Midterm Exam Part 1-Media Studies

Hannah D’Avanzo
Period 7
Midterm Exam Part 1
Notes:
 Starts off dark looking at a city
 Starts off with suspenseful music
 Then goes to people driving in a car
 You can hear chatter and the music coming from the car
 You can tell it is set in probably the 80s because of their clothes and the music
 The radio then says that it is 1987
 Camera pans to a girl walking
 She seems to be wearing normal clothing: shorts, shirt, glasses, and sandals
 You can tell that the girl seems nervous
 While it is filming her walking, suspenseful music is playing
 She stops to look at a storefront with tvs in the window
 She hears loud talking and sees a girl trying to walk away from a guy, then they walk into
a club
 She follows them into a club where everyone is dancing, eating, and drinking
 You can hear loud music, screams, and people talking
 The camera is still following her walking through the club
 She then starts playing in an arcade section of the club and a boy comes over to her and
starts talking.
 He asks her to play another game then the one she is playing but she then sees the car
crash and the violence and backs up and says no and walks away
 She seems
 She sits down and starts drinking a soda
 The girl she followed into the club sits down and starts talking to her, but they don’t
really know each other.
 The club music is still playing
 The two girls start talking and introduce themselves
 The girl then takes her to the bar and buys her a drink with alcohol in it
 You can still hear the club music and chatter in the background.
Response:
There are many different elements that contribute to the making of a film or television
show. I feel that the extract from the beginning of an episode of Black Mirror did a good job
in using all the elements that are contributing factors for making a good film. These factors
include camera shots, sound, mise-en-scene, and editing. This excerpt from the television
show also did a very good job in leading the audience to wonder what happens next.
Camera shots are very important because they help the filmers and writers establish
relationships between the characters and the audience. The camera shots, angles, movement,
and composition were done very well in this excerpt. The scene starts off dark looking at a
city then pans to teenagers driving in a car throughout the city. Behind the car we see a girl
walking and the camera starts to follow her. She stops at a storefront and the camera looks
into the storefront as if we are looking through her eyes. In the storefront we see multiple
televisions playing the same thing, what looks like to be the news. The camera then pans to a
girl walking across the street and a boy talking to her and following her. The girl we see
looking at the TV’s seeing the boy and girl walk into the club across the street and she
follows them in. The camera is following her throughout the club and eventually to an arcade
section. When she starts playing the video game, the camera is shooting the scene as if you
are playing the video game. A boy starts talking to her and asks her to play a different game,
but when she looks, she sees violence and the camera shows her ace and you can see her
scared emotions. After that, she walks to the bar to get a drink and the camera is still
following her. Camerawork helps the audience see what emotions the character is having in
that moment.
Sound does not just include music; it also includes background and ambient sounds that
add to the production. It Starts off with suspenseful music then once the scene cute to the
people in the car, you can hear music from the radio, along with chatter of the people in the
car, and outside of it. The music then stops, and we hear the radio say that it is 1987. This is
important because it gives us insight into when this is taking place and puts the events in
perspective for us. While the camera is following her into the club, it is playing suspenseful
music. After she walks into the club, you can hear loud music, screams, and people talking.
She starts playing the game in the arcade and can hear the peeps, sounds, and music coming
from the game. When she looked over at the other game the boy wanted her to play, you
could hear the crashing and violent noises of the video game that make the girl afraid and
uncomfortable. She walks back through the club and you can hear the loud music and the
distant conversations from everyone inside. Sound effects, music, and ambient background
noises really help to establish the mood and tone trying to be portrayed in the excerpt.
Mise-en-scene is probably the most important part of creating and producing a
film/television show. Mise-en-scene includes location, studio, set design, costume and make-
up, lighting, and color design. Starts off dark looking at a city, then you can see the street the
car is driving on includes streetlights that are producing the light that we see. You can tell it
is set in probably the 80s because of their clothes. We can see that the characters are wearing
clothes that they are wearing. The make-up is minimal. The producers wanted to give the
characters natural everyday looks, and especially in the 80’s people did not wear a lot of
make-up on a daily basis. Props, such as the coke bottle that she is holding in the club after
she gets a drink from the bar, also let us know that this is not taking place in present time.
The main character seems to be wearing bright clothes. Mise-en-scene helps to establish the
time frame in which a text is portrayed in along with how the characters are feeling.
I think that the editing in this piece was executed very well. It did not feel choppy
watching it. It felt like you were there with the characters. It fades into each scene very nicely
and helps you to wonder what will happen next. Editing is very important for production of
text such as this because it allows for the audience to only see the necessary things exactly
the way the writers want them portrayed.

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Hannah D’Avanzo

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