How is camerawork used in this excerpt of 'Shameless' ?

In this excerpt of 'Shameless' I will identify the different shots and write about their effects.
The first one is a deep focus shot, which shows the persons in the background are less important then Marty in the foreground. After the two persons had left the room a two shot, medium close up shows them and a private conversation between the two characters is taking place.In the next scene a high angle shot shows Marty in his room. This creates a kind of loneliness and supports the mood. The camera jumped in and used a medium close up of Marty's face to show his emotions.

Then in the next scene the camera is tracking a car, that means the characters in the car are significant. After the camera show us, through an establishing shot, the place where the scene is it jumped back to Marty in his room. Then he is running towards the camera, which is static and focused. This creates a sense of urgency and speed.

At the next shot the camera is going down to show that Marty is carrying patrol, and through tracking him we know his plan. Thereby the camera is under the car, an Atmosphere is created if the audience would be there. We can see Marty is walking to the car. When he is pouring the patrol all over the car, the camera jumps unsteady to follow it and show instability.

An over the shoulder shot is used often from now on. We can see the lighter in focus and that creates danger which is typical for TV Dramas.
Series of two shots are put into place two show all the different characters and their feelings. To show again the setting and where everything is medium close ups and master shots are used between this scene.
Then an extreme close up of the lighter reminds the audience at the danger. Another Close up shows the cigarette and the fire at the petrol trail. After the car had exploded the camera shows the different feelings of the people through medium close ups. Some are shocked and other are amused.

Genre

Genre is a french word for 'Type'.
'Genre' is a critical tool that helps us study media texts, producers and audience responses to texts by dividing them into categories based on common elements.

Generic Characteristics

The aim of genre is to classify media texts based on shared characteristics. These characteristics, known as 'generic elements' or 'generic characteristics' are the ingredients that make up a particular genre.

TV Drama Sub-Genres

A 'sub-genre' is where genres are subdivided into even more specific categories. TV Drama sub-genres include:

• Teen Dramas: e.g. Skins
• Soap Operas: e.g. Coronation Street
• Costume Dramas: e.g. Sharpe
• Medical Dramas: e.g. Holby City
• Crime Dramas: e.g. The Bill
• Docu-dramas: e.g. Hamburg Cell

Deconstruction of Coronation Street

Name of drama: Coronation Street

Camera shots, angle, movement and composition: eye level shots, close ups, long shot, voyeuristic shot, over the shoulder shot, deep focus shot

Editing (transitions, effects, match on action, pace etc): matching the character, close up → emotion, slow transitions between scenes

Sound, music and dialogue: theme at the beginning, focus on the dialogue, background sounds
when characters are talking

Mise en scene (lighting, set design, costume, props, colour scheme etc): set design presents reality, dark light = bad mood, costumes represent the character

Components of TV Dramas

What makes all of these fit within the TV Drama genre ?

• Characters - easily identifiable; often a stereotype; can also be seen as simple
• Stories - all TV Dramas tell stories; often end happily; told again familiar backdrops; told through the dialogue
• Versimilitude - creating a sense of reality
• Music - punctuates the action; create a special mood

Various TV Dramas

Soaps

• Skins
• Hollyoaks
• Eastenders
• Coronation Street

Way of life in the USA

• Desperate Housewives
• Sex and the city
• Scrubs
• House

High Production

• Heroes
• Lost
• 24
• Reaper

Introduction

I'm a pupil at St. Cuthbert Mayne School in Torquay. In Media Studies we should create our own blog, which is focused on TV drama.

Media Studies deals with media language, form & style, convention, signification, representation and audiences.

I will be analyzing a particular TV drama.
The language used within many TV dramas helps the viewer to develop a greater understanding of many aspects, such as themes and characters, and I will be looking at how this one achieves this.