Elisa's GCSE blog

  1) Write an analysis of the episode - using  your notes from the screening in class .  Make specific, detailed reference to moments in the text using media terminology (e.g. media language - camera shots and movement, editing, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene etc.) You can currently  watch His Dark Materials on BBC iPlayer here . Camerawork, editing and sound:   A range of different futuristic sounds and sci-fi music to emphasise the mysterious atmosphere in the junkyard and the TARDIS. Mise-en-scene:  Teenagers dressed like they are in the 60's.   Lighting in-between the episodes contrast calm and normal feeling when in school transitions to a dark and gloomy feeling when building up to the search for Susan and when inside the Junkyard. Props - The old antiques inside the junkyard is shown and the police box representing the Tardis 2) How does His Dark Materials fit the conventions of the  fantasy TV genre ? Todorov's Equilibrium: The...

  Audience 1) What audience do you think His Dark Materials is aimed at and why? Think about demographic and psychographic groups.  You can  revise Pyschographics here . 2) What audience pleasures are offered by His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas. Personal Identity:  Devoted fans of the fantasy genre would enjoy His Dark Materials as it includes conventional aspects of fantasy TV, through the daemons, the witches, the tear in the sky, etc.  Personal Relationships:   Audiences could form parasocial relationships with any of the characters of the show, although it's more likely these relationships would be formed with the protagonists rather than the villains.  Diversion (Escapism):  Audiences can find diversion in essentially all aspects of the show, however, the most obvious example of t...