Dr Who

This is a TV show which means it is a lot harder to spot theory’s such as Propps’ theory’s because there will be a lot of different types of characters throughout the series’.

Theory’s

  Props theory - There are a lot of different characters in this as the whole series lasts a long time. There are villains, heroes, donors but there are more that one of each of these characters and some people have more exaggerated characters than others, especially towards different people.

    Levi Strauss – In Dr Who there are loads of different binary opposites ranging from people living in different planets therefore acting with different morals, Aliens compared to humans, very male dominant characters to females and people from centuries ago compared to people from the current century. From all four examples I looked, Dr Who appears to have more Levi Strauss theory than any of the other examples.

     Todorov-.Dr Who ranges from starting of completely normal (equilibrium) then they go on an adventure and something goes wrong(disequilibrium), then everything gets resolved(New Equilibrium) and starting in the middle of the disequilibrium and then everything gets resolved. It alternates between these two liner’s to keep the audience involved and interested in the storyline.

  Narrative structure - Dr Who is set in a variety of century’s, countries and worlds so there are lots of costumes, weapons and décor to represent these different ages and places to the audience. Dr Who is known for always traveling back and forwards in time. Even though it goes back in time it isn’t really a flash back, they are just time traveling so the story is usually in chronological order. There are usually a lot of flash backs during Dr Who and sometimes only the Dr will travel back and change the future which disrupts the narrative. So overall Dr Who doesn’t keep a linear structure 

    Structure- Like I said above, Dr who’s structure is always different. Sometimes it starts in the equilibrium, and sometimes it starts in the disequilibrium. There is always score/soundtrack in the background. Sometimes there are flashbacks sometimes there aren’t any. Dr who always travels back and forwards.

The Social Network- Docu-Drama

Theory’s

  Props theory doesn’t really exist in this film. This could be because it is biased on a real life situation, which means the 7 characters cannot be staged into the film. In this film there isn’t a really clear character, whether they are 100% hero or 100% villain. This shows the good and bad side of people.

    Levi Strauss –There are binary opposites in the opening scene, where Mark and his girlfriend are speaking. She is good looking, looks ‘normal’ and speaks ‘normal’. Whereas Mark looks nerdy, speaks intelligently and in the conversation we find out he is in higher education than her. These are opposites and yet they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

     Todorov-There is a clear Todorov theory in this film. There are bits in the film which have smaller disequilibrium but we know the actual main disequilibrium is.

    Equilibrium- In the beginning, after the supporting scene, Mark is in his room and creates a webpage but because the page became instantly popular the system crashed. There is a slight Disequilibrium here because they are going to get in trouble for that, and also because his ex girlfriend found out that he was writing about her publically, in a rude way.

  Disequilibrium –This is when the twins try to sue Mark because he ‘stole’ their idea. Here Marks old best friend is also trying to sue him, or get a higher percentage of the company, because he helped create the business.

 New equilibrium – it begins with the issues getting solved. Then it goes on to how the company succeeds and what happened to the characters involved.

Narrative structure

The film has two narratives. One is the court case, and the other one is the process from the idea of Facebook to the creation and success of Facebook. One narrative is in the past and one is more further back. From the scenes shot in the room with the judge, the story flashes back in to the past. Even though it flashes back throughout the whole film, the two storylines going on are in chronological order, so the audience can follow both. The whole film flashes back and forward in time, even though the film does this, both storylines are in chronological order.

Mark sounds like a stereotypical geek, the tone of voice he has, the works he chooses to use, and the kind of things he says. He seems emotionless through his voice, which is the type of character description he has. That he doesn’t really care about anyone.

Mark has a voice over through some scenes. He says what he is thinking and what is going on through his brain. So we are listening to his thoughts.

Structure

This film begins with the main character (Mark Zuckerberg) having a conversation with his girlfriend. This is a scene to support the film. It lets the audience know that he had a girlfriend, and why and how they split up. This gives some background information about the main character, which is enough for the film. Then it goes on to show he is at Harvard uni – he is smart. And it shoes what he can do. He sets up a website and speaks about what he has done, which sounds very confusing. Then after this scene it goes on to Mark in

The locations and costumes aren’t a big factor in determining that this is a drama documentary, apart from the fact that these factors are ‘normal’ and drama documentaries are situated in everyday life.

Throughout this film there is mainly diegetic sound, which shows it is documentary/ real life. There is music in the first scene but it is diegetic, the music playing in the pub they are at. There is music in between the scenes rather than through the scenes.

The ending is closed. It tells the audience the answers to all their questions and tells them what happens to all the characters. Is shows the character and how they are doing in the future. Then at the end writing comes up telling the audience what happened to each person and what they are doing at the moment. This technique is used in many docu-dramas for informing the audience about the people’s current status, and answering their questions.

Technical factors

The camera work seems very realistic showing what is happening from simple shots. The content is realistic. Which could suggest that it is a documentary based film. The picture is quite dark and looks like all natural light.

Just go with it – Comedy

Theory’s

  Props theory isn’t obvious in this film and the characters don’t fit outlines of Props 7 character profiles. Not all of the Props characters exist like the father which suggests it isn’t a typical film any the character layout is different. This could be because rather than having these 7 characters in the film to create a good plot, it has characters which are all connected to each other.

    Levi Strauss –There are binary opposites in this film as well as a lot of other comedy films. In this film the main character and his cousin are opposite, the main character gets the ladies, has a very good job with a good income, and he is down to earth and funny. Whereas his cousin isn’t making a good income, he relies on his cousin to pay for his flight ticket, he doesn’t attract the ladies and he is very weird. This makes the main character stand out more as a good guy who should get the girl. Binary opposites are also used in comedy to make the ‘stupid’ character stand out as the one the other characters get a laugh out of.

    Todorov- In this film it is a lot harder to spot Todorov’s theory.

o   A state of equilibrium – the beginning when the main character meets the girl he wants to marry.

o   Disequilibrium –When he lies to the girl he wants to marry and says that he is getting a divorce.

o   New equilibrium – When the main character realises that he’s going for the wrong girl, decides not to marry her and marries the other woman.

Narrative structure

The story is in chronological order. There are no flashbacks so it is a linear structure. The dialogue in this scene is very strange. The ‘stupid’ character firstly has a funny exaggerated German accent, which is obviously fake and he pretends to know about sheep. When they go out for dinner one day a lady shouts out for help as her sheep is unconscious. So the man who pretends he knows about sheep has to try to do something. It is funny because the audience know he doesn’t know anything about sheep and the way he reacts is very humorous. Also there are binary opposites from this scene.  The girl who’s sheep is unconscious makes the ‘stupid’ character seem even more funny because she is being serious and normal, but he is being funny and has no clue what he is doing. He says a lot of funny sarcastic things like when the girl says: “please, please come this way” he asks “Now?” which is comedic as the situation is meant to have a sense of emergency.

Structure

This film begins with a flash back. This it to support the film and to give the audience background information of the main character.

This film begins and finishes with a voice over. This is to support the film. To open and close it, clearly telling the audience what they need to know, and want to know at the end.

This has a closed ending and answers all questions that people may have had during the film. At the end, the main character does a voice over to explain what happened with the other characters. The locations and costumes aren’t a big factor in determining that this is a comedy film, as these could be classed as ‘normal’.

There isn’t much score/soundtrack, through this film. Music kicks in at emotional bits to try to get the audience emotionally attached rather than to make them just laugh. There isn’t any score/soundtrack in the scene I picked. There is only diegetic sound. 

Technical factors

The camera work seems very realistic, the image seems realistic. The lighting is quite bright. It is a bright happy film, which gives it a happy sense and a light feel, not a dark and dull film.

In this scene there is only diegetic sounds, there is no added soundtrack onto the scene. You can hear the birds tweeting in the background which gives a sense of location.

In the script there are a lot of jokes, the scenes are unrealistic in a sense of the events being exaggerated, or unlikely to happen.

The Untouchables- Crime Drama

The things which make this film seem like a Crime drama are:

Men dressed as Mafia Gangsters

Man holding a gun

Crime

Shooting

Suspense

Format

Present tense

A lot of POV shots

Realist

Slow paces

Structure

The structure to The Untouchables steps scene is linear. The scene is shot to show to time progressing roughly at the same time we are watching it with no jumps in time. There are no other storyline going on at the same time as this one. This scene could be realist because there is no type of editing techniques which creates an obvious sence of editing being used to produce this. Most of the noises were diegetic. Most of the shots were point of view shots to make the camera seem hidden.

Technical Factors

The shot angles within the steps scene give the characters a status. The quietness creates suspense. The only diegetic sound makes the scene seem realistic. The man keeps looking at the clock which creates a sense of suspense. He has got a gun in his hand and is waiting for something/someone which makes us wonder what is going to happen. The man is shot at a low angle which gives him a high status. I think this has been done because he has a gun in his hand. When he looks at the clock again a baby starts crying. This makes us create a sense of danger for the baby and makes us even egger to find out what is going to happen. Then a lullaby is put on for the baby to create comfort. All of these things help create the scene and a feeling for the audience. Then the lady and her baby are shot from the point of view of the man which is at a very high angle so it makes them seem very insignificant and powerless.  Orchestra music starts playing at bits which make the audience think that something’s going to happen now. The camera zooms into the two men when they realise each other’s presence.