Comment on the representation of Englishness in Midsomer Murders

Midsomer Murders is a unique TV drama as it uses Englishness to differentiate itself from other British crime dramas. The mise-en-scene is a large part of the programme, for creating specific shots of representations of England, such as establishing shots of thatched cottages, old women, and people riding bicycles.

The landscape setting is one of the most important parts of Midsomer Murders' representation of Englishness. There are always several shots of fields and quaint villages, that are very traditional and have little modernisation of the present day apart from cars and such. This image that the setting is presented is very stereotypical of England, and although we all know that villages are not really like that anymore, it is immediately apparent that it is definitely set in England. Props also play a big part in representation. Glimpses of 'English' things like land rovers, horses, cottages, post offices and old fashioned telephones create an immediate recognition of the location. The actual characters also add to the Englishness. Men in chequered shirts and hats driving land rovers; typically displayed as farmers, old women with wicker baskets riding bicycles added to the background scenes create a typical rural English village look. Almost all characters speak with a proper English accent, unless their character requires other. In fact, many rural areas tend to have a regional accent, rather than proper English, which is more associated with the upper class. However, people who are not English tend to stereotype English people as being posh and upper class, so this is in keeping with others' estimations of Englishness.

Camera angles are used mainly as establishing shots, especially during opening sequences. This is to emphasise the true Englishness of the location. Also, many of them are long shots or mid shots, to capture the Englishness in the background, instead of focusing on the characters' facial expressions less often. The creators of the programme seem to pay specific attention to things in the shot that represent Englishness, such as extra cottage views in the background of foreground action. 

Sound is another important part of representing Englishness. there is a lot of non-diegetic sound, upbeat, slightly classical music which mirrors the calmness and peacefulness of the village, and eerie tension-creating music, which sounds out of place with the calm music, so it suggests that there is something going on that is out of place. There are also several diegetic noises, such as birds, cars and leaves to emphasis ruralness.

All these things mentioned all play a role in keeping Midsomer Murders exclusively English. The locations in Midsomer are always typical of English ruralness, as are props and sounds. It uses people's ideas of what Englishness it and displays it in an exact way; not realistic, yet how we imagine rural countryside villages to be like in an ideal world. it is so different from other crime dramas because of the Englishness; other drama's of the same genre are mostly city-located, modern and rely on a gripping, and maybe more complex storyline, than Midsomer.

Hollyoaks

Episode: Thursday 3rd March
Extract: Brendan and Doug are discussing a coke deal, which involves Rae. Doug is unsure about including Rae but Brendan tells him he owes him to do this, so Doug has to agree. The scene then cuts to Mercedes talking to Lynsey about an article on women behaving like 'ladies'.


Camera
The camera pans in slowly towards the two characters as their discussion gets more intense. The camera angle then switches to an over the shoulder shot of Brendan close to Doug they talk, showing power of the character ,the intensity of their conversation, and the desperation of Brendan. During several over the shoulder shots between the two characters, it is made clear by the camera angle which is charge, as the camera points down slightly to look at Doug, an up when looking at Brendan. The camera then switches to mid shots as we realise that Doug has lost this debate, and Brendan gives him the bad of drugs. The camera then goes into an over the shoulder shot as Brendan reassures Doug. In contrast, the next scene has mostly over the shoulder shots, but at a further distance from the characters, as they are having a more light hearted chat. There are several closer ovs shots, but they still establish distance between Mercedes and Lynsey, showing that maybe they know each other less then Brendan and Doug, and in a less serious and business way.


Editing
The extract opens with a fade trasion between an establishing shot of the bar to Brendan and Doug in the office. Apart from that, the scenes use just quick cuts between characters talking and change of shots, even between the two scenes.


Sound
There is no non-diegetic sound throughout this whole sequence, to focus the audience's attention purely on the characters' dialogue. There is faint background of people talking in both scenes, in the office in the bar and the street.


Mise-en-scene
The location between both scenes is very contrasting, with Brendan and Doug talking in a quite office with no-one else present, showing secrecy, while the two girls having a conversation in the busy town centre. The costumes between the characters also differ, in scenes and between scenes. Brendan is wearing all black, suggesting he is a bad or shady character and a suit suggesting he is a business man, although the collar is undone at the top, hinting that now he is doing other kinds of business, rather than professional. Doug is wearing lighter colours, showing he is more innocent and a better person. Mercedes and Lynsey are both wearing coats and scarves, suggesting weather. The lighting also differs dramatically, with the office scene very dark, only seeming to be illuminated by one lamp, and the street scene obviously in natural daylight. The first scene suggests through lighting that this may be a dodgey deal, that the characters have something to hide.

How Does The Skins Promo Trailer Create Representation Of Young People?

Editing
The skins trailer is a sequence of shot quick cuts. This makes it very fast paced, reflecting the party and the character's lives. we get the impression that this is a very out of control party, possibly with the quick cuts, that things happen too quickly for anyone to keep up and therefore uncontrollable. Some clips last very quickly, to give the impression of people dancing, things going on, while others last a little longer, possibly to give an idea of a storyline for the drama. The whole impression of short and long clips gives the idea that there is a lot going on and there are a lot of people at this party, also another indication of uncontrollability. The fast-paced editing also keeps in time with the music, with slower parts of the song lingering longer on a shot, and faster parts moving even quicker through a range of different shots. There are also several shots in the second half of the trailer that are in slow motion, while the music is slightly mellower, focusing on the main characters in the drama’s faces.

Camera Angles & Movement

The camera angles used varies a lot. There are several long shots of the entire room, to show everyone at the party. This is to give us an idea of the scale of the party, the amount of people there, and where they are: the room which seems to be pretty wrecked. There are also several close ups, which mostly seem to be showing drug use. This portrays young people in bad yet stereotypical way, as if the trailer is flaunting exactly all the bad thing teenagers are known for. Mostly the camera angles are mid shots, often with people kissing or dancing.

The movement of the camera is usually slight, following action or other movement in the sequence, for instance when Tong knocks a vase over and the camera follows it to the floor to see it smashed. A lot of the time it seems to be panning slightly, as if it was the view of someone at the party as the movement is not always moving in a planned and smooth way. The idea of it seeming as an onlooker of the party makes it seem all the more of a real representation, as if this is like what happens at real life parties.

Sound

The only sound in this trailer is non-diegetic, standing in the way of control by the Gossip. This plays on the fact that this party is very out of control, so has several connotations of alcohol, drugs, violence and vandalism, what young people are often associated with today. The song is also very fast paced which keeps up with the quick cut sequence and also what the characters are doing. There is a lot going on and people are doing all sorts of things, so both the camera and editing, and the sound has to keep up with them. There are several slower parts to the song which are slightly calmer, which the filming matches by slowing the pace of the sequence, and it also indicates a change in the trailer. Where the first part is very upbeat, positive, people have a good time, the second part is more negative, people being sick, having fights, throwing and breaking things. The sound plays a big role in the effect of this change, and especially at the end there are no lyrics, just heavy drumbeat and humming. This change could indicate that things may have gone a little too out of hand, that the consequences of their actions are catching up with them and the realistic, darker side of mad parties is revealed.

Mise-en-scene

The party is set in a house, it is quite large but people have begun to wreck it, breaking things and so on. There are many props that add to the party; drugs, water gun, cream, strobe lights, a tricycle, and even a guy in a bear suit. Some of these such as the water guns and the tryke are actually child’s toys, and so indicate a sense of immaturity and not having grown up yet. The lighting seems like artificial house lights, except the strobe lights. The costume is minimal, with many people barely wearing anything on their upper torso. This suggests a sense of inappropriateness, which overall represents young people in a bad way as being irresponsible, out of control, immature yet drug users and destructive.

Narrative Theories

Vladimir Propp was a Russion scholar who analysed the narrative structure of Fairy tales. He found common themes of the narrative, and of characters within the story. He identifies 31 functions of a fairy tale, in 4 speres of the story; 1st sphere: the introductory sequence, 2nd sphere: the body of the story, 3rd Sphere: the donor sequence, and the 4th sphere: the hero's return. Within these spheres are several parts of the narrative. He also propsed 8 character types; the villain, the hero, the donor ( a magical character that gives advice to the hero), the helper, the princess/prize, the princesses' father, the dispatcher and the false hero.

Tzvetan Todorov  is a French-Bulgarian philosopher. His narrative theory suggests that all stories begin with an equilibrium; everything is fine. Then there is a disruption of this peace, which has to be solved by the end, for everything to be restored as it should be, creating a new equilibrium.

Roland Barthes was a french literary theorist. He described text as "a galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifieds; it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilizes extend as far as the eye can read, they are indeterminable...the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language..." He categorised narrative codes in five ways; Hermeneutic Code: elements of the storyline that are unexplained and therefore remain a mystery to the audience, Proairetic Code: action or events that cause tension, Semantic Code: connotations of the story, Symbolic Code: similar to semantic code, but organises semantic meaning in a broader and deeper way, and Cultural Code: the basis of which everything is founded upon, which is not challened and is assumed to be true. 

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist. He focused on narrative theory specifically to do with binary oppositions. These opposite values could be the cause for conflict. e.g. good & evil, alien & human, known & unknown.




Reference: Wikipedia, changingminds.org

The Male Gaze; Laura Mulvey '85

Mulvey was born 15th August 1941, and is a film theorist, as well as a strong feminist. Mulvey argued that in film, women are often portrayed as sexual visual pleasures for men, a technique is used where the audience is put into the role of a man, and on screen the camera lingers on the female, displaying her as visual pleasure for men. The theory implys that women are seen as objects of men, and are made to view the media as in the perspective of a man.

What is TV Drama?

TV Drama is a huge genre, covering a wide range of sub genres and alternations, but to define it, it is fictional action in the form of being told as someones (one or more of the characters) story/ point of view.

Examples of TV Drama;

• Upstairs Downstairs
• Eastenders
• Doctor Who
• New Tricks
• Misfits
• Waterloo Road
• Shameless
• This is England '86
• Skins
• Red Riding
• Hotel Babylon

The are so many sub gemres of TV Drama, or combinations of TV Drama with other genres. For Exapmle;

medical, legal, horror, supernatural, fantasy, sci-fi, crime, historical, soaps, thriller, situational, genreal drama,

• Holby City and Casulty are examples of TV drama and medical drama
• New Tricks and Wallander are examples of Crime Drama
• The X Files and Misfits would also go under the Sci Fi genre

• Genre is the category or section of something, usually entertainment prducts such as music films and TV and books. It defines the topic of the media piece into a category.
• TV Genre therefore means how programmes are categorised according to certain conventions they have, to create a genre of similar products according to these converntions.
• Mot genres break into several sub gemres, in which the media product also has features and converntions from a different genre.
• The evolution of sub genres in TV genre began in the 1950's, when the BBc was developing and ITV began. Drama programmes began developing and seperating into sub genres as more people began to watch television and a wider audience needed catering for, people of different backgrounds, ages and culture had varied tastes and interests.