tv drama - shot types

Shot TypesShelby Edmunds

TV Drama

Camera shots/angles

Point of View

Denotation Connotation

Criminal Minds

High Angle Viewer Tied upIn trouble

HelplessLost authority

Eastenders Close up Viewer SadUpset

Devastated HelplessGuilty

Tracy Beaker

Full Shot Viewer GymAngry with arms crossedUnenthusiastic

Training for eventWorking outDisappointed with friend

Buffy Dolly Shot Viewer WalkingFriendsdark

ObservationTrying to find something - searching

I was planning on bringing in the following TV dramas to watch:• ER (This was been used in the exam in the past)• CSI:NY• Shoebox Zoo (This is a children’s TV drama)• Starsky and Hutch

You will need to find 4 different TV dramas. Select according to the following categories:• Medical TV drama – Grey’s Anatomy• TV crime drama – Criminal Minds• Children’s TV drama – Tracy Beaker• Any TV drama that is at least 10 year old – Buffy

Next - Research:•Camera Movement – types of camera movement commonly used in film and TV, usually a combination of shots are used

•Pan – horizontal movement left and right, usually done slowly, a swiveling movement usually done using a tripod

•Tilt – pointing camera in a vertical movement i.e. up, down

•Dolly crane – when the camera is mounted on a track to get a tracking shot

•Stedicam hand held – instead or using a hand held camera which gives jerky shots or being restricted on a tripod, the Stedicam was invented to get the best of both. It gives stabilized footage which the flexibility of being handheld

•Zoom/reverse zoom – change in vocal length i.e. moving the camera lenses closer or further away

Audience Theory – Stuart Hall:• Dominant reading - reader fully accepts the preferred reading

(audience will read the text the way the author intended them to) so that the code seems natural and transparent.

• The negotiated reading – the reader partly believes the code and broadly accepts the preferred reading, but sometimes modifies it in a way which reflects their own position, experiences and interests.

• The oppositional reading – the reader’s social position places them in an oppositional relation to the dominant code. They reject the reading.

Signifier Definition SignifiedPan down Camera looks down Power, authority

Pan up Camera looks up Smallness, weakness

Dolly in Camera moves in Observation, focus

Fade in Image appears on blank screen

Beginning

Fade out Image screen goes blank Ending

cut Switch from one image to another

Simultaneity, excitement

wipe Image wiped off screen Imposed conclusion

Close-up Face only Intimacy

Medium shot Most of body Personal relationship

Long shot Setting and characters Context, scope, public distance

Full shot Full body of person Social relationship

Close up:This is a shot which usually only shows the face, this is done to show intimacy and emotion. The emotion is used to show the audience how the character is feeling and in terms of Stuart Hall’s audience theory it can show the preferred reading as the audience will understand what the director is trying to get at by showing the emotion.

Greys Anatomy:Here we can see that this doctor doesn’t look impressed, he has a disapproving look on his face – with the audience this enables them to understand the situation

Close up – Tracy Breaker

Close up – Criminal Minds

Tracy Beaker: From her face we can get that she looks annoyed and angry. To the audience they will understand this from the mouth, crossed eyebrows etc.

Criminal Minds: From his expression he has a scrunched up face which implies that he is confused, he isn't sure what the person on the phone is telling him. From this the audience can except what is going on.

Medium shot: This is when the shot shows most of the body, this can be done to show personal relationships or what the character is doing. In terms of the audience theory this could relate it to the negotiated reading, they could accept what the characters are doing but then also they could relate personal experiences to what the character is doing. They can use to it reflect their own interests.

For example in this shot from criminal minds Hotch and Rossi are having a conversation in the hall, you can see that its quite a comical expression. With the audience theory the audience can to relate to it by for example a conversation they had at work with a colleague.

For example here O’Malley is going in to his first surgery, he looks quite nervous but here it would be preferred reading as not many people would have experienced a real surgery.

Long shot:

Shows the setting and the character in it, it is used to show context, scope and public distance. Relating these shots to the audience theory you could say that its negotiated reading as though the audience can

Long Shot:

Pan up

Pan up

full shot

Fade out

Fade in

Fades Out

Fade Out

Fades in

Dolly

Dolly

Pan down

Cuts

Wipes