Lighting

High-key lighting
A lighting approach that avoids contrast between light and dark areas of a shot usually with a prominent fill light.

Low-key lighting

Lighting that puts most of the set in shadow and uses just a few highlights to define the subject.

Backlighting

This is the process of illuminating the subject from the back. In other words, the lighting instrument and the viewer are facing towards each other, with the subject in between. This causes the edges of the subject to glow, while the other areas remain darker.

Fill light
Illumination added to reduce shadows or contrast range.

Chiaroscuro lighting
Lighting which creates strong contrasts between light and dark.

Rim lighting

Occurs when the main light is placed behind the subject so that the subject’s face is completely in shadow, but there is a rim of light around the subject’s head, like the corona in a full eclipse.

Skins representation of disability - Series 2, Episode 1, Church Scene

   We are initially shown the inside of a church, with the only light coming from the stain glassed windows. The mass of dark in the shot and the solemn religious music that is playing suggests a funeral. Knowing that at the end of the last series the main character Tony was hit by a bus, we fear that he has died and we are about to witness his funeral.
   The religious music then brakes to a very heavy bass dance style song, and we see one of the main characters - Maxxie appear. We then soon realize that it is a dance recital and not a funeral.
   Although I feel that the main purpose of this beginning

Improvements to make after first practice exam question

   After doing my first practice exam question based on an extract from Doctor Who and looking at other answer examples along with the mark scheme, these are some things which I feel I could improve upon with my next answer:

   Reference to the points that I am talking about - Although I talked about props and mise-en-scene etc, I did not reference the fact that I was talking about these things which I will need to do in the future.

   More reference to sound and editing - I feel that my points on gender based on mise-en-scene and camera shots were fairly good, but I could have written more about sound and editing used. However, we did not have the full exam time to complete this question and I was starting to explain these things but ran out of time.

   Precise comments - I managed to get a fair amount of information down, but I am not sure that everything was relevant and was needed in as much detail. Also, I did not get round to properly answering the question but instead wrote many detailed notes. Next time I should probably focus on the major ways in which each aspect is used to represent the chosen topic (in this case gender), write brief notes about these and then write precise answers out in full, rather than rambling about absolutely everything that I could possibly analyze.

How does the 'Skins' trailer represent teenagers?

Sound
The song used throughout the trailer is 'Standing In The Way of Control by Gossip'. The lyrics themselves describe the way in which these teenagers will rebell against anyone who stands in their way, hinting to a stereotypical view of a teenager who does what they want and has little respect for others. The lyrics even explain feelings teens are likely to have in a party situation like this where you're 'forgetting who you are', doing stupid things because you can't think properly due to drugs and alchohol, and although what you've done seems stupid afterwards, you're young and carefree so 'you do it all again'.
The music has a faced paced bassline which mirrors the fast cuts between scenes and the actions of the teenagers.

Editing
There are 78 cuts between scenes in this 60 seconds of footage! The high amount of cuts help to give the trailer a greater sense of pace, excitement and help to generally keep you focused on what's happening - there is no time to get bored and look away, there are always several things going on at one time and you are fixated on it whether you are interested in the programme or not, the way in which it only gives you a second or less to figure out what is going on in each shot means that it has your undivided attention due to the fact that being human we want to know what is going on.
The pace is a factor which contibutes to displaying the teenagers as wild, unruly, loud, dangerous, violent, unthoughtful and out of control.
I think that the fast pace could also be suggesting the quick thinking of the teenaers minds or actions due to drugs.

Camera shots
The way in which the camera shots are quick and diorientated, without a proffessional controlled quality makes it seem as if it has been filmed using a hand-held camera by someone at the party. As we view it through the eyes of someone at the party and get quite detailed shots of everything that is going on, we as the audience feel personally involved and as if we are actually there. This increases our desirability to be there at the party and in turn watch the show to continue the excitement.

Mise-en-scene

Lighting: is used throughout the clip to give focus to certain points within the frame. As it is a night-time party, there isn't any natural light. So artificial lighting such as spot lights have been used to give focus to the most important parts in each scene. This is effective as we can still tell that it is night as there are parts within each scene that are clearly dark, however we can clearly see what is going on and are given a point to focus on through the use of spot-lighting.

Here the lighting has almost produced a vignette around Michelle which is surrounding and framing her, showing that she is the main focus

Here the light is focused between these two people's faces so that our eyes are directed at the kiss

The only subject that we can clearly see here is Tony due to the light that has been projected on him. This keeps us focused on him rather than the dark background.
We can clearly tell here that a light is being projected on him because we can clearly see the dark shadow behind that his figure is making

The lighting here focuses on the people in the foreground and the NOS they are inhaling, showing us what exactly is going on at this party and symbolising as fun to us as the audience

The lighting is focusing on Cassie in the foreground and her actions/emotions which are likely to have been caused by the consumption of drugs

There is a flash of light where the whole scene is illuminated, this is to symbolise the high-point of the party

After the flash of light, there are quite a few dark scenes where not much is visible to symbolise that the party can only go downhill from here and what is happening is actually pretty dark and awful

The scenes after have a lot more darkness and shadow to them, hinting to the darkness of the night and the teens actions as time goes on.
Compared to the earlier kissing scene, we are not shown as clearly who these two people are, suggesting that maybe they don't know who they are due to drugs etc, and there is much more shadowing across their faces to show the dark reality of what they are doing.

Props: that are used here such as a child's tricycle, water guns, foam, 3D glasses, drugs, bear costume, glow sticks, squirty cream and make-up, enhance the excitement of the party as these are all things that you symbolise with fun.
A lot of child's toys are used in the clip. Childhood and child's toys are something that we generally associate with a carefree time full of fun, the use of these props helps to show the child-like fun which we expect these characters are having and to also portray them as children themselves. By subtly making them seem like children, it is portraying them as immature, silly and stupid.

Costumes: are very minimal, in the sense that everyone is hardly wearing anything! Most of the cast are in little more than their underwear which appeals to us as the audience seeing someone attractive being quite revealing and we want to continue to watch.
It also portrays the teens quite negatively as people who do what they want and don't care what people think of them, possibly disrespectful whores or sex maniacs.

Location: of the trailer is someone's typical house with photos on the wall that become slanted, vases that become smashed, sofas that become pulled apart and thrown, baths that get laid in, beds that get jumped on and toilets that people throw up into. This setting is one that we can relate to as we see something very similar everyday in our own houses, which gives a connection between us and the cast, making us feel they understand us and we have a connection with them; we want to watch on.
Of corse the obvious use of the house is to symbolise that it is a house party!
The fact that we see so many things being destroyed shows the teens as having a lack of respect with no care, being violent, dangerous and off their heads - this is not something we would typically expect people to do. We can also sympathise with the person who is having their house destroyed, as having one of our own, we wouldn't want that to happen to it!

Representation of age in Monarch of the Glen, focus on mise-en-scene

In the first image we are shown, we see a group of older people wearing sensible clothing, carrying big tools and coming together to work on a project.

This is a great contrast to the younger people who are then shown in much brighter 'wilder' clothing, with casual jeans compared to the smarter clothing worn by the older generation. The boy is wearing a hoodie which people stereotypically associate with naughty teenagers or thugs, and our view of respect for these young people is not as high as the older people we have seen previously.

The way in which Amy clumsily catches the car keys, portrays her lack of experience in the driving department. This prop is used to display her lack of knowledge and portray her as a young girl.

Amy wears blue eye shadow, jewelry and has her hair tied up in a ponytail which is quite child-like. All of these aspects of her costume portray her to be young and care-free, also hinting towards the fact that she takes pride in her appearance and she does not focus as much on things that the older generation do such as helping out the community. Her hair is styled to be almost 'school girl' like, which I feel is to help us easily accept that she is still at school which we find out later in the clip.

Showing the car crash shows Amy's lack of experience with driving, her immaturity to think she could get away with it and the trouble that she continues to cause her family. 

Amy's reaction here is very child-like as she says 'I hate you!' just as you may expect a child to say when they do not get their own way. This view of Amy really helps us to see how immature she is.

We then see her proceed to run off to her room in a strop. Again, we expect this from a young child or possibly a moody teenager who does bot have much respect for their elders

Kat and Alfie Trailer East Enders

The trailer starts with an establishing shot, showing us the location in which the show will take place and giving us a current view of what the pub looks like so that we are aware of the recent fire that has made the pub inhabitable.

The camera angle here is slanted, along with the sign which appears to have fallen. This suggests that the town itself has become rundown, broken and dysfunctional and that things will continue to go wrong.

A tracking shot is used to show Kat walking, giving the effect that everyone is watching her. Her boots and the loud noise they make when she walks also helps to draw attention to what she is doing.

This over the shoulder shot shows us the fear this character has for Kat, as she is right at the side of the shot, almost trying to hide away, and due to the blinds she hides behind, we can tell that she does not want to be seen by her. 

Although we can tell who she is looking at, we are still not shown Kat which builds up suspense as we wait to find out who this character is. 

A tilt shot is then used, as the camera travels from Kat's feet...

To her face. This happens fairly slowly and really builds up our suspense to find out exactly who the character is. It also allows us to focus on each part of her at a time- i.e. what she is wearing, we see her boots, wonder who would be wearing them and why, we then notice her short skirt, bracelets, poncho, big gold earrings and start to build up the image and personality of this character.

This over the shoulder shot shows the intimidation which Kat possesses. We see her as a dark figure and the characters looking at her with shock and dread.

This close up shot is used to really define the fear and intrigue of the characters as we can very clearly see the expression on their faces from this close up. They are obviously shocked to see her, and we can tell this character's fear from the way in which he hides behind the blind. But the fact he is still looking at her shows he is intrigued as to why she is here. 

This shot focuses us on Kat's actions. With the typical Western scene that is represented here, we expect her to be reaching for a gun and this wonder builds our own personal fear of this character.

We then have a macro shot, where once again we are shown the pub, giving us a clear reminder of the location. We also get to see the reaction of characters which have noticed her from a distance.

An over-the-shoulder shot is used here to clearly show the audience that Kat has noticed Alfie. This is the first time in the extract which we see a character that is not intimidated or feared by Kat. In the previous over the shoulder shot, Kat is portrayed as a very dark and mysterious figure, but when the same shot is used again here, the dark character personality and main focus of the shot has switched to the almost silhouette figure in Kat's view - showing this character also has a high status in the plot of the story.

This shot of looking through Kat's legs, in one which you would typically expect to see in a Western film to portray that both characters are directly facing each other, legs apart, bold and ready for a duel.

We then switch from a close-up shot of Alfie...

To one of Kat. This gives us a close and clear view of the character's expressions and

Conventions of a Soap Opera featured in Eastenders 10-11-2011

This clip from East Enders contains many conventions commonly used in Soap Operas. These conventions are used to create a domestic, real-life; imaginable situation for the audience which they feel personally involved in and can relate to. Themes are often recognizable as they are often things that we expect to happen every day, however at the same time the Soap makes them melodramatic and exciting.

The clip begins with an establishing shot - which shows us the location of the show through things we recognize and can relate to, such as the River Thames. Showing this part of London automatically creates a stereotype of this location in our minds.

We see the character Phil Mitchell, who is bald, has a big build, is wearing a suit and appears to have an extremely aggressive manner. This costume for the character is highly symbolic of your typical 'bad guy' in the story.

We are soon introduced to the typical meeting place that allows for gossip to circulate - the pub.

There is a dominance of two-shots as there is a conversation between characters in the pub.

Many current social issues are raised in this clip, meaning the audience can relate the soap to things happening in real life, making the soap seem more realistic. The controversy of homosexuality is raised by Christian and Ben. There are signs of family break-down as Phil and Ben do not get on. Phil shows issues with aggression, bullying, false accusation and breaking the law by wrecking Christian’s house.

There is a constant illusion of real time along with continuity, as we believe that the character would be saying/doing that at this point in the story. We even see Phil leave the pub and make his way back home; everything is shown so that we do not feel as if we have 'jumped in time'.

Interweaving of storylines are used as we are shown the storyline with Phil, which interweaves with Christian, and we are shown the story of the planned wedding and the story next door.

The storyline of the wedding was obviously relevant to a relationship that had happened in a storyline previously, which had been partially closed, leaving the audience to forget slightly, and now it has re-surfaced causing new questions for the audience.

When we are shown into the neighbors house, we get an idea that they may have something to do with the fight going on between Phil and Christian as we hear in the conversation 'This is too much, it wasn't meant to go this far.... what have we done' we start to question as the viewer what they had to do with it. (There is a combination of action - what we've seen and heard them say, and enigma - questions that are then raised)
This creates dramatic irony - we know something about a character that another character doesn't.

When Phil brakes into Christian’s home, we are shown a very domestic setting. We see things you would expect in a typical family home, such as the pot and pans that Phil trashes.

There is a dominance of digetic sound. We hear cars along the street etc as the story strives to keep realistic.

East Enders creates a fairly nostalgic and perhaps out-dated depiction of the community, as it suggests that everyone knows everyone else's business and neighbors and community know a lot about each other. However, this is not exactly the case in modern society. People are more likely to keep themselves to themselves nowadays and the 'close community' where you speak to your neighbor on your way out to work and chat to others in the neighborhood along the street, everyone knowing everyone else isn't how things are any more.

Although it is not shown in this clip, the drums at the end of East Enders are used as a motif for the soap.