Media
research
E4
E4 is a
British digital television channel, launched as a companion to Channel 4. The
"E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the
lucrative 15–35 year olds. Programming includes U.S. imports such as The
Cleveland Show, Desperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother, 90210, Ugly Betty,
Scrubs and 2 Broke Girls. Other programming includes British shows such as
Misfits, The Ricky Gervais Show, Shameless, Hollyoaks, Skins, The Inbetweeners
and Made in Chelsea. I have decided to focus my research on Misfits as I
believe my brief has the potential of becoming a similar programme.
Misfits
Misfits is a
British science fiction comedy-drama television show, on the network Channel 4,
about a group of young offenders sentenced to work in a community service
programme, where they obtain supernatural powers after a strange electrical
storm. The Misfits series have uniqueness about them which sets them out from
every other sci-fi programme airing at the time being. This I something I hope
to capture when creating my short film. The image below is from the opening
credits of Misfits.
The image
immediately gives the viewer reason to ask themselves questions. One question
might be ‘why doesn’t the person in the middle have a shadow?’ the answer to
this question is totally dependent on interpretation. This is fantastic image
for an opening credit image as it give the audience motive to understand or
relate to the how the characters may be feeling and why they are seen in the
way they are.
Also the
person on the far left has a shadow which is pointing in a different direction
to the rest of the characters this may be because they are different in some
way which is also generating curiosity meaning the viewer is interested. This links
well to work because I could slowly entice the viewers into watching by giving
them small helpings of information. Opening credits are hugely important in the
effectiveness of my brief as they set the plot and give an impression of the
rest of the story.
A cloudy
grey colour is used I think to show that there is no clarity and the shadows are
facing towards us meaning the bright, white light is shining from behind them
concluding with the reality that their faces would be in darkness. The images
match the sci-fi genre of the programme since the people look like cartoon cut
outs. The viewer can only see the hands of one character; this may propose that
she is the most superior or powerful as we use our hands with most actions we
act.
In one scene
the camera shot zooms out and we see a character n yellow about to commit
suicide on the roof of the community service centre, and a slow soundtrack is
played in the background. This is an example of non-diegetic music which I plan
to use in my production. The use of the slow playing guitar music helps to elect
the target audience of the show. This is as many young people are seen to
attend festivals to listen to music with different instruments in and often referred
to as indie music.
The
characters are stood in a line together which suggests that they might all have
something in common with one another although the programme name contradicts
this feeling slightly. The characters used within 'Misfits' help indicate the
specific target audience, for example, young people(15-35yrs) are presented
throughout the programme; this gives the impression that the programme is
purposed for the entertainment of young adults.
My research
has shown me how camera angles, music types and use of characters can influence
and adapt the way an audience will interpret and understand a programme.
