Reflections on Practical: TV Drama Stills

A sketch of my initial idea for the shot.

My final shot.

1.       Provide a brief summary of how you planned out your photography practical.

We planned out our photography practical by quickly drawing out the general idea of our shots, their compositions, framing and poses. It helped us stay organised as it helped illustrate to us which shots were easier to take in order for us to prioritise more time to the trickier shots.

2.       Analyse your chosen shot and identify in what ways it could be described as signifying your chosen TV Drama genre/subgenre.

My chosen TV Drama genre was horror and I tried to convey this in my shot in several ways. The first was by creating a frame in frame shot that is frequently used to show the victim in the drama hiding in a tight space from their hunter. The second was the dead, off-guard expression of V (the girl) which creates an off-putting atmosphere. The third was to go against audience expectations to create a sense of unfamiliarity which I tried to convey in the stark contrast in the white doors and the dark red room behind them.

3.       How did you intend the audience to interpret your still? What narrative moment were you attempting to create? What meanings were you attempting to communicate?

I wanted my audience to feel that something was not right when they saw my shot in order to create a sense of tension and enigma. For example, the extreme difference in lighting from the doors to the darkroom was meant to look unnatural and almost surrealist in order for the audience to have to look harder at the frame to see V (symbolically creating a sense of everything is not what it first appears to be) question aspects of the shot and such as ‘why is there a girl in a dark room?’ and ‘what is she doing in there?’ Additionally, the frame in the frame shot in a horror genre is usually to show the victim hiding, however, due to V’s blank face, we disassociate ourselves from her going against our expectations; we also question if we are meant to be her as the shot suggests that we are peeking into a room.

4.       Identify what is successful about your shot.

The contrast of colour in the shot is effective in making the audience lose their sense of bearings at first. The frame in a frame shot also helps to create an interesting and intriguing mise-en-sense that is aesthetically pleasing to look at. There is also a lack of detail which I intended to have in order to create an enigma.

5.       What would you do differently if you were to repeat this activity?

If I were to redo my shot, I would focus the camera more on V as the camera’s focus was more on the door which brought the attention away from her. I would also reduce the starkness of the doors and they are very overwhelming. Finally, I would increase the tilt in order to make it more obvious and impactful; it would also give a shot a very interesting composition.

Continuity Practical Task 1: 'My Property'

1. Explain the story of your video.

The plot of the video is that V (the girl) is angry at her friend Ben (the boy in the first shot) as he is being antisocial and ignoring her for his phone. Their friend Kush (the boy that sits with them) decides to fix this problem by stealing Ben’s phone and running off with it, however, in his rush, Kush runs into a pole and Ben takes back his phone.

2. How did you attempt to create 'narrative flow' (continuity)?

We attempted to create narrative flow in several ways. The first was to have relevant shots that were linked with the characters actions. For example, the link from shot 2 to 3 where Kush is running, we tried to cut it to avoid a jump or a lag in action. We also made sure that the changes in shot types weren’t extreme, such as going from a long shot to an extreme close up, this is seen in shot 1 to shot 2 where we zoom into the characters after creating an establishing shot for the audience to have spacial awareness.

3. Did you achieve full continuity? If not, why not?

We didn’t achieve full continuity as our editing was done directly with the camera and without editing software. This made it hard for us to have our shots as closely knit together as we would like due to a delay in action at the beginning or a delay in cut at the end. This is evident in the delay from shot 4 to shot 5 in Kush and the change in his speed. These delays are fixed in the edited version however there were also some acting errors that we couldn’t fix. These were things such as shot 1 ending with V looking at Ben but then shot 2 starting with her looking at Kush or Kush running towards the left side of the pole in shot 4 but then crashing and falling on the right side of the pole in shot 5.

4. In hindsight, what would you do differently to improve the narrative flow of your video and tell your story more effectively?

In hindsight, I think that having an extra shot of V or more dialogue from her would be effective as it would allow the audience to connect and feel for her and therefore understand the reasoning behind Kush’s action better. Additionally, showing a shot of Ben getting up would be important for continuity and could also show Ben’s fire in wanting his phone back allowing the phrase ‘my property!’ at the end to be more impactful.

TV Still Analysis

The still that I am analysing is from season 1 of Stranger Things.

It depicts an alien creature or monster stood in a primary or elementary classroom. We can tell this is a primary or elementary classroom by the poster board behind the monster suggesting that the monster is looking for a young child or children. This is reinforced by the low POV shot that we have which implies that the child or children are hiding in the class watching the monster but it also makes the monster look more powerful and intimidating.

Behind the monster is also a black board and an old TV which may imply that this series is set a couple of decades ago as this is old classroom equipment. Not only this but the monster is a scary looking alien-esque creature that we are unfamiliar with, suggesting that the show’s genre is a sci-fi horror or thriller. The dark cold lighting reinforces this and juxtaposes the expectation of classrooms being well lit, making the audience feel uneasy.

The monster’s stationary stance shows us that it is looking for, and not chasing after, it’s prey, and, as we can see the exit of the classroom on its left, we can infer that it has just entered the room and it scanning its environment which shows that this shot is slow paced and is used to build tension. It creates a sense of enigma, getting the audience to think about questions such as “who is the monster after?”, “why?”, “will they be found?”, and “what happens to them if they are found?”