How does Bleak House build up tension and mystery in this extract?

Bleak House is a television adaptation of the classic Dickens’s tale shown on BBC One. Although it conforms to some of the conventions of the period drama genre, it also brings ideas and techniques from other genres and creates drama in a modern and contemporary way.

The music plays a big part in building tension and mystery in this piece, with eerie sound effects and rising pitches coming in at crucial points in the drama. It is appropriate for the genre and time period, with classical instruments like violin and piano. There’s also a faint heartbeat sound effect in the background, a concept taken from the hospital drama genre to add suspense and predetermine that something fatal may happen, this sound effect comes in just before Lady Deadlock faints.

Bleak House creates a realistic sense of voyeurism through the composition and mise en scene, this engages the audience making them sit on the edge of their seats and allowing them to feel more involved as if spying on the characters. There are frequently objects in the foreground of the scene obscuring full vision and giving the impression that the audience are spying where they shouldn’t be. This also makes have to concentrate more, almost as though they have to work out the mystery themselves. Lady Dedlock walks straight across the camera at one point, suggesting she is out of vision and out of the picture now; at the end of the clip, Lady Dedlock is seen looking into a mirror, with objects in the way, this shows her reflection and again creates voyeurism.

As Lady Dedlock is about to faint, the camera work becomes shaky and has a handheld effect; this reflects her state of mind and predetermines what is about to happen. The handheld camera effect is taken from the thriller/horror genre, used to engage the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. It allows the audience to relate to the feeling of being dizzy and light-headed. Effects are also used to blur the handwriting of the letter that Lady Dedlock looks at, a point of view shot to again show her state of mind and physical state. Extreme close ups are also used as Lady Dedlock looks at the letter, the camera sharply zooms into the ‘J’, showing her focus and allowing the audience to piece together the plot puzzle themselves.

As the lodger, Nemo, comes into his room, throwing his money onto the desk the editing repeatedly cuts, missing out pieces of action and showing his frantic search for money. A sharp zoom is also used as soon as Nemo comes through the door, predetermining him as some sort of villain and supporting his frantic and hectic state. A much slower zoom is used on the character of Mr Tulkinghorn, this contrasts his character as different to Nemo, a higher class and status but still one of ‘the bad guys’ in the episode.

Overall, the combination of camera work, composition and music contribute to building tension and mystery, the purpose of this programme genre. It keeps the audience well engaged and in suspense.

Realism and Drama in Soaps

Many soap operas try to generate a balance between realism and drama to keep the storylines as realistic as possible and therefore relate with the audience. Realism presents the emotional side of characters, showing their feelings and situations. Drama/Naturalism is heightened reality, showing the more physical and exaggerated side of stories. It is vital to maintain this balance so the soap opera is believable, if too much naturalism was used, it would be far too over the top and the audience would not be able to relate with it as well as they could. However with a lack of realism, there would be no real drama, nothing to keep the audience's attention and keep them on the edge of their seats.
For example in Hollyoaks, there was a storyline based on the issue of homosexuality, with John Paul coming out and having a relationship with his best friend Craig. This story was then extended with the arrival of a Catholic Priest, Kieron who ends up having an affair with John Paul and eventually becoming engaged. The issue of homosexuality is an everyday issue in our society, something the audience recognise, however to keep the audiences attention with a shocking storyline, the Catholic Priest is brought in, to overexaggerate and create drama.
Coronation Street on the other hand, aims to attract a more mature audience, with it's realistic setting, use of real time, and sense of close community and family.

Skins Representation

‘Skins’ manages to attract a large teenage audience by showing youth in a stereotypical yet quite realistic way, using a variety of characters that the audience can relate with. Through the micro aspects of mise-en-scene, sound, camera angles and shots, the characters in Skins are shown as typical teenagers, through the ideas of sex, appearance and religion. In the opening sequence, the character ‘Sid’ is shown laying in bed, in a messy room with his phone ringing. This mise en scene shows Sid to be a lazy, untidy person, reinforcing the stereotype of teenage boys. The constant cuts between the different phone calls, the talk of a party and the pace of the footage, of Tony constantly walking demonstrates the hectic social lifestyle, another typical teenage trait. The calls that leader Tony makes

Character Profiles

'The Gay One'







Stereotypes of Homosexuals:

• highlighted hair
• physically fit
• bitchy
• hairdressing
• dancing
• feminine
• concerned with appearance
• gossip
• high pitched voices

The character of Maxxie in the first and second series of Skins conforms to the stereotype of gay people, we are first introduced to him tap dancing in a dance studio. He has quite a high voice and is wearing tap shoes and a patterned beret on his head, this adds to his femininity.
He is presented as very feminine, as a dancer and performer. We also see him high five his 'coach', however it is clear that the coach is also gay, by his posture and outfit as well. The audience assumes something is going on between these two characters. These conventions allow the audience to recognise Maxxie as 'the gay one' in this programme.

Most of the storylines attached to Maxxie's character are about Maxxie having homosexual relationships, falling for his straight friend Tony, arguing with his Dad about leaving college to become a dancer and getting agro from some gay-hating, ASBO boys on his estate. Although some of it may be exaggerated and unrealistic, these storylines are also very typical of a gay persons circumstances, falling for straight people and getting confronted by homophobic people and a traditional society.

'The Geek'








Stereotypes of Geeks

• Clever
• Outcast
• Poor at sports
• Awkward and weird
• Glasses
• Video games and computers
  
• No social life

The character of Sid conforms to some of these stereotypes of geeky/nerdy teenagers, we are introduced to him when he is lying in bed surrounded by an extremely messy room and he is presented more as the typical teenager at first, than the geek, with his Dad shouting at him as well. However when he's on the phone to friend Tony, he puts on his glasses and we hear that Sid is a 17 year old virgin and will even go as far to sleep with his best mate's girlfriend. His glasses and virginity add to the geeky stereotype represented by Sid.

The storylines attached to Sid however, reverse his geeky character label, he is connected with more than one girl and eventually finds himself a girlfriend, who is also very weird. He has many family issues, like divorce and the death of his Grandad and Sid finds himself failing college. As geeks are supposed to be academic geniuses, this goes against the typical geek label, also being associated with girls shows him as much less of a geek although the relationships he has are very awkward and he finds it hard to show his feelings.

How is sexuality portrayed in Torchwood?

There are many stereotypes of homosexuals in today’s society, in the fight scene in Torchwood, Series 2, we see some of these stereotypes confirmed and some are reversed.

Homosexual people are often represented through the media as overly feminine and concerned with their appearance. In this scene, close ups are used to show the character Captain John pouting and to show how groomed the two men are. With a closer look at the characters we see that they have feminine ways and care about their appearance, with perfect teeth and slick hair. There is also a close up of the drinks, being spirits and shots rather than beer, which most men are expected to drink. These reinforce the stereotype of homosexuals being feminine.

After the fight, the camera pans around the characters, keeping to the 180 degree rule, and cutting from one face to the other. This movement shows the characters closeness after the fight, which was used as a metaphor for sex, showing their passion and enjoyment through violence. The intimacy and passion shown by this movement, presents their relationship as a homosexual relationship, representing gay people as being openly intimate with one another. This passion is also presented by the colour in the scene being mostly red, the colour of passion, and a fire on the plasma screen behind them when they kiss.

The dialogue in this scene contains each character making jokes about their appearance, ‘you’re losing your hair’, ‘you’ve put on weight’, their banter and flirting shows their flirty nature with one another but also shows a bitchy tone, representing gay people as flirty and fun, although very bitchy in confrontations. In the cab, we see the other characters talking about Captain Jack as more fun and mysterious, which supports this idea.

Some of these stereotypes in this scene however, are reversed. The violence in the scene breaks the feminine stereotype as it shows them as more manly and tough. The heavy drinking and fighting also shows this. The violence is accompanied by the non-diegetic soundtrack of Blur-Song2, presenting the chaos but also enjoyment of the fight. The sounds of the fight are emphasised to involve the audience and make the fight more intense. The fight is also shown as fast paced, by the exclusion of certain shots during the hitting and getting up again. This shows that it is an intense fight but also aggressive, as very masculine men would fight, again reversing the feminine stereotype of gay people.

The mise en scene has a western feel, with the ‘Bar Reunion’ and the action of walking in from either side, through the swing doors. As Western settings are associated with cowboys and fighting, this again reverses the stereotype, representing homosexuals as manly, and able to fight. The costume also subverts these ideas, Captain Jack is wearing a long military style jacket, the camera pans up this outfit to emphasise the lack of fashion and style, and the fighting, violent image.

Overall, this scene represents homosexuals as quite versatile, whereas they are sometimes represented as feminine and girly, Torchwood reverses some of these ideas, showing them as violent and fighting.

Hollyoaks Analysis: Max's Death

Analysis of Max’s Death, Hollyoaks

The scene of Max’s death in TV soap ‘Hollyoaks’ uses a variety of composition, sound, camera angles, movement, lighting and other micro aspects to represent issues of death and gender in a way that the audience can relate with.

The scene begins with non-diegetic music playing in the background, incorporating the sound of a heart monitor. The music starts with a slower pace, but slowly builds and heightens in pitch. This indicates something fatal is about to happen, adding tension. The sound of the heart monitor links the drama to that of Casualty or hospital dramas, where it is common for characters to die. There is also the diegetic sound of the car being revved which shows that whatever fatal accident is about to occur, it will involve a car and most likely be a car crash. The first action is Tom running across the road to pick up his parachute action figure, this cuts to Max and OB behind the railings, then Nile in his car looking down, as if feeling guilty, and there is a view of Max from his window, out of focus. These shots link the three characters of Max, Tom and Nile, confirming that the events to follow will involve them. The shot of Max and OB through the railings, suggests they are trapped and cannot help Tom, if he is in trouble. The shallow focus shot of Max in view of Nile’s car window, illustrates that Nile’s thoughts are out of focus, and he is confused. All three characters are dressed in dark suits, and Nile in black clothing, black symbolises death and perhaps danger.

This is followed by a fast paced montage of varying shots, Tom picking up his toy; Max running out; Tom throwing his action figure up, from Max’s viewpoint; an unsteady close up of Max shouting Tom’s name as he runs towards him; an aerial shot of Nile’s car speeding around the corner; Tom looking behind him to see Max and finally Nile’s car crashing into Max’s body as he pushes Tom away. The pace of the shots indicates the confusion and chaos that is taking place, as is common with any fatal car accident. The close up of Max running towards the camera shows his urgency and panic, contrasted with the innocence of Tom alone in the road, looking small and vulnerable, implying that he is the victim. The action of the crash, on camera, is brutal and shocking to the audience, as they watch his body crumple; this evokes an emotional response from the audience, giving them a glimpse of reality, as they feel as though they’re actually there, watching it.

The crash is followed by OB’s reaction, as he shouts Max’s name, almost in slow motion and runs over. Tom’s action figure floats down and lands on the curb of the road hitting its head. This cuts to Max lying on the road, with the camera zooming in through the grass, to a close up of his face. The music has suddenly changed to gentle, slower piano piece. The action figure falling represents Max, a hero, hit by a car and lying on the curb. The music indicates that things are slowing down, Max’s life or breathing perhaps, it shows that his life will end. The camera pans and spins out on Nile getting out of his car. It again reinforces the disorientation and confusion of the character, now seen as a villain in the audiences’ eye. OB rushing to Max’s side, shows he is taking control of the situation, shouting “Call an ambulance, now!” and “don’t worry it’s gonna be okay”. This represents males as the dominant figure in situations like this, OB are Max are seen as best friends, dressed in the same suit, with OB trying to comfort Max and Tom at the same time. OB also uses humour, saying “oh listen, don’t be gay” as Max tells him “I love you mate”. This reinforces the idea of typical males, joking around to hold themselves together in dramatic situations. Tom plays the innocent young boy, simply crying, to pull the audience’s heart strings and saying “you’ve got to wake up”. This demonstrates Tom’s youth but also ability not to become hysterical and shows he understands the circumstances. The composition of the shot shows their relationship, the rule of thirds with OB, Max in OB’s arms and Tom over Max.

Steph comes running over, in her wedding dress shouting “no, no he’s not” and bursting into tears. This reinforces the female stereotype, simple being emotional and crying after OB has tried to control things as well as comforting Tom. This contrasts the genders, showing their different reactions in a position when someone’s just died. The dialogue is then muted, and it is only the music playing, a lullaby sound, illustrating the idea of death, being sleep and going to heaven. The camera spins out, on the three men and Steph, with her wedding dress placed around them, in a circle, showing her femininity and seeing her as an angel figure. It could suggest that she is the caregiver now, for Tom as it is like she is encompassing him and her dead husband. The camera zooms out, pans up and fades out to a white light. This has religious connotations, it symbolises that Max is going to heaven, reinforcing the religious representation of death and afterlife. Death is portrayed as fatal, although ends in a better place.

At the end of the scene, there is a short clip of what is supposed to look like handheld recording, a video for their wedding memories. It has Max’s last words on it, showing the finality of his death and part in the show. Dom asks Max, “What is love” and Max answers “The best thing in the world”. It shows Max as a perfect, madly in love male figure, illustrating the happiness that was, and the sadness that now is, with his death. It gives the audience a personal feel, as though they were involved too.