Analysing Media

mise-en-scene, camera, lighting, editing and sound:

How do these technical elements add to your understanding of the action and narrative?

Secrets and Lies:

The episode starts with low-key lighting and still, quiet diegetic sounds which then abruptly goes from peaceful to loud, fast-paced action with loud non-diegetic sounds this could convey emotions onto the audience of terror and intrigue. We also see bugs and wildlife within the forest which conveys that there is life in there, however this juxtaposition implies that with all this life, there is also death in there which the protagonist stumbles upon. We then see the protagonist run through the forest to his home while shouting and screaming. We later find out that he has found a dead boy in the forest and seems very shook up about it. We know this because still music is playing over the close-up shot of him looking anxious and his emotions. This gives the audience a very quick backstory of the protagonist and what has just happened to him in under one minute which is a very effective way the show tells the story.

As he is running home, there are very quick mixtures of close-ups and long shots of him which shows that he is very worried and anxious over something which has not been revealed to the audience yet, this gives a sense of ambiguity that intrigues the audience to watch more to see what doused him to do this. This is an example of the enigma code which is where the show controls what the audience sees or knows, this is effective in this show since it is a detective murder mystery that is very ambiguous.

Later on, we see him enter his home to see his wife in her gown looking tired and worried, this has connotations of her also being anxious and worried for her husband. This could mean that he isn't viewed as innocent yet since even his wife is very worried for what the outcome could be of the investigation. The darkness of the protagonist's (Ben's) clothing in contrast to his wife's bright clothing suggests could convey there emotions through there clothing, his is dark, plain black and doesn't cover his body, these colours suggest that he is depressed, gloomy and scared over what he is going through which is then contrasted with his wife's clothing which is bright and has patterns on, this suggests that although she is also shook up over what has happened, she doesn't fully understand what her husband is going through and she is also revealing a little cleavage which isn't covered by her gown which is similar to how her husband's clothing is a little revealing too which suggests that she tries to understand his situation.

As the protagonist enters his living room, he is met by a man in a suit. Cold, eery music plays over this which gives the man in the suit a negative representation, the man has connotations of being unwelcome and has a distinct opposite way he dresses himself compared to the protagonist which is more informal. This could mean that the detective has different values to the protagonist and makes us, the audience, not like the detective since he is different from the person we are on side of.

The detective is offered tea by the protagonist and responds saying "would you like one?" to which the protagonist replies "no" the detective then says he would like some tea. This expands on the fact that the detective and protagonist has opposite values. The detective wants what the protagonist doesn't - this could then develop though out the show and cause different arguments and disagreements between the two people. The protagonist then offers the detective milk which the detective declines as the protagonist is walking to the fridge, thus elaborating on the fact that the detective and protagonist won't get along with each other. This is an examples of how the show utilises mise-en-scene to give away little pieces of personality traits of people in the show without being too forward about it, it drip feeds the audience.

George Ezra - Blame it on me:



Before the song starts at the beginning of the video, the audience sees a truck with people on the back of it with white ski masks on which is a great use of miss-en-scene as it is only in the video for less than ten seconds but has a big use in the end of the video. This is most likely looked over in the general audience view but when the audience does notice it, it is a very nice use of continuity and attention to detail that fills this music video.

In the video, the focus of the video is George and all the trouble he gets into throughout the video. This requires mise-en-scene in the video as all the bad things start to happen to him when he throws a bottle onto the ground, with this little attention to detail it explains why everything happens to him, it's karma for littering, it's an exaggeration of karma, but nonetheless it's karma for what he did.

The video starts with a long shot of George as he starts walking down the street and then changes into a close-up shot of him walking which then sometimes changes into a medium long shot at different times. This is used to convey his emotions and attitudes towards everything that happens to him on the walk. The camera is angled at eye level with George which gives a connection to the audience, this connection is reinforced with the tracking shot of him throughout the video which is immersive for the audience and puts them emotionally with him. This is effective towards the audience as it gives them a link with the singer and can be relatable to them as they have all had days where everything bad happens to them which is utilised in this music video to maintain the bond between George and the audience.