TV Drama Analysis

EastEnders extract

In this extract, the representation of age is broken down into three groups: adults, younger adults and child. Representation is the construction of text created by incorporating one version of reality to it. Audiences interpretation of representation is influenced by background and experience. Stuart Hall’s Reception Theory states producer add codes and convention to the particular genre to help the audience encode or decode the media text. In this extract, the producer plays on the existing representation of these particular age groups by incorporating certain stereotypes. For example, the word, 'son', which is included in the dialogue of man at the pub and the man at the background evokes different reactions from the pizza delivery guy and the child, thus, their behaviour stereotypes their age group.  With the help of the four technical areas of representation- mise en scene, camerawork, sound and editing- meaning is created.

Two contrasting characters portray the younger adults: the guy at the beginning of the scene and the pizza delivery guy.  Both become the centre of the attention of the adults and somewhat comical.

(Young adults- beginnning guy:)

The extract begins with a steadicam movement to the right to take the audience focuses off the adults and onto the guy at the right side of the screen. He is given shallow focus which causes the characters in the background to become blurry.  This highlights the importance of his character.

The wide shot shows the adults conversing about him as evident by them looking at him as he talks on the phone suggests sympathetic feelings towards him encouraging the audience to feel this also.  The tone which the lady speaks with is filled with disdain when she says, ‘she goes through blokes like go through a pack of 20’, which portray the guy’s implied girlfriend as impudent and immoral in her relationships which is not a stereotypical portrayal of girls. The representation of love/romance is contrasted between the younger adult and adult because of the difference in knowledge and experience in a relationship as supported by the dialogue, ‘he could do a lot better if you asked me’ and ‘she’ll be fine’.

His stutter in his dialogue, “look, wait, um… I’m gonna leave you alone after this phone call,” suggests he is nervous. His facial expressions during the phone conversation give the impression that he is shy and awkward. His body language of him turning his back towards the adults suggests he is not really close to them, which is contrasted with the word, ‘son’, that they call him in their private conversation. The framing of the scene shows the separation between these characters, which distinguishes the age group and gives the impression he wants this aspect of his life to be private. Yet the extreme wide shot suggests he knows the adult because it shows him making eye contact with them when surprised by the pizza delivery guy randomly tapping on his shoulder. 

There are few camera shots of him so when he is given focus his cluelessness characteristic makes him equally a comical character. This is seen by the reaction shot when he wonders about how the pizza delivery got '10 pizzas on a moped?” and his confused expression when the pizza guy accuses of him of 'limping' away from the crime scene in which he replies he doesn’t even have a limp.

(Young adults- pizza delivery guy:)

The wide shot of the pizza guy bursting into the pub is dramatic. It is ironic because before the man was hoping for a ‘nice quiet day’ which this character opposes. His work costume of bright red and green makes him stand out against the people at the pub and shows he is out of place. It emphasises the fact that the day will not be normal. The costume is a symbol of his job, which he works to gain money.

The reaction shots show the characters expressing their mortification, this further makes this scene humorous. He is portrayed as a disturbance to the peace that the man was hoping for. The volume of his talking is loud and it makes him gain attention from people as seen by the medium shot of people looking at him when they stand outside the pub. This fact is highlighted as seen by the camera focusing on the lady who blocks her ear to hear her phone conversation better and the man’s dialogue, ‘shut your noise now’. His level of intelligence is reduced when the man name calls him a ‘dim low’ and tells people to ignore him suggesting he is irrelevant and only wants attention.

There are jump cuts of the pizza delivery guy entering the pub, to the adults talking to him, when he enters the pub again to him being outside this effect is humorous because it creates this idea of him being hard to keep up with. The style of his spoken language consists of rapping which makes the conversation less tense and more comedic as it gives the impression that he is playing around. There is also the non-diegetic sound of upbeat music playing softly in the background to support this atmosphere. When he realises his moped is missing he enters the pub with an outburst using dramatic exaggeration to call it a ‘crime scene’ which is hilarious when the audience remembers the man hopes for a ‘normal quiet day’. 

(Adults:)

The adults are represented and distinguished by gender: the man appears to be the main character while the ladies side characters- though they have an equally important role.

In the framing (at the pub) the lady in shown holding the man’s arm who talks with the pizza delivery guy it suggests the idea that she is calming the situation.  It also gives the impression that she is in control at this point despite the lack of spoken language she uses. The wide shot shows the same lady outside calling the police and getting the job done.

The man and women deal differently to the miscommunication involving the delivery of pizza. The man shows his sense of authority by directly sorting out the problem as seen by the parallel editing which shows him talking to the pizza delivery guy. His frustration with the guy is seen by his expressions that show him trying to hold in his annoyance.  Therefore, although this spoken language connotes the idea of violence, “they’re gonna need an ambulance to take vanilla ice cream here”,  it is comical because the audience sees that after trying to be patient this is his breaking point. The fact that this is amusing to the two ladies (as seen when the lady who is talks on the phone chuckles at him when she turns around and the older lady in the background smiling) suggests he does not have frequent outbursts giving the idea he is normally patient guy.

The pizza guy boldly insults the lady’s intelligence calling her ‘slow’ while she is still there as seen by the framing yet she does not seem offended. Her facial expressions give the idea she is amused by his bluntness.  This portrays her as mature as she does not pick a fight with the younger adult. Alternatively, it suggests the idea of her being afraid to stand up to him and tell him that it is rude to insult an adult. This links to the scene where the over-the-should shows him pointing his finger at the man's face which directly links with the saying, giving the impression he is immature. Both clearly show a lack of respect resulting from unclear boundaries.

The match-on-action editing at the beginning of the extract used when the older lady turns her face to the side to directly talk to the characters makes the audience feel included in the conversation.  The two-shot during the conversation shows the women looking back and forth between the older lady and the man (who is not on the screen) suggesting there is an understanding between them.

The inter-cut between a point-of-view shot of the pizza guy and reaction shot of the adult and guy who had a phone call creates a dramatic effect. It highlights the surprise of the pizza guy being inside the pub. There are over-the-shoulder shots taken from three of the adult’s shoulders, which highlight the presence of the pizza delivery guy and emphasises the fact that he was not expected to be there.

(Child:)

The audience sees the boy sneaking into places and taking an object, which presents children as curious. This suggests that when kids are alone they are up to no good and highlight the important role adults have in children’s life. 

The quick extreme wide shot shows him sneaking into the pub despite that it is not suppose to be entered into as highlighted by the duct tape and the people gathering outside.  The shot is shown so quickly that he may go unnoticed by the audience this parallels with the boy’s fast sneaking abilities as he goes unnoticed by the pizza guy who continues to talk. The cross-cut editing shows him sneaking into different locations this includes the pub, kitchen and playground- this shows that it was not his first time sneaking into a place. His mischief is supported by him tiptoeing into the kitchen where he takes a band of keys from a pink purse.

The playground setting, which gives the idea of youth and innocence, is ironic with the narrative at that point of the scene. The match-on-action editing creating a sense of continuity shows the boy taking money from a man after exchanging the key which he took from the purse. The man’s dialogue, ‘you earned it’, shows he approves the young boy’s misbehaviour. The boy views this as a reward which is seen by his smile that indicates his naïve nature. This man is the only character to be included in the framing with this boy showing he does not have a good adult figure in his life. In the background, there is a sign that says ‘playground rules’ written in red, however, it has been vandalized, which links to the rebellious situation of the boy.

The extreme wide shot shows the pizza brands on the vehicle confirming these two characters were to a certain extend involved with the stolen moped situation in the previous scene of the extract.