Mock Exam Analysis Essay - The Tudors

In this essay, i am going to analyse an opening title sequence of a BBC Television Drama 'The Tudors'. I will be using my knowledge of dennotation and connotation to describe what mamkes a good TV Drama.

The music, it is the first thing you hear when the sequence starts and it immediately draws you in. This creates a sense of what the actual programme is going to be like, dramatic and olden times. The music carrys on all the way through the sequence which connotes to me that it is what the programme will be like all the way through. They use Non-Digetic sound, becuase there is not much natural sound in it so they added a voice-over whichanchors the time and place, at the start of the sequence.

The mise-en-scene and camera angles are the most important thing that is in the sequence becuase without it there would ne no sequence at all. The mise-en-scene is very important becuase it shows where/when the drama is set, and it also tells the viewers what they may be able to expect from the drama. The effect that it has for the viewer is that they know it is set in Tudor England becuase of the costumes and setting, which gives the viewer a sense that it is going to be very good.

The camera angles are always changing to keep the programme interesting, becuase if all the angles were all the same the viewer would get bored ans turn the channel over. They are essential to the success of the programme, for example, one camera angles was a moving close-up shot into the main character's face Henry VIII face to show his face with very little emotion. They also used a long shot of a friar walking accross, what looked like a church or chapel, this connotes that it has a religious side to it aswell, to draw in a larger target audience.

There was also quite a few of shots of women. Some of them were close-ups of womens bodies, which this connotes that there is a lot if women in the drama and it also connites because henry VIII had six wives it tells us a bit about the character before the programme has even started.

To conclude this essay i thinkt hat all of the points that i addressed would make me want to watch this TV Drama programme.

The Devil's Triangle Glogg Poster

Homework - 1st May 2009

Definitions and only one example

Mise-en-scene: the process of setting a stage, with regard to placement of actors, scenery, properties, etc, the stage setting or scenery of a play.

Verisimilitude: the appearance or semblance of truth; likelihood; probability: The play lacked verisimilitude, something, as an assertion, having merely the appearance of truth.

Social Realism: a style of painting, esp. of the 1930s in the U.S., in which the scenes depicted typically convey a message of social or political protest edged with satire.

Diegetic Sound: Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world. Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound.

Non-Diegetic Sound: Sound that is added post-production/editing music, sound FX.

Editing: to prepare (motion-picture film, video or magnetic tape) by deleting, arranging, and splicing, by synchronizing the sound record with the film, etc. Cutting film and video together to create meaning.

I couldn't find any examples of them so i only found one for editing.

This is a video on editing (the topic is pointless but funny).

About Heroes and Why i Like It ;)

Heroes is an american science fictions tv drama series created by Tim Kring, which premiered on NBC on September 25, 2006. The series tells the stories of ordinary individuals perventing disasters, usually forseen in images produced by precognitive painters. The series emulates the aesthetic style and storytelling of American comic books. The series is produced by Universal Media Studios in association with Tailwind Productions and it is filmed primarily in Los Angeles, California. The excectutive producers are Allan Arkush, Dennis Hammer, Greg Beeman and Tim Kring.

The first series run of 23 episodes pulled in an average 14.3 million viewers in the United States, recieving the highest rating for any NBC drama premiere in 5 years. The second season of Heroes attracted on average of 13.1 million viewers in the U.S, marked NBC sole series among the top 20 ranked programes in total viewership for the 2007-2008 season.

Season One - featured 23 episodes, which aired on Mondays at 9:00 pm in the United States, beginning on September 23, 2006 to January 22, 2007 and again from March 5 to April 23, 2007, with the season finale airing on May 21, 2007.

Season Two - featured 11 out of a planned 24 episodes which are aired on Mondays at 9:00 pm in the United States beginning on September 24, 2007. Only 11 out of the planned 24 episodes were made because of the WGA writer's strike. Season two consited of the second volume in the series, titled Generations. Season two ended with its finale on December 3, 2007. Season 2 was originally going to consist of three volumes; however because of the writer's strike, the season was redesigned to only encompass one volume called Generations. Originally Volume 3 was going to called Exodus and Volume 4 was going to be called Villains. As a result of the writers strike, Volume 3 was changed to Villians and moved into Season 3.

Season Three - opened with two one - hour episodes, airing on Monday, September 22, 2008 in the United States. The premiere of the third volume, Villians, was preceeded by a one-hour broadcast of the red carpet premiere, with clips from the past seasons and previews of the upcoming season, along with the series cast and crew.

The reason why i like heroes is because i like comic books and there is loads of different types of powers and i like anything that is sci-fi or not real because i find all of that really intresting. Another reason why i like it is because i think that the way that they film it, and all of the special effects look really real and i like how they make the superpowers look like the actor really have the powers. It is really good!!