Wednesday, 14 November 2012

TV Drama Trailer Analysis (Eastenders)

In this trailer, many representations are shown which are representations of gender, age, class, work and youth.
This is due to many of the different shots and angles used. To start off the trailer, there is a long/medium shot which shows who is in the frame and the movements of the characters. The medium shot is very useful to show the emotions of the characters because it gives us an idea of what is going to happen in this part of the episode as their facial expressions will show us if something good or bad is happening. As this is at the beginning of a episode, these shots are relevant so the audience know who the first part of the episode is going to be on.


 In this part of the trailer, it shows clearly who is dominant in this medium shot. It shows us that the character who we can see straight on (Derek Branning) has all of the dominance due to him holding the money in his hands. As the trailer goes on it shows us that the two younger boys are intimidated by him as they are nervous to speak to him and answer his questions. It shows us clearly that the other to men are younger as they are sat playing with a pack of cards. This represents to us as them being child-like up to Derek in the shot.
It also shows us a clear representation of class in this shot due to the mise-en-scene. We can see that in this shot, the two boys are dressed in casual wear which represents their age group and status in society, whereas Derek who is in control of the other two is wearing a suit, this concludes the class and status of all of them together. Because of him wearing a suit, shows that he is older and maturer, yet higher in status as it gives us the impression that he is a business man because of him holding the money in his hand.

The tone of their voices when they are discussing their 'business' shows us a lot of suspicion because they are speaking in a low and quiet voice. Altogether, this shows stereotypically that these three men are represented as a negative in this extract.

This close-up shot is a really good example of how to show us as the audience how a character
is feeling. It is a good way of showing us the background in this scene even though its only showing a little bit of it as we can see where the characters are. The fact that this secret meeting isn't going on in a office gives us the sense of suspicion. This proves that they want to be hidden and don't want to sacrifice any over hearing. This concludes the reason why they have met up in a house. This camera shot is producing a contrast as even though they are being very suspicious men and don't want anyone to know anything about what they are planning, realistically we only let the people we trust get this close to our faces, for example, family members, friends and lovers. Therefore being this close up to someones face means we are in the mind of them and can figure how they are feeling or what they are thinking. In this part of the extract, we are shown how nervous this character is at the time. Of course we know it is because of Derek Branning being intimidating and asking several questions. This part of the extract shows us peer pressure due to the several questions and because of what Derek is saying in general. E.g"but this was your idea!"
This close- up is very intimate and is used to make us feel uncomfortable about a character, but in this case we feel uncomfortable for a character being of the storyline produced.

As the extract goes on, there are switches of extreme close up between Derek and this character above. It shows us that Derek is the character that is incontrol of the other two boys he is involved with. By it switching to the other character inbetween, it shows us the thoughts he is thinking by his facial expressions. The emotions he gives out is that he is scared of Derek and worried.
Soap operas use a lot of close ups and extreme close ups because they are very dramatic programmes as there is a drama in every episode.