a zoom is a form of camera movement (even though it is technically possible in post production using digital editing software!).
• Cutaway – a cut from the main action to a piece of related action somewhere elsewhere or just outside the frame. Eg a group of people talking inside a house cut to someone coming up the drive (to join or challenge the group).
• Long take – ‘take’ refers to the length of time the camera is running between edits (cuts or transitions). A long take means that we do not see an edit fro a long period of time. They can be used effectively to slow time or to create the impression of a busy place. A great example of the long take slowing everything down is at the end of the 1967 film The Graduate where Dustin Hoffman's character, Ben, has driven across California to stop his sweetheart's wedding: his car runs out of petrol half a mile from the church and he finishes the journey on foot. A busy place might be a pub in a soap opera where a character enters, the camera zooms out and pans to follow them to the bar, they buy a drink and the camera follows them to their seat, creating a master shot of the group they are with before we cut to close ups and shot reverse shot of the conversation.
• Short take – the opposite of a long take. This is used in montage and means we have rapid edits from shot to shot.

Visible/Invisible editing – constructing the narrative style

• Invisible editing – is a style of editing where the joining of shots is discreet and does not draw attention to itself. It is visible to a media student but unlikely to be noticed by the average member of the audience. This is also known as Classical editing and has grown out of the Hollywood tradition of ‘recreating reality’ on the screen. Verisimilitude style drama will tend to use invisible editing so that we forget that what we see is being manipulated by the editor or director.
• Visible editing – is a more arty style, used increasingly often to mark out a new or different style to the programme. Its origins are in early Russian cinema, as opposed to Hollywood, where directors experimented with bizarre editing to make particular points and effects. Visible editing is meant to remind us we are watching an artefact, a construct or filmed version of real life, not real itself. Jump cuts, weird transitions, Eisenstinain montage, crash zooms and speeded up action characterise visible editing.

Editing the passage of time – controlling the pace and revealing the narrative

• Slow motion – slows the action down from real time speed. This is editing because it is achieved digitally in post-production and cannot be created while the camera is rolling.
• Ellipsis – is where a cut does not go to the next instant of drama but leaves a gap, which could be seconds, minutes, hours, months or even years. Sometimes an ellipsis is denoted by a caption “Six months later…” or a reference within the shot – eg Paradox extract, DI Flint leaves her car in the car park, cut to OS shot in the lift where we can see from the display that she has already reached floor 2. Ellipsis can be indicated by changes in the ambient sound – eg The Street where cuts take us to the middle of the night (no juke box music just a car passing in the distance) then to the morning (no single cars but traffic and the sound of buses).
• Montage – compresses time and gives a series of short takes (see above) indicating the events in between one narrative point and another, often accompanied by non-diegetic music to heighten the dramatic quality of the events. They often fade out at the end. Examples include The Street where the working day and getting ready for a beer is compressed into a series of shots underscored by a soundbridge of bluesy dramatic music and, of course, ‘I need a montage’ in Team America.
• Expansion of time – is the opposite of ellipsis and montage. It is usually achieved by slow motion or using long takes. We are so used to reading editing and short takes that editing choices to include long takes slow time down. In ‘Paradox,’ after the ellipsis to get DI Flint into the lift, we see the display click each floor up to number 7; although this does not take long, the fact that we are now in real time appears to slow the action and heighten the tension we feel about what she will meet when the lift doors open. See also example from The Graduate above. Another example using a ticking clock would be where we see the clock at, say, 010 but cut to a montage giving extra information that takes 10 seconds in real time; when we cut back to the clock it reads 005 – time has been expanded by the editing (thanks to Mas del Vecchio for this example).

Transitions other than cuts – determining pace and editing style

• Dissolve – where the image appears gradually to break into tiny particles, usually leaving the next shot to emerge from behind
• Crossfade – where the current shot fades out at the same rate as the next shot fades in. Pausing halfway through should show both shots mixed together. The speed of crossfades can influence the pace of the drama.
• Fade out – the current shot fades – usually to black.
• Fade in – the opposite of a fade out. A pattern of fade out followed by fade in suggests a conclusion to the previous unit of drama and the beginning of a new one, or could separate out a flashback sequence. By comparison, a crossfade suggests the unit of drama is continuing.
• Wipe – one of many digitally created effects where the new shot appears to cross the screen, pushing the current shot out of the way. This can appear from any side or corner of the screen. There are many variations of this made possible by digital editing – the effect of the ‘film’ catching fire and burning away the current shot is an extreme example. This kind of effect is rare in TV Drama as it belongs to visible editing style, which destroys verisimilitude. You are more likely to find these effects in sports programmes or pop videos.

Special Effects/Visual Effects

• CGI – Computer Generated Imaging all digitally created effects are covered by the editing section – eg the dragon in Merlin
• Superimposition – where two or more pieces of film are blended so that they appear at the same time. This can be achieved by blue or green screen techniques where an actor is filmed against a background of a consistent blue or green. This colour can then be digitally extracted and the film of the person layered on to another piece of film so the person appears against a different background. Eg Merlin talking to the dragon.
• Post-production – this refers to anything that is brought in at the editing stage

Representation in Emmerdale

 

Women

Blonde à nervous, apprehensive, needs convincing about farm.

Boss rolling eyes at younger employee

Stinks, big earrings à gypsy stereotype and is a Geordie negative

Typical vicar look

Farmers wife, judged on your quilting

Mad mother à angry about son stealing

Hard girl as she’s been in prison

Men

In charge

Gay man à aggressive farmer, not a stereotype, sexual innuendo

 

Class

Division of class

Hierarchy

Smart looking upper class, glossy hair

Lower class, grey frizzy hair

Young people

Rebellious

Young, bit of a tart

Pretty glamorous

Young lads up to no good, you nicked anything yet

Chav à why you treating me like a kid

Negative stereotypes

Moody aggressive

Ethnicity

Asian à business man

Not in typical Asian dress

 

Northerners

Flat cap

Tweed

Tea and tea cosy

Typical rural areas

Dingles

Farming community

Practical

Cluttered and old kitchen

Lower class

Pig farmer

Representation

what is meant by the term representation.

http://mediaknowall.com/gcse/keyconceptsgcse/keycon.php?pageID=represent

http://www.slideshare.net/mobile/tcasman/media-studies-gcse-representation

Example mini analysis – TV drama: Hollyoaks (inital 3 mins)

Title sequence:
Hollyoaks has a fast paced guitar tune as its theme song and this would be a feature that would be instantly recognisable to fans of the show. Hearing the theme tune may encourage those out of the room to return and watch the show! The opening shot is an extreme close up of a blue eye. The long eyelashes and make up suggest that this is a female eye and the blue is enhanced to draw the audience in. It also suggests that this teen drama contains lots of ‘looking on’ or seeing behind the surface of characters (voyeurism). It also connotes glamour and draws you in. The fast paced editing helps to contribute to its appeal for a younger target audience (with perhaps lower attention spans who therefore require fast paced action to stay hooked). The narrative structure of Hollyoaks also supports this idea as storylines are often on-going however they are edited together with no scene lasting more than 2/3 minutes before switching to a contrasting storyline. Light storylines are juxtaposed with heavy or intense storylines so that it does become too serious for the audience.

The costume and actions of the characters in the title sequence, despite being brief, help to suggest aspects of their character. Cheryl blows a kiss into the camera and laughs. She looks directly at the audience, therefore making a connection with them and the shot zooms from a long shot to a close up as she laughs helping to show her emotions. All of this connotes that she is a fun loving girl. All of the characters are shot singularly which also adds to the younger audience appeal; they may prefer characters with individualism as opposed to close knit family communities. This is a community and the rapid editing suggests that these characters are linked and have strong friendships but are also individuals with unique personalities. They are in the same surroundings but the other elements of the mise-en-scene contribute to the representation of character. Mercedes wears a very figure hugging dress and pouts at the camera which shows her sexy and confident image.

Initial opening sequence:

The opening shot is a montage of extreme close ups of various ordinary objects. This makes the audience focus on these items and builds intrigue as you don’t know who these objects belong to…yet. The items fill the frame. The objects are everyday items such as a toothbrush, bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice being poured. This helps the audience to immediately identify with the programme as these are part of a normal morning routine of an ordinary person. The audience will acknowledge that this programme may potentially contain characters that they can relate to, ensuring that they stay on the sofa!

Scroll to the next page for some questions…

Write your answers underneath the questions; put your name at the bottom and post it on you blog.



1. Does this analysis discuss the four key areas? How?
sound, mise-en-scene, camera shots and editing

2. What does ‘juxtaposed’ mean?
''Place or deal with close together for contrasting effect'' an example is black and white photos against coloured put next to one another.
3. This essay is very focused and detailed about a few elements – is that a good thing? Why?
yes as it means your fully analysing specific details and showing your knowledge of specific things being able to dig as deep as you can.

Essay on the representation of gender.

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of gender using the following:

·         Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

·         Editing

·         Sound

·         Mise-en-scene

Gender can be represented in many different ways in television dramas through how the image is shot and put together, as well as how its edited, what sound is used and what mise-en-scene there is. Television dramas often use stereotypes to make it quicker and easier for the view to establish a characters role within the drama.

Firstly the use of various camera shots, movement and composition can help represent gender, So instantly in the opening credits we see many establishing long shots including one of a village which is zoomed in on before focusing on a field where a male ploughing with a tractor up hill. This instantly shows you the male dominance within agricultural work by most of the farmers being male. It then focuses even more on the plough with a close up birds eye shot as it begins tracking it up the field before tilting upwards and having a medium long shot of a woodland area. In the woodland we see a younger boy and an older girl, it shows a very stereotypical younger brother and older sister situation because she is winding him up but as soon as she detects danger she becomes very protective. You can see this by certain shots that are used such as medium close up of her talking as she looks down to him. We can also tell that the boy believes his sister as his fear grows as she mentions the tall trees we get a point of view shot as the bot looks up to them waving in the wind. The camera continues to track the two children using a variety of medium close ups and close ups. Then its cuts to a close up of a hand wearing a black glove picking flowers. Then when the voices are heard we see a medium close up of the person picking flowers dressed completely in black run away. But the audience still has no idea of the sex of this person this allows the plot to thicken and so nobody knows who the main suspect is initially. This is key to the story due to the nature of the story being crime fiction. The big sister then notices a leg so she creeps over telling the boy to stay back showing her protective role as we get a point of view shot from the girl as she creeps up and then peers over the body with a close up birds eye shot followed by an medium close up shot of the girl as we see the boy creeping up in the background disobeying his sister. Before they hear a dog coming and run off.  Then we move to a court room with an opening shot of a male judge giving his verdict on a case. It pans round to show the rest of the courtroom using a high angle shot to show that he is looking down on them due to his position of power in the room. It then looks back up at the male judge using a low angle shot to again emphasise his power and dominance. Then a woman poses an argument which is instantly shot down as he uses his power over her, then we go to a medium long shot outside where to males break out and its broken up by a male policeman, again males only seen in certain roles, farmer, judge, police officer, estate owner and few women are see in these important positions.

The editing of the drama at first in the opening sequence when zooming in on the village it fades into shot when zooming in and all editing is very seamless, however the editing skips to black before going to the court scene this suggests to the audience that its not just something else close by like the children and the flower picker and it is of great importance. Sound is also used as there are diegetic sound in the opening credits as they are birds, a tractor ploughing and then it moves on to hearing the big sister telling a story, then in the courtroom the judges voice is quite louder to again suggest power. There is classical music played at the start but no music in the courtroom to show it is a serious matter being taken care of. Mise-en-scene includes the leaves on the forest floor and woodland area, the hammer in the courtroom, the birds and the dead body. None of which really impact the representation of drama within the television drama. But this does also include costume, which has a massive impact as the farmer at the beginning has a flat cap instantly showing a stereotypical male farmer. The person picking flowers was in complete black clothing so nobody could tell the gender meaning no assumptions could be made about them.

So to conclude the main ways in gender can be represented are camera shots, sound and mise-en-scene and more specifically costume all of these can suggest where power lies in gender, what job roles men and women have in society and can have both positive and negative effects.

Essay Questions on representation of gender (question)

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of gender using the following:

• ·         Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• ·         Editing
• ·         Sound
• ·         Mise-en-scene

T   The extract we had was the first 6 minutes of the clip below Midsomer Murders.

STRUCTURE

1.       Intro

2.      Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

3.      Editing

4.      Sound

5.      Mise-en-scene

6.       conclusion 

Success Criteria

Analysis à20

Examples à 20

Terminology à 10 (refer to glossary)

Representation

Stereotypes:  Media Institutions use stereotypes because the audience will instantly understand them. If you think of a stereotype e.g. Teenagers, Older People it becomes a visual shortcut for the audience. So if you think of a stereotypical Scotsman they would be wearing a kilt which instantly informs you they are Scottish.

 

Archetypes:  This is the ultimate stereotype, for example a stereotypical Blonde isn’t highly intelligent.

 

A male hero à tall, muscular, good looking, smart, clever, witty

 

A Female Business woman à shirt, blazer, strong independent,

 

A Black Male Youth à no job, wears baggy clothing, stays out late and causing trouble.

Countertype:  a representation that challenges traditional stereotype associations of groups, people or places.

How and why do the media create representations for an audience?

The media do this by putting them in certain roles in TV dramas, films and adverts. This can be done by their costume, so an unemployed male youth may be told to wear trackies, vest top and a huddie.  The media do this to make is easier for the audience to understand the characters and the story, also it means they can put a spin on it to make comedy. It isn’t always bad as the audience can possibly relate to these characters or they can go too far and become offensive to the audience. More and more TV dramas are starting to challenge these stereotypes where they are starting to use countertypes so portray a blonde as being un-intelligent and then find out that she is highly intelligent and in a very important job role.

A geek/nerd can be stereotyped as having his trousers high up, shirt buttoned to the top, tie and glasses.

 

A Gay male may be stereotyped in bright clothing, a bit over extravagant and a feminine personality.

Basic Camera Angles Revision

Basic camera angles revision: TV Drama.
Which is the most suitable camera angle to use in the following situations?
Answers in Bold

• To make the character seem small and powerless: high angle shot
• To make the audience feel they are part of the action: over the shoulder shot / canted

• To show a characters body language: medium long shot/ medium shot
• To make the audience feel over-powered and oppressed: low angle
• To show a characters emotions: close up / extreme close up
• To show exact detail of an important object: close up
• To show the setting/environment: long shot / extreme long shot
• To show dialogue between two characters: over the shoulder shot / medium shot
• To place the character within the setting long shot / very long shot

Notes On Downton Abbey

Opening Credits

·        Shows servant’s bell, handwritten letters, a grand dying table laid out to show era.

·        Has opening credits of actors/writers/directors names

·        Classical music again to show era, and that is a period drama

·        Camera pans/zooms different ways on each shot

·        Slight movement of props à bell ringing, petal falling off flower, maids going up stairs, hands measuring plates cutlery when setting table.

·        Title shown on silhouette line showing grand country home and name of programme in extreme long shot, with writers name below

 

Music/ Sound

·        very classical to show era

·        dark creepy music to build tension and add haunted atmosphere in very first scene when laying bed and clearing fire in bedroom. ‘I hate this room’ (high pitched violins), ‘what’s the matter’ (deep dark bass)

·        Clattering of poker as its dropped, clearing fireplace (Diegetic sound à source visible on scene and is part of it)

·        Keys jingling Diegetic sound

·        Singing birds outside in their land

·        Violins come in at heartfelt moment

·        Music builds of dark sadness when they know they shouldn’t be talking about something

·        Quick plucking of violins when you see someone running urgently.

 

Character (casting, character)

·        Maids young and old

·        Masters

·        High status shown in upper class characters

·        Clothes shown class

·        Colours of clothes, bold dark clothing for upper class and plain white/grey on maids

·        accent shows class by how they speak to one another à sir, mame, if I may, ladyship, lordship

·        hierarchy between servants à tell me why your sat on lady Seville’s bed’

 

Setting

·        mise-en-scene (everything in shot)

·        pots and pans in background, jars of food, wooden chairs, clean bedding, gold frames with paintings, gas lamps, fresh flowers, type writer

·        large stately home

·        rooms of the house

·        small country cottage

Camera Shots

·        camera pans left/right and slow zoom on very close up and close shots in opening credits

·        establishing shots used at every change of location

·        establishing shot/ long shot pans upwards to establish setting and the size of the building and add the idea of upward status

·        2^nd establishing shot shows large furniture and painting as the upper class are eating

·        Very close up shot of letters in maids hand

·        Slowly pans in on conversations from a medium shot

·        Follows rule of 3rds

·        Over shoulder shot to involve you in the conversation

·        Close up of significant moments hanging up keys on wall, bottle of drink snook by side, clock showing time

·        Close up shots of conversation in pantry

·        Establishing shot of town hall showing change in location as well as a long shot showing everybody working hard setting up

·        Long shot slowly pans to the left whilst zooming when man on bike talks to woman delivering telegram

·        Camera all ways focusing on the person who’s talking, even when others are it shot they may be slightly blurred in foreground, background

·        Shows movement of horses feet as it tracks and follows the horse. highlighting how they travelled