Representation-Old people

This video repreesents old people very well. Father Jack is always cranky and can barely hear. This is a very typical steroetype of old people. We se e hiom not being able to hear properly when he mistakes 'for our lord' for 'Allard'. We also see it as he always shouts. He also is a very heavy drinker which is not a typical representation of old people but adds to his crankiness which is the most obvious stereotype.

Another great representation is Catherine Tate's character 'Nan'. She is a very typical as she is very opionated and hates a lot of things. She constantly complains about everything and is very rude. She normally offends people but gets away with it due to her age. This is a good representation of old people as the stereotype is always of someone very cranky and needs help being looked after which she has from her grandson. The grandson obviously finds her offensive in many ways but still stays with her because she's family.

Exploring Narrative

A couple wake up, go downstairs to breakfast, and do not realise that they are being watched. The couple leave the house where they seperate each to go to the seperate jobs. Both are followed. The women is taken and kept prisoner. The man comes home to find no wife and she is not picking her phone up. He calls the police who send out a search party. They say she's being held at ransom and the police we'll not negotiate. The man gives himself up in a swap for his wife and while the switch takes place a sniper takes out the terrorists.

In this I have used Todorov's equilibrium-disruption-equilibrium as well as Levi Strauss' binary opposites such as good and evil. I can also use some of Propp's characters such as the damsel in distress being the wife and the hero being the police.

Most stories end happily as the audience do not want to see characters they relate to or like, end up in bad circumstances at the end. It also doesn't feel like it has ended if it is a sad ending as nothing seems to be resolved and this makes the audience wonder if anything else is going to happen.

Spooks uses Todorov's classic narrative structure of equilibrium-disruption-equilibrium. This is what makes the start feel like the beginning of a narrative as everything is normal but as you can see from the terrorists something is obviously going to go wrong. We also feel the binary opposites that the terrorists are evil and the couple are good as we already have the thought in our mind that terrorists are bad and when they say how the couple are still in love and thats why they choose them it makes them seem very evil. We also see the couple as very normal, loving people so we are more inclined to see them as good.

Single drama/film: Margaret
A single drama would normally follow Todorov's ideas of equilibrium-disruption-equilibrium as it wants to leave on a happy ending. It would also contain binary opposites to cause this disruption.

Two-nighter: Trial & Retribution
This would follow Todorov's narrative structure only it would maybe leave it in the middle of the disruption at the end of the first episode and then resolve it in the second. This would mean they would contain binary opposites as there needs to be conflict.

Soap: Eastenders
These normally have many stories running at one time so many narratives following Todorov and Levi-Strauss' ideas. These will run for different characters and the normally have single episodes or having a runniong narrative which lasts maybe 3 episodes.

Serial: Bleak House
A series has one main narrative which follows Todorov and Levi-Strauss' ideas but in the episodes there are also other mini-narratives going on which also follow these ideas. Such as in Prison Break the quilibrium would be waking up in his cell working on his plans to escape and the disruption would be the cops inspecting his cell. In not every episode the disruption for that episode is resolved as they can leave it on a cliffhanger so the audience can wait to see next week.

Anthology Series (self-contained episodes, each based on different characters): Skins
Each character gets there own episode where they face their own Todorov narrative structure and the conflicts caused by binary opposites. Some characters however can remain in disruption and maybe have it resolved in someone else's episode or at a later time.

Long-form Series: Lost
This narrative does follow the Todorov structure to start with, i.e. it follows the equilibrium then disruption however anytime it gets close to reaching a resolution another disruption appears. All the episodes follow to try and solve this disruption.

Long-form Series with some narrative experimentation: 24
A series that never really resolves the disruption as another one always occurs however one disruption is normally resolved but that is only a part of a larger disruption e.g. putting on criminal is only one part of the fight on crime

Episode 2 season 1

Sound
In Prison Break they use a lot of non-diegetic music. A lot of high paced music helps build tension. The music normally builds with violins and fast beats. This builds suspense and tension to a climax. This builds suspense and tension to a climax. The music seems typical of a film more then a TV show, it is very atmospheric. The music is in parallel with the mood of the situation, if there is one thing going on the music will represent that mood or situation. At one point in the second episode they need to throw away the illegal stuff from inside the cell and Schofield finds his cell mate's knife. He starts to worry about it and while this happens the music builds in pace and loudness. This builds suspense and the pace makes it sound like a panic. This climax's to the officer finding him which shows the truth in the music's panic.

Whenever Schofield enters the yard there is normally a peice of rap music to connote the 'gangster' lifestyle most of the criminals live. It is a stereotypical view on music of a prison as it creates a 'ghetto' style atmosphere, also the music is very aggressive in parallel with most of the criminals attitudes.

Episode 1 Series 1

As it was the first episode of Prison Break, it was very important for them to introduce the characters and introduce the main narrative. I'm going to concentrate on how they made the personality for the main character, Michael Schofield.

A scene I thought was very helpful to see key factors about his character was when he saw his first stabbing in the prison (I would upload the video but it is no where to be found on youtube. something to do with silly copyright or something). In this scene a man is stabbed and Schofield witnesses it. All the other prisoners jump to watch some with excitement and joy others with not much emotion at all, where as Schofield has a scared face and almost sad face. This conotes how he is scared of it happening to him and because he has only been there for a little while it signifies how the fact his going to be spending time here has actually sunk in. He, unlike all the other prisoners, looks confused and worried about the victim showin his caring side and characteristics of a 'good guy' where as the others do not worry about him showing they are used to it or how most enjoy that.

Schofield is very calm and collected with everything he does. He never seems phased by the other criminalsor threatened. We this when he is threatened by Abruzzi, one of the topdogs at the prison. He threatens Abruzzi back and is not scared when his boys attack him. This could signify naiveity to how bad Abruzzi could mess him up or show how Schofield is very coinfident and has everything planned out.

It is import for Schofield not to be shown as a 'bad guy' and even in his costume he is shown to be different from the 'bad guys'. There is a huge contrast when you first see him as he is getting a huge tattoo done. Then next time we see him he is in a buisness suit. This continues to happen as when we see him robbing the bank he has a classy suit on. This is very different to what a typical criminal would wear and connotes how he is not an actual criminal and therefore he is not a 'bad guy'. He also wears his prison unifom different to the other prisoners as most wear vests or there jackets undone but he consistently has his jacket done up and his uniform in good shape. This can also signify the difference between good and bad characters.