Transistions from Lizzy Bradbury

Contextual Analysis: The Walking Dead

I chose to do the walking dead because it is a current show and it was't like any of the shows I had previously analysed. To start with, I chose this still from an episode in season 2.

The genre is Horror, however, it could be argued that it is a crime drama. The gun and the angry facial expressions suggest a crime is taking place, the setting of a bar could also suggest that a robbery is taking place. The light is reflecting off of the gun, attracting your eyes to this, symbolising it's importance to the scene. His face is showing aggression and anger, suggesting that he is the dominant character.

How are women represented in Mr. Selfridge?

From the opening few scenes I have seen of the show, there is already an impression I am getting of the women in the show. In general, the woman seen could be perceived as being pushovers and less dominant than the males, this impression was first created with the opening scene. The woman workers in the shop getting prepared to open the shop were very frantic and on edge. When the male character walked into the scene they suddenly stopped and were doing everything to please him, this could be suggesting that the males have dominance over the females. The impression that I had was only boosted in the second scene.

Mr Selfridge arrives at a lower-end store and asks to see everything they have. The female tells him that she couldn't allow that, however after very little persuasion, she does what he wants. She also seemed nervous and on-edge around the male character. Because it took so little time to go against what she had previously said, the viewer gets the impression that she is a pushover. And with this scene and the first, the audience gets a certain perception straight away.

Week 2 Notes

These are the notes for the second week of the exam preparation. To start with, I did a short recap of some of the things I covered in the first week. For example the different genres of drama, what the exam was and what it was worth of the final grade. The different genres of drama are...

• Teen Drama
• Soap Drama
• Costume/Period Drama
• Hospital Drama
• Crime Drama
• Docu-drama

We then moved onto some new work. We started to look at Mise-en-scene and what it mean and what came under it. Mise-en-scene literally means; what is put in the scene or frame. This being everything that we see when watching a film or a TV programme. The things that come under Mise-en-scene are...

• Settings and Props; this can tell you who the characters are, the year and the location they are in
• Costume, hair and make-up; tells you their status, career, the year and can be used to individualize
• Facial expressions, body language; gives you an understanding of their feelings/emotions and can be used to recognise a relationship
• Lighting and colour; can signify and reflect a mood
• Positioning of characters/objects; can show importance 

We then looked at two different scenes in the first episode of the TV show 'Mr. Selfridge'. These are the things we pointed out and noticed in the opening two scenes.

Scene 1

• It is a costume drama
• It is a department store
• Dull lighting represents an older setting
• However, it is still bright, showing that is a high class shop
• Main character positioned in front to signify dominance and importance

Scene 2

• Dull lighting suggests cheapness, lower-end store
• Servant with umbrella, shows how the main character is important and it also shows the class difference
• It is set in the past
• Stepping into the puddle shows how he is stepping into a different place/environment to what he may be used to.
• Dark clothing and lighting create a dull, gloomy atmosphere and mood
• His happy facial expression contrast with everything around him, this again shows how he doesn't belong there.

Week 1 Notes