Photo Storyboard

Storyboarding

As a group we have created a storyboard for our own TV drama. We photographed it and put it on our blogs.  

The Tudors Essay (Mock Exam)

I am going to use my skills of denotation and connotation to analyse 'The Tudors' and how it creates a sense of drama and how it draws the audience in. As 'The Tudors' represents a well known ruler, many audience members may want to engage and watch how he Henry VIII became this famous icon and to view his life being exposed.

At the beginning of the opening sequence it had been edited to make flashes of the grown man Henry and a woman. It then flashes to a young boy sitting on a throne. This suggests that it is a story of how this young boy became this big ruler. There is non-digetic sound of a narrator speaking and he says the words '...you have to go back to the beginning'. This suggests to the audience that it is a story from the beginning about Henry VIII. It draws the audience in by saying these words and informing the audience about his wife.

The mise-en-scene of a moving shot towards a crown gives a sense of drama. The crown on the throne connotes that there may be a new heir (Henry VIII) or that a ruler had died. It creates an empty feeling with no power creates and empty feeling with no power as an audience member would expect an aspiring King on the throne. There is also non-digetic sound of swords being drawn which connotes fighting and someone dying. This could then suggest that the king that is not sitting on the throne at that point had been killed or injured by a sword.

The connotation of the young man sitting on the thrown looks naive. The close-up shot of his face shows how pale he is which can connote illness and as his eyes widen it's as if he has seen a terrifying source. This draws the audience in by him being terrified they want to know what it is. At this point there is also non-digetic sound of swords being drawn. This creates drama as his eyes widen and could connote that he is a viewing a fighting scene.

There are many characters included in this TV drama. When they are individually shown their mise-en-scene represents them as being quite powerful and in the Tudor day and age. Also, their close-up and mid-shots suggests to the audience that they will play an important part in this TV drama. When they are being shown non-digetic sound of classical music plays which connotes middle/upper class and gentleness however, when a character is introduced there is a loud drum noise. This can connote that they are important but also they may be quite fierce as the drum noise is loud and strong. The audience can then also acknowledge that they are superior roles in the programme.

There is a high angle dolly shot of men riding horses. This could connote that they are less superior to Henry VIII and also that they are charging somewhere. After this dolly shot there is then a wide shot of a man looking aggressive riding towards the camera. This can connote that he is ready to fight and wants revenge which suggests power to the audience. This created drama as it is a scary, aggressive and suggests death.

In the opening sequence when the title 'The Tudors' comes up there are contrasts of colours. There is a black background to connote death and secrets which creates drama. The typography of 'The Tudors' is quite classical writing and in white to suggest purity and peace. However, the 'T' of the 'Tudors' is in red and made as a religious cross. This connotes that there is death and blood spilled which suggest to the audience there is gore. Also, the cross suggests religion which links into piece. There is also a cross in the 'o' of the 'Tudors' which suggests unity but still death of it.

Overall, there is mixed feelings of love, seduction, death and power to create drama in the scene. I believe I have explored 'The Tudors' well using connotation and denotation to find how it creates a sense of drama and how it draws the audience in to the story.

Pitch of Our TV Drama

Name of the show: Miss Martinez

Style: Fashionable,

Workaholic side

Child orientated

Fast-paced

Settings: Uptown apartment or house,

Vogue building,

Car

Key Character: Elizabeth Martinez

Female, 28

Editor-in-chief of Vogue

Rude, Stuck-up, Lost of child, Snobby, Rich, Bossy, High-status

and engaged

Narrative Structure: Ongoing story-lines

Storyline: A snobby woman living in London, working for a top magazine Vogue. She comes across as a rude boss but has a heart when we find out that she has lost her daughter. Throughout the ongoing story-lines it is her trying to get back her daughter with her supportive fiance.

Spooks Representation

Three minutes in a TV Drama can hold so much without anyone realizing. From make-up to location to verisimilitude and more, I had the challenge to watch and analyze Spooks in an episode of 'Talking Him Down' as they were investigating terrorism. The three main aspects I am going to focus on is mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound and how the people, places and location constructs all which makes up the representation of MI5 and terrorism.

It opens on what looks like a rooftop, surrounded by buildings in London. Also, is the surroundings there is a Mosque which connotates terrorism and religion and a Church spiral which connotates peace. The mise-en-scene is closed and forceful; the terrorist and MI5 spook are caged in which links in to the terrorists phrase ‘you have treated us like animals’. His accent is foreign which meets people’s stereotypes of a terrorist. Furthermore, the mise-en-scene of the terrorist costume is what an audience may interpret like his scruffy hair, he is unshaven which shows dirt and also his eyes look puffy and exhausted. There is then a contrast when the terrorist is in a close-up shot holding his rifle gun and a cross on the railings behind; the connotation of this is that the cross symbolizes Jesus which then links into religion, hope, love and peace which is the total opposite of a gun being used for murder. There is then a two-wide shot of both the terrorist and spook. The lighting on the spook is more bright which connotates hope and the contrast on the terrorist where he is constructed to be dark. The digetic sound of wind creates a sense of realism at this moment which is verisimilitude.

On the rooftop, we saw a spook that was ethnic and young however, this is not the typical spook and audience may have pictured. In a scene there is a two-shot of a close-up of an expected spook that is bald, male and middle-aged and a woman standing further in the distance. It dennotates this spook is giving the order but he is not in fact the boss. In the background there is a woman standing strong with her hand on her hip which connotates that she is a leader and powerful; so in actual fact the woman is giving the man the orders. In this scene there is only one piece of non-digetic sound of dialogue, ‘shoot him’. After he says this, the non-digetic sound of hopeful music starts to slowly come in. The mise-en-scene is dark, the light mainly focusing on the man. This scene connotates that the MI5 is secretive and confidential because also the camera frame is tight and doesn’t expose MI5 offices.

The mise-en-scene changes; the costumes are black and are swat team outfits, the location looks as if they are in a block of flats standing in the corridor, the lighting turns blue which connotates the scene of cold and sad however, the props of holding guns stays the same which anchors the meaning of killing and revenge. The shot is high-angle from the waist up, showing a member of MI5 in the middle and two other members besides (just half their bodies are shown which illustrates that they are not as important). The spook in the middle is shot and stood with power and connotates that he is higher in authority; he is also an experience spook unlike the one on the rooftop. As he speaks also, the camera slowly moves towards him to show that he is in charge. He commands where to shoot and with a dolly shot the guns fire and the steady cam moves into the other room where the audience views a man getting shot. There is a slow motion exaggeration of sound of the non-digetic gun shots. Afterwards, there is a extreme-close-up shot of the spook with a stern, determined and emotionless look which dennotates that he has been successful. Throughout this short amount of time, there is sound of glass shattering and chains which dramatizes death to make it even more exaggerating.

Non-digetic angelic music is mellow in the background as the terrorist gets ready to shoot. This gives an implied meaning that maybe some hope is coming. When his son speaks the music gets louder and the sun becomes brighter which definitely connotates aspiration. Even though at the beginning the mise-en-scene had the feeling of being trapped and caged in, the sun rising helps make it less claustrophobic. At this point the terrorist unleashes a whole different side because of his genuine, teary-eyed and emotional facial expression it illustrates that he is a father and he cares and loves his son. The audience engagement would have been at maximum here as many parents can sympathize with losing their dear child and the hope of their child being found would be so spectacular and finally the worry would be over.

In this sequence the representations of MI5 and the terrorist mostly conform to the stereotypes however, there are a few aspects that challenge this. The MI5 has the stereotyped middle-aged, British male which conforms to the representation. On the other hand, he is not the boss in fact the woman is which would challenge the stereotype of the man being in charge. Also, the spook on the rooftop is neither middle-aged nor British, he is ethnic and young. So overall the representation of MI5 is different and does not conform to the stereotypes of them. The terrorists costume and accent conforms to the stereotypes; he looks like he is from and ethnicity, his accent shows he is foreign, his presentation is scruffy, tired and looks as if he is unwashed. Furthermore, his attitude and determination is quite malicious and nasty as he is preparing to murder someone. When is son starts to speak however, he softens up and his eyes are tearful. This challenges the stereotypes of terrorists as it shows that he is still human and cares and loves those who are special to him. Overall, Spooks conforms to some of the stereotypes but represents them by challenging the construction of the characters too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epS3M3PpH4c

Youth Representation

Youths are represented in Moving Images by:

Binge Drinking

Smoking

Drugs

Sexual Activity

Teenage Pregnancy

Gangs

Geeks

Indies

Emos

Bullying

Victims of Child Abuse

Slang Words

Violence

Knife/Gun Crime

Skins!
The image above is a representations of Youths today. The programme 'Skins' contains sex, violence, drugs, secual activity, smoking and binge drinking. As you can see it contains most of the above. The picture above denotates young boys and girls looking rather rough. This connotes that they have been out, maybe to a party and most probably drinking, smoking and taking drugs. The background of the image looks as if they are out in an estate or maybe even somwhere they are not supposed to be.

TV Vocabulary

Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene literally means 'put in the scene'. It refers to most of things that goes into the structure of a shot. For example; framing, movement of characters and camera, lighting, set design and even sound.

Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude is creating the sense of realism and making a programme or film believable. Like in Eastenders there is belief through its mise-en-scene (framing, lighting, set e.t.c). Here is a scene from Eastenders to show the verisimilitude in a day at the Queen Vic!




Social Realism
Social Realism is conveyed through with social or political messages added with sarcasm. It shows the verisimilitude of life's struggles. This may include racial and social justice and also economic hardship. Here is an example of social realism in British TV Drama. The series was in 1996 and included love, tragedy and political import 60's to the 80's. It also introduced Daniel Craig!





Diegetic Sound
Digetic Sound is the source that is visible or present on the screen for the actions of the shot. The sources include; voices of the characters, sounds made by objects and/or music represented as coming from instruments in the shot.



Non-Diegetic Sound
Non-Digetic Sound is the source that is neither visible or present in the shot. These sources include; a narrator's commentary, sound affects which has been added for dramatic affect and/or mood music where non-digetic sound if represented when coming from outside the shot.

Editing
Editing a TV drama is correcting, consending and organising the different shots so it runs smoothly. It also can include editing sound into the scene and putting it into its appropriate form.
Final Cut Pro is a software used on an apple Mac to edit. Here is a picture to show the layout of editing shots.