Here's our essay of wrapped up into a nice wee keynote for you to get through.
http://tinyurl.com/6eaz2r
Here's some bonus material also.
http://tinyurl.com/2w4apm
Still compiling the storyboards.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Hollyoaks Case Study
We have been asked to take a section from the British soap, Hollyoaks, and examine how it move from a serious (thought-provoking) story line to a more lighthearted story line. Examine a three-five minute sequence that shows both of these story lines.
I first found this quite hard as i have never watched a full Hollyoaks episode in my life so i didn't really know what i was looking for but as the saying goes, youtube is a mans best friend, and i found my clip to examine.
I apologise about the length of this clip, i tried to shorten it down but didn't seem to work out. I am using the example for this link to scenes (5.30-7.30).
The more serious scene takes place first from 5.30-6.34. This is about how an alcoholic sister/friend pushes the other sister/friend down a flight of stairs for some reason or the other and now the alcoholic is looking for help and wants to start afresh by apologizing to her sister/friend. During this talk an older looking sister/friend/mother ruins the alcoholics plans of making up anytime soon.
The second, more lighthearted, scene takes place from 6.34-7.30. This shows two girls who have babysat for a couple who come home a bit early and light hearted banter ensues.
Storyboard
I am not entirely sure what i have to do in this section but i will give it my best shot from what the case study dictates.
Below is the last shot of the first, more serious, sequence.
The start of this scene starts off with a pan shot of the side of the hospital bed with the two women talking. From this moves to an over the shoulder shot of the girl in the bed, then a close up of the other woman (the alcoholic), as their conversation continues they use these camera angles again. When the woman in the hospital bed says "Would it be easier if i was unconscious again" it cuts to a medium shot. When the alcoholic says "I'm getting help..." It moves in for the continued use of the close up shot and the regular format of an over the shoulder shot when the woman in the bed speaks. When the sick woman says "I wish i could believe you.." the camera cuts to a long shot/ two shot of both of the characters in the scene. It returns to the regular close up and over the shoulder shot for another for another two shots until the audience hears a third voice coming from off screen. The camera then cuts to a close up of the woman standing at the doorway, who seems to have been listening to the conversation the entire time. As she continues to speak the camera darts form a two shot of the other two character an then back to a long shot of the third. As the woman at the doorway says "...this time we're not going to fall for it" the camera then cuts to a close up of the women n the bed and then to the other, ending the scene.
In this next scene we take a breath of fresh air from the seriousness of the last scene and are given a two shot of the babysitters. After hearing the return of the adults the girls try and clean up, for this scene we are given a medium shot. As the parents come through the door we are given a twist on the two shot idea with it taken from a low angle from behind on of the babysitters. We then cut to another over the should shot form the adults point of view aiming at a two shot of the babysitters. This then leads to a medium, two shot back and forth as the parents and babysitters talk. As the babysitters leave it leads to a back and forth close up shot of the parents talking and finally a medium shot of the woman as the door closes.
Assessment
I have already discussed how the camera moves from shot to shot but i am going to try and analyze other element that the director used to built up the contrast between the lighthearted and the serious.
In the first scene takes pace in a hospital ward. The audience are made aware of this with the use of props and diatonic sounds that can be heard from quiet voices in the background. The serious atmosphere is created by the actors dialogue and their performances. The audience can grasp quickly that is an emotional scene. The Camera does well too in getting across the atmosphere between the two characters in the sharpness of the cuts and when there is a silence and awkwardness in the room (e.g. 6.11).
There is no noticeable bridge between the two scenes to tie them both together so just a cut to the other story line was all the director needed to do to.
In this next scene the change in atmosphere is almost immediate with the dialogue between the charactered creating a much more relaxed mood for the audience, even to the point where they use slang like " We are so busted". The performances with the characters in this next scene show the change as well with lots of giggling and smiling between the babysitters and the adults. There is no other sound in this video other than the characters voices which suits this scene at it is depicting a late night with two girls with a sleeping baby in the next room. The angles play an important part in some of these shots, showing the differences between the two sets of characters.
This scenes atmosphere even contracts the other scenes mood to the point that characters are even flirting in this scene.
In studying this in detail i have come to realize, even for greatly, all the small elements that take part in building up a successful scene that will grasp the audiences attention and make them aware of what’s going on.
I first found this quite hard as i have never watched a full Hollyoaks episode in my life so i didn't really know what i was looking for but as the saying goes, youtube is a mans best friend, and i found my clip to examine.
I apologise about the length of this clip, i tried to shorten it down but didn't seem to work out. I am using the example for this link to scenes (5.30-7.30).
The more serious scene takes place first from 5.30-6.34. This is about how an alcoholic sister/friend pushes the other sister/friend down a flight of stairs for some reason or the other and now the alcoholic is looking for help and wants to start afresh by apologizing to her sister/friend. During this talk an older looking sister/friend/mother ruins the alcoholics plans of making up anytime soon.
The second, more lighthearted, scene takes place from 6.34-7.30. This shows two girls who have babysat for a couple who come home a bit early and light hearted banter ensues.
Storyboard
I am not entirely sure what i have to do in this section but i will give it my best shot from what the case study dictates.
Below is the last shot of the first, more serious, sequence.
The start of this scene starts off with a pan shot of the side of the hospital bed with the two women talking. From this moves to an over the shoulder shot of the girl in the bed, then a close up of the other woman (the alcoholic), as their conversation continues they use these camera angles again. When the woman in the hospital bed says "Would it be easier if i was unconscious again" it cuts to a medium shot. When the alcoholic says "I'm getting help..." It moves in for the continued use of the close up shot and the regular format of an over the shoulder shot when the woman in the bed speaks. When the sick woman says "I wish i could believe you.." the camera cuts to a long shot/ two shot of both of the characters in the scene. It returns to the regular close up and over the shoulder shot for another for another two shots until the audience hears a third voice coming from off screen. The camera then cuts to a close up of the woman standing at the doorway, who seems to have been listening to the conversation the entire time. As she continues to speak the camera darts form a two shot of the other two character an then back to a long shot of the third. As the woman at the doorway says "...this time we're not going to fall for it" the camera then cuts to a close up of the women n the bed and then to the other, ending the scene.
In this next scene we take a breath of fresh air from the seriousness of the last scene and are given a two shot of the babysitters. After hearing the return of the adults the girls try and clean up, for this scene we are given a medium shot. As the parents come through the door we are given a twist on the two shot idea with it taken from a low angle from behind on of the babysitters. We then cut to another over the should shot form the adults point of view aiming at a two shot of the babysitters. This then leads to a medium, two shot back and forth as the parents and babysitters talk. As the babysitters leave it leads to a back and forth close up shot of the parents talking and finally a medium shot of the woman as the door closes.Assessment
I have already discussed how the camera moves from shot to shot but i am going to try and analyze other element that the director used to built up the contrast between the lighthearted and the serious.
In the first scene takes pace in a hospital ward. The audience are made aware of this with the use of props and diatonic sounds that can be heard from quiet voices in the background. The serious atmosphere is created by the actors dialogue and their performances. The audience can grasp quickly that is an emotional scene. The Camera does well too in getting across the atmosphere between the two characters in the sharpness of the cuts and when there is a silence and awkwardness in the room (e.g. 6.11).
There is no noticeable bridge between the two scenes to tie them both together so just a cut to the other story line was all the director needed to do to.
In this next scene the change in atmosphere is almost immediate with the dialogue between the charactered creating a much more relaxed mood for the audience, even to the point where they use slang like " We are so busted". The performances with the characters in this next scene show the change as well with lots of giggling and smiling between the babysitters and the adults. There is no other sound in this video other than the characters voices which suits this scene at it is depicting a late night with two girls with a sleeping baby in the next room. The angles play an important part in some of these shots, showing the differences between the two sets of characters.
This scenes atmosphere even contracts the other scenes mood to the point that characters are even flirting in this scene.
In studying this in detail i have come to realize, even for greatly, all the small elements that take part in building up a successful scene that will grasp the audiences attention and make them aware of what’s going on.
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