MEST 2: Research and Planning

Research and Planning

Existing product research

Pretty little Liers

Analysis :  Pretty little liars opens with a close up scene that portrays Hannah (the character who is supposed to be dead.)  A close up is used to show her eyes. Also, with the close up the audience can see that her eyes aren't moving. This helps emphasising that she isn't alive anymore. This scene is followed up by another close up that shows lip gloss being put on her lips. Her lips seem really pale, this reminds the audience that she is dead. To continue, in the eye close up and lips close up, there is her face in the background. Her face is really pale and seems like it hasn't been taken care off. There's then a close up of her feet. In this close up there's someone tying her shoes. Her feets seem dead aswell. There's then a close up on her hair being curled. Followed up by a close up showing someone putting nail vanish on her finger nails. Using Variety this allows the audience to see a close up of the characters and their expressions clearly.

 The title sequence comes 1 min 20 seconds into the scene. I really like this as the audience are not shown the title sequence at the beginning of the first series, instead they have a scene which creates tension and suspense and then they introduce to us the protagonists who inevitably are going to resolve the situation.

Strange diegetic sounds of creeks are heard and close ups are used to help emphasise the characters emotions and possibly allow audiences to feel sympathy or relate to the characters and their emotions of fear. There are many cuts used and they are quite fast cuts and seem to be getting slightly faster as non-diegtic music of a violin note is being stretched sounding louder and louder to create and emphasise fear in both characters and audiences. This violin sound of getting louder and louder could be use to relate to Barthes enigma and action codes, it could connote or foreshadow an event to occur, we as the audience will assume actions to occur and feel a sense of adrenaline as the violin gets louder or as the note gets stretched further and further

When Alison says “Friends share secrets, that’s what keeps us close” we are shown a shot/reverse shot of another characters facial expression, she is dressed in all blue, light blue, which connotes that she is a calm character but the shot/reverse shot and her facial expression connotes that she may have something to hide. Alison then tells one of the characters “Drink up!” and this character is still holding a torch, which she is pointing at Alison, this connotes that maybe she is shining the light on Alison and will reveal her dark secrets

The continuity of these few shots is at a good standard. It makes it seem that this is taking place with no stops in between.There's then a medium shot showing the four main characters looking around in a upset look. The camera then closes up on one of the girls as she puts her finger on her lips as if she's telling the audience to not say anything. There's then a small scene to show the programme's name. I think that this is a very good opening that catches the audience quickly. It makes the audience want to discover what is this big sceret and who is the girl that has died.

Target Audience: target audience for pretty little liers would be aimed at teenagers from the age of 16-25 becuase pretty little lier's would appeal to adults and teenagers as well because some of the narratives are about relationships, problems at school ect therefore adults/teenagers can relate to it.

Vampire dairies

Analyses:  The dialogue used to say this is diegetic as it's added in during editing as a voice over. The music used in it is the stereotypical backing track for a crime drama production as it's quite dramatic and fast therefore going with the pace of a crime drama production. In other words, the backing track for the title sequence is parallel sound.

This opening opens with Nina Dobrev (playing Elena) giving a distant look, to show this a close-up is used.  The colours used in thr background are dark colours such black and grey. She slowly moves her head up as her hair begin to move slightly. There's then a hand that suddenly shows a hand thats caressing her, possibly a male's hand. There's then a scene showing the same character form the first scene, only now she looks more gentle and insecure. A close up is also used for this.

This is followed up by a medium shot showing the main female character running up from a hill. This shot slowly turn into a close-up. Then there's an extreme close up that shows the character's face only now with two male hands caressing her face. This helps the audience now that there is two men involved with this female. There's then a medium shot showing Paul Wesley playing Stefan. This medium shot zooms in and turn into a close up as his name is shown on the side.  

A  scene where they showing Ian Samoholder. The same as  Paul's scene we see a medium shot that slowly zooms in and becomes a close up. His name is also shown on the side. There's then a scene showing all of the characters in the programmes  walking up a hill. This shot slightly changes as most of the characters vanish. This was done to show that some characters are more important than others. There's then a close up to show Jeremy as his name is shown on the side. After him, there's a shot of Katerina Graham. After showing her there's a scene that is close up of her hands holding a bottle in her hands. There's then a scene showing her facial expression. This helps the audience know that there is something to do with magic. The ending scene is a medium shot showing Elena sitting with Stefan.

A crane shot of a car driving is used to show characters are travelling through the woods, and as this is being shown straight cut edits are used along with a whip pan. Sound bridge is used after the, voiceover stops speaking, of the music in the car, the audience hears this before we see a shot inside the car of an innocent couple driving along, and this creates a smooth transaction showing the relationship between the shots. The fog appears suddenly which is not normal and when they get out of the fog they hit a man, the woman shouts in panic, which shocks the audience.

MisFit 

Analyses: The two protagonists are well lit and the type of lighting used is high-key lighting. This is important as this type of light makes the characters seem important and the fact that we are able to see them properly means that they have some kind of significant role in the series. If they were shown in the dark with low-key lighting, this would represent the characters as villains in terms of the film as they would look more mysterious. This would therefore confused the audience and would not be a very effective scene.

 Misfit series relates to Todorov's theory which is that every great movie or television show will consist of a beginning equilibrium which is followed by a disequilibrium  which is finally resolved and a new equilibrium is formed. This Tv show follows Todorov's theory as in each episode, there starts off with an equilibrium of some sort; which is disrupted by an antagonist; but in the end is resolved by the protagonist. In the title sequence, the backing track is the well known tune for the Tv show therefore being iconographic music for this Tv show. 

The opening of misfits opens with a medium shot of a one of the main male characters with a cigarette. The shot cuts and chages into a close up of the main female character tying her hair up almost as if she is getting ready for something. There's than a shot showing another of the main male characters also preparing himself.  There's than two 2 close up shots presenting two  of the other characters in Misfits. There's than a medium shot showing all the characters that have been presented at this stage. There's than a shot of all of the characters wearing heroic costumes. There's than a shot of one of the characters that was presented before possibly on a skateboard or rollers. There's than a cut and a shot showing all of the characters wearing orange garments and picking up trash from the ground. There's than few shots showing moments of Iwans character.

There's than few shots showing the character of Lauren Socha. The same shots are used to present Nathan Stewart's character. The same is used for Antonia Thomas's character. Shots of the programme are used to present Robert Sheehan's character. There's than a shot showing all of them together again Along with the sound, another part of the mise en scene; used in the clip which i'm going to analysis; is the lighting used.

Target Audience: would be 16-25 year olds, this is because it does include some adult content such as sexual scenes, swearing ect therefore it would be suitable for this age group. Also, Misfits connects to the target audience as the characters are in the program are at the similar age, therefore they could relate to some of the problems a specific character is going through.

Revenge

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Analyses:  This opening opens with the main blonde female character getting water  over her feet. There's then a close up on her hands caressing a letter. This could show that there is mystery that takes place in the programme. There's than a scene that shows the main character from a low angle shot. This is used to show her dominance. There's than a scene that shows the protagonist face on the side, a close up is also used for this. There's than a quick change of scene that portrays fire in her eyes almost like she is hungry for revenge, an extreme close-up is used for this. There's than introductions to many of the characters in the programme. At the end of the video there are small scenes showing the main female character. Medium shots and close- up are used for this as we can look at the vb features. The video finished the exact same way it started, with the protagonist standing in front of the beach. For this scene, the protagonist is wearing white clothes that shows her purity and angelic character. This is a contrast of the scene where we see fire and flames in her eyes.
 Also, the fact that the on screen text is bold and in capital letters emphasizes the words that little bit more which makes the seem important to the viewers

Hollyoaks

Analyses: This opening opens with a close up on a female character's mouth as she takes a bite off a cherry that's of the same colour of her lips. In this cherry are the words 'Hollyoaks' this is to the programme. There's then a long shot of this building with many female's and two of these are over the a guy. The long shot zooms in and turns into a medium shot, a close- up and an extreme close-up.  There's then change of scene showing a female character winking at the camera. She takes of her jacket and throws it at the camera. There's a quick change of scene showing a male character. To show this a medium shot is used that slowly turns into a close up. The screen than shows another female character who seems to be dusting things of her jacket. A medium shot is used for this., The scene than changes into a male- character dancing to a beat, a medium shot is used for this scene. There's than another change of scene that shows a male character with flag cape that show's the American flag. This could be used to show the patriarchy of this character. There's than a medium shot showing a female character wearing angles wings. This shot could be used to show that this character angelic. There's than a medium shot of an male character, this shot zooms in and becomes a close-up. His wearing a black leather jacket, this shows his danger. There's than a medium shot showing a female in a magazine, this could show that she is the fashion type. At the end of show there's the title of the programme. This opening is essential as it's mainly used to introduce the main characters and I personally think that the continuity of this opening is excellent as everything looks like it took place at once.

Target Audience: I think the target audience for Hollyoaks would be 15-30year olds because, some of the narrative does appeal to an adults as well as teenagers too. For instance, some of the narrative include aspects of love, relationships, family problems, friendship, real life problems ect therefore adults and teenagers could relate to this.