Section A Textual analysis and representation

TV Drama Textual Analysis  Support

Camera Shots, Angle, Movement and Composition

·   Shots: establishing shot, master shot, close-up, mid-shot, long shot, wide shot, two-shot, aerial shot, point of view shot, over the shoulder shot, and variations of these.

·   Angle: high angle, low angle, canted angle.

·   Movement: pan, tilt, track, dolly, crane, steadicam, hand-held, zoom, reverse zoom.

·   Composition: framing, rule of thirds, depth of field – deep and shallow focus, focus pulls. 

Editing

Includes transition of image and sound – continuity and non-continuity systems.

·   Cutting: shot/reverse shot, eye line match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting, parallel editing, cutaway; insert.

·   Other transitions, dissolve, fade-in, fade-out, wipe, superimposition, long take, short take, slow motion, ellipsis and expansion of time, post-production, visual effects.

 

Sound

·   Diegetic (sounds that are natural)

·   Non Diegetic (sound that has been put on in the editing)

·   synchronous/asynchronous sound

·   sound effects

·   mode of addresses- the way we talk to people

·   sound motif

·   sound bridge

·   direct address- the actor directly talks to the audience

·   dialogue

·   voiceover

·   sound mixing

·   sound perspective  

·   Soundtrack: score, incidental music, themes and stings, ambient sound. 

Mise-en-Scène

·   Production design: location, studio, set design, costume and make-up, props.

·   Lighting; colour design.

Media Terminology

Semiotics- the science of signs- Roland Barthes, 1964
Denotation- e.g. Rose= Flower
Connotation- e.g. Rose= love, romance, rugby etc.
(Roland Barthes, 1964)

Micro-

·         Mise en scene= hair, make up , clothing, props, lighting and location

·         Sound = dialect, accent

·         Editing

·         Camera angles, shot types

Macro-

·         Narrative

·         Representation

·         Genre

Verisimilitude= realism

Proximity= where they are on the screen

Desperate housewives scene

Sound

·         Blonde girl- mode of address- flirtatious

·         Brunette girl- unsure of what to say

·         Music reflects the atmosphere  and seductive (flirty fun)

·         Innuendos

Editing  

·         Shot reverse shot

·         Reaction shot and consensus  editing

·         Length of shot take

·         180 rule

Mise en scene

·         Silk dressing gown – connotation of sex

·         Kitchen, dress and necklace all connote social upper class

·         Lingerie

·         Brunette in kitchen – stereotypical house wife

Camera angles

·         Close up to show reactions

·         Mid shot- blonde lady

·         Over shoulder shots

TV dramas representation of men and women

Characters following the “correct” representation

Effy Stonem ( Kaya Scodderlario)

Effy Stonem follows Laura Mulvey’s theory of the stereotypical women should be “I-candy” to men for their physic and women who can aspire to them.  She is also comes across as very clever but is willing to give that up to be with Freddie Mcclair (Luke Pasqualino)

Freddie Mcclair (Luke Pasqualino)

Freddie follows the stereotypical masculine traits of being strong, independent and a bit of a jack the lad. Freddie’s looks are also to attract female attention and the way he is represented as the handsome teen ads to the popularity of him.

Characters that do not follow the stereotypical representation in TV dramas

Heather Trott (Cheryl Ferguson)

Heather Trott is the complete opposite to the typical stereotype of women in dramas, with a larger physic, not exactly “I-candy” for men and not an inspiration to women.

Simon/Barry (Iwan Rheon)

Although Simon from misfits is quite a hit with the lady viewers, he does not live up to the confident out going male like other TV drams have i.e. Freddie Mcclair. Future Simon from the hit TV drama misfits is the complete opposite and does live up to the male stereotype.

Laura mulvey

Laura Mulvey theory -

Mulvey saw the representation of women in film and literature as being dominated by a male point of view. Her belief is that the world is a patriarchy and that men have the active roles and women have the passive role. This is seen as active

Traditionally men play the active roles in dramas; therefore women play the passive role and are seen as erotic objects which slow the narrative down.

Men outnumber women, female roles are side-lined and lead roles of women are scarce

Stereotypes=

·         Bimbo

·         Females physical attraction such as figure and breasts to overpower the male

·         Easy

·         House wife

·         Mother

·         Intelligent yet willing to settle down and have a family

Male Gaze

·         two theories of the male gaze – voyeuristic = watch things without people know you’re watching things, fetishistics – fetish

·         Mulvey argued that women were given two character types- sexually active females and powerless females

·         Sc   operphilia – looking for pleasure

Importance

Where women had important roles they were far more likely to be shown as

·         Frightened

·         In need of protection and direction

·         Offering support to male lead characters

·         Not independent or self-driven

·         Generally weaker

·         Still objectified sexually

·          Women in any fully human form have almost completely been left out of film- Laura Mulvey

Change in society

As women roles change following WW2 so does the media representation. Still objectified but also likely to be…

·         Career driven

·         Intelligent

·         Confident

·         Empowered

·         Able (violent)

Remember change may be cynical and in order to make money rather than change ideologies

Misogyny = against women really sexist

Media exam outlook

Drama Exam

G322: Key media concept exam

Section A= Media textual and analysis skills and your understanding of the concept of representation of TV Dramas

Section B= assess knowledge and understandings of institutions and their production process, distribution strategies, use of technology and related issues concerning audience and reception and consumption of media text – Music Magazines

Exam = 2 hours including 30 minutes of viewing and making notes on the moving image extract

There are two sections to the paper=

·         Section A  textual analysis and representation

·         Section B Institution and audience

Section A textual analysis and representation

Area of focus=

·         Mise en scene

·         Camera angle, shot, movement and composition

·         Editing

·         Sound

Area of representation (only one will be covered in the exam)

·         Gender

·         Age

·         Ethnicity

·         Sexuality

·         Class and status

·         Physical ability and disability

·         Regional identity

Section B – music magazines

·         Explanation, analysis and argument (20 marks)

·         Use of examples (20marks)

·         Use of terminology (10marks)

Definition - Representation

Representation in the Media
By definition, all media texts are re-presentations of reality. This means that they are intentionally composed, lit, written, framed, cropped, captioned, branded, targeted and censored by their producers, and that they are entirely artificial versions of the reality we perceive around us. When studying the media it is vital to remember this - every media form, from a home video to a glossy magazine, is a representation of someone's concept of existence, codified into a series of signs and symbols which can be read by an audience. However, it is important to note that without the media, our perception of reality would be very limited, and that we, as an audience, need these artificial texts to mediate our view of the world, in other words we need the media to make sense of reality. Therefore representation is a fluid, two-way process: producers position a text somewhere in relation to reality and audiences assess a text on its relationship to reality.

Representation

Masculine Objects	Feminine objects
·         Football ·         Rucksack ·         Beer ·         COD ·         Hammer ·         Surf board ·         Cars	·         Perfume ·         Blackberry ·         Make up ·         Mirror ·         Stilettos ·         Accessories ·         Shoes

Representation

Masculine personal traits	Feminine personal traits
·         Strong ·         Independent ·         Macho ·         Stubborn ·         Sporty ·         Laid back ·         Paternal ·         Lazy ·         Tall ·         Brash ·         Courageous ·         Jack the lad ·         Proud ·         Aggressive	·         Beautiful ·         Fragrant ·         organised ·         Clever ·         Fashion ·         Paternal ·         Optimistic ·         Envious ·         Petite ·         Influential ·         Maternal ·         Argumentative

AS Lesson 3

Camera Shots

Establishing Shot
The Establishing Shot is the fisrt shot, setting the scene for the film. Often in Amercian films the establishing shot is a landscape of an American city, for example The Dark Knight.

Master Shot
The master shot is the same beggining as the end end shot.

Close Ups

Close ups are so the audience can see the (in the case of an actor) just thier shoulders and above. Close ups are good to be used in dramas so the audience can connect with the actors emotions throught their facial features.

Mid Shot
A mid shot is the camera from a medium distance, this again can show emotion and would be good for dramas, action films etc.

Long shot
This is a shot with (in the case of a person) their whole body in the scene.

Wide Shot
The wide shot covers most of the movement in the scene. Again this shot would be perfect for Action films.

Two Shot
Two shot is simply to actors in a scene. This is classically used for romance films but being so simple it is suited to just about any film.

Aerial Shot
An Aerial shot is a shot taking from the air looking down on usually the landscape below.

Point of view shot
The point of view shot envolves the audience in the film by making the audience know how the character is feeling.

Over the Shoulder Shot
The over the shoulder shot is literally what its called with the camera looking over the actors shoulder. The over the shoulder shot is great to get the audience envovled with the characters feelings and also to create suspense in horros and thrillers.

Angles

High Angles
A high angle is the camera higher than the subject of the shot, therfore it is looking down on whatever is in the scene. High angle shots can be used as a social status.














Low angle shot
Low angle shots is when the camera is placed in a lower position in comparison to the object in the scene. Low angle shots can also be used as a social status or if the actor is in oar of something.

Canted angle shot
A canted angle is the tilting of a camera in the shot. This camera angle is good for action films to enhance the movement of the scene.

Movement

Pan
A pan is the camera movement back and forth across the shot.

Track/Dolly
This piece of equipment enables the camera to move swiftly along side the moving object in the scene.                                         

Crane
The use of a crane enables a high angle shot.

Production rules

Match on Action
Shots merge together to make each scene flow into one another.

Continuity Editing
Shots that have not been edited properly leaving mistakes.

Shot Reverse Shot
The camera swaps between characters to create a dialogue whether they are speaking or not.

Eye line match
Seeing what the character is seeing on the screen

Production Rules

180 Degree Rule

The 180° arc on which cameras may be positioned (green). When cutting from the green arc to the red arc, the characters switch places on the screen.

Tv Drama Introduction

A table showing different types of Dramas, what channel and time they are on and some key narratives.

TV Dramas	Genre	Narrative	Channel	Time
Eastenders	Soap	Affairs	BBC 1	7:30
Skins	Teen	Adolescence	E4	10 pm
Downtown Abbey	Period Dramas	Social Standards	ITV1	9pm
90210	Teen	Adolescence	E4	9pm
Misfits	Teen	Adolescence	E4	10pm
Waterloo Road	Family	Adolescence	BBC1	8pm
One tree hill	Teen	Affairs	E4	9pm
Casualty	Medical	Injuries	BBC1	8pm
Holby city	Medical	Injuries	BBC1	8pm
Coronation street	Soap	Murders	ITV1	8pm
Emmerdale	Soap	Adultery	ITV1	7pm
Dr Who	Sci-Fi	Monsters	BBC1	6pm
Wild at Heart	Family	Relationship	ITV1	8pm