TV CRIME DRAMA

Scoopit collates all my Crime Drama links on the internet. It forms the basis of my research. Scoopit! is interactive so it makes suggestions about crime drama progeammes. Using Scoopit! I collected data on a number of tv crime drama programmes. 

One of the most useful for researching more traditional crime drama is the BFI Screenonline site. I decided to start by looking at how more traditional crime drama progammes function, such as police drama, using the link for Inspector Morse to read about it then following up by looking at Lewis using YouTube.

Poirot opening credits

Poirot is and old-fashioned TV crime drama that is based on the Agatha Christie character. You can tell that the TV show is old fashioned from the font, accompanying theme and art style. One of the first images on the screen is one of a factory belching out huge plumes of smoke while train passes in front of it, doing the same thing, and a plane flies through the shot. This has a very distinctive art deco style to it and so you can immediately tell that this is set in the 20’s or 30’s because that is when this art style really became popular. The simple outlines and odd proportions make this part of the trailer look similar to any of the art-deco posters from the 20’s and 30’s. The font is also art-deco and, although looking dated now, it can immediately be associated with that period in time, which is when this crime drama is set.

Another memorable and distinctive section of the opening credits is when we see a magnifying glass and a pistol on the screen in front what I think is a roll of film with Poirot’s face on it. These two images are a staple of crime dramas and are the two most recognisable crime symbols because if anyone sees a magnifying glass or that style of pistol is immediately going to think of crime and mystery in the 30’s, because that decade is most associated with old detective stories and dramas. The fact that Poirot’s face can be seen in the background is also a very obvious clue that Poirot is a detective because he is seen near a magnifying glass and a pistol.

There is also a strange mix of real footage and cartoon-like CGI used in the opening credits. The triangles flying across the screen is in-keeping with the art-deco theme, which is known for its strange, blocky style. The fake smog and gun smoke are used to create a feeling of suspense in the audience who would associate the low lying smog and trail of gun smoke with mystery as it is an iconic image of this style of mystery crime drama. The audience will also be intrigeud by this as they will want to know why the gun has been fired, which increases the feeling of suspense and tension.

Opening credits

We went on the website “Art of the Title” so that we could watch the opening credits of a film. I chose “Deadpool”. The title sequence of Deadpool is very modern and in-keeping with the theme of the movie, rather than using a Victorian, notebook style for the titles, like Sherlock does, it uses an incredible freeze-frame of a car crash. The camera slowly pans through impossible spaces, showing the inside of a car as it crashes. It also introduces the audience to the satirical and funny theme of the film, by crediting names like “An overpaid tool” and “God’s perfect idiot” rather than the actors’ actual names. The music that accompanies the title sequence also reinforces the comedic theme of the film, rather than a bombastic, dramatic score that is usually a common element of most superhero movies, “Angel of the morning” plays throughout the opening titles. We also quickly learn that Deadpool is not a normal, serious, non-killing superhero that we all know from other superhero films. We see him shooting one of the henchmen while at the same time giving another a wedgie, this shows the audience that Deadpool does not take his job seriously but instead takes the time to humiliate his enemies.

2nd advert

Italian Job Heist scene

Most of the team are conventional heroic figures, Jason Statham, Edward Norton and Mark Wahlberg are all the traditional male lead; good looking, well built and extremely skilled at their individual roles in the heist. The Seth Green character is conventional in a different way, he is the technology obsessed ‘computer nerd’ who talks in phrases that are so complicated that they are difficult to understand. One of these characters is seen in almost every action film, for example, Q in the James Bond series and Simon Peggs character in the Mission Impossible series. The other members of the team flout the stereotype of a heroic protagonist because Donald Sutherland is much older, less fit and not as well built as a traditional protagonist. He becomes like a father figure to the group but still proves himself to be extremely skilled when he breaks open the safe. Mos Def’s character is the other member of the team and he breaks the tradition by being extremely intellectual and well-cultured, for example when he is asked what he would do with the money he says first edition books, whereas the more stereotypical characters of the team wish for things that will help them get women.

The two main nationalities represented in this extract are: American and Italian. However the audience is meant to support the Americans because they are shown as being professional, polite and well organised, whereas the Italians are represented as lazy, undisciplined and stupid. This is most obvious in the boat chase; when the Italian bodyguards fall for a simple trick by the American heroes that leaves them stranded and in the moment when the camera moves through the ceiling, from the hard-working, professional heroes to the lazy bodyguards who are not doing their job but watching TV and smoking. The audience are supposed to forget the fact that the Americans are the criminals and the Italians are the ‘good guys’ on the side of the law, and focus more on the characters themselves and their relationships with each other.

Experimenting with light

To get an idea of what my advert would look like, I took photos using contrejour and silhouettes, using different filters as well.

Ideas for 2nd advert

Ideas for second advert
. Skateboarding
. Contrejour
. Silhouette of a man holding a skateboard with the sun in the background