Representation of Age and Disability - TV Drama

 

The main scene starts with a mid shot introducing us to young man (Bradley) who starts getting out of  a taxi cab to help Jim out of the taxi. we hear bradley telling his Jim to get hi leg out causing the audience to assume that Jim isn't in a right mind set or isnt capable to get out of the taxi without help, this is still a social norm as most people tend to assume elder people are incapable of doing some things without assistance. we see Jim get out his walking stick as he steps put of the taxi allowing the audience to make assumptions that Jim is a fragile man or has a disability. Bradley then asks Jim if he wants his wheelchair following that Jim says no to using the chair enticing Bradley to insist. we then get a close up shot of Jim clarifying to the audience what the Jim character looks like although the audience weren't shown the character for several seconds an assumption was instantly made on how the character would looked like based on the way the other characters baby coddled the Jim character. Furthermore we hear one of the characters sarcastically ask "still here Jim?", allowing us to assume that the character is possibly in his 70's or 80's. 

The Film Industry and Technology

The film industry is constantly in motion. While the stories that keep the Hollywood money machine churning run in cycles, technology continues to evolve with every passing decade. A new revolution is stirring as 3D releases, DSLR cameras and free Internet distribution (YouTube, etc.) bring the digital age of filmmaking to Hollywood’s front door.
One of the industry’s most renowned cinematographers, Roger Deakins, recently revealed his intention to move into digital photography. The man with nine Academy Awards nominations is making the switch.
It is not uncommon for certain productions to devote segments of filming to the digital format. Black Swan used the Canon 7D to shoot its subway sequences because of its many benefits to a production. The DSLR cameras that plague film schools currently are the industry’s hottest new gadget. Anybody can shoot cinema-quality imagery for less than the price of a computer. When most professional film cameras cost tens of thousands of dollars, that’s quite a bargain. Arguably more importantly, it’s much easier to fit a DSLR into a subway car than a full film camera setup.

Definitions

TV Drama: A television drama series that is scripted and normally fictional.
Representation: The action of speaking or acting on behalf of someone or the state of being so represented.
Mediation/Mediated: To resolve or settle differences by working with all the conflicting parties
Stereotype: a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing (famales are seen as weak while males are portrayed as strong).
Hegemonic norm: Domination, influence, or authority over another, especially by one political group over a society or by one nation over others (when people assume something e.g. when someone is hetorosexual, gay, lesbian people).
Ideology: a system of ideas and ideals, the set of beliefs characteristic of a social group or individual.
Semiotics: The study os signs and other aspects such as indecation, likeness and communication. semeotics is linked to the field of linguistics (the study of language)
Connotation: An idea or feeling that a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning. (e.g. the colour red can have connotations of love/danger)
Signifies: Be a symbol of; have as meaning.
Signifier: A sign's physical form such as a sound, printed word, or image as a distinct from its meaning.
Types of signifier
-iconic: signs where the signifier resembles the signified, e.g., a picture
-idexical: signs where the signifier is caused by the signified, e.g., smoke signifies fire.
-symbolistic: signs where the relation between the signifier and signified is purely convetional and culturally specific specific e.g. most words
Binary opposites: Is a pair of words with related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning for example good and evil, male and female.
Mode of address: the way that media texts talk to its audience for example second, first and third person
Anchoring: fixing the meaning for example the copy text anchors (fixes to one spot) the meaning of an image (e.g. a rose that could be used for an advertisement for anything like a dating agency to a funeral home) in a print advertisement. The meaning of an image.
Conventions: the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interview quotes in a print article but conventions are also genre specific.
Conventions of television drama:

TV Dramas are ongoing dramas that typically run week-in, week-out all year round. It features a continuous storyline, dealing with domestic themes and personal or family relationships. It generally has a well known theme tune and intro sequence that has changed very little over the years.

 

Editing

Representation G322

Definitions

 

TV Drama: Dramatic shows written to mirror the life of their target audience and is broadcasted in a series. a story that is represented in a dramatic way and explores a range of genres, from soap opera to science-fiction to costume drama.

Representation: To present something is to describe, to depict it, to call it up in the mind by description or portrayal. To symbolise, stand for or be a substitute. Representation is concerned with the way that people, ideas and events are presented to us.

Mediation/mediated: The negotiation to resolve differences that is conducted by some impartial party. A way of resolving disputes between two or more parties with concrete effects.

Stereotype: a widely but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Hegemonic norm: the leadership, dominance or great influence that entity or group of people has over others



Movies

Small production company: Wildgaze
movie- A long way down
Wildgaze: Wildgaze Films Limited was set up on 02 Apr 1998. Wildgaze has 3 directors. Its founding director was Ms Amanda Rachel Pose.
Wildgaze movies:
A Long Way Down
Brooklyn
An Education
Fever Pitch


Big production company: Screen Gems
movie- About last night
Screen Gems:

American film production company and secondary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different functions for its parent companies over the years since its merger.

Main people in the company:

Clint Culpepper -President

Screen Gems Movies:

The Vow

Think Like a Man

Resident Evil: Retribution

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Friends with Benefits

Attack the Block

Resident Evil: Afterlife 

Easy A

Burlesque

Death at a Funeral

Dear John

http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/as-a-level-gce-media-studies-h140-h540/

Camera shots, Angles, Movement and Composition

Establishing shot: to show where the scene is set

Close up Shot: allows the audience to see the emotions of the character in more depth so the an connect to the character to creat an emotion e.g. Sympathy 

Mid- shot: used to get a better look at the character, close enough to see their emotion and far enough to see their body language. 

Long Shot: to show the entire person, and their surroundings 

Wide Shot: positioned to observe the most action in the performance. 

Two- shot: positioned to observe two characters 

Aerial Shot: usually done with a crane to view large landscapes. 

Point of View Shot: used to allow the audience to see what the character can see/see from the point of view of the character 

Over the Shoulder Shot: a shot of someone taken from the perspective or smear angle from the shoulder of another person

High Angle Shot: used to make a character look smaller and weaker 

Low angle shot: used to make the character look more powerful and strong 

Canted angle: when the camera is deliberately tilted to one side, sometimes used for dramatic effect to portray unease, distortion or desperate action, madness etc

Exam

The Scene is set in the country side near a lake, when thinking of a country house the first thought is of old people as they want to live somewhere where it is moderately silent; which is why you would come to the conclusion that grownups live there. In the first few seconds of the clips we were introduced to Amy who more or less skips out of the house/cottage connotations of skipping are of kids in a play ground having fun playing games; the first sign that Amy is younger than she says she is. Amy is wearing a bright yellow top which is a very young colour including the reason that her top has a big pattern on the top makes the person question if the Amy girl is younger than she is or just an adult attempting to look younger. The baggy jeans does no favours for Amy as female adults tend to wear trousers and if on the off chance they wear jeans they would be moderately skinny jeans to show off their figure. We see the male lead hiding a shovel which is a prop to cannotate that he’s a hard working man. The lead male wears clothes suitable for his work…. He wears a dark blue outdoor jacket a white T-shirt under a green checkered top, the checkered top conveys he works in a farm as checkered tops more or less have been stereotyped as farm wear, conveying that the man is dedicated to his job and is at the age to have a job. When Amy goes into the car we have a close up shot so we were able to see her facial expressions clearly as she tries to figure out how to start the car. As Amy struggles to turn on the car engine we start to notice that she may be younger than 17 … an age where you would not have taken driving lessons or done a driving test. In the background you hear the car skid and crash; moments later a new character is introduced. She has grey hair and wears a dull blue cardigan with a tie, white smart buttoned up shirt and a swampy green blazer. The colours he wears you can see he is not young not forgetting that he also has grey hair. By the clothes he wears you can see he is posh then you see later as he speaks; he has a posh English accent. The old man is someone who works at the school Amy goes to and has come to collect her, by the we realize Amy is a runaway student. Back in the house/cottage the main character takes out an antique glass liquid holder (?) where whisky, brandy is placed and serves the old man some brandy/whisky. Connotations of a whisky/brandy/liquid holder (?) is that wealthy people own them in their studies , making us realize the male lead role is into some money and it would have taken him some time to raise that amount of money, meaning the man might be in his late 30’s mid 40’s. When the male lead role walks out to tell Amy she needs to leave and go back to school we see him take a father figure role similarly Amy takes the daughter role as she starts to have tantrum, shouts “I hate you”; storms off into the after room illustrating how naïve she is to have left school and not alone any of her exams including how childish she is. Amy leaves two notes on her bed, the handwriting of the people’s names is swirly and written in pink, silver and purple bubble writing with a small heart to the side reminding us yet again of how old she is … 16. Amy left a teddy bear for one of the people conveying how even for he age she’s still childish and young as most teens don’t carry around their teddys where ever they go … some teens don’t have /don’t need a teddy. The woman who finds a note is wearing a farmer’s hat, this prop reminds us that the video is shot in the country side. A full screen shot is shown of the woods and a rainbow alongside some country music/farm music being played in the scene has connotations of happiness.

OCR G322 Mark Scheme Jan 2012 from aquinasmedia