Exam preparation

Pre-release materials - 14th May
Exam - 14th June


TAKE INTO EXAM:
- Coloured  Pencils
- Fine Liners
- Ruler


Practical tasks you could get in the exam:
- make a DVD COVER,
- a FRONT COVER 
- LISTING MAG
- MAGAZINE COVER
- WEBSITE HOMEPAGE (keep in mind)
- STORYBOARD
etc, etc.. It will not JUST require you to write huge essays.


* TIP: Make sure to also add sketches and diagrams - spider diagrams/ bullet points


YOU WILL NEED:
- Depth Knowledge of 3 crime dramas - 
You need to mention 3 atleast in the exam, e.g: Luther, CSI, Sherlock 
- Use own independent dramas that you have researched/watched yourself


Make sure to use a variety of each show
 (American - Harito - perfect cop
Fantasy - Sherlock
Gritty - Luther - anti hero. )


- A-A* NEED WILL NEED ATLEAST TWO THEORIES.


Uses and Grafitications - reasons why we like media
- information
- for escapist environment
- entertainment
- personal identity
- personal relationships


Propp -
The theory of each different kind of role a character is:
Hero, Villian, Princess, Donar. 


Barthes -
The theory that every narrative has an enigma = something to be solved, a puzzle. An enigma is very clever and important for a crime drama.


Tudorov -
The theory that all narratives follow 3 different parts:
1- equilibrium - normality
2- disruption - problems
3- resolution


Levi Straus -
The theory that all naratives revolve around opposites that conflict one another. 
Good vs Evil
Good Guys vs Bad Girls
Law vs Criminal
Lies vs truth
Good vs bad
= BINARY OPPOSITES
...OR involve crime dramas you have personally watched e.g 'technology of CSI: Miami vs stupidity of the criminal', or 'Luther is on both sides of Levi Straus' argument as he is both Good and Bad.'






- Detailed knowledge of characters.
3 Characters with a lot of information about each
e.g Luther - complicated character, thinks he's above the law. He has a warped view of the law and is a high risk-taker who wears his heart on his sleeve and is very emotional and aggressive. He is passionate and determined about his work and usually takes it outside of business and home with him.


- Good understandings of settings
Vegas - gambling, casino, american, desert.
Miami - glamarous, multi cultural.
London - rich, nice apartments




- Set pieces and iconography
E.G:
- Sirens
- Police tape
- crime scene investigation
- water on desk


Jargon - types of words the detectives use associated with crime drama e.g 'detective'


Modus Operandi (MO)
- the detective's manner of working e.g 'he uses the same pattern of stabbing the criminal 5 times' et


Write in ROLE.
- you are writing to SELL, so you need to stay in that role and use flashy words and be enthusiastic about your drama


Your Rationall
- which means you need to use REASONS for everything and support your ideas/opinions etc

Luther Series 1 Episode 4

The episode begins in a field; a woman is laying dead, and the murderer is laying out the woman's belongings that are gathered around her head. He stole the crescent necklace she was wearing. This murder was committed by the same man the 3rd time in 5 weeks, named Graham Shand. As it's his wife's birthday and Graham and his wife and two friends are at the pub. Graham presents his wife with the necklace he has stolen from his victim, when he suddenly gets a phonecall 'from work' and leaves at that instant. Graham is a cab driver and so this is an easy method for him to be able to endure people in. Being so used to his tactical ways of enduring his victims in, this time, his easy 'trap' doesn't go so well because all murders are placed in strange, extravagant places that only taxi drivers or residents would know about. Sitting in his office, Luther had just found out that the man Graham had supposedly killed in Episode 1 had woken up from his coma, and had to stay in his office and try and make as much progress with the new case as much as he could. Suddenly he figured out that the murderer must be a taxi driver and with that he got DS Justin Ripley to fish through and track down all the taxi drivers that had been involved with the police before this current incident. Ripley and Luther finally come to the conclusion that the murderer must be Graham and decide to pay his wife a small visit to find out if she knows anything about her husband's despicable and notorious lifestyle.  Linda, the wife, soon spills to Luther that she is cheating on Graham with one of his friends and she explains further that Graham had said to her that if she ever leaves him he will kill himself, and that she had attempted to leave him in the past but he slashed his wrists to stop her from leaving. She then further explains that Graham usually checks her phone whenever she hasn't got it and the other day she left her phone and had forgotten to delete one of the texts from Graham's friend she is cheating on him with.
While all of this is happening, Alice once again wants to help Luther with the 'Henry Madsen' situation and let Luther go out and investigate. She dresses up as one of the nurses and enters the Henry Madsens room, then silently kills him. Luther finds out and goes absoloutely berserk and lashes out on the phone to her as he did not want her to do this. The murder of Henry Madsen means a complete disruption to Luther's plans because it means that he has no live evidence that Henry did what he did to people. Infuriated at Luther's reaction to what she thought was helping him, Alice decides to go and tell Mark about Luther and Zoe in her heated anger. Meanwhile, Luther soon realises that the man Linda is cheating on Graham with is in serious danger as to the fact that Graham ordered a prostitute to come to his house. Graham turns up before she does and kills the man that has been sleeping with Graham's wife. Then, soon the prostitute turns up at the house and it is clear that she is his next victim. Layla, the prostitute, recieves a phonecall who she thinks is her friend but to her surprise is Luther. Luther tells her to just stay calm and stay in character as if she is on the phone to her friend and to quickly find a safe place to hide as this man is extremely dangerous. Layla puts down the phone and instantly her body language changes from relaxed, cool and prepared, to stiff and blank. Nervously she turns and asks Graham if she would be able to go to the toilet and he refuses to let her, and begins to touch her. Layla sprints to the bathroom instantly and manages to lock the door, and Graham begins to knock on the door and then start breaking through. Layla turns around, and to her shock and despair, sees the man's body Graham had just killed in a bag on the floor. Graham meanwhile goes downstairs, grabs himself a hammer and then returns, and begins to hammer the door down. Meanwhile, the police ask Linda to take Graham out of the house instead of themselves as the police may trigger him and it is less risky. Linda goes inside to get Graham and Graham goes downstairs with a hammer in his hand. Policemen surround him and he is soon taken away. Linda goes upstairs to find Layla and to her horror, sees the man she loves in the body bag. Her instant reaction is to go downstairs and grab the hammer. She runs after Graham with the hammer in her hand and catches up with him, then hits him in the back of the head and kills him.
I was really impressed with the ending of this episode as it was surprising and quite unexpected, but I was glad this was the ending because Graham deserved it. :)


Basic TV Crime Drama conventions used in this Episode:
- Interviews/Interrogation
-Montages
- Murder
- Crime Scene

Set Pieces

Set Pieces

• What typically happens in the scene?
• What part does it play in the narrative?
• What iconography is used?
• What audience pleasures arise from the scene?
• What language may be used?

Interogation Scenes - This is where people associated with the crime/victim are interviewed to see if they have information. This allows more evidence to be gathered and provides more information as to who committed the crime.

• 2 Way Mirrors
• Empty Room
• Table and Chairs
• Tape recorder

Press Conference-  Where people are informed  about the

crimes and then people from the press are able to ask questions based on the murder.

• Cameras
• Press
• Microphones
• Desks
• Rows of chairs
• Flashes

Crime Flashback - The crime flashback is usually done to show the crime taking place, and in many occasions it is done with a different suspect to enhance to the audience the range of suspects that may have been part of the crime.

• Dark, as the flashbacks usually show scenes of violence and crime
• Flashback Scenes may cause frightening moments to the audience and it allows them to witness the crime themselves.
• Clarification, gives proof of who, how and where the crime was committed in the narrative.
• Jolty Camera
• Quick Montages

The Eureka Moment - The moment when some important information is uncovered and an investigator may have a moment of intelligence and can figure out who the suspect is.

• In many ocassions this is the moment when the crime will finally be solved or a step away from it being solved.
• This may be a moment when the audience will either find out that they were right or wrong about who the victim was. This makes the audience feel involved and  intelligent if they were right.
• Facial Expressions are usually happy and exciting as the moment everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived.

Crime Scene- This is the scene where the crime has been.

committed and the investigators go to see what has happened. This scene allows evidence to be collected and taken back to the lab so that they may be able to find the perpetrator

•Detective arrives at crime scene

•Police tape

•Evidence Markers

•Cameras

The Chase - This is when the police or the investigators are chasing the suspect.

• Builds tension within the narrative, is the moment that causes the audience to consider will they/won't they catch them
• Cars, alleyways, pathways, buildings, street lights, city streets etc.
• Gets the audience excited and more involved in the crime drama.

Next of kin- This is where the family of the victims are informed of their death.

• This tends to be sad for the audience and it is usually a silent/quiet scene as the family or relatives are being informed about a not very good and 'happy' thing.
• This could sometimes bring further clues as the family may know someone who could have committed the crime.

Autopsy - This is when the body of the victim is investiagted and

sometimes there is further evidence found through the investiagtion

of the body, and connecting a person with the murder.

• Body Bag
• Tweasers
• Lab Coat
• Table which the body is on

The Laboratory - Forensics used.  Usually where

they have collected evidence from the crime scene and they analyse it to see if they can gather any clues. It plays a part in the narrative as the investigators are able to find clues as to who is the perpetrator.
•Lab coats
•Gloves
•Test Tubes

TV MAGAZINE

Luther

The set for Luther is mainly quite gloomy. It is based in quite a 'rough' town with many estates and dark places giving the program quite a negative, serious and dark atmosphere about it.

Luther as a flawed Anti-hero

Luther as a flawed Anti-hero

Luther is not your usual conventional detective; we usually think of detectives as law abiding citizens however he is not.

• He has a hot-temper and loses it easily
• He chose to leave a man to die instead of saving his life
• He takes business home with him and approaches it in a very dedicated, sometimes aggressive way e.g when he met up with a murderer several times outside of work
• He attempted to arrest a murderer on his own, however he needed back-up. This is against detective rules.
• He was almost taken in by seductive behaviour of a potential murderer and allowed himself to build an innapropriate relationship with her.
• Fighting
• Previous blackmail, e.g he blackmails Alice when he finally gets her gun
• He breaks into Alice's house in one of the episodes
• He contemplates suicide in one of the episodes. His emotional/aggressive side comes out a lot and this is stereotypically not very professional for a detective.
• He has quite an evil side, he hints and suggests about the Devil and Satan quite a lot in previous episodes.
• He develops personal hatred or liking for some of the criminals instead of just keeping it to business, e.g this happened with Alice

Criminal Justice Series 1

I watched the whole of series 1 of Criminal Justice which consisted of the storlyine of a woman named Juliet and her children. Juliet is sexually abused and mentally/emotionally bullied by her husband and tricked into thinking she had gone mad when she hadn't, and one day she decides to take action. She murders her husband and this case is soon taken to court. Her future is soon laid in the court case's hands and we see Juliet struggling in her journey to plead innocent in the case, persisting she committed this muder out of self-defence.

Anti-hero/crooked-cop - Harry Box (?) was the anti-hero in this Series as he has so many dislikeable qualities about him yet we still like him; he is cold, arrogant and blunt, and worst of all he is a crooked-cop and is very biased, therefore only caring about making sure all suspects always look guilty; and this includes Juliet.

Heroine cop - Alison Slaughter (?) is the heroine cop in this programme because she sticks up for Juliet and stays on her side the whole time which gees the audience on to support her as we all are on Juliet's side too.

Crime scenes - There are many crime scenes in this Series such as the Press, who swarm around Juliet and her case when they find out, plus the Police Tape that discovers Juliet roaming down the streets late at night putting a condom in the bin which supported the fact that her husband sexually abused her, and more.

Multiple Suspects - It's unusual because throughout this Series there is no use of the Multiple Suspect convention as Juliet is always the only suspect. This is mainly down to the fact that the leading cop, Harry, is a crooked cop.

Professionals –In this Series are there: Police in most scenes, Investigators, Detectives, Medics for the scene where Juliet's husband is discovered and when she gives birth, going along with Lawyers, the Press in the scene where all of Juliet's crime is revealed to the public, and Judges.

Evidence – Throughout the Series there are many pieces of evidence Investigators and Detectives use to suss out that Juliet is the main suspect but that she was also a victim, such as: the DNA, witnesses, Fingerprints, Alibis, Personal Effects, CCTV / Images, Scars, and more.

Drama - Character development is used throughout the start of the series to develop Juliet's character and let us reveal qualities and characteristics about her that would make us grow on her as time goes and support her throughout the court case. These qualities she holds are shown within scenes for example where her husband bullies her and we see her at a weak, vulnerable stage, but also at other stages for example throughout the court case where she is forced to stay in prison without her new-born baby and she fights to make sure her baby stays with her; - in scenes like these we see her stronger side come out.

Restrictive narrative - Restrictive narrative was not used in this Series as we always knew more than the investigator and therefore this built up more suspensin throughout the series and made us biased on Juliet's side constantly and also made us slightly frustrated as we urged for the Police and Detectives to know what really went on behind closed doors and that Juliet didn't deserve the life sentence she was given in the end.

Also a lot of Press Conferences were used quite often and so the crime was very public  and many flashbacks were used in the series throughout Juliet's thoughts.

Above Supsicion: Silent Scream

Anna Travis

- Pale, fragile red-headed woman

- Slim

- Sharp

- All about action

- Intelligent

- Clever

- Strong female main character (not usually expected)

- Serious about her job

- Determined

Mise En Scene

At the start of Silent Scream the first time I see Anna is when she strides

Above Suspicion iPlayer for episodes 1, 2 & 3

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=299571

Characters

1.       Stock characters

·         Hero cop – the cop that ‘saves the day’ all the time. He seems friendly and like a perfect cop. An idol.

·         Heroine cop – the same as the hero but a woman.

·         Anti-hero – not a hero and has some quite dislikeable characteristics and as much as we don’t want to like them, they are actually very likeable

·         Quirky detectives – a detective with unique ways

·         Bad-tempered but brilliant detectives – one of those ‘touchy’ angry detectives who gets the job done almost always

·         Rookie – the new person who’s just joined to the police force/detectives

·         Buddy partners – Best friend partnership

·         Grumpy, world-weary superior officer

·         Forensic scientists/pathologists/other medical professionals

·         Psychology experts/consultants/helpers – self explanatory

·         FBI agents – people who are working for the FBI

·         Lawyers

·         Informats – spies who go and find out information secretly and come back and tell the team

2.

Codes and Conventions:

-          What style of detective are they? What is their role? Who do they work for?

-          Sherlock – Sherlock is a cold, arrogant and rude detective. His character would probably be the ‘quirky detective’. He uses his mind in order to work crimes out rather than technology and is very intelligent; he works for himself and sometimes helps out the police.

-          Horatio – Horatio from CSI is the hero cop who is quick and sharp on figuring out things and leads his CSI team. He is shady, intelligent, calculating and mature.

Audience:

-          What is the appeal of this character – who will they appeal to?

Sherlock – Sherlock appears to be very smart and I think an educated audience or maybe scientists or those who are interested in forensics and learning facts about this etc would be interested in Sherlock and would find him appealing, because he becomes across extremely exact and cunning. This could idolise him to an educated audience such as explained. Furthermore, his mature nature could attract older audiences such as adults.

Horatio – Similarly to Sherlock Horatio comes across extremely intelligent except this is due to his dark, mysterious nature. He is very mature and calm which could attract teenage audiences such as girls, but furthermore he could appeal to educated and older audiences because of this. His factual behaviour and ability to solve every crime could be extremely idolising for him.

Representation:

-          How are they represented – personality, relationships, sub-plot, mise-en-scene

Sherlock – Sherlock is represented as cold and prude, and he doesn’t tend to involve himself with people relationship-wise or build on relationships. He is quite detatched from people and appears to have no interest in having a friendship or relationship with anyone, adding on to the fact that his rude nature disadvantages him from people actually wanting to make a relationship with him. Sherlock also has a sub-plot, his own story where he fell inlove with a girl. This makes us wonder whether Sherlock’s dismissing nature comes from his past. Mise-en-scene comes in here as Sherlock always has tidy hair and is always dressed in a smart suit. This represents his intelligent, prude personality and perhaps punctual characteristic too.

Horatio – Horatio is represented as dark, reserved and mysterious. He is friendly to an extent with other members of the team but as far as I have seen  he does not involve himself with relationships much and as I said is quite reserved. His sub-plot is that his wife was killed, and so this gives us quite a bit of intreugement as to the way Horatio acts about it and why he is the way he is. As to mise-en-scene Horatio dresses smartly in suits and always has neat, tidy hair. This suggests sensibility, punctuality and intelligence.

Institution:

-          What other roles have they taken?

Sherlock - Benedict Cumberbatch who plays as ‘Sherlock’ also acts in other films/programs such as: Warhorse, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Parade's End, The Hobbit and Star Trek.

Horatio – David Caruso who acts as ‘Horatio’ also acts in other programs/films such as: Black Point, Session 9, Proof of Life, Deadlocked, Swirlee, Body Count, Cold Around the Heart, Kiss of Death and more.

Victims

-          Are they innocent / deserved victims?

Juliet Miller – Juliet Miller in episode 2 of Criminal Justice I think is an innocent victim because even though she committed the crime, throughout the episode she is picked-on and harassed by the crooked-cop and police team for a crime she committed out of self-defense.

Criminals

-          Are they petty criminals, accidental criminals, gang related, stereotypical, unstereotypical.

Juliet Miller – The criminal Juliet committed a crime out of self-defense even though it was a calculated crime. The crime was that she murdered her abusive bully of a husband after he put her through a marriage full of sexual abuse, emotional disturbance and he patronised her and made her go crazy. Juliet finally decided she couldn’t take it anymore and one day when her husband attempted to sexually abuse her again, she stabbed him with a kitchen knife. The crime was unstereotypical.

-          What is their motive?

Juliet Miller – Juliet’s motive was to free herself from jail after being accused of committing the crime, and to be able to get home and look after her daughter and give birth to her child. However the process of freeing herself from prison took a long time and soon after the court case she was found ‘guilty’.

Criminal Justice

I watched the whole of Episode 2 of Criminal Justice today, was really good & I recommend it! Might blog a bit about it later.

Channel 5 iPlayer for CSI: Miami

Just found out I can watch various CSI: Miami episodes on this iPlayer! Think I'll be watching some tonight.

Sherlock Crime Drama case study

SHOW: Sherlock

TV CRIME DRAMA: CASE STUDY

Production Details: Episode Name, Actors, Creator, Writer, Year, Channel etc BBC 1, Season 1 episode 1: “A Study In Pink” filmed in London and Cardiff year 2010, Director: Paul McGuigan, Written and created by: Steven Moffat, Actors: Sherlock played by Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Watson played by Martin Freeman.

Slow                      1              2              3             4             -> 5 <- Quick

Technology         1              2              3             4             ->5<-    Mind

Narrative             1              2              3             -> 4<-   5             Action

City                        -> 1<-    2              3             4             5             Rural

Stylish                   1              2              3             4             -> 5 <-                  Gritty

Sexy                       1             2              3             4             -> 5 <-   Ordinary

Extreme Crime 1              -> 2 <-   3             4             5             Petty Crime

Humorous           1              -> 2 <-   3             4             5             Sombre

Details of the Narrative (plot ,restrictive / omniscient, whodunit?, howdunnit? Resolution) Sherlock is about a man who is extremely intelligent and extraordinary, he uses his mind and no technology whatsoever to solve crimes and notices many things that others don’t which makes him different. Soon he finds out that there has been multiple crimes committed by a mass murderer and Sherlock  wants to solve it, this uses the whodunit technique. After a long investigation Sherlock discoveres really who all these murders are behind. He finds the physcopath eventually and soon he is involved with the dangerous human being. The ‘howdunnit’ technique is used and soon the murderer reveals to Sherlock when they meet that he offers two pills to his victims; - one pill that will kill you if consumed, and one that if you consume it won’t kill you and you’ll be fine. Meanwhile Dr Watson and investigators are trying to find out where Sherlock is as he sits down with the murderer to talk. The murderer offers the pills to Sherlock, persuading him to take whichever one he wants. He explains his technique to Sherlock and Sherlock finds out about the murderer’s lifestyle. Just at the second Sherlock picks up one of the pills and is about to take it, Dr Watson Jumps up behind the building and shoots the murderer through the window before Sherlock can take the pill.

Protagonists: Description (looks, personality), relationships Sherlock: ·         Self centred ·         Rude ·         Genius ·         Superior to police ·         He controls Dr Watson ·         Looks trendy – most girls would find him attractive ·         Prefers more baffling and interesting investigations ·         Selfish ·         Unfriendly ·         Quite cold ·         Humorous ·         Lacks in social grace ·         Mind like a racing engine ·         He needs problems to live, without them he’s bored and upset Dr Watson: ·         Brave ·         Practical ·         Resourseful ·         Army Doctor ·         Lives in the past, misses his past ·         Lost soul ·         Shattered by service in Afghanistan ·         Sharing flat with complete stranger (Sherlock) ·         Life changes completely ·         Sees world through Sherlock’s eyes (intelligent mind solution to everything) ·         Immortal friendship

Key CHARACTER indicators of Crime Drama: (Professions, right / wrong side of the law) Through episode of ‘A Study In Pink’ indicates Crime Drama through the characters of Sherlock and Dr Watson. There are many scenes where the press have been involved, and also the police. Also, Dr. Watson is Sherlock’s sidekick which is a typical indicator of crime drama. Also, when Sherlock discovers that the suitcase that was part of the dead woman’s death wasn’t anywhere near her, it builds up suspense and confusion and a lot of mystery which is a typical and often-used indicator used in crime drama. Aswell as that, even though there are many detectives and typical investigations of crime drama in this episode, Mrs Hudson isn’t a typical character of crime drama because  her personality doesn’t fit in with the typical genre of the crime drama aura.

Key VISUAL/AUDIO Indicators of Crime Drama (settings, montages, flashbacks, props, costumes, camera, music, dialogue) The setting of the series was in a city which makes it better to watch as it is more interesting as the audience are trying to figure things from the past in the series for example when Sherlock was on the back of the taxi he had a flashback of when he first saw Dr Watson and he explains how he could figure out everything. Also, the city vibe about it makes it more modern for us to watch and understand and relate to. Many other indications are used such as when the episode becomes more action-filled and the audience are being built up with suspense the scenes are fastened and the shots move a lot faster.  The camera was moving fast when Sherlock was in the urge of unravelling clues about the investigation and through out the whole series it went into a medium pace. The dialogue was when Sherlock was explaining about the woman who was laying face down on the floor. Also when Sherlock at the end met the killer and had a conversation with him he was trying to make him take the pull and they kept talking and having a conversation with him. A lot of montages were used as the episode at one stage flicks through different past scenes to show the audience what had previously happened to update us on the investigation a little more.

Key NARRATIVE Indicators of Crime Drama (motives, evidence, red-herrings, multiple suspects) The narrative indicators of crime drama are the evidence Sherlock finds out but he does not use high technology equipment he only uses his mind to figure things out. The evidence was when the suitcase splashes of water are on the back of the dead female’s legs which was from the suitcase which she was carrying which was a big give-away for Sherlock. There were multiple suspects which makes it an indicator of drama as in every crime drama the is usually a number of suspects which makes the audience engage and try to figure out who it is. Red-herrings in Sherlock is his brother when he turns up but he had nothing to do with the murder.

Key THEMATIC Indicators of Crime Drama (Cunning, technology, intelligence, justice, good vs evil, morals) Sherlock’s intelligence works very well in this episode because he uses his smart ways to win his way through investigations. Not much technology is used because Sherlock’s incredible intelligence is surely enough. This is a good indicator in crime drama that the more intelligence you have the better and faster you will be at discovering clues and finding out about the investigation.  Cunningness is used when the taxi driver doesn’t want to get caught. Also, justice is used when the murderer/taxi driver gets sents to prison justifying the fact that if you do bad things you will be sent to jail. This comes into morals. Also, I think one other moral as part of the episode I think was when Dr Watson jumped in and saved Sherlock from the murderer and shot him; - this shows the moral that you should always look after your friends. And the good vs. evil indicator was probably either Sherlock vs. the taxi driver or Sherlock and his brother who looks evil but really just wants to make sure Sherlock is OK because he is concerned.

Audience Pleasures: The audience pleasures are that Sherlock solves every problem in a  very interesting way which will make he audience think about how he did it. Most the problems are solved at home and it is very enjoyable even though most times the audience will be wrong on who the suspect is as they will find it hard to  realise because they make a lot of people seem as they are the suspect which makes the episode more interesting to watch as it builds you up with tension and suspense and then leaves you with surprise as your assumption on the murderer was wrong. Also, another indicator of an audience pleasure would probably be every time Sherlock discovers something new or at the very end where he is successful and Dr. Watson kills the dreaded murderer/taxi driver.