TV Drama Title Sequences

TV Drama Title Sequences

Sherlock 

The title sequence begins with an ariel/ establishing shot to show where the show is taking place, in this case it is London but is time lapsed/speeded up to maybe connotate the movement of time, how the city remains the same as people get on with their day-to-day lives, while Sherlock is saving lives and investigating while this is happening. The shot then fades to another shot but introducing the title along with the setting of London.

The title is in block capitals which could reinforce the importance of Sherlock. The font is broard and similarly resembles the Johnston font used in London subways, showing that Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat (creators) chose this font for the title because it is a font used very commonly around London so again signify the setting of the show.

A blurred focus shows Sherlock with a magnifying glass, hinting at the crime-drama mystery that the show is, giving the audience an insight into the show itself. 

This is followed by quick zoom ins onto random objects, inferring that these are clues in the mystery of the cases that Sherlock conducts as items such as a stained cloth (?), gun and flesh are focused on for a few milliseconds as then the main cast names are shown.

The Walking Dead

The title sequence consists of a theme of desolation and darkness as the beginning shows a black screen with just the non-diegetic sound of the theme tune, until the first shot is shown of a mass pile up of empty cars, how everyone has left, which could infer the whole zombie-apocalyptic idea of human survival, which is the basis of the show. This image connotates to the viewer that something bad worldwide as people have all left their cars behind which could also imply that there is a loss of control. 

There is then a cut to a shallow focus of a sheriff's badge, focusing on how the badge is important in that the main character, Rick Grimes, was a sheriff and he is trying to keep order in the show as he is the protagonist. This image could also foreshadow the loss of order in the show's society  but could also connotate that even though there is little hope, there are still people trying to keep order.

The intro also uses a similar image cut, using a shallow focus on 2 crossbows in a tree, inferring that people are fighting to survive with weapons. This focus also implies the character behind the weapon, Daryl Dixon as the cast names are shown alongside each image (the one before, Andrew Lincoln, was shown) . In this case, Norman Reedus' name is shown as he is the actor who plays Daryl. 

Another frame used is a extreme close up shot of a zombie's eye, 

Guardian vs. Daily Mail

The Guardian and Daily Mail Front Page Research

Guardian cover 1:

The Guardian's headline here suggests from the language register that these Migrants should be sympathized and helped due to the word 'most lethal', describing the trip that they had to take oversea. This shows that the Guardian is left wing biased as the viewpoint suggests that readers should pity and help these poor people due to the lethal trip to Italy. This is emphasized through the image as it shows migrants struggling to get off of the boat along with a baby being lowered down to get to safety, showing how dangerous the route is, even getting off the boat is a struggle. This coverage could be negative in saying that it is harsh that these people are treated like this but his can also be viewed as unbiased because it is not being shown in a strong negative or positive light. This appeals to the target audience as it tries to create the readers sympathy for the migrants through the language and image used which is relevant to the target audience as they feel sorry for the people involved.

Daily Mail cover 1:

This headline in comparison to the Guardian, shows the migrants from a negative viewpoint as 'crime' and 'violence' is blamed on them in a biased factual representation as the Daily Mail represents the migrants here as the bad people as we are being told that they are committing bad acts into Italy's society. This cover in comparison is much more biased into the emotions that the readers should input from reading this, creating a negative view as the words chosen show unsympathetic feelings towards these migrants. This shows the views that migrants shouldn't be welcomed into countries as it is stereotyped here that they are violent and are criminals. 

Guardian Cover 2:

This headline and cover image from the guardian shows refugees in from sympathetic viewpoint though the image and words portrayed. This can be inferred through the headline as the quote of: 'they downed before our eyes' shows the pain that they've suffered from one of the refugees point of view and how upsetting it must be for them, creating the reader to feel sorry for those involved and those lives that have been lost. This can also be reinforced by the image as it shows a refugee mourning over those that are dead, making the readers feel upset by this tragedy; this shows that the Guardian has a sympathetic viewpoint towards these refugees, influencing the reader's viewpoint.

Daily Mail Cover 2:

In contrast, the Daily Mail's headline and cover image shows the refugees in an unbiased light as they are stating what happened factually rather than from any viewpoint as if they showed a negative viewpoint they may be accused as being rude and unsympathetic to the deaths of families and children. They use a graphic image to show to people how horrible it was for them as there are clearly dead children from the tragedy, being surrounded by those mourning over the lives lost. This could either create disgust for the reader or sympathy as they could either think that it was the refugees fault in the first place as they knew the consequences of the route or that the image is very saddening, making the reader sympathetic, showing that the overall viewpoint can go both ways at it is unbiased.

News: The Political Landscape of Britain

Political Parties

Right Wing

The Conservative Party

• Led by Theresa May
• Right wing 
• Triggered Brexit
• A mix of right wing and centralist
• The current party of parliament in Britain

UKIP

• The UK Independence Party
• Right wing
• Sovereignist party who wants EU withdrawal 
• 2015 - obtained 1 member of parliament
• Holds xenophobic attitudes 
• Has 7 members in European parliament 

BNP

• British National Party 
• Extreme right wing
• Nationalistic views
• Xenophobic views
• Has no members of parliament 

Centre Parties

Liberal Democrats

• Formed in 1988
• Centre party
• A mixture of social conservatives and social democrats
• pro-European
• Shared power with the Conservative party until 2015
• In the 2015 election they lost majority of their MPs

The Green Party

• Centre-left party
• Middle class
• Committed to the promotion of environmental issues
• Has 1 member of parliament since 2010

Left Wing Parties

The Labour Party

• Includes the smaller co-operative party
• Leader from 2010-2015 was Ed Miliband
• Leader now is Jeremy Corbyn
• Supported and funded by British trade unions but not influenced by them 
• After the recession in the 1970s, Tony Blair who transformed it into a modern social democratic party
• It is made up of local parties, British trade unions and other associations
• They rival with the Conservatives

Respect

• Was lead by George Galloway who was it's sole MP until 2015.
• Left wing.

The Communist Party of Great Britain

• Marginal
• Has only ever had 2 elected MPs
• Never been a mass party
• Had its peak in the 1940s

Main Regional and Nationalist Parties

Scottish Nationalist Party

• The most important political party in Scotland (currently)
• Left of centre nationalist party
• Nicola Sturgeon - party leader
• Party wanted to remain in the EU
• In the 2017 election it lost 19 of 50 seats in parliament but still holds a majority 

Plaid Cymru -Welsh Nationalist Party

• A major Welsh party
• Used to control the Welsh assembly but now on a par with the Labour party
• 2017 - 3 MPs in the UK parliament

Democratic Unionist Party  

• Conservative Protestant majority party  in Northern Ireland 
• In favour of Brexit
• Formed in 1971
• 2017- the DUP has agreed to support the Conservatives in the Westminster Parliament
• The DUP has 10 MPs

Sinn Fein 

• Majority party among the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland
• In favour of Northern Ireland being withdrew from the UK

SDLP

• Social Democratic Party and Labour Party of Northern Ireland 
• Non-sectarian social democratic party  
• Made up of Catholics and Protestants 

Stranger Things

Stranger Things Research

The production companies of Stranger Things are 21 laps entertainment and Monkey Massacre as well as Netflix as a distributor and the executive producers are The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen. The writers and directors of Stranger Things are the Duffer Brothers.

The cast main consists of:

Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven,

Gaten Matarazzo who plays Dustin,

Finn Wolfhard who plays Michael,

Caleb McLaughlin who plays Lucas, 

Winona Ryder who plays Joyce,

Noah Schnapp who plays Will,

David Harbour who plays Chief Hopper,

Natalia Dyer who plays Nancy,

Joe Keery who plays Steve Harrington.

Stranger Things has a large social media presence as they consistently tweet on Twitter, own a Facebook page, a Wiki, fan forums and have a large following of fans which have created the Stranger Things fandom.

It has a good critical impact as the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes show that it has a rating of 95% from 66 votes with a 5/5 star rating too, which clearly indicates that many people enjoy the show. On Metacritic it has a rating of 76% but with 34 reviews determining that percentage but has a great 4/5 star rating, again showing that the show is approved by many.

It has a large cultural impact as it is talked about a lot online as well as some magazines featuring the show.

Awards that the show has won:

The American Film Institute in the Top 10 TV Programs of the Year,

The Dragon Awards Best Sci-fi or Fantasy TV Series,

Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series, Outstanding Main Title Design and Outstanding Original Main Title The Music,

Gold Derby TV Awards: Best Drama Series and Breakthrough Performer of the Year (Millie Bobby Brown),

Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing: TV Short Form - Music,

Hollywood Music in Media Awards Outstanding Music Supervision Television,

MTV Movie and TV Awards: TV Show of the Year and Best Actor in a TV Show (Millie Bobby Brown),

The Male Gaze

Jason Derulo- Want To Want Me

The singer looks at the audience with a serious seductive, almost cheeky expression which could symbolize, from the camera cut from his lover, that he is singing to her but looking at the audience as if we are who he is singing about and/or to. He also looks pleadingly and bites his lip connotating that  he has sexual desire reinforced by the lyrics and cut scenes to him laying him bed naked with is lover the opposite side of the wall in a bed feeling up and down her body heightening the need or desire. 

The audience is looking at the movement of the singer and his lover, deciphering what it connotates and the dance moves of Derulo which can be interpreted as sexual with suggestive hip movements along with his lovers movements.

Doctor Foster

Doctor Foster

The main character is a female named Doctor Foster, she is represented as an independent woman as she takes it on herself to find out about what her husband has been doing when she's not there. She has also been represented as a questioning woman who is trying to delve into the mystery about her husband. She is also shown as somewhat strong in dealing with the facts that she finds as from the trailer I can see that she seems to show anger in her face but doesn't portray that outwardly but then a knife is shown into the equation which shows the climax as it foreshadows that there is going be be physical violence. 

This contrasts with the previous conceptions of female stereotypes as in this show I can clearly see that a female character takes the main role along with other female characters playing a strong part in the series. This idea juxtaposes with other shows as many female characters take the background role and are submissive to the male, whereas, in this, Doctor Foster steps out of that stereotype into becoming independent by doing things herself. 

The people who produced Doctor Foster are female, one of them is Suranne Jones who also happens to play Doctor Foster in the series. This alters the way the characters may be constructed due to females producing the show which might create counter-stereotyped female characters and more antagonist male characters in reverse to mainstream sexist stereotyped shows.

The target audience would be adults (mainly women) from around the age 20 to 50 as the producers are female, the cast is mostly strong female characters so it is in a influenced perspective of a female so a female audience is most likely to watch it. The director's viewpoints are put into the show's context so influence a more female viewpoint of the show to the audience. 

Guardian and Daily Mail Annotations

Representation of Gender

How is the representation of gender constructed in the text?

Mad Men

In 'Mad Men' the representation of gender is shown to have very strong sexist viewpoints towards women in the 1960s. The director has done this to show to a modern audience the ideas of gender inequality at that time in contrast to modern society.

Firstly, the camera starts at an ariel view or an establishing shot which sets the scene for where the action is going to take place. A close up is also used when the woman steps into the elevator so emphasize that she is being looked down upon by the males at the back as one of them says "I have a nice view" referring to the woman who stays quiet which shows that male dominance is a large concept in the 1960s society as she knows that if she says anything back to him she could lose her new job. A tracking shot is used in majority of the scene, following around the main characters in the office, showing that it is busy because there are many people working as the characters are followed around the building, showing the importance of the workplace. A point of view shot has also been used to show the audience how it feels to be that character as they are being spoken to; was also used alongside an over the shoulder shot. Lastly, shallow focus was used to signify the card that one of the men held up to the boss who was on the phone to his wife in which he suggested for her to "go shopping" which is a basic stereotype of the idea that women love shopping, reinforcing that the director made this for a modern audience to see how women, in those times, were seen as inferior, making the modern audience shocked that women were treated in such ways beforehand, contrasting to today's society.

Sound was use to create multiple effects of setting the scene. Ambiance was used on multiple occasions as there were synchronous sounds such as telephone ringing, typewriters and chatter to connotate to the audience that it is set in an office. Music was also used to show when the male characters came in to show that they had authority over everyone else, reinforcing the idea of a patriarchal society with the male domination, showing the importance of them in the workplace. Diegetic sound was also used as there was dialogue between the characters speaking and there was very little conversation between men and women, inferring that they should not be associated with one another as men have a higher status.

There was basic editing techniques used as cuts and continuity editing was used a lot as well as shot-reverse-shots when the characters were interacting. When these were used, the conversations were only between two females or many males, showing that there are more men in the workplace to overpower the women as well as the women can only talk to their own gender and when speaking to the males they need to have respect as no shot reverse shot was used for male to female conversations as the men and women didn't speak for a long time with each other showing that the men had better things to do as they were walking past whenever a woman spoke to them.

The mise-en-scene introduced the scene into a busy city setting in a 1960s New York with lots of people and cars, focusing on a large building, setting the scene into the office inside- showing how busy it was by the workers in the background. This creates an awareness for the audience to understand the 60s society with gender inequality as then we have the baseline for understanding the sexist viewpoints in the show later on.

TV Drama Research Task

TV Dramas

Sherlock - Broadcast on the BBC

Wounded Afghan veteran Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) meets brilliant consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and moves into a flat on 221B Baker Street with him. They work as detectives, looking in detail at crimes that can't be easily solved.

Doctor Who -  Broadcast on the BBC

The Doctor is a renegade Time Lord: an eccentric, highly-intelligent scientist from a distant planet. He travels through time and space in the TARDIS, a curious device, larger on the inside than on the outside, which was designed to change its appearance to suit its surroundings. The series consists of seeing aliens and solving mysteries due to these aliens. 

The Walking Dead - Broadcast on AMC (America) Fox TV (UK)

The only way to permanently kill a walker (zombie) is to damage its brain or otherwise fully destroy the body, such as by cremating it. The series centres on sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes, who wakes up from a coma to discover this apocalypse. He tries to survive whilst finding a place to shelter with other survivors of the apocalypse.

Breaking Bad- Broadcast on AMC (America) Fox TV (UK)

To make sure his family is financially secure, he teams up with a former student Jesse Pinkman and turns to a life of crime to make and distribute the purest crystal meth on the streets. A once loyal father and chemistry teacher, Walter White, turns to a life of crime due to developing stage 3 terminal lung cancer.

Orphan Black- Broadcast on BBC

The series begins with Sarah Manning, a con artist, witnessing the suicide of a woman, Beth Childs, who appears to be her doppelgänger. Sarah assumes Beth's identity and occupation (as a police detective) after Beth's death. During the first season, Sarah discovers that she is a clone, that she has many 'sister' clones spread throughout North America and Europe that are all part of an illegal human cloning experiment, and that someone is plotting to kill them and her.

Mad Men - Broadcast on AMC (America) Fox TV (UK)

The first season opens in March 1960, as genius advertising executive Donald "Don" Draper meets Peggy Olson, his new secretary. They both work at the small but prestigious agency Sterling Cooper. Though Don is welcoming towards her, Peggy is subject to passive-aggressive hostility from office manager Joan Holloway and sexual harassment from her male colleagues. Junior accounts manager Pete Campbell, who is about to get married, takes a liking to Peggy and the two have sex the night of his bachelor party. Don, meanwhile, has trouble balancing his life as he cheats on his repressed wife, Betty Draper, with a beatnik artist named Midge Daniels. Roger Sterling, the acerbic son of one of Sterling Cooper's founding partners, cheats on his wife, Mona, with Joan, with whom he is enamoured.

Reviews

Power

The trailer for season one is intriguing as I can see the basis of the plot and how things seem to be unsteady underneath as a plot hole to be created with the tension and risk of the ideas in the show. The season 2 trailer becomes more tense, making the situation for the main characters even worse which then involves guns and violence between main characters to try and save their reputation. Even though this looks intriguing to watch, I don't think the genre is very interesting for me.

True Blood

The trailer for True Blood is really interesting, making me intrigued to watch the aeries. This is because it has multiple elements of comedy, violence, tension and romance from what has been shown so far. It seems a simple idea but much more extensive with a problematic plot when things go wrong which makes it look like a good series to watch.

Orphan Black (I put this above as a synopsis but never watched it)

This program also looks very intriguing to watch. It has an interesting plot which takes place in the age where cloning humans is developing so women have been cloned and placed over the world which then find out that they are clones as they meet together with each other. To add to the plot, someone is out to kill all the clones so there is violence and mystery which makes it look like a good program to watch.

Mad Men (I put this above as a synopsis but never watched it)

The trailer to me seems to show the show as boring, probably because it is set in the past, but underneath that, towards the end I can see that there are hidden elements that haven't been emphasised on which show tension and mystery, This isn't the type of show I'd be willing to watch as it seems slightly bland with an un-shown plot twist to make it interesting as it doesn't give the viewer any plot information.

Stranger Things

The Stranger Things trailer is highly intriguing as it has the element of horror but mystery at the same time which makes it look like a good show to watch as from the trailer I get the idea of the plot and a view on some of the characters and what part they play which makes me want to watch it to find out what happened.

Game Of Thrones

I'm not really interested in this show after watching the trailer as it seems to mostly be about relationships and fighting which looks to be an occurring motif in the show. It shows progression in later season trailers but mainly focuses on one perspective and seems confusing when watching it which is why I'm not intrigued to watch it.

Representation of teenagers in the Daily Mail

Cover 1 - 

This image from a Daily Mail cover condones to the audience that teens are not responsible enough to handle such situations an that it is a big deal. As well as some of the teens in the photo having their faces blurred as if they are criminals even though the two shown look happy. They represent these teens as irresponsible with having such a job which is most-likely reinforced by other opinions that the Daily Mail has of teens though stereotypes. This cover shows that the Daily Mail has a negative view on teenagers through emphasis on 'life an death' in bold to show that it is ridiculous that people have allowed teens to answer such calls. These attitudes are not fair as the Daily Mail strongly stereotypes teens with reoccurring stories of negative behaviour, making them out to be criminals so all teens are stereotyped in the same way by the audience. The audience would mainly consist of adults and some elderly who are not shocked but drawn in by these news stories as they may already have a stereotyped opinion due to other headlines which are not as surprising. This audience is most likely to read these news stories as they are interested in what is happening in the world.

Cover 2 -

This cover represents teenagers in a negative light, associating them with violence, destruction and gangs which makes them seem as horrible people.This makes viewers have a stereotypical idea that teens are all in gangs and are violent, making the occurrence exaggerated as much as possible. They are yet again represented in a negative viewpoint as the title is from a first person perspective making it seem like the same could happen to the readers themselves to make them want to buy it. The graphic detail in the description reinforces the idea that teens are horrid which makes readers have a stereotypical negative view of them. This attitude is unfair as it possesses a single sided point of view which is biased, over-hating on teenagers. From this I can see that these negative ideas connotate the overall stereotypes that are made of teens.

Cover 3 -

This cover from the Daily Mail illustrates that teenagers are killing themselves in a negative tone that implies that they are doing it for attention through the word 'another' which implies that this has happened on multiple occasions in these news stories and that they are becoming tired of the same boring news. They are trying to justify that the suicides are linked to a 'internet cult' in which, shows that they story is not sympathetic for the teens taking their lives but more for drama into a conspiracy mystery theory.  The choice of wording in the title: 'hangs herself' is very sharp and unsympathetic in a tone that would show how the newspaper does not care for these deaths, stating it as if it is a normal thing to do. The teens shown are represented as careless and stupid for doing such things as it seems that they are more of an irritation than something to sympathise with. This attitude is shown to be unfair as stereotypes of teens killing themselves as well as being associated with the internet make it even more stereotyped. The audience are most likely to be adults who are intrigued by these headlines and want to read on to the conspiracy to find out what actually happened, which makes them buy the paper, in which, the Daily Mail then gets money from.

The Male Gaze in the media