How was Englishness represented in Midsomer Murders?

(N.B. I had this ready for the day it was due but I thougt we were handing it in not blogging it as I thought it was part of a test).

Midsomer Murders has recently been reprimanded for its lack of ethnical diversity in its cast resulting in the suspension of one of the main producers. This has drawn to light how obvious the ways are that the show tries to show Englishness.
Camera:
For our clip of Midsomer Murders we chose the very first part of the first episode and series. This could arguably be the most “English” part with it being in more of an era where it was less normal to have a ethnically widespread cast. The first significant shot is a wide panning shot which shows you the cottages and the surrounding area. This is utilised because it gives you a sense of where you are (in this case the countryside). This view is after a view of a sign which reads “Best Kept Village”. This is quintessentially English as it’s often what’s done in many villages in England. There are several close ups after this, these show the different types of people that live in these sorts of village and the variety that are there. Another shot shows two older women talking together which although is not just limited to England is one of the things that people think of when they hear village.
One of the next camera shots to be mentioned is the shot of the old woman locking up her bike. The shot is seen from a low angle giving it the appearance of a voyeur shot, meaning that you’re not supposed to be there. This is replicated in the next shot which is a long shot of the woman walking through the forest. This also gives the idea that she is being watched unknowingly. More shots follow in the same manner, also the way in which the shot looks like it’s being filmed with a handycam makes it seem as if you are seeing this as a P.O.V. (Point Of View) shot.
Mise en Scene:
The first shot is of a woman riding her bicycle through a village, the bicycle in this sense tends to be a very English method of transportation especially through the road with cottages, also a very English image. The next clip features an obviously old car which looks to be very “English”. You also see horses which in the English countryside it’s a very common sight to see horses sharing the road with cars and tractors.
You also see the “Post Office” which has always been a traditionally English thing with the red sign being recognised throughout the country. Also seen are the fly screen which are usually seen in English butchers shops. Also featured is a Walls ice cream sign which is another quintessentially English brand. The clothing of the characters seen is also English in appearance with bright summer colours worn along with the bandanas worn in the style of the working women posters from the war. Also seen is a garishly patterned cardigan which has always been a fault of the English wearing those but they do represent us as a nation.
Props seen that are very English include the wicker baskets that all of the women carry in this clip at one point or another. Also included are the old style English camera that the woman uses to take a photo of the flower. Next the idea of the “Peeping Tom” of the neighbour out of the window, which in itself make her look like she’s trapped behind bars. Also English is the idea of the “Beehive Cottage” all of the cottages being given names.
The combination of the old style telephone which has been used for years in Britain and is also very English, also with the cup of tea which has always been English, just as the coffee has been to the French and also alcohol to the Scottish.
Sound:
Throughout almost the entire clip there is non-diegetic sound playing in the background. This follows the mood of the clip as it goes along. For instance, at first when everything is calm and the old lady is cycling down the line of cottages the sound is calm and happy, this carries on for about a minute and a half, in which time there is also diegetic sound playing, this includes the car as it comes around the corner, but most noticeably the village dweller’s voices which for the most part are very upper class English, in other words posh. Also the sound of the horse’s hooves on the road which is heard around many parts of England.
When it gets to the scene where the woman is in the woods the non-diegetic background music fades out which helps the audience focus more on what’s going on in the show and also hints that the content may be beginning to get slightly darker. All you can hear is the rustling of the leaves underfoot and in the wind and also the birds in the trees, all examples of diegetic sound. The next sound you can hear is of a man panting in the background, (thankfully) we cannot see what he is doing, the birds begin to flap distracting the man long enough to stop. The non-diegetic background music comes back but this time it is much deeper and slow in a way. Immediately giving the idea of trouble but then again nothing particularly English about it.

Hollyoaks Scene Evaluations

Serious
Camera:
The shots in the more serious scene are very un-dramatic and very slow moving. They are mid shots of four people sitting on two sofas. These shots could be used to represent the two sides of the argument that is being had, with on one side the two sisters who are needed by the long lost dad on the other side with their other sister. This obviously is made less complicated if you watched or have watched this program before.
The angles of the camera never changes except from the penultimate shot where on of the sisters walks out of the house and the shot looks as if its been taken from a camera set in the corner of the room , this gives the impression that you’re spying on them and are not supposed to be there.
There is no actual camera movement in the clip except from when the first shot is taken and the camera moves up from behind one of the sofas to face the other one, this is also tied into and over the shoulder shot of the father also giving you the impression that you’re there.Editing:
One of the mentionable aspects is about how the shots between the light-hearted and serious scene were bridged, the only noticeable thing was that immediately with the sound of the slamming door the shot changed to the man in the wheelchair wheeling himself across the grounds of the school.Sound:
For this particular scene there are no sound effects or music which works well I think works well in keeping the tone serious.
Most of that sounds that you can hear are just sounds of traffic in the background. Also the sound of a kettle boiling, this could signify the way in which the conversation is about to “heat up” into an argument. This keeps it serious but also engaging.Mise en scene:
The way in which the actors portray themselves in the scene is a much more calm but also in a much more “concentrated” way, the characters are very quiet but you can tell they are in no way timid about showing their feelings.
The lighting in the serious scene is obviously much darker than in the light-hearted scene.
This gives the effects that it’s a much darker time for the family.
The colour looks much more toned down in the serious scene than in the light-hearted one as well.Light-hearted
Camera:
In this scene the shots change more frequently which means that the scene seems to be much more lively and you get to see more of what’s going on.
The main opening shot is of the man wheeling his chair across the playground and the girl standing by the windows, this is a long shot which also give you a better idea of what’s going on around them.
The shots are mainly over the shoulder which is interesting given the height difference between the pupil and teacher and the feelings of power or fear.Editing:
There are only very basic amounts of editing in this scene as there are no transitions which are more than just a split second switch from one shot to the other. Sound:
There is only one noticeable sound effects used in this that isn’t something like children running about or cars on the road.
This is when the pupil sees a set of speakers through a window in which a yodelling sound is played, this probably has some sort of link towards something that she does later in the show.
Most of the sound is just the pupil and the child talking, you can also tell it’s a more light-hearted scene from the way that jokes are made.
　Mise en scene:
The way that the people act and deliver their lines definitely supports this being a less serious scene to follow the other obviously more serious scene.
The lighting of the scene is much more bright than the serious scene which helps keep it from being serious.The colour of the scene is also much brighter which travels well when you look at it across from the less serious scene.

TV Drama : BBC

What do the following reveal about the importance of TV drama for terrestrial broadcasters in Britain?

BBC trailers like "The One For Drama" (Now "The One To Watch")
- The changing of the title suggests that the channel is trying to open itself up to a much wider audience, this is done by not just sticking itself to one paticular genre but making it available to more of an audience, for people who like comedy or horror and thriller.

Promotion of Autumn schedules
- People may be more likely to watch television in the autum as it's cold and nobody wants to go outside, so watching TV may seem like a better idea.

I'd like to point out that I didn't get as far as I could have was it not for HANNAH WINTER TURNING OFF MY COMPUTER!!!!

How does the skins promo trailer create representation for young people?

How does the skins promo trailer create representation for young people?

  When it comes to the editing of the trailer it fits in really well with the idea of being out of control. It cuts sharply from shot to shot giving the impression that it's much more fast paced than other shows. But it also fits in with the music which is also very fast paced (Standing In The Way Of Control – Gossip). This also agrees with the main idea of teenagers at this age being wild and rebellious. The whole trailer was filmed over what was supposed to be one night of the same party. The way it is put together from start to finish shows how at the beginning everyone is having a good time and enjoying themselves, but as the night goes on it gets worse. People start breaking things and the main couple starts to argue. This is a good way of showing how things can change so quickly when kids are let loose with themselves when they are causing chaos.

 The main thing to talk about with the camera angles is that all of the shots are made by using an unsupported camera to walk about the party. This gives a really good effect that you are a person at the party, helping you understand how and why the kids are behaving as they are. From what I saw most of the camera shots nearer the beginning were from a lower angle making them look bigger, more powerful and like they're having a great time.

 But, as the night and trailer goes on the characters are starting to be viewed from a higher angle making them look smaller, so for when the scenes of throwing up are happening it makes them look smaller and more insignificant. Helping with the idea of the end of the night being “messier” than the beginning.

 

When it comes to things inside the mise-en-scene such as the costume, all the costumes denote that they are from a similar are an social standing. This is deceiving as it is a very different situation in the actual TV show. But this also means that it may be deceiving in the way that it shows teenagers. Especially if we compare it to the extract we have watched. Again when it comes to the mise-en-scene and we think about the location, the party is set in just a normal house which adds to the realism of the program as it is a normal "house party". Not a club in a VIP area which would be much less realistic.

When it comes to props there is a very large variation of types of props from bear suits to bongs. This is supposed to help it be beleiveable that these kids are normal people. A lot of the pictures show them engaging in recreational drug use and sexual activities which ignores the usual "taboos" of these subjects again showing that they are normal teenagers.

Narrative Structures

Vladamir Propp

Vladimir Propp used the Russian Formalist approach to form his ideas of narrative structure. This means that sentence structures were made to be broken down into elements that could be easily analysed, and Propp used this method to analyse Russian fairy tales.

After the first situation is laid out, the tale takes the following order of 31 functions:
1) Absentation
2) Interdiction
3) Violation of interdiction
4) Reconnaissance
5) Delivery
6) Trickery
7) Complicity
8) Villany or Lack
9) Mediatation
10) Beginning counter-action
11)Departure
12) First funcion of the donor
13) Hero's reaction
14) Repciet of a magical agent
15) Guidance
16) Struggle
17) Branding
18) Victory
19) Liquidation
20) Return
21) Pursuit
22) Rescue
23) Unrecognised arrival
24) Unfound claims
25) Difficult task
26) Solution
27) Recognition
28) Exposure
29) Transfiguration
30) Punishment
31 Wedding

Characters:
He also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into 8 broad character types in the 100 tales he analyzed:

1. The villain — struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher —character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.
4. The princess or prize — the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. the hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, thereby beating the villain.
5. her father — gives the task to the hero, identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.
6. The donor —prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
8. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Toderov's Theory of the narrative

Claude Levi-Strauss:

Thought about narrative structure in terms of binary oppositions. Binary oppositions are sets of opposite values which look at the structure of media texts and other examples of media. Examples include Good and Evil, Hero and Villan and Day and Night. Levi-Strauss was less interested in looking at the way in which events are arranged, but the themes arrangement and how they affect the things around them.

What is TV Drama?

TV Drama is a hard thing to generalise into just one twerm as there are so many variations. Simply it is fictionalised action in narrative form. You have to understand the main ways in which TV Drama splits into different broadcast types.

- The Accused
- The Bill
- Eastenders
- Coronation Street

- Holby City

- Casualty 

- Hollyoaks

- Emmerdale

- Neighbours

- Teachers

- Waterloo Road

TV Drama and other genres:

- Survivors - Horror + Drama

- Doctor Who - Sci-Fi + Drama

- Misfits - Comedy + Drama

- Skins - Comedy + Drama

- Being Human - Sci-Fi + Drama

- Genre means kind or type

-  A television genre refers to a tv programme which have things in common so can be categorised.

- Many genres break down into sub-genres. Crime drama has become a genre in itsw own right.

- Because of tv drama the number of sub-genres has risen, such as costume dramas, children's classic dramas and soap operas. This happened in the 50's as the BBc was evolving and ITV first began broadcasting. 

Costume Dramas: Cranford, The Tudors

Childrens Classic Drama: Grange Hill, Byker Grove

Soap Operas: Friends, The Bill, Coronation Street.