Quality TV

 

Quality TV is interpreted in different ways. It can be to do with the high quality of cinematography or defined on the story lines. HBO productions are often seen as quality TV with programmes such as 'Mad Men', 'Games of Thrones' and 'Six Feet Under'. These programmes show off cinematic level cinematography, with the colour, camera quality and budgets spent on them. They all run for many seasons.

'Breaking Bad'

Walt and Jesse - 'Breaking Bad'

'Breaking Bad' is a programme I would class as Quality TV, with the cinematography well thought through including the time-lapse sequences used. Also the show has run for many seasons without 'jumping the shark', with the narrative based on a taboo breaking subject matter, the Meth industry. This is something people rarely ever know off, who makes and deals the drugs. The fact that our main character Walt lives a double life as a family man and science teacher, then becoming a drug producer on the side, while suffering from cancer. Just by me explaining one character of the show, you see how complex and well thought through scenario based the show is. The writer allows us to see the situation from a different view that we would usually jump on, which is another factor of a quality TV show. We find ourselves rooting for Walt and Jesse more than Hank, Walt's brother in-law, a DCA officer who is trying to catch the drug dealers.


 

However, sometimes series can 'over jump the shark', meaning that they may have gone past their 'quality' time zone which then brigs me on to the quality of narratives. This shows that the story lines may be more important to the quality TV definition than the look and style, with the the audience tuning in every week to see what happens with the characters and plot.

''First of all, it is serialed. It does not simply break down each segment into a standard number of separate story lines, but rather than to juxtapose, interweave and orchestrate the plot threads together in a quasi-musical fashion'' Feuer.J. P.149

My definition of quality TV is LOST as they concentrate on the characters life stories and really get the audience into the situations that occur with us knowing so much about their past, why they are there, what they want ect. We emotionally become attached. Many people believe LOST 'over jumped the shark' after the third season with the further seasons taking the characters into mad situations, with the island changing time zones ect. However, these people who say this usually haven't stuck with the seasons every week. I think the people who see the series as quality have stuck with the show and allowed themselves to get into it.

Feuer.J (2007) HBO and Quality TV. P.149

Stardom

Nicole Kidman in 'Birth'

This week we watched 'Birth' which had Nicole Kidman in, playing the main character. We watched this to look into 'stars' within the film industry and how they effect the film's success and audience as well as the interpretation of the characters they are playing. For example, in this weeks reading, 'Nicole Kidman' (2008), Thompson quotes;


Julia Roberts 'Pretty Woman'

'In Pretty Woman in 1990 - Julia Roberts was ravishing. This was accentuated by the overwhelming smile she possessed. She was teased about it, and at times lost her confidence. In certain films that catered for it, it was easy to see a sticken creature. By the time of 'Closer' there was a more naked emotional vulnerability that made her seem significantly older than Kidman in 'Birth'.' P.224




Julia Roberts in 'Closer'

Nicole Kidman - Stardom

Here he describes how Julia Roberts personal insecurities, exposed to the public eye through the media, has made her acting in 'closer' more real and emotionally connecting to the audience than what Nicole Kidman's acting in 'birth' has done, because of what we the audience know about Julia's life. However, from Nicole's stardom, the audience know she has long hair and in the film she has a very short shabby haircut, possibly showing us her character may of lost her way because we know that this haircut has therefore been done intentionally because of what we know of her background as a real person.


'With loss or experience, the face grows towards its own deepest character, and becomes less pretty but more interesting.' P.224
 

Will Smith

Will & Jaden in 'The Pursuit of Happyness'.

Another example of stardom is Will Smith, with the fans he has built up from his celebrity status also now watching his films and films of those his wife and kids star in. An audience could go to watch a film such as 'The pursuit of Happyness' just to see the connection that Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith have together and this could therefore boost ratings and range of audience. This film allows Will Smith to do some of his best acting, with his onscreen relationship with his son being emotionally real as it was his off-screen son also. This therefore makes the audience more emotionally attached. Will Smith plays 'the good,friendly guy' in all of his films which we as an audience believe in his acting as we know he is a nice guy in reality as well, with presenters such as Lorraine Kelly, has spoke on him being one of the nicest stars she has interviewed. Many other people within the industry have also expressed this. A star will create a bigger audience and great believable characters in his films, by portraying a character that is close to who they portray themselves as in the public eye.


Will and Jaden Smith

Will Smith with Lorraine Kelly

Will Smith's Celebrity family

Thompson.D (2008) Nicole Kidman. P.217, P.224

Touch of evil and authorship

Orson Welles' 'Touch of evil' is made with his artistic authorship, as well as seeing his history background of radio plays and stage writing, through the long eventful shots and largely narrated storyline through the characters lines.
 
Authorship is something directors, producers and writers like to define, as a personal mark on their productions. Something an audience member could maybe guess at the director of the film they were watching, if they saw similar techniques occur in previous films they had seen, directed by the same director. Authorship shapes the film.

''they are auteur's who often write their dialogue and some of them themselves invent the stories they direct. '' - Truffaut.F (1954, P.8)

Orson Welles' 'Touch of Evil' puts this quote into practise, putting his authorship within it, such as the black and white film, that he used on most his films and the artistic shots he experimented with. He uses many mirrors in a shot to put his mark on the shots and also creates a deceiving/ unsure atmosphere within the scene and towards the audience. Such as in 'Lady from Shanghai', this shot shows a couple in a mirror maze, when another man approaches and a gun is shot, yet the mirrors create an illusion to who has been shot and the argument is more tense and intriguing to watch as it confuses the audience. Whereas in 'Citizen Kane', the mirror use in this next shot is used metaphorically, portraying the mans power, giving us an overwhelming amount of the man's reflections.

Lady from Shanghai

Citizen Kane

The scene that most critics recognise from 'Touch of Evil' is the very first, as it's over 3 minutes and in just one shot. I think this shows off Welles' experience and skills from his stage writing days as scenes for the stage are potentially all one long shot, just seeing the whole scene from our eyes position of the stage. He is a very experimental and artistic author, always concentrating on each visual shown, with his dark shadows and low camera angles.



first shot from 'Touch of Evil'

 Truffaut,F. (1954) 'A certain tendency of the French cinema' P.8