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AS Media Studies

TV Drama

Mise-en-Scène

• A French term meaning what is put into a scene or frame

• Visual information in front of the camera

• Communicates essential information to the audience

For our purposes, mise-en-scene includes the following:

1. Costume (and everything about a character's appearance including height, hair colour, makeup etc) 2. Body Language 3. Props 4. Location 5. Set Design 6. Lighting

Remember that everything you see has connotations - that is, messages or values which are communicated beyond the literal object being shown. For example, if a character wears glasses it carries connotations of intelligence, cleverness, or possible geekiness. Even colours have connotations - at its simplest level, black=evil and white=good.

1. Settings & Props

Settings & Locations play an important part in film-making and are not just ‘backgrounds’

• Sets are either built from scratch or a great deal of time is spent to find a setting which already exists • Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn

Task: What settings and props you would find in:

A Science Fiction TV Drama

A Period TV Drama

A Crime TV Drama

Iconography:

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2. Costume, Hair & Make Up

• Costume, Hair & Make Up act as an instant indicator to us of a character’s personality, status & job

• It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society/or culture it will centre around

• Certain costumes can signify certain individuals (i.e. black cloak of a vampire, Spidey’s Spiderman suit)

3. Facial Expressions & Body Language

Facial Expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling

If someone is smiling broadly, we assume they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is

accompanied by scary music

Body Language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect the state of

their relationship

Task: What meanings/emotions do the following images convey?

4. Positioning of Characters & Objects within a frame

Positioning within a frame can draw our attention to an important character/object

A film-maker can use positioning to indicate relationships between people

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Task: What does the positioning in the following images reveal about the characters/film:

Colour

• Colour carries certain connotations which may add meaning to a scene (i.e. Red = Danger/Passion)

• Can give a scene a particular look, feel or mood

• Can be used for dramatic effect

Task: Analysis

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key light only fill light only key + fill

backlight only key + fill + back

What types of lighting are used

in the following images:

A

FD

C

E

B

Three Point Lighting

Low key lighting:

• Created by using only the key & back lights

• Produces sharp contrasts of light and dark areas

• Deep, distinct shadows/silhouettes are formed

High key lighting:

• More filler lights are used. Lighting is natural and realistic to our eyes

• Produces brightly lit sets or a sunny day (right)

Task: What types of lighting are used in the following images?

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Task: For each image, answer the following questions

1. What type of lighting is used in each image (High or Low Key)?

2. Where are the KEY LIGHTS, FILLER LIGHTS & BACK LIGHTS in each image?

3. What effects/meanings does the lighting suggest?

Effects

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Analysis: Merlin

Example Connotations – Links to class and status

1. Costume (and everything about a character's appearance including height, hair colour, makeup etc)

2. Body Language

3. Props

4. Location

5. Set Design

6. Lighting

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AS Media Studies TV Drama Creative Task: Imagine you are the production designer for a TV company and are charged with devising a list of ideas for the mise-en-scene of some new dramas. Your teacher will allocate you one of the following to work on:

The Comp - a new prime time school-based drama Northern Grit - a realistic northern-set drama about relationships and social issues Sleuth - a slightly retro Poirot/ miss Marples style detective drama - set in rural

thirties England Forensics - a modern police drama, focusing on the forensics department in a big UK

city Ward 10 - a hospital based drama with a soap element to it Star Patrol - sci-fi drama based around a small space craft tasked with pursuing The

Intergalactic League's most wanted. The Limes - new drama series set in an old people's home Kids Rule - a new children's drama set in a post-apocalyptic world where all adults

have been killed off and only the under 14s survive - they have to find their own way in a new world

Mandela Tower - new soap set in a tower block in inner city London and its local surrounds

Highwayman - a new family drama series for Saturday nights based on the exciting adventures of Dick Turpin, the famous highwayman, and his gang of outlaws.

You will need to think about: setting, props, costume for the main character, colour palette, lighting.... You can ignore character and performance for this activity.