MEST2 Creating Media: Research and Planning

Pretty Little Liars

The scene starts off with diegetic music as the camera fades in to an establishing shot of the setting. The setting isn’t relatable or identifiable with the audience, the setting is therefore written on screen at the bottom in white to allow audiences to feel a sense of identification with the setting and the characters we would encounter. The building we see is a barn like building, the camera slowly zooms in and lightning diegetic sounds and flashes are shown, the setting is quite dark and low-key lighting, this setting could be a use of pathetic fallacy or possibly to foreshadow a bad event. At the moment the audience would have an enigma in their minds, the audience would be wondering why is there music playing out from the barn, who is inside and/or why are they inside?

The audience are then introduced to a group of female characters with the use of a long shot so the audience can see the setting and female characters, who are drinking in a low-key lighting area, and by their facial expressions it seems as they are friends, but the low-key lighting may suggests that there is some sort of tension or secret between the characters or that the characters aren’t who they seem to appear to be. Due to being introduced to these female characters first, the audience would assume that these females are the protagonists and they all (in Propps character roles) are seen as the hero. Also the prop of their drinks/cups is unusual because they are usually dominantly shown with males and teenagers but are less dominant with females, this could be a slight alternative portrayal of female characters.

Costumes of the female characters are stereotypical, everyday average teenager clothing, this would allow audiences to relate to the characters and identify with them more due to them being portrayed or represented as normal people instead of a high profile, famous and glamorous celebrity character. A match on action occurs when one of the female characters are drinking, at the same time as this occurs the lighting and electricity in the barn like building turns off and the room becomes darker and much more low-key lighting than high-key lighting, this could connote that this particular female character has some sort of darkness or will be the one to cause a disequilibrium (which relates to Todorov’s five stages of narrative).

One female character uses a torch, this connotes that this female character is possibly a sense of hope in the narrative. Strange diegetic sounds of creeks are heard and close ups are used to help emphasise the characters emotions and possibly allow audiences to feel sympathy or relate to the characters and their emotions of fear. There are many cuts used and they are quite fast cuts and seem to be getting slightly faster as non-diegtic music of a violin note is being stretched sounding louder and louder to create and emphasise fear in both characters and audiences. This violin sound of getting louder and louder could be use to relate to Barthes enigma and action codes, it could connote or foreshadow an event to occur, we as the audience will assume actions to occur and feel a sense of adrenaline as the violin gets louder or as the note gets stretched further and further. The enigma created is “What is that sound? Who is creating the sound?”

The female characters then get up and walk towards the sound and the camera is in front of them and tracks backwards, this allows the audience to see a close up of the characters and their expressions. The enigma is unraveled as a new female character, when the camera looks at her the sound of lightning is diegetic and we see flashes. This connotes that this female character is possibly a dark character but portrayed positively, the flashes could connote that she can change from being positively portrayed to negatively portrayed very quickly. This character could be a disequilibrium as well as the other female character.

The camera now shows a lot more close ups of the characters and the cuts aren’t as fast, the audience are able to identify with the characters much more easily now. The new character who is named Alison, is in a yellow top, yellow connotes joy and happiness and could also connote caution, decay, sickness and jealousy, we could link this back to the idea of this character being a disequilibrium. This female character could be seen as the happy and joyful character but also a very jealous character who the other female characters need to be cautious of.

When Alison says “Friends share secrets, that’s what keeps us close” we are shown a shot/reverse shot of another characters facial expression, she is dressed in all blue, light blue, which connotes that she is a calm character but the shot/reverse shot and her facial expression connotes that she may have something to hide. Alison then tells one of the characters “Drink up!” and this character is still holding a torch, which she is pointing at Alison, this connotes that maybe she is shining the light on Alison and will reveal her dark secrets.

Lightning is then heard and a scene fades in and non diegetic music plays quietly, creates a sense of mystery. The audience would be able to tell, due to the music, that something isn’t quite right, the audience and characters both realise the two characters who were assumed to create a disequilibrium have disappeared and only one returns. When the first assumed character to cause disequilibrium returns and says “I think I heard her scream” we see a zoom on the face of another character to emphasise her emotions and facial expressions. Lightning is then heard once more as the camera cuts and a high angle shot is used to show a newspaper revealing that Alison is still missing, the high angle shot allows the audience to look down on Alison and possibly feel sympathy for her. The only enigmas in the audiences mind now is “Where is Alison? Was it her that was screaming? Did the other girl who return without her kill her?”.

Misfits

Straight away we see a close up tilt of a character putting on an orange jumpsuit, we aren’t able to identify with the character straight away but we can see that the character has a tag on their leg, a tag which is used on offenders to track movement so the audience can already assume that this character is going to be represented as a bad character who has broken the law. There is no diegetic sound; there is only non-diegetic sound of music, which slowly fades in. The camera movement of the tilt is in slow motion possibly to attract and allure male audiences due to the slow motion and tilt of camera having sexy connotations. The setting isn’t completely revealed but due to the orange jumpsuit the audience can assume that the character is in a prison or a community service youth centre. We then see a cut, which goes from the characters waist line to just above the chest, we can see that this character is a female character which is an unusual representation of a female. Females connote love, kindness and care which is the dominant stereotypical representation of female characters. Usually it’s males we associate with law-breaking so this character is an alternative representation of females. Also the females facial expression doesn’t show much remorse or worry, her facial expression shows more of an “I don’t care” look or “same thing different day, get it over with already” which is also an alternative representation, it could also connote that this female character is quite strong and different than a usual representation, she is a dominant female who is a alternative representation of the stereotype of females. The audience will be able to relate to this character either due to her ethnicity, looks, gender or possibly due to her portrayal of being a dominant female. This female can possibly aspire some females to be an alternative representation of females not a negative representation but an alternative one where they are seen as more powerful and not weak.

The camera then cuts to another character also in an orange jumpsuit; this is a male which is a stereotypical and dominant view of males. (Males being law-breakers). This characters facial expression shows more worry but at the same time confidence. It also looks as if the character has a cigarette in his mouth which again reinforces the dominant stereotypical view of males. The camera cuts again to much closer close up (could be an extreme close up) of a stereotypical looking “Chavy” female character with big hoop earrings and make up. This, according to Medhurst, is a short hand in narratives to allow the audience to be able to identify with this female character who is a stereotypical “chav” much more quickly which would engage the audience. Also due to the “chavy” looking female, the audience are more likely to assume the location of the setting to be in possibly London and most likely in areas with flats and estates which the audience can relate and identify with. The next cut introduces another male, this male looks more sensible and a less dominant representation of the stereotypical male, due to him having his jumpsuit done right up, not smoking and having a facial expression as if to say that he is taking this community service seriously while the others don’t really care. The use of a blur edge focuses the audience’s attention on the character. Another character is shown and this character is seen from a slightly low-angle shot which connotes that he has some sort of power, this character is also a dominant stereotypical representation of male teeangers, he also has the costume and props of a “male chav” due to his hat and gold chain. The scene then cuts to a black male putting on an orange jumpsuit, it starts off from his waist and tilts up to show the characters physique, this is possibly to attract a female audience due to his abs and also to attract a male audience to aspire to be like this character.

The non-diegetic music continues to play over the top of the scenes as a soundbridge and it gets louder and faster. The camera cuts back to the first female who is still getting dressed but walks up to a mirror with her jumpsuit not fully done up which again is possibly to attract the male audience. The camera cuts and cycles through the characters again all still getting ready. A parallel sound from the music is used to match an action a character does (clicking of the fingers) that’s when the beat of the music slightly changes and becomes more upbeat. The lighting is quite low-key lighting but isn’t dominantly dark, there are a few shadows but more light than shadows, this could connote that these characters do have a bad side to them or a negative side to them which is why they are all in orange jail like jumpsuits but they are good people in some sense.

The music then stops as the camera cuts to all the characters lined up side by side in front of one person who we cannot identify with yet. The audience can assume that due to this introduction of the characters that these characters are the protagonist and in Propps theory they are the heroes and that there isn’t one clear hero or protagonist as of yet. The low angle shot of the characters show that they have some sort of power, to the audience the characters are more superior than them due to the audience having to look up to them. This long shot of the characters also allow us to look at each of the characters body language. The audience can see that they all seem pretty laid back and relaxed and don’t really care apart from the male character on the far right (Simon) who seems to have his legs together and arms in his pockets, he looks more shy and confined than the others, he also is the only one with a worried facial expression or more serious facial expression. Another character that stands out is the male character who is in the middle (Nathan) he seems to be standing slightly more forward than the other characters which suggests that he is the main protagonist or hero out of the group.

The audience then sees a close up of this assumed main protagonist to see his facial expression and also see the expressions on the other characters and also see this character who is the probation worker. Relating to Levi-Strauss theory of binary opposites we can see a clear contrast in characters between the probation worker and the teenagers (adults vs teens). The teenager characters also reinforce the dominant view of them being disrespectful by using their phones during a speech, interrupting the speech and talking back and even saying to each other “Are you looking to get stabbed?”. There is also a clear power struggle between the adult character and the teenage characters.

The majority of characters are also talking which allows the audience to identify and relate to the characters accents and way of talking and possibly be able to identify with where they are from due to their accent giving hints of that away.

90210

low angle shot of Beverly hills sign emphasises its fame and popularity and also allows the audience to identify with the setting and characters which they may encounter. The music is non diegetic and quite loud at first and is the only sound we hear at first. There are a lot of fast paced cuts and edits which connotes the busy city life in Beverly Hills, these cuts and edits are also parallel to the music, more specifically the violin within the song. There are a large amount of "flashy" and expensive sport cars or business type cars which emphasises and glamourises the location and setting as a very wealthy area. We then see an establishing crane shot tracking over the Hollywood sign which is also parallel to the music but parallel more specifically to the lyrics where the singer says "rule" in the sentence "I use to rule the world" with the word rule stretched out.

An overhead crane tracking shot of a car driving along a road is then shown which suggests that the protagonist(s) or hero(es) are within the car, an enigma is created which is "where are these characters going?" this links to Barthes enigma codes. It's a family car which connotes that the protagonist(s) is a family, it also allows the audience to relate to the characters due to their car, they know that whoever is in the car is most likely a family which means the show could be aimed towards a family audience, the audience can already identify with the characters and they haven't even seen them yet. The audience are then introduced to the characters, the first character being a black male (possibly to attract a more diverse group of audience and cultures/backgrounds) the male character is a stereotypical teenager with headphones in ear and having an attitude to long car journeys. The characters emotions and facial expressions show that he is bored and annoyed.

Next character shown as the music begins to go quiet but still plays in the background as non-diegetic sound, is a shot/reverse shot of a female characters reaction of the males annoyance of the journey. She is portrayed as an average teenage girl with the dominant stereotypical representation of being a female, which is being innocent with her laugh, and the colour of her top being yellow connotes a joyful, happy and kind person. Both characters seem to be portrayed as joyful characters through their facial expressions because after the female character smiles and looks at the male character, we see the facial expression of the male change from annoyed to happy. Also the characters are both shown as "perfect" in looks, they have perfect skin, smile and hair, this would aspire female audiences to be like the female character and male audiences to be like the male but it will also attract the opposite genders to each other, male audiences would be attracted to the beauty and perfection of the female and her innocent smile while female audiences would be attracted to the males smile and facial structure of masculinity.

The audience and characters then hear a sound bridge of diegetic sound of an older female character speaking to the young male character. The audience see the characters in the front seat of the car as an older female character and an older male character, the female character is wearing a red tank top and red is usually the first colour which is recognised by the human eye and is therefore possibly purposely used to attract male audiences to look at her body and not directly at her face, this is also why the camera is positioned closer to the drivers window so the camera can see the older males face and older females body as well as face in hope that the male audience would look at the females body and the female audience will look at the males face. This is also a gender stereotype of psychological thinking of the genders, males being more perverted and looking at female bodies while females would look at a males face and eyes and his facial structure. There is also a dominant stereotype of a male driver and female passenger which is common to see in films and tv shows because stereotypically males are more about cars because cars are seen as manly objects and therefore male drivers are dominant in film. These older characters are possibly used to attract the older generation to watch the show and aspire to be like the characters.

180 degree rule is shown in the front seats of the car, this rule isn't broken and doesn't confuse or disengage the audience this also connotes that there isn't much tension and doesn't foreshadow any bad events or disequilibrium, the fact that the 180 degree rule is in use and not broken connotes equilibrium. The stereotypical attitude of the male is then shown again when mocking the car journey and the young female characters innocence is again shown when she giggles and smiles, she doesn't agree or disagree with the young male character, she just sits there calmly and quietly acting innocent.

The kindness and understanding of the young female character is shown when the father says "Grandma needs us, she's getting older" and she nods and smiles as if to agree, while the male character just shakes his head and looks out the window of the car in disbelief and annoyance, which again links back to the stereotypical and dominant view of male teenagers and female teenagers. We could also say that these characters link to two theories, one being Medhursts shorthand theory and the other Levi's binary opposites. Both the teenage characters are stereotypes which allows the audience to identify with them much quicker and relate to them more easily, they also attract and relate to a large audience through their stereotypes. The binary opposites of these two teenagers is their attitudes, the male is more easily annoyed and bored while the female is more calm and happy.

The narrative is then revealed when the older male character states "Your mother and I have given up a lot for this move too" which suggest that these characters are moving possibly to Beverly Hills. This solves the enigma of "where are these characters going?" And a surprise reaction to the older male characters statement was from the innocent daughter who finally speaks but in a playfully talking back way, which connotes that she is an innocent teenager but she does have a mouth and she knows how to use it. The father replies playfully and it shows a good chemistry and atmosphere within the family and car. The young male also joins in with the conversation but with a more serious tone. More and more of the characters lives are revealed within the car journey. The setting is then confirmed with the characters driving past the Beverly Hills sign and driving into a driveway and parking the car.

The Vampire diaries

Non-diegetic music is also heard, this adds to the atmosphere and tension, it adds to the dark and gloomy scene. First thing shown is a low key lighting area of the woods, the low key lighting is created by using only key and back lights which creates an effect that produces strong contrasts of light and dark and can help create dramatic shadows and silhouettes. This effect is called chiaroscuro. The audience at the very start would have an enigma in their mind, they wouldn't know why the setting is in the woods and they aren't able to identify with the location/setting which usually disengages an audience, the audience can hear diegetic sounds of the woods at night and can also hear non diegetic music playing quietly in the background which adds to the scary atmosphere and helps build up tension. Non diegetic sounds of a voice over plays before any characters are shown, he tells the audience ‘over a century I have lived in secret’ which automatically shows them this character is not a human but immortal. The audience knows straight away the character talking is a vampire due to the title of the show giving the hint of the narrative away. The narrators voice is the only thing the audience can identify with at the moment. The music is some sense of an action code, the music gets slightly louder and louder which causes the audience to brace themselves as they are anticipating some sort of action or movement to scare them.

A crane shot of a car driving is used to show characters are travelling through the woods, and as this is being shown straight cut edits are used along with a whip pan. Sound bridge is used after the, voiceover stops speaking, of the music in the car, the audience hears this before we see a shot inside the car of an innocent couple driving along, and this creates a smooth transaction showing the relationship between the shots. The fog appears suddenly which is not normal and when they get out of the fog they hit a man, the woman shouts in panic, which shocks the audience.

Revenge

A zoom into the title is used into the blackness and a quote which refers to revenge is shown. "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves." -Confucius (504. BC) is a quote from a Chinese teacher and philosopher, it means that in revenge, not are you only going to hurt your target, but yourself as well, that no good comes out of seeking revenge. This foreshadows that Emily the protagonist who is the voice over is going to get hurt somehow on her request for revenge. That could mean somebody she cares about may die or get hurt in the process or in the result.

The voice over of Emily speaking of the past is non-diegetic, she speaks of insightful things that relate to revenge and she also says ‘Sunday school’ referring to being religious as on Sundays people go to church and children go to Sunday school to learn more about it.

A full moon with the light reflected in the water is shown after the quote to set the scene, being near the beach or shore, a full moon symbolises a number of things such as crime, suicide, mental illness and disasters which could foreshadow events in the story.

Pan from the moon and water to the body falling which the sound of a gun being shot creates enigma as we don’t know who was shot. Low key back lighting is used to show his suit showing he is a part of the party and creates a silhouette of his body lying on the ground. The music being played is contrapuntal to the event as it is soft and gentle which is something we wouldn’t associate with what is happening.

The name of the area is given as the audience may become confused without it as it isn’t something they can relate to.

Fireworks are a contrast against a dead body, as they represent happiness and death represents sadness, this creates binary oppositions and amplification as they are used at the same time. Binary oppositions are used in the party with an ice sculpture and fire place which are also two contrasts in the event being held.

The costume involves a dress code for the event, which is smart and high class which may suggest the people involved are wealthy and sophisticated, this links to the audience, the costumes could relate to the audience. Furthermore the dress code is a colour scheme of red and white it can relate to the opposites of fire and ice that are props in the party. On the other hand it could connote purity stained with blood and may relate to the narrative, these colours are used in the title and suggest a connection a purpose and a relation. Red can also connote danger as well as blood and fire which are elements of it.

We the audience know it is a wedding engagement as we see a cake with written information on the icing and tilt up to show pictures of a couple, Emily being the female character in them and sets the scene and event being held creating a clearer picture for the audience.

Iconography of violence is shown of a gun being triggered twice after the person is shot dead showing it isn’t an accident and more on purpose. The gun shot may be the disequilibrium based on Todorov’s narrative structures.

In the tent high key top lighting is used to make the characters look more glamorous and realistic with the contrast of light and dark much less pronounced.

Emily brushes sand off her hand and being near a beach could connote she was there where someone got shot she may be involved, a close up is used to show her facial expression of  shock and guilt and also suspicion when the girl come to speak to her connoting she could be a femme fatale. In the conversation with the girl, Emily explains Daniel a boy is on the beach and the audience seeing the gun and a dead body could suggest that he could be the one who was shot dead or the one shooting.

The conversation between the boy and Emily gives the audience an ominous feeling and also an indication they know each other and could have a relationship possibly friends. Foreboding feeling is reinforced when Nolan said ‘Nice night for it’ suggesting an event that may have or is going to occur along with ‘you shouldn’t be here’ meaning that it could cause trouble.