ASMedia Divine .U.: Analyse

Cradle to Grave

The episode is situated at the south of London near the London Bridge and river themes. The clip opens with an Extreme long shot (establishing shot) which gave the audience the idea of where this film had taken place. This was obvious for us to see as it had one of the famous tallest buildings in the scene (the Shard). The clip made the audience feel at peace because you could hear the river, see the animals and the light shining through the clouds, the light emphasises a symbol, and for example it made the audience felt like London was a paradise and a nice environment to live in. The first sound that came was a police alarm which gave us the impression that it is not really a peaceful place. After the alarm, none diegetic sound was used as the choir started singing which made the city look and feel more peaceful; the narrator, who had an old voice, started speaking while there were shots (or montage) to describe how London looked like. One of the shots had a tall building but to make it look tall for the audience the camera was at a low angle. When the camera was low angled you could see the clear sky passing by very quickly, the reason they fast forward the shot is because it made the audience see that the days are passing by. The clear skies again showed the audience how nice and peaceful the place or weather looked like.

When the narrator starts talking about the seventies his voice starts to change into a young voice which tells us that the time is moving backwards, this gave the audience the idea that the story will be based in the past. The lighting changed into a dusty brown with some little cracks of white in the shots which made the audience feel like they are watching an old film. The view was not as clear as the first scene which showed big contrasts between the modern year and the seventies. The places looked destroyed and dirty, they did not even have the Shard as it was made in 2009, and that gave a big clue that we are no more in the modern scene.

When the narrator stops talking the clip fades in and then quickly and sharply goes to another clip, this makes the audience aware that the story or the film is about to begin. The episode is now based on the seventies. I understood that the view and the background had to change or else the audience would start losing their interest in the programme. The director still made sure there was an effect in the lighting. He did this by making sure that the lighting had a light brown which made it have a weak vintage colour which I thought made it really effective, he also made sure that the video was clear and bright. The Crane shot was used to show the type of environment the main character and family were living in. The Crane shot made the place look lively and realistic for the audiences as there were people doing different things in the areas where the camera was placed.

To start off the episode the camera man uses tilts therefore bringing us into the south of London, he also uses zoom to take us further into the house. The home was number 11 on Debenhams road SE60; I think this effect was really good because it makes the audience feel like they were moving towards the house. The camera faces the ground to show the audience what the character is counting, the camera then gradually goes up to a close up. When the son spoke to his Dad the camera focused on him because he was behind the Dad, the focus kept changing every time when one of them started speaking. This is good for the audience as they would be able to see the people’s facial expressions. While the Dad was talking to his son the camera was faced at the back of him. This makes us see the relationship between them and makes it look like the son is talking to us. The Dad calls “Danny!” The camera is hand held when it turns quickly to the side and follows Danny as he walks down the stairs, the camera was hand held to show the audience that he is the main character.

Mise-en-scene:

The Director made sure the arrangements was made obvious that it was the 1970’s. He did this by making sure the characters had the appropriate haircut and dressing. The women wore colourful clothes and the men wore shirts with jumpers or blazers on. The director also made sure that all the music was 1960’s and not pass 1970’s (e.g. money by The Beatles). He made sure objects looked like it came from the 70’s too, for example a car, the shops and flats. The character walks in a certain gesture which is how they use to walk in the 70’s. Some boys and mostly the girls wore trousers that have a flare at the bottom. In the third scene a man wore a white boot; everyone knows that they used to wear them in those years; this makes it obvious for the audience to know what year the director was trying to show them.