Age Representation

Homework: TV Drama

Doctors
Series 14, Episode 212, Nessun Dorma
26 minutes 38 seconds
BBC (iPlayer)
Friday 15th March 2013, 1:45pm
Medical Drama
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01r8677/Doctors_Series_14_Nessun_Dorma/

There are two main plot lines running throughout this episode. The first is to do with a female doctor's (Emma) husband dying. Both her and her son (Chris) are sad about the fact that he died and from what I was able to gather he was paralysed and needed heavy assistance. They suspect that it was either suicide or euthanasia (assisted by his wife). A male work colleague brings her flowers and a card from the hospital and it seemed as though they had a bit of a relationship going on. After he leaves she breaks the flowers in distress. One doctor visits the people who are doing the post-mortem and he finds out that the male died due to an overdose of a drug that he prescribed under the orders of Emma. They class the death as "suspicious" and matters are passed to the police.  
The second is about a University student who is being kept awake by the person in the room next to her playing loud music in the early hours of the morning. She informs the security man who is slightly unwilling to do anything. So, she visits the hospital to get some sleeping tablets. However, with the doctor's advice that loosing weight can help insomnia not going down well with her she writes a story for the local online newspaper. The receptionist and doctor write a nasty comment on the post and accidentally send it instead of deleting it. The girl starts a campaign against the hospital and the doctor that she consulted with so the doctor went to see her. The doctor helps her by knocking on the door of  the girl's neighbour but they get no response - he was laying on the floor. It turns out that the boy was diabetic and turned the music on so someone would help him - he moved to the bottom floor so he could be helped when needed and the girl was old that a rugby team would be moving into the rooms next door.

An open narrative is found usually in continuous TV series like soaps and some dramas. The story has no clear beginning, middle or end - however, a cliffhanger ending can be used so the story can follow on next episode and the series can continue running.
A closed narrative structure is more common in films as they are one unique story. They have a definite beginning, middle and end and they are brought to a conclusion.
Doctors has an open narrative structure because it's a TV drama that runs every weekday. The narrative continued from a previous episode and was left on a cliffhanger for the next episode to be shown.

Representations of groups/individuals:

• Representation of age was shown - both Emma and Chris are both younger and perhaps have more to learn than the older characters who featured and helped them. Chris' mum helped him and the female doctor helped Emma. This conveys the older character's wisdom and dominance over the younger characters. Additionally, the receptionist was knowledgeable about the different  social networking sites and internet terminology - this would have surprised most younger people who tend to stereotype older people as incapable of understanding technology. 
• Representation of power/authority/status - the male security guard had power over Emma as he had the authority to deal with the noise complaint. 
• Representation of gender - interestingly, the job positions that the characters at the hospital held were very stereotypical of each gender. The receptionist and the nurses were female, the two main doctors were male, the post-mortem doctor was male and the security guard was male. Stereotypically, these jobs are what people would assume each gender fits into (e.g. a male doctor and a female nurse). The only person who contrasts this is the female doctor in the second plot line. 
• Representation of disability/ability - the boy with diabetes was unable to get the help of Emma despite the fact that she was capable of going and knocking on his door. Also, she has weight issues so there could be representation of the overweight/obese too. 
• Representation of ethnicity could be suggested because the female doctor was of a different ethnic background to the other characters.

Skins Extract Write-Up

Ben's sound paragraph:
Sounds seems to be an important element in the trailer because music is playing the whole way through. The music is loud, quite intense and fast paced which could represent the character's lives or activities. Also, the pace of the music changes to fit the events in the trailer when it slows down or speeds up. As well as this, the lyrics in the song such as "standing in the way of control" could represent how other people see this age group and how the way they act stands in the way of people being able to control this group. The lyrics also describe the party quite accurately.
The voice over at the end of the clip is quite deep and emotionless which carries on the theme of the party coming to an end with all the characters in a heap. There is also a hint of disapproval in the voice at the end which could be a representation of how other people feel or view this particular group.

Chris's editing paragraph:
Through the use of editing in the promotional trailer to Skins, the youth demographic's activities are represented as chaotic and excited by a mix of slow motion and brief fast forwards. The use of this editing feature could convey a sense of distortion and suggest that the character depicted in the footage may be under the influence of drugs as the inconsistency of the speed may link to the erratic behaviour of drug uses that is commonly depicted in the trailer.
In addition the shots that cut into each other show lack of continuity and may further emphasise the erratic and chaotic atmosphere that has been established by the inconsistency of the speed of the shots.

Abi's mis-en-scene paragraph:
The setting featured in the trailer is one house, with various events taking place in each of the rooms. The rooms are overcrowded and evidently busy, suggesting a sense of chaos. Due to there being so many people and so much activity going on in each room, the characters are all within a very close proximity of one another, possibly a visual metaphor for the relationships that link many of the characters together. The props featured most predominantly in the trailer - such as water pistols and balloons - all suggest a sense of childishness, lack of responsibility and carelessness. This is contrasted by the use of drugs which feature several times in the trailer, and the indication that a number of the individuals featured are in sexual relationships. These elements combined reflect the age of the characters are at - drifting towards adulthood but still caught slightly between this and childhood.
The quick edits and use of handheld camera, combined with the music, reaffirm the sense of chaos created by the party. The sex, drug use and fighting/arguing all conform to the "social deviant" representation of youth.

My camera shots, angle, movement and composition paragraph:
Crucially, the younger generation have been represented as carefree and wild through a range of different camera shots, angles, movements and composition. One suggests that the hand-held, unsteady camera movements convey the mahem and craziness of the party. It also indicates that they are carefree due to a lack of steady shots filmed with a tripod. The point of view shot that runs throughout suggests that the audience are young because they feel like they're at the party; again, this is mirrored by the handheld camera movements. Essentially, this could imply that the older generation aren't fun and carefree due to there being no adults around when the camera pans and tilts unevenly. What's more, the pans and tilts are fast-paced; indicating that the younger generation are fast-paced. Alternatively, this could further suggest that older people aren't fast-paced and therefore represent them as not fun.

Homework: Case Study 5.1

Ian Pike says that Hollyoaks usually cuts from "something very heavy and thought-provoking to something utterly silly and light-hearted in a way that no one else does". The scene from Christmas eve 2006 that I have found does this; the opening scene of part two is a conversation between 2 new mums who have been kept in hospital for doing 'something' which then cuts to a scene where friends are having a meal and talking about Christmas. The transition occurs at 46 seconds. 

Here is the storyboard that I created for the scene change:

Many micro-elements have been used in the transition between these two scenes to bridge between the heavy and light storylines. One notices that in the lead up to the transition many fast jump cuts and over the shoulder shots are used to mirror the pace of the females' conversation. These shots are very similar to one another and the mood of the scene relies heavily on the actors expressions to set the serious mood of the scene. The dialogue fits with the transitions and each time a jump cut occurs a new person is talking - so their turn taking is mimicked in the editing, dialogue and shot type. 

In the transition at 46 seconds there is a further jump cut to an out of focus restaurant wall with twinkling lights and piano music. At this point the dialogue also starts and the female in pink is heard talking despite not being able to see who she is. The camera pans to the left in an establishing shot and the camera gradually focuses on the table. The camera continues to track round in a 180 degree ark to reveal everyone's faces at the table. This stops at 1 minute and 4 seconds when there is a mid/two shot of two of the females. Essentially, the mood bridge from a bare, dull and depressing looking hospital room to a bustling restaurant is made very clear by the use of lighting, colours and editing. Essentially, the emotion of the actress in the hospital is conveyed in the editing; cold and sharp, quick and fast. The lighting change in the restaurant makes the room look warmer and more inviting, which is in stark contrast to the bare hospital. Even the colours of the character's clothes make the restaurant seem more friendly because their clothes are colourful - reflecting their happy mood. Again, this juxtaposes the worry/anxiety that the new mums might be facing - especially if they've done something "wrong". 

It's a typical soap convention to go from an out of focus shot to gradually focused whilst panning/tracking because it draws the audience in to the action in the setting. The fact that the dialogue and non-diegetic sound also began before the camera had got to their table is also typical of a soap and makes it seem as if the audience are entering a conversation as opposed to interrupting one. So the atmospheric establishing sound makes the place seem busier than the hospital; the hospital had no other sound within the soundscape other than the talking which conveys the seriousness of the storyline. 

Homework: Comment on the technical features in the opening of Anna Karenina.

Essentially, there are an abundance of technical features in the opening of Anna Karenina. The scene opens with the diegetic sound of people talking and a fade in from black to a golden stage. Gold has connotations of wealth and expense - a theme that is continued throughout the opening. The talking is then faded out and a loud non-diegetic orchestral soundtrack begins. Immediately, the audience is made to feel as if they are a member of the audience watching a play because there is an establishing shot of the stage. In the following scene, the camera tracks around a seated and standing character who is holding a red cape. The audience could perceive the colour red to mean danger or violence due to it's connotations; this is emphasised when the standing member places it over the seated member to shave him. At this point the audience still believe that a play is commencing but with time it becomes apparent that it is not a play.

Panning out and tracking movement shots are frequently used in the opening to convey a sense of confusion about the location and what's happening. Significantly, this could be to interest the audience member with some action or, alternatively, to build suspense as to what's happening. In contrast to this however, one thought the editing was relatively slow to begin with and the speed of the jump cuts increased over time. Perhaps this is because more characters were being introduced after time so there were more angles and composition types to shoot. Action match and point of view shots allowed the audience to track a central male character at the outset which aided the smooth flow and continuity of the film opening.

In terms of mise-en-scene, there is a lot to be commented on about the costume, props, set design and colour. It is obvious that the characters are very wealthy due to their costumes - the male character wears a blue suit with a red band (showing he is of great importance) and the female character wears an extravagant purple dress (purple has connotations of Royalty and wealth). Their wealth is also shown in a number of other ways like the props. There are many golden, luxurious-looking items which all signify that the central characters are very wealthy. In addition to this, it is clear that they are from a different origin to the English audience because foreign phrases can be heard in the diegetic speech and the background of the stage setting appears to be a period Russian city. Furthermore, the lighting behind the sheet in the scene with Anna and her son mirrors the effect that young children get when they're telling secrets. Crucially, this could be interpreted as foreshadowing to the secrets that Anna keeps about her adultery in the latter scenes.

Representation

Representation refers to the construction in any media (especially the mass media) of aspects of 'reality' such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.
In short, it is the way that aspects of reality have been constructed.

'The Male Gaze'

The concept of the gaze deals with how the audience view the people being presented. This can be:

• how men look at women
• how women look at themselves
• how women look at other women

It was Laura Mulvey who coined the phrase 'Male Gaze' in 1975. She believed that audiences had to view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. It is said that if focus is placed on a woman's body or what happens to the woman, she is being presented largely in the context of a male's reaction. In turn, males refer to women as objects and the female viewer must 'experience the narrative secondarily, by identification of the male'. Theorists have found that irrelevant sexualisation is so predominant, that her appearance doesn't even have anything to do with the advertised product.

However, some people have criticised Mulvey's theory; they argue that some women enjoy being looked at. Additionally, they state that sometimes members of the same gender can direct 'the gaze' towards each other to compare body image or clothing - not for any sexual reasons at all. 

Jonathan Schroeder - a key theorist in 1998 - said "to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze". He was also quoted saying: "Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view". 

Webliography:
- http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html

- http://www.slideshare.net/fleckneymike/the-male-gaze-laura-mulvey

'Cutting It' Swede

This is a swede of 'Cutting It' that I made with a group of people from my class. We intended to highlight the continuity errors that were in the original clip and add an element of comedy. It took us around 45 minutes to film and 15 minutes to edit. 

'Cutting It' - Technical Analysis

"Cutting It" was a BBC TV drama series that was set in Manchester. It was based on the lives of people running a hairdressing salon and ran for 4 series between 2002 and 2005. This is a technical analysis of a scene involving Sarah Parish (Allie Henshall) and Jason Merrelles (Gavin Farraday). 

Camera Shots, Movement and Framing

• The two shot was used when they were conversing in the taxi which conveyed their intimacy and allowed the audience to make the connection between the two characters. 
• The ariel shot was used after the accident to convey Sarah's vulnerability. This demonstrates a contrast of them being framed in the taxi and being exposed after the crash. 
• The extreme close up of the ring was symbolic. It could be seen as foreshadowing - Jason is holding onto their relationship when he fiddles with it which is symbolic of what might happen. 
• A point of view shot of Jason running towards her caused tension because he wanted to know if Sarah was alive or dead. There is no other point in the sequence where a handheld camera is used; the urgency of this shot stands out. 
• The crane shot in the doctors office allowed us to see the appointment but not hear it. It could be interpreted that the information that she is being given is so surreal that she is watching herself receiving it like she doesn't believe it's happening. This shot also signals that the desk is a barrier between the two characters - this shows their differences (life and death).
• The close up of Sarah's face when she's crying builds suspense because the audience don't know if the news is good or bad. 
• The exterior shots of the hospital pan to follow an ambulance. This shot establishes the location and gives a clearer idea of what they were talking about in the taxi. 
• The alternating shots of the couple allow the audience to see both of the characters. In Jason's shots Sarah is visible but in Sarah's shots Jason isn't visible. This could be because she's the main character or, alternatively, because she's not as interested in him as he is of her. 
• Another close up is used when the couple are holding hands and when he is adjusting his wedding ring - this reinforces their intimacy and togetherness. 

Sound

There are 4 key sections within the soundtrack of this sequence:

1. Verbal Soundtrack - This makes up the main part of the sequence as it's the dialogue. One of the many ways to show the character's thoughts and emotions is through dialogue. It also mixes in with the background noise.
2. Sound effects - These are the natural sounds, pauses and silences. The skidding of the car shows the audience something bad has happened even though you can't see Sarah being knocked over. Also, the sound of people talking when they got out of the taxi conveys that they're in a public place. Finally, when Sarah is hit Jason's heartbeat slows and this sound is heard. 
3. Music Score - This includes the themes, bridges and motifs. From when Sarah walks away from Jason to when the office scene ends a music piece is heard which eventually fades out. The music has a slow beat but it's primarily the lyrics and melody that demonstrate to the audience that they should feel sad. It's the music score that makes the scene more predictable. 
4. Ambient Sound - This is the general background noise. In some cases it's louder than the diegetic sounds. It's bridged as it's non-diegetic before the hospital scene and during so that the audience can make the morale decision as to whether Sarah's died or not. The music is generally synchronous when the non-diegetic sound of the heart beat is playing and Jason runs across the road. 

Editing

The editing was split into three key sections:

1. Shot types and length - in the cab there was a two shot and close ups of their faces when conversing. The cuts were slower at the consultation. The shot was shaky when it was point of view and it fades to black at the end. 
2. Visual effects - slow motion was used in the running to show Jason's futile efforts and to enhance the drama. Additionally the wedding ring was recoloured to make it stand out. 
3. Sounds + image - sharper shots in the taxi when conversing. 

Key Features

In the following drama sub-genres I have found some key features that appear frequently. These key features help the audience to distinguish the topic, audience and genre of the drama - thus aiding them in deciding if they want to watch it.

Information from: http://www.godnose.co.uk/downloads/alevel/genre/features%20of%20soap%20opera%20.pdf
                                  OCR Media Studies for AS textbook. 

Information from: OCR Media Studies for AS textbook.

Information from: OCR Media Studies for AS textbook.

Information from: OCR Media Studies for AS textbook.

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