Year 12 - TV DRAMA EXAM

 

G322:

Key Media Concepts (TV Drama)

January 2013

This paper covers the two areas of Textual Analysis and Representation alongside Institutions and Audiences.

Miss Crompton: In Section A, candidates answer questions on an unseen moving image extract from the category of TV Drama that is then linked to some aspect of the representation within the sequence.

Mr Howard: In Section B, candidates study the videogames industry. (Click the link for Mr Howard's Blog.)

This unit is externally examined.

Editing - Alternatives to the continuity system

Behind the cut:
Examples of
Long Take
Jump-Cut
Associative Editing or “Montage”
Hollywood-style Montage

Editing - Alternative transitions

See below the cut for the following alternative transitions:
Superimposition
Fade -in

Editing - Parallel editing

Parallel editing is a technique used to portray multiple lines of action, occurring in different places, simultaneously. In most but not all cases of this technique, these lines of action are occurring at the same time. These different sequences of events are shown simultaneously because there is usually some type of connection between them. This connection is either understood by the audience throughout the sequence, or will be revealed later on in the movie. The first clip is from No Country For Old Men directed by the Coen Brothers, and the second is from Batman: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan.

Further explanation and videoclips behind the cut

Editing - Temporal Relationships

Continuity editing: The Match on Action

Match on Action is an editing technique used in continuity editing that cuts two alternate views of the same action together at the same moment in the move in order to make it seem uninterrupted. This allows the same action to be seen from multiple angles without breaking its continuous nature. It fills out a scene without jeopardizing the reality of the time frame of the action.

Examples and video clips below

Editing - cut-in and cut-away

This sequence, taken from Tarantino’s Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) provide an examples of the cut-in. Cut-out or away is the reverse, bringing the viewer from a close view to a more distant one. The sequence opens with an extreme long shot of the area’s landscape, a high-angled tracking shot (probably via helicopter) –giving us a wide panoramic view of the area. A cut suddenly transports the viewer somewhere within the landscape to a medium shot of character lying on the floor in his room.

Example below

Editing - Spatial continuity: 180 Degree System

Eye-line Match

In an eye-line match, a shot of a character looking at something cuts to another shot showing exactly what the character sees. Essentially, the camera temporarily becomes the character’s eyes with this editing technique. In many cases, when the sequence cuts to the eye-line, camera movement is used to imply movement of the character’s eyes. For example, a pan from left to right would imply that the character is moving his/her eyes or head from left to right. Because the audience sees exactly what the character sees in an eye-line match, this technique is used to connect the audience with that character, seeing as we practically become that character for a moment. Each of the following sequences is from No Country For Old Men, directed by the Coen Brothers.

Examples behind the cut

Editing - Shot/ Reverse Shot

Shot/Reverse Shot is an editing technique that defined as multiple shots edited together in a way that alternates characters, typically to show both sides of a conversation situation. There are multiple ways this can be accomplished, with common examples being over the shoulder shots, angled shots, left/right alternating shots, and often a combination of the three.

See examples and video clips below

Editing - Spatial Relationships

Establishing Shot

The Establishing Shot or sequence serves to situate the audience within a particular environment or setting and/ or to introduce an important character or characters. The establishing shot is usually the first or the first few shots in a sequence, and as such, it must be very efficient in portraying the context. Typically, establishing shots are Extreme Long Shots or Long Shots, followed by progressively closer framing.

Editing - Rhythmic Relationships

Rhythm

Rhythm editing describes an assembling of shots and/or sequences according to a rhythmic pattern of some kind, usually dictated by music. It can be narrative, as in the clip from Woody Allen’s Bananas below, or, a music video type collage, as in the second clip from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. In either case, dialogue is suppressed and the musical relationship between shots takes center stage.

See below for detailed examples plus video clips

Editing - Graphic Matches

EDITING

Editing describes the relationship between shots and the process by which they are combined. It is essential to the creation of narrative space and to the establishment of narrative time. The relationship between shots may be graphic, rhythmic, spatial and/or temporal.
Filmmakers and editors may work with various goals in mind. Traditionally, commercial cinema prefers the continuity system, or the creation of a logical, continuous narrative which allows the viewer to suspend disbelief easily and comfortably. Alternatively, filmmakers may use editing to solicit our intellectual participation or to call attention to their work in a reflexive manner.

GRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS

See below for further information

Basic shot types

A short film describing the use of different camera shots to create a film story. For more information on Shot Types, visit http://www.littlefilmschool.com/2010/02/basic-shot-types/

Shot types - Extreme close up

Extreme Close-Up

An extreme close-up is when what is being viewed is very large, usually this is a part of someone’s face. In this sequence from Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (2002), the camera shoots an extreme close-up of Bill the Butcher’s (Daniel Day-Lewis) left eye. It is made of glass and the pupil is in the shape of an eagle. Bill has this eye because he considers himself a patriot and a native to America, unlike the Irish immigrants who he is about to fight in the battle of the Five Points.
Clip after the cut

Shot types - Close up

Close-Up

A close-up is when what is being viewed is quite large and takes up the entire screen, such as a person’s head. In this sequence from Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1972), the face of Alex (Malcolm McDowell) is practically all that can be seen on the screen. He has an evil smirk on his face as he sits in the milk bar while the eery music of the opening credits still plays. The close-up is the perfect way to introduce Alex because by simply looking into his face, the viewer can see just how terrible he is.
Clip after the cut

Shot types - Mid shot

Mid shot

A mid shot is when what is being viewed is large and takes up most of the screen. In this sequence from Frank Darabont’s The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Red (Morgan Freeman) is seen from the chest up sitting in front of the parole board. He is fed up with the process of parole and is making a long speech about the penal system while he is just about the only object in view on the screen.
Clip after the cut

Shot types - Medium long shot

Medium Long Shot

A medium long shot is when what is being viewed takes up almost the entire height of the screen. In this sequence from Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967), Blondie (Clint Eastwood) is seen staring down Tuco (Eli Wallach), and Sentenza (Lee Van Cleef) right before they duel. Blondie’s gun is visible which is important for the viewers to see for a duel sequence. This is why the medium long shot was used for most westerns.
Clip after the cut

Shot types - Long shot

Long Shot

A long shot is when the scale of what is being seen is small. In this sequence from Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker (2008), Sergeant Thompson (Guy Pearce) takes up most of the screen when upright, and then less when he is knocked down due to the explosion. The entire background is dust and debris from the bomb that detonated, and the scale of the long shot gives the viewer the image that Thompson was very close to the point of detonation. This is important to see because the explosion ends up killing him.
Clip after the cut

Shot types - Extreme Long Shot

Extreme Long Shot

An extreme long shot is when the scale of what is being seen is tiny. In this sequence from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), the extreme long shot is being used as an establishing shot as Gandalf (Ian McKellen) enters the Shire. It was most likely shot from a crane or a helicopter, and it shows the viewer much of the fantasy world that is Middle Earth.
Clip behind the cut