Thursday, 25 April 2013

Essay plan


Discuss the issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area.

Example of what I need to talk about -

Pros:

* Summit Entertainment is owned by Lionsgate which gives them an advantage in terms of budgets, funding for films attracting stars and distribution deals.

Cons:

* While big media companies grow and grow, they are dominating the film industry, stifling the chance of smaller companies e.g. to compete on the playing field.

* Lionsgate may insist on a particular star or style of a film - Summit Entertainment may take fewer creative risks as part of a large traditional organisation.

Producter of Breaking Dawn: Wyck Godfrey

known for producing all the Twilight Saga films, other big films such as I, Robot, Daddy Day Care, A Good Day To Die Hard

Lionsgate equired Summit Entertainment for $412.5 million

The Lionsgate brand may both help and hinder Summit Entertainment:

- Lionsgate produce a lot of horror movies such as 'The Last Exorcism' which could mean that they want to make Breaking Dawn Part 2 be more gore than the other Twilight

- Could help as Lionsgate are a very big rich company and have produced many successful films such as The Hunger Games

Thursday, 7 March 2013

Homework notes

Distribution - third part of the film supply chain, often referred to as 'the invisible art'
Licensing - the process by which a distributor acquires the legal right to exploit a film. In distribution, licensing  itself can take place on two levels.
International distribution - ensures that films find their way to the 90+ market 'territories' around the world
Local distribution - involves the distributor acquiring the licence to release and exploit the film in a particular country. 
The launch of the film - in the UK, feature films are released initially theatrically. A theatrical opening is seen as the most effective way to create interest in a new film.
Marketing - in the UK, new films are released theatrically on Fridays. A distributor will look for a 'light' week. A further consideration for scheduling a release is the seasonality of the film.

Who should have the right to decide audiences should be protected - and from what?

Audiences are protected by many different people depending on their age group, for example cinemas, BBFC, parents, production companies and the writers themselves make decisions on what gets seen by who based on the contents of the film, whether it involves strong language, violence, sexual content etc. In this essay, I will be exploring who should have the right to decide audiences should be protected and from what.

I think that when it comes to children (up to the age of 12), parents should have the biggest right on what their children should be protected from. When it comes to taking your child to the cinema and for example if they are 13 and you want to take them to a 15 rated film, I think that it should be your choice as a parent its meant to be a childs guardian, so they will have more of an idea what is suitable for their child than the cinema and  BBFC. It is also a parents responsibility to ensure that their child is being looked after and they have to make sure they do this everyday as part of being a parent, so it would be common sense to allow a parent to choose. Saying this, when the film is available on dvd, the parent then has the choice on whether they allow their child to watch the film or not so protection from the BBFC is still limited as people underage can still get access to films via parents, television or internet.

I think that we, ourselves should also be able to decide what to be protected from. No one knows you as well as you know yourself therefore you yourself know whether you are suitable to watch a certain film. I don't think that institutions such as the BBFC should have full control over who should be protected and from what, because different people are suited to different things. People usually make the right decisions for themselves for example, if a person knows they do not react well to horror films, they will be unlikely to watch them as they will be unlikely to enjoy them. 

Although I think a lot of responsibility in what we choose to watch relies on ourselves, I think that the BBFC also contribute a lot towards this. Before watching any film, we are warned with what the film contains on posters etc, they tell us whether they contain unsuitable contents such as drug usuage, violence etc. I think that the BBFC are in a good position to give some protection to the general public in what they watch because if there was no protection what so ever, there could be a development in more extreme and disturbing films being distributed to anyone, which could cause many problems after such as disturbance or lead to more violent crimes being committed as people won't feel it's wrong if they constantly see it in cinemas/tv.

I think the production companies should also contribute into who should be protected and from what, as they would have contributed into producing the film so they will know what kind of things it contains and will know what kind of age groups the film would be unsuitable for. They will know before anyone what the films contain and will be able to come to a decision on roughly which age group the film will be targeted at. As I previously mentioned before, I think that we ourselves have the biggest decision in what we protect ourselves from but we can only protect ourselves from what gets produced, and before we can do any protecting the production companies will have already created the film.

In conclusion, I think that each individual should choose what they get protected from, as they are aware of what things frighten them or make them uncomfortable. Although I think this, I think that we also need institutions such as the BBFC to warn us of what films will contain so we are protected/warned before watching the film.  

Thursday, 28 February 2013

BAFTAS 2013 - Research

What is BAFTA? BAFTA is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in cinema, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.

What are the awards? EE British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Games Awards, British Academy Television Craft Awards, British Academy Children's Awards, Arqiva British Academy Television Awards, British Academy Cymru Awards, British Academy Scotland Awards, BAFTA in Scotland New Talent Awards, The Britannia Awards

Who won what? Adapted Screenplay - Silver Linings Playbook (David O.Russell)
Make up and hair - Les Miserables (Lisa Westcott)
Animated film - Brave (Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman)
Original film music - Skyfall (Thomas Newman)
Cinematography - Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda)
Original screenplay - Django Unchained (Quetin Tarantino)
Costume design - Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran)
Outstanding British contribution to cinema - Tessa Ross
Director - Ben Affleck (Argo)
Outstanding British Film - Skyfall (Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan
Documentary - Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn)
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer - Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis (The Imposter)
EE rising star - Juno Temple
Production design - Les Miserables (Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson)
Editing - Argo (William Goldenberg)
Short animation - The Making of Longbird (Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson)
Fellowship - Sir Alan Parker
Film - Argo (Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney)
Short film - Swimmer (Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw)
Film not in the English language - Amour (Michael Heneke, Margaret Menegoz)

How many 'British' winners were there?

British winners included Daniel Day-Lewis (for Best Actor in 'Lincoln') and Jacqueline Durran (for Best Costume Design in 'Anna Karenina'). Skyfall won Best British Film and Best Film Music, Swimmer won Best Short Film, Searching for Sugar Man won Best Documentary, Les Miserables won Best Sound, Best Costume Design. A lot of the BAFTA winners were from America or other nationality but there were still a lot of British winners.
Tessa Ross (one of BAFTA winners)
Tessa Sarah Ross (born 1961), is a BAFTA award winning UK film executive who is the Controlller of Film and Drama at Channel 4. She is also a director of the Royal National Theatre and a governor of the National Film and Television School.
She has been the executive producer of several notable British films including; Billy Elliot (2000), The Last King of Scotland (2006), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), Four Lions (2010) and The Iron Lady (2011). In the 2010 New Year Honours she was awarded the CBE for services to broadcasting. At the 66th British Academy Film Awards on 10 February 2013 she received the award for 'Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema' that is presented annually in honour of Michael Balcon. The award was presented to her by the director Danny Boyle.
In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.

Thursday, 14 February 2013

Essay question

Who holds the most power in terms of influencing what films get made and seen?
There are varied stages in the film production cycle. Production, distribution, exhibition and marketing all have different influences on what films are made to be like with the help of audiences, consumers, studios, production companies, writers, stars, directors and all importantly the producer. It is arguable that all of these hold power in the influence of what films are made and seen and in this essay I will explore the ways in which different people influence what films are made and seen.

One arguement, which I myself think is the strongest, is that the audience holds the most power of what films get made and seen. Arguably, the people who physically make the films (producers/writers/production companies/directors) are majorly influenced in what they make by the audience. If the producers for example see that a film such as Harry Potter is doing well through box office stats, they may try to make their film similar to Harry Potter knowing that there is an interest in the fantasy series. At the end of the day, the audience will only go to see a film if they have some sort of interest in it, for example a film such as Twilight had many people interested due to the books which were written before the film was created, so when they film was created, it caused people to speculate in what the films were going to turn out to be like, which meant that they went to see them due to the interest they had in them.

On the other hand, it could also be argued that the studios also have a lot of the power as they choose where the films will be distributed. For example, if the studio decides to distribute a film to a cinema which isn't popular and easy to get to, it could put potential consumers and audience off seeing it which would decrease the amount of people going to see a film. Studios also have the power of what times a cinema shows a film so they could choose different times at different cinemas in order to get more people to see a film in whichever cinema they are closest to, for example Odeon might show a film at 15.30 but Vue might show it at 15.15 which gives the consumer more choice to go to a more convient cinema.

Another argument is that people who illegally watch films on websites such as Priate Bay also influence what films get made and seen. I think this is a strong arguement because if more and more films keep getting watched illegally, film production companies may not make enough profits meaning they might be unable to make films in the future. It could also mean that in the next film the production makes will have a smaller budget meaning the quality of films get worse and worse which might stop cinemas from showing them due to the quality worsening and people becoming disinterested in the films.

In conclusion, I think that all of these are important factors in what films get made and seen but I think that the audience has the biggest impact on what films get made and seen as they are the initially the beginning of the film production cycle as the majority of film making has to be based around what the audience/consumers want because if you make a film which has interest, it won't get seen which will mean all the money on the production will have been wasted.

Film distribution research

1. over one weekend, how many separate screenings are there? 79
2. how many films in total are being exhibited? 13
3. how many films are being screened serval times at the same cinema? 8
4. of these, how many are being screened at more than one cinema at the same time? 3
5. 
6.
7. what conclusions can you draw about film distribution in the UK? I have learned from this homework that cinemas usually tend to make sure that the cinema times of when a film is playing don't clash (and they rarely do), I didn't know this before but this is probably due to cinemas wanting as much customers as they can get at different types of the day without having much competition and different times are available at different cinemas to suit a person best. I've also learnt that the majority of films get shown more than once a day.

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Notting Hill Case Study (1999)

Directed by     Roger Michell
Produced by     Duncan Kenworthy
Written by     Richard Curtis
Starring     Julia Roberts & Hugh Grant
Studio     Working Title Films
Distributed by     Universal Pictures
Release date(s) 21 May 1999
Running time     124 minutes
Country     United Kingdom
Language     English
Budget     $43 million
Box office     $363,889,700

English Cultural Representations
There is a typical British stereotype in Notting Hill. The typical British accent which most of the actors have, the scenery (London buses, red post boxes, black cabs) and also the typical stereotypical tea drinking.

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

'The Fear' essay

Discuss the ways in which the extract uses camera shots, editing, sound, mise-en-scene to construct the representation of social class.
Mise-en-scene is used to represent social class, as the props used in the scene show that the scene is set in a wealthy upper class place, and we can see this through the use of modern computers and decor (art, fancy chairs). You normally don't find pieces of art found around in places of which are lower class. The computer could be used to both show upper and lower class, as even though it is setting the scene to be upper class, it could also be used to hint at Ritchie's lower class identity as when he looses his temper with the receptionist, he looks like he is about to cause damage to the computer keyboard before his old friend walks in, implying that maybe he isn't aware of the prices of upper class items and doesn't treat them with as much respect as people who know the value of them would. The styling of the characters in the scene also portray differences in social, as the receptionist is made to look professional and classy, same with the doctor but Ritchie is made to look scruffy and as if he doesn't take much pride in his appearance  which could be relating to both what kind of personality he has, but the job he has and the social class he fits into.
Another way in which social class is represented in this clip is through the use of camera shots, angles and movements. One of the shot that is used a lot in this scene is a wide shot, which allows the viewer to see more of the setting and begin to make judgement of the area where the scene is taking place is. For this instance, in the wide shot the viewer sees a rather spotless room looks clean, with a lot of fancy furniture and technological equipment such as computers and electronic equipment which automatically shows the viewer that the setting is both extremely professional and trusted but also quite wealthy looking aswell. This is suggesting to the viewer that as the doctor owns this office, he is being portrayed as upper class, whilst Ritchie who has come to see him and already started causing mayhem is the lower class character.
There isn't much editing used in this clip, but there is some camera cutting to show more of the upper class 'posh' surroundings. This is used for the viewer to recognize the differences between social classes.
Sound is also a major element used to represent social classes in this clip, as non diegetic sound is used to show that the receptionist is higher class than Ritchie. We can see this through the tone and manner in which the receptionist speaks, compared to Ritchie who has a Scottish accent which is often seen as lower class, sometimes seen as 'uneducated' and 'rough', and he also speaks in an aggressive tone which shows he might be short tempered which is seen as a lower class trait.
In conclusion, I think that camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en-scene contribute into the representation of classes, but I think that mise-en-scene and sound contributed the most into creating upper class and lower class images for the characters in the scene.

Wednesday, 28 November 2012

Some Girls essay- Discuss the ways in which the extract uses camera shots, editing, sound, mise-en-scene to construct the representation of gender.

Discuss the ways in which the extract uses camera shots, editing, sound, mise-en-scene to construct the representation of gender.
In the scene from 'Some Girls', we see many different types of sterotypes of gender and this is done through the use of camera shots, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. Overall females are represented as mature and more able but males are seen as immature.
Males are firstly represented as childish, this is done using mise-en-scene when Viva walks into her house after school and asks her father whether he has prepared her any snacks and he seems to ignore her as he is playing a video game. This is suggesting that he is irresponsible as he is a grown adult who even has children, but is playing video games. This is also a role reversal as Viva seems to be the mature one who has been at school all day taking responsibility for her life whereas her dad seems to have been at home all day doing nothing but playing video games.
Camera shots also contribute to how gender is represented in this clip from 'Some Girls'. For example, when the girls are in PE, their PE teacher is a female but is portrayed as a very strong dominant type, which is the usual stereotype for a male. This is shown through camera angles as when the PE teacher punishes Viva for answering back, she asks her to do press ups, and then the camera only shows her face when she demonstrates. Press ups are usually stereotyped for males and as the camera shot is a close up, she looks more of a male than a female as you can't see her body just her face.
Gender is also represented when Viva finds out that her dad is having a baby with his new girlfriend, which is also her PE teacher. She seems to be mortified when she finds out but is acting very grown up about it, this is shown through the camera angle that is close to her face showing her facial expressions. There is also a what seems role reversal when she is telling her 'step mum' to get rid of the baby which is what you'd expect from a mother to a daughter but this is the other way around. When Viva's dad and his girlfriend start explaining themselves to Viva, the girlfriend says that the baby was planned but he seems to be unaware that it was. This goes back to the stereotypical male and female views where the female is meant to be portrayed as someone who is meant to look after children and produce them and the male isn't meant to be too bothered or aware, as we can see in this clip. Shortly after this, the girlfriend says she has a 'to do' list and Viva's dad laughs at her and tries to make a joke out of it, this shows another representation of gender as females are seen to be more organised than males stereotypically.

Monday, 19 November 2012

Discuss the ways in which the extract uses camera shots, editing, sound, mise-en-scene to construct the representation of relationships.


In this essay, I will be looking at how camera shots, editing, sound mise-en-scene is used to construct relationships. Through the use of these, the viewer has a bigger understanding to their relationship and throughout this essay I will be showing how it constructs the relationships.

Camera shots play a big part in the construction of relationship in the clip from Cutting It. We learn a lot about the relationship of the two characters in a very short clip. For example, when they are both in the taxi, a lot of the camera shots are close up which reveals a lot about the characters as they are making a lot of eye contact and a close to eachother, we can clearly see they are more than acquaintances and instantly see they are very fond of eachother due to their body language in the shot types which were used. In one of the camera shots, Gavin plays with his wedding ring whilst he is waiting for his new wife Allie to leave her doctors appointment. His facial expression is doubtful in this camera shot and it shows a lack of trust in the relationship between them. It also makes us question their past relationship and what would have happened before for them not to trust eachother. It also shows a sort of lack of commitment in their relationship as Gavin begins to doubt their marriage as his new wife Allie is at a very serious doctors appointment which looks like its following on from many other previous doctor appointments.

There hasn’t been a lot of editing used in this seen, but when Allie is sitting in the doctors room, the camera shot is at a birds eye view which foreshadows her death because when she gets hit by the vehicle and is laying on the floor, the camera shot is a bird eye view. When Allie is laying on the floor dying with Gavin besides her, the camera fades to black which is insinuating that Allie’s death is like Gavin’s world ending and almost as if he can’t see himself in the future, which represents their relationship as strong and as if they are soul mates.

Sound has been used to contrast the representation of relationships. For example, when Allie is sitting in the doctors room, non diegetic sound has been used not only for the viewers tension to build up from not knowing what’s going to happen but to show the lack of trust in Allie and Gavin’s relationship. Its also suggesting that the viewer knows as much as Allie’s own husband knows about her health which isn’t suggesting that they have a strong relationship if they can’t even trust eachother with how they will react knowing their health status. Sound also represents relationship in a strong bond way when Allie gets hit by the vehicle and Gavin sees her. When Gavin realises what has happened, the viewer only hears a loud heartbeat and then when he runs to see her the heartbeat stops and we hear the background noise (cars beeping). This suggests that the bond they have in their relationship is what seems unbreakable and invincible because Gavin can only see Allie when she gets hit and it almost sounds like his heart is at risk if Allie dies.

Mise-en-scene also represents relationships. When Allie and Gavin have their hands on eachother we can see their wedding rings, this shows that they must love and trust eachother to some extent if they have gotten married to eachother.

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Ideas for my own TV drama

For one of my tasks, I have been asked to develop a pitch for my own TV drama which includes a plot, setting and characters/actors. 
I have thought to do a TV crime drama as I find it very interesting. My TV drama would be set in New York. A couple who have just gotten engaged move to a new apartment. The male who is called Tom gets a new job as a journalist which means he is away a lot of the time. His fiance is often left by herself at home and starts getting doubts about her relationship with Tom. One day when Tom is away, his fiance Emily, gets suspicious and asks his colleagues how long it'll take for Tom to come home (she makes it less suspicious by saying his phone is off and she is unable to contact him) but they say that Tom hasn't been at work for the past 3 days, which means that he has been lying to her. Emily begins to stress and cry, realising that the only reason why he could possibly be lying because he cheating. She isn't thinking straight, and thinking about what she can do to keep him, but then she begins to think that maybe Tom never loved her and was only using her. She begins to over analyse the situation and then thinks that he can't be with anyone but her so the only way she can make sure of that is if she kills him. Excited by this thought, Emily begins to plot the murder of her fiance even though she has no evidence of him cheating on her. Emily plans to strangle him when he gets back as she wants to make him suffer. When Tom gets back from his mysterious get away, Emily is awaiting his arrival. When the couple go to bed and Tom is slowly falling asleep, Emily begins to strangle him and kill him. When she kills him she flies into Italy and it all becomes certain to Tom's family who killed him and the hunt for Emily goes on.

Sunday, 4 November 2012

Glossary of TV drama terminology

Mise-en-scene - arrangement of scenery and properties to represent the place where a play or movie is enacted.
Wide Shot - a video or film recording made with the camera positioned to observe the most action in the performance.
Camera Movement - the way in which the camera moves during a shot or scene.
Pan - a shot where the camera, mounted on a tripod or dolly, is moved in a horizontal arc from left to right, or right to left. The term derives from the world 'panorama', suggesting the wide visual field that the pan can reveal.
Track - or a tracking shot - a camera shot where the camera is mounted on a dolly and records whilst moving along a track similar to a miniature railway track, often parallel to a moving subject.
Tilt - a tilt is a vertical camera movement in which the camera points up or down from a stationary location. For example, if you mount a camera on your shoulder and nod it up and down, you are tilting the camera.
Dolly - a wheeled camera platform. A 'dolly shot' is a camera shot where the camera is moved forward or back using this platform.
Dolly crane - counterweighted long metal arms with a flexible camera mounting that can raise or lower a camera to show high shots of the action.
Stedicam handheld - a camera mounting that straps the camera to the body of the operator and incorporates a device that keeps the image steady.
Zoom/reverse zoom - a shot where the camera zooms in on the subjects or zooms out away from it

Friday, 26 October 2012

Key Words Glossary - SOUND

Diegetic Sound - sound whose source is visible on the screen or is implied to be present by the action of the film:

  • voices of characters
  • sounds made by objects in the story
  • music represented as coming from instruments in the story space
Non-Diegetic Sound - sound which is not visible on screen and hasn't been implaid to be present in the action:
  • narrator's commentary
  • sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
  • mood music

  • Soundtrack - a group of songs put inside a movie, which later can be released on a CD.

    Theme - a melody which is used to identify a performer or a dance band or radio/tv programme.

    Tune - a melody which characterizes a certain piece of music

    Incidental music - a piece of music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere.

    Sound effects - created to enhance sounds or emphasize the content of films, TV shows etc.

    Ambient s0und - in atmospheric sounding and noise pollution, ambient noise level (sometimes called background noise level, reference sound level, or room noise level) is the sound pressure level at a given location, normally specified as a reference level to study a new intrusive sound source.

    Dialogue - conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie.

    Voice-over - the voice on an unseen commentator in a film of television programme.

    (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/)


    Thursday, 25 October 2012

    What roles or jobs are there in TV dramas?

    There are many different roles and jobs in TV dramas, the most popular ones are director and producer but there are many other ones such as:
    - costume designer
    - location manager
    - make-up artist
    - researcher
    - set designer
    - television producer
    - screenwriter
    - story editor
    - stunt coordinator
    - production manager and assistant
    - composer
    - sound editor
    - special effects co-ordinator and many more
    These all play important roles in TV dramas, because without them, TV dramas wouldn't be like we know them to be and probably a lot more boring.

    Representation of social groups

    Social groups are represented differently on different TV dramas. For example, usually on detective dramas, males are the detectives and are seen as the strong stereotypical type. This has always been the case apart from the small number of female detectives which have appeared on our TVs in the past 30 years or so.
    Depending on what the TV drama is, the social groups will be represented differently. For example, on a programme such as Downtown Abbey, women are viewed to be lower than the men socially, as it is set in the past when women had less rights than males.
    If it is a modern day drama such as Waterloo Road, we see that men and women have the same rights most of the time and we see a clear difference on how social groups are represented through time and different TV dramas.

    Essay question


    Compare the way these two TV dramas construct representations of gender using the following:

     

    1.                Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

    2.                Mise-en-scene

     

    I have chosen to compare Hustle and The Killing for this question and I will be comparing the ways that they construct the representations of gender through camera shots, angles, movement and composition and mise-en-scene. Both of these dramas do this through many different types of ways such as full body shots of the characters to represent how gender is constructed.

    In the scene from Hustle, gender is represented in many different ways. This has been done through technical codes such as lighting, the use of camera shots, angles, movement and composition and mise-en-scene. For example, lighting is used in the Hustle to represent gender in a very flirtatious and sexy way Dexter Gold finds his dream girl ‘Emma’ and then fantasizes about her with his passion around her, which is gold. The way lighting is used in this scene to represent gender is when the Dexter is fantasizing about her, Emma the ‘dream’ character looks like a sort of dream and heavenly type of girl, which would be ironic as he thinks she is his perfect dream character. This is done through a brighter, purer lighting which brings out more features of the female character and makes her look like the stereotypical dream flirtatious girl.

    Lighting also constructs the representations of gender in the gripping scene where the Sarah Lund who is the Deputy Superintendent, is chasing after what seems a criminal she has been trying to catch. At the beginning of the scene, the lighting is foggy, unclear but isn’t dark and isn’t too nerve wrecking as the light is still visible which makes you feel less worried for Sarah. As the scene progresses and the chase happens, Sarah Lund’s vision becomes less clear because the lighting turns darker as she loses the criminal which is suspected to be male. This could show gender representation because Sarah Lund is seen to be more vulnerable, being a female character by herself in a dark big building unaware of the whereabouts of a male criminal who as we see in the scene, is able to cause harm and has the usual stereotypical male characteristic as he is represented as being more powerful and strong than Sarah who is a ‘weaker’ and less powerful character, maybe because she is a female.

    The relationship between the two characters in The Killing (Sarah Lund and the criminal) is unknown as there is possibility Sarah has been face-to-face with the criminal before, but they have no positive connection whatsoever as Sarah is trying to capture him, and possibly imprison him, whereas the criminal is willing to do anything even if it means hurting Sarah, to get away from her and escape the possible outcome consequences. There is no romance or friendship between these two characters.

    Whereas in Hustle, the relationship and connection between the two characters (Dexter and Emma), is completely the opposite, as the whole scene is about Dexter fantasizing about Emma in a ‘sexy’ way as she is laying in barely any clothes, licking her lips, winking which is a very flirtatious and alluring towards Dexter which is making his attraction to her grow very rapidly. This represents both Dexter and Emma very stereotypically, as being a female; Emma is shown as being very feminine, sexy, the every man’s dream type (long blonde hair, blue eyes, feminine figure) and a sex icon which is a very stereotypical way to represent gender. Whereas Dexter is also shown in a very male stereotypical way because he is pretty much falling at Emma’s feet because she is this ideal perfect flirtatious stereotypical women.

    Mise-en-scene plays a big role in the construction of gender in Hustle, because in Dexter’s ‘fantasy’ where he sees Emma being very flirtatious, the stuff put in the scene such as the bed covered in his favourite thing which is gold, her clothing which is a gold outfit and every prep in his fantasy is gold. This shows a sense of power for the male character as gold is seen to be as a very powerful, successful colour which could hint at the fact that Emma who is less powerful and a woman could possibly only want Dexter for his success and money, not because she is attracted to him.

    The camera editing and how it is used plays a big role in how gender is represented in both Hustle and The Killing. For example, in The Killing, when Sarah is trying to find the criminal and is acting very cautious, the camera is used mainly for close up and mid shots of her, showing that she is scared and she isn’t shown as being very powerful due to the fact that when the camera is close up to her, we can see her facial expression showing her fear.

    Thursday, 18 October 2012

    Scheduling

    Scheduling is very important in television. It could depend on how many views a programme gets which could be critical if the programme isn't getting enough views. People work very hardly to put a schedule together, this is important because if two popular programmes such as X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing are on at the same time, they will have to rival for viewers. There are some programmes on which are popular all the time, such as in the morinings on the BBC, 'BBC Breakfast' is on everyday, talking about all the recent news and is very popular, whereas on ITV 'Daybreak' is on which gives the same sort of programme, but it all depends on the viewers preferences of which programme they will watch.

    Types of TV drama

    There are many different types of TV drama.
    One of them could be comedy such as Cuckoo (played on BBC Three).
    Another type could be crime such as The Bill.
    And the third one could be detective such as Murder, She Wrote.

    Traditionally, dectective dramas usually show the detective being male but there are some older detective dramas such as Murder, She Wrote where Jessica the detective is female. More recent, The Killing has had a female detective but typically, the detectives are male.

    Thursday, 27 September 2012

    Uses and Grafications theory

    Types of conflint in TV crime drama

    I've never really given any thought into the types of conflict that occurs in TV crime drama, but last week we learnt about many different types of conflicts that can occur in TV crime drama such has:
    criminal vs victim
    criminal vs partner/family
    criminal vs police
    criminal vs detective
    criminal vs law (courts)
    detective vs suspects
    detective vs criminal
    detective vs police
    detective vs lawyer
    detective vs partner/family

    I think that it's really important that many different types of conflicts are used because if only one conflict was used the TV crime drama wouldn't really make much sense and would be very boring and repetitive for the viewer.