Exam Work (SOA)

Arrow

Name: Arrow
Duration: 42 minutes
Channel: Sky 1
Method of watching: Online streaming
Season: 3 episode 10
Genre: Drama, Crime, Action, Adventure

The main character Arrow was seen being stabbed by Ra's al Ghul in a duel to the death and he is seen falling off a cliff (flashback from last episode). Arrow's team is attempting to catch three criminals in a car chase across the city yet only one is caught by the police. The other is brutally killed by a large man (antagonist) in an abandoned warehouse with his bare hands.The Team's worst fears are realized when Meryln informs them of Oliver's (Arrow) death. Meanwhile Ray Palmer tests part of his ATOM suit out and Laurel Lance decides to pursue justice outside of the law by taking up the mantle of the Black Canary.

This is conventional of a tv drama which presents a super hero protagonist and a back story based on the DC comics. The intense action scenes attract a different audience from what is stereotypical of tv dramas as the story of the Green Arrow already had a large fan base before the series was created.

The episode was an open narrative as the story continues throughout the series with the same characters and before the episode started, it gave a short run down of events from the last episode and then at the end, it has a 'next time' sequence.

The antagonist is represented as a middle aged, physically powerful London born hard man who is not afraid of anyone and likes to prove how strong he is. Also, he is seen wearing a suit, which presents him as being quite a high class criminal who doesn't usually do the dirty work however, he takes it off to fight his own man because he let someone get away. One of the female characters is presented in a bright red dress and is wearing glasses and red lipstick. She is on team Arrow and is represented as a professional whilst also being very attractive to the audience. She is not stereotypically seen as being quite powerful and a leader as she seems to boss around the other two people in team Arrow. The last representation of a particular social group is a black man who is seen as very rough and quite scary. He has a very deep voice and is very mysterious and muscular. The man is seen to be one of Arrow's sidekicks and this makes him likeable, however the audience know his is quite powerful and he represents the ethnic group of African-Americans as muscular, rough and physically scary whilst still being on the good side.

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Sound 

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 5 – Shotgun (07:00-12:30)

In this part of clip (in the Los Pollos restaurant) there is an effective use of non-diegetic sound, this is something which cannot be heard by characters, and the use of this particular sound track is to show the build-up of tension in the scene. The sound starts of as a ringing which you could argue the character might be able to hear in his head although this is more likely to be ambient, also when the main music starts this is clearly non-diegetic (it wouldn't be coming from within the story). The track begins quiet and then gets louder (building up more tension), this is parallel with the pace of the camera shots (i.e. what is going on) and as action gets faster the music builds up.

In this clip there is a big use of Foley, such as the door banging in the restaurant scene. The main use is naturalistic sound effects where the noise of the car’s engine has been added to enhance the speed at which the two are travelling to. This is done additionally when the car pulls off onto the dirt road, this to a degree could be used as suspense as it makes the audience wonder where it is they are heading off to. Mainly the emphasis of naturalistic sound is used in relation to the car (creaky doors, faulty starting engine) this gives prominence to the age of the vehicle. The use of diegetic sound (characters can hear) is continued throughout the scene for effect, possibly the most effective sound is the noise of Mike opening the car boot & with the shovel as it is used as an enigma to the audience because they do not know what he will be using it for (it suggests death i.e. the burial of a body).

Finally in the car scene with Jessie and Mike there is a use of Sound Motif where there is non-diegetic music used to add a low, ominous, bass-like tone giving the effect to enhance the depiction of the story, it adds to the sense of the characters being in the middle of nowhere as the noise is a very basic sound.

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CAMERA ANGLES AND EDITING 

Breaking Bad Season 4 Episode 5 – Shotgun (07:00-12:30)

Overall in the series of Breaking Bad there is a use of interesting and unusual edits. This is used to confuse and intrigue the audience into what might happen further on in the narrative. Mostly there is a use of extreme shots such as close ups (to convey emotion of the characters) and long shots (to show the setting and in some respects make the characters seem isolated away from everything).

There is also a use of sound bridge between this scene in the desert and the pervious fast pace editing in the ‘Los Pollos’ restaurant as that scene reaches its peak the music then goes mellow and cuts to the craters in the car (using a jump cut) this suggests to the audience that the two events are linked in some way it questions their involvement in the narrative. This sound bridge is the use of the same soundtrack over the two shots (scenes) this links them together; this can aid continuity as it makes the events happening at the same time seem more believable. This scene is used as a contrast to the fast pace editing in the preceding clip it to an extent restores equilibrium from that past scene however it then creates a disturbance in the current narrative.

This shot uses the 180 degree rule when maintaining conversation in the car between the characters Jessie and Mike. This is done to make the conversation realistic and fluid in continuity. It is important to maintain this otherwise it would confuse the audience.

Additionally the use of this low angle shot (showing Jessie’s keys as a weapon) makes the character seem powerful as it puts the audience in a position where they feel vulnerable, it suggests that although he is seen as the ‘victim’ in this scene he has power to fight back.

Finally this long shot is used to create an enigma. It shows some of the car boot open however we cannot see what… or who… is inside. It makes the audience wonder the safety of the character. The repetition of this shot has effect as it keeps drawing them back to the idea of what could be inside.