analyse the way TV dramas are established in the opening five minutes- Identify how conventions are used.

When deciding on which TV dramas I was going to choose, I decided that I would do two TV shows that I watch on a regular basis, these were: East Enders and Waterloo road. I then  decided I would do one that I was introduced to In a media lesson called Merlin, which I really enjoyed therefore I though I would do it, and at the same time learn more about it. I also decided to do Merlin, as I would really have to look into the show to get the right ideas.

Out of the three TV dramas I have decided on: East Enders is most frequently shown, they have show productions on: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and an Omnibus on Sundays. East Enders is about regular working people, and their everyday lives. When watching East Enders we discovered there were many establishing shots; the first establishing shot that we saw was of Carol, she was laid on a sofa following on from the previous show in which her son died; this establishing shot shows us she's very upset in dull clothes connoting she gives up. The second establishing shot moved on to Max's house, in which we see the family sat down eating breakfast; this is a very usual establishing shot, as it relates to many families in the morning. We then moved on to editing in which we found very fast-moving, East Enders is a TV drama therefore has a lower budget oppose to what a film would have therefore it's got a quicker pace, unlike a film you have to keep up to understand what’s going on, you also have to learn who the characters yourself. We then looked into the sounds that were used as there was a lot of diagetic sounds such as the: Radio, this is used for background music, as this is what people listen to in the mornings.


Waterloo road is shown every Wednesday, and it's a series so this means it has a higher budget and there is more time to introduce the characters, as well as a variety of slow and quick editing through out- due to the higher budget they can do this. Waterloo road firstly comes on showing us what’s previously happened in the episode before to remind the viewers. We then see an establishing shot of another family. This is another stereotype (of the family). The families rushing around getting ready, we know what for as the school uniform connotes that they are going to school. The mood within this establishing shots shows the audience tension as well as the quick editing connotes this. The second establishing shot is of the children walking down the hill to get to school; the hill could denote there going down hill, as waterloo road used to be a school filled with rage and naughtiness however it's now changing showing it's perhaps growing as a school. The shot to show this is called a tilting shot.

Merlin is also only shown once a week and this is on Saturday- Merlin in also a series show, but is much more a-like to a film than the other two TV dramas. The first establishing shot we get in Merlin is of himself and the Prince Arthur running through the forest. There is a lot of non-diagetic sound, with an intense atmosphere throughout the first 5 minutes; we are faced with many shots such as: Long shots, Medium shots, point of view shots and tracking shots. The long shots appear to us when running, medium shots when Merlin is comforting Arthur as he's been hurt, the point of view shot when Arthur looks behind him and we see were and what he is looking at and then back, the tracking shot is used when they're running. This looks amazingly effective.

TV dramas always end with a cliff hanger- this is too ensure the audience will want to watch it again and again so they don't miss anything out. This is very good for TV shows as it ensures the audience. East Enders and Waterloo road are much more relating to many people oppose to Merlin that’s mostly audience at an older generation, this is also shown by the days its shown (Saturdays at six O clock) here this shows the audience target as many children would be out at this time.

Lesson.

Today in are media lesson, we looked at three different TV drama opening's these were: East Enders, Waterloo road and Merlin. Two of which are series and one that’s a soap, on most days throughout the week. When watching these we were specifically looking at the: Mise-En-Scene, Sound, Editing and Shot- types. These are all essential in TV dramas and films, we were also looking at the difference especially between: Merlin and waterloo road which are the series programmes, to East Enders which is not looking for the difference in shots and editing. Series have a bigger budget as it comes with around ten programmes however oppose, to something like East enders which is on everyday they have to space there budget out, so that they can keep it running over a longer period of time.

Story board- Prelimary task

This is a story board of:  Mine, Elise’s, Connie’s and Ellie’s preliminary task planning- here this outlines our story from the beginning to end. It firstly shows, Elise one of the two characters we chose to have in this- She walks out from behind a bush, she mysteriously looks around walking around and towards a room. The next shot is of Elise shutting a door and walking, she walks very slowly this is to show the audience the mysterious atmosphere. The next shot is of Elise opening the door; we then cut again and put the camera over her shoulder to show the door opening. The fifth shot is of Elise’s hand turning on the light switch; this then follows by me Sarah rummaging through a load of books, trying to find something. Then I turn around in shock, then Elise does the same and then our dialogue begins: Elise “What are you doing here?”, and I then reply by saying: “Probably the same thing as you!”. That is then where are preliminary task finishes.

Editing

Today we started to edit our prelimary task's, it was really good watching ourselves back and it was really good practise for our main task as it allowed us to give ourselves feedback, unfortunately a bit of our filming was missing, so we had to re film. We did everything the same and finished everything in enough time to get back to the start we had firstly got to, after watching it back we had also picked up on everything it lacked before, we are now really happy with our task. We now have to edit it a bit more, and add some music/ sound effects to finish it.

Prelimary task

Today we started on our prelimary task, we had a few troubles with the camera as it would have full battery, but as soon as we went to start it would say "Battery empty, shutting down" on the screen therefore we had to find an extension lead, we finished our prelimary task in the end and it worked really well we firstly started with Elise- Elise is one of the actors we have used in our prelimary task, Elise first walked out from behind a bush mysteriously, past the camera as the camera followed her, we then went through to the drama room and we got a shot of Elise’s legs, the camera zoomed out as Elise got closer. When she got to the door the camera cut, and we then went behind Elise to capture her opening the door, Elise pushed the door half way open and then the camera cut again. After this cut we extended the camera, to get the cut but over her shoulder to make it more effective she then pushed the door all the way. We then moved the camera to the room we would be entering and zoomed in on a light switch although this was completely black for two seconds you then hear the light switch being turned on and the lights then come on. We then once again cut, and the camera then comes on to me Sarah, I'm also being featured in our prelimary task, you first have a medium shot of me rummaging through a load of books, as soon as the lights come on I turn around in shock to find Elise, we stay in our positions but the camera moves to behind me where we see Elise again she says "What are you doing here"?. The camera then moves behind Elise again and I reply "Probably the same as you", this is where prelimary task finished.

Persuit of happyness.

 The persuit of happyness, is based on many different juxtopositions throughout. One of the main juxtopositions in the film is when Chris Winters, acted by Will Smith; acts as a man who is struggling to make ends meet due to him investing into a luxury 'bone scanner', putting everything he has into this in order to create a luxury life for his little family. Though the outcomes very different to what he and his wife Linda thought it would be, unfortuantely the bone scanners stopped selling. This meant Linda had to do double shifts at work to cover he son Chris's day care prices, when one day Chris gets home to an empty house he's devastated, his wife and son have gone. Then the phone rings its about the job course, they've told him hes been accepted on to the course. At the same time he's lost everything he loves, hes just been given the most amazing oppurtunity to get his life back on track. Chris then had a phonr call from Linda, he got his son back and Linda moved to New York, she was fed up and didn't want to be in her position anymore, leaving Chris to bring up his son by hiself. He started his course to become a stock brocker, this is when we see the juxtoposition of how different his work life is  to his home life. At home he looks like he's struggling, unhappy and stressed but in the work enviroment the atmosphere changes completly he's surrounded by people that are all suited and booted, getting ready for there days work everyone looking happy, when we see this scene of the work enviroment, the shots used are long shots, medium shots, tilting to show the high buildings denotes success. As there is also non digestic background sound making everything more upbeat, then when Chris picks up his son from day care we see small buildings this cannotes failure to the audience. Throughout the film, there is refrences to class which in this film at the beginning is very low but towards the end it changes to upper when he gets the job as a stock brocker, throughout the film men are represented in all areas much more thoroughly then woment, this is because men are traditionally the ones to work. In the film Chris talks about when he was younger, what he wanted to be, hat he became none of the things that he wanted to be untill the very end his good skills come to good use and he begins to thrive again, so he can endure a fantastic life with his son again. The rubix cube is a symbol of intelligence in this, as is the bone scanner- his lifes not yet complete.