What is effective about S2:E6's opening to Utopia?

This is the recent exam question I did on an opening to a TV drama, Utopia.

It is effective because it reflects the zeitgeist and people can relate to it in everyday life. This is because everyone seems to be worried about the environment and what can be done to change it. However, it tells you in an extreme way what can be done to change it and draws you in because it mentions the killing of a child, which is not only evil, but it adds tension and meaning to the message.

The camera shots are effective because a wide range of shots are used, adding dramatic effect to the scene. For example a close up is used to show the emotion on the speakers face and how serious he is when he talks about killing the child, and the exact antithesis is shown on the child's mothers face; perhaps portraying the emotion of most of the viewers faces- involving the audience, making it effective. Other shots, such as two shots are used to show the conversation and the use of a low angle at the end shows the evilness of the man who spoke of killing and 'innocent' child, which is also used at the start of the scene, making the viewer anticipate him being evil.

The representation of gender is effective because the man is shown as clever by showing his knowledge through using facts and figures. The way he speaks shows his evil tone, and it is he is seen to be dressed in black-a dull colour to again, add to the subtle evilness of him. The woman is shown to be 'aware' of the environment but doesn't actually know a great deal-suggesting that most people, in this instance women, use a token of good gestures but what they do doesn't have a significant impact. The woman is again shown as the exact opposite of the man aa she seems innocent and actually cares about her child. The man is also shown to talk over the woman in a passive aggressive way, which adds the gender stereo-type that men are better than women-making it effective because it will create discussion between genders, luring them in to the programme and making them want to watch it.

It is an effective opener because of the music used to creat tension and suspense, with non-diegetic sounds used as the programme is shown at 10 at night- just after children are put to bed and although sinister it could entice you in to watch it.

Preliminary Task has finished

We had to add more on to make it longer, so it is different from the story board, and also had to change a few things- but the story board gave us a few ideas and a basic story.
Here is the link to the task:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjqStVOOzn0&list=UUht5fxUjha19_XNfG0mi2EA

Game of Thrones (Case Study)

This is my case study on Game of Thrones.

Filming has started...

We (a group of 3 consisting of me, Reece and Emily) have started our continuity task. It is a lot harder than I first thought to include everything and to make it flow. The acting is not greatly important but it has to be of a good standard, and for me that is the thing I am struggling with the most, but all in all our group is doing well for a first try. Here are a few pictures of what is soon to be the next big movie...

Preliminary Task

This is the story board we used we will use for our Preliminary piece, with great drawings. All credit goes to Reece.

Stylistic Influences and Post-Production in Utopia

Utopia is notorious for its comic book look, and its thriller hyper-real violence along with its use of colour like no other programme. The director, Marc Munden is like a comic book artist, using bright colours to create a techni-colour 1950's Hollywood look to the programme. The bright colours give a unique look to the programme.

Most days, the skies weren't even blue (they were typically grey as it was filmed in Britain), but due to the incredible amount of work in post production, the skies are shown in a vibrant blue colour, adding to the comic book look. Aiden Farell precisely colour corrected each shot, using dynamic colours, like bright yellow and turquoise, and painted them into the shot during post-production.

Normally stylistic influences affect a piece of cinematography by almost instructing it to use blues, reds and greens, but the 'individuality' of Utopia shows them using cyan, yellows and magentas adding a distinct element to the series.

The colour palette is for series 2 is said to be bolder. Marc Munden said that this time they are not trying to find the aesthetic anymore, and it is no longer difficult to manipulate colours in a shot that weren't part of the palette. This time they can afford to dress the sets in yellows, cyans and magentas, so in post-production we can make them bolder, due to the success of the past 2 series, it is no longer hard to produce the colours.