Critical Investigation: Task #1

Top Boy | Threats (S2 - Ep1) | Channel 4

This episode  uses lowkey lighting whilst they are shown in the scenes. This effect produces a strong contrasts of light and dark and creates dramatic shadows, this low key lighting effect connotes that the scene was going to have a serious emotion. It also connoted that there was some conflict in the air between the two characters Dushane and Sully .

Most of the actors in the series are black males and although people enjoy watching Topboy, they don't notice that this tv programme is making the audience have a negative opinion on black males round London. As you can see Topboy have made black males act as drug dealers, gangsters, gang-bangers and thieves, this is just making the audiences believe that the stereotypes of black males are true. This can affect many black males around London financially, meaning that it will be difficult for them to find jobs and careers they are interested in. 

The characters clothing shown in the trailer shows a variety of clothes such as tracksuit bottoms, big puffer jackets, hooded tops, air forces etc. The use of mise en scene on the clothing of each character connotes that the characters are going to be doing negative activities in the drama due to to the shots of the dark and thuggish clothing. This makes the audience aware of who are the trouble makers in the series. The trailer shows many shots of images of violent weapons such as guns and knives, also the trailer shows shots on drugs and weighing scales and shots of piles of money. This connotes that the series of Topboy is going to be mostly based around gun crimes, drug dealing and gang wars. This informs the audience that the series is going to be based around the urban and unfriendly parts of London. The series is based around peckam poor urban estates showing shots of local corner shops and cheap community markets, this is what you would normally see around the ubran areas of London. This connotes that the urban parts of London is unwealthy, however this is another stereotype of certain parts of London because sometimes its not always true.

The trailer uses Diegectic sound through out the trailer. You can hear dialogue from the characters in each scene, also you can hear music and other sounds that comes from a source that we would naturally expect that sound to come from. They sound in the background was called the 'SX woo riddem', it is a grime instrumental that was created around 2-3 years ago, it is very well known around London due to the fact that many rapper have produced songs on it.

The first shot shown in this episode was a close up shot Sully staring of a game of pool with a close up of the balls and Sully and his friend blured in thre background. This was an excellent way to enter the scene, it keeps the audience locked on to the scene because the sutle pool shot made such a loud sound , this connoted that this was going to be a tense scene. Another shot shown in the scene was a close up rotating 360 shot Sully that showed a high amount of lowkey lighting, they used a high amount of lowkey lighting with the close up to emphisise and show how irritated and annoyed Sully felt. The next few shots were many over the shoulder shots of a serious conversation between Sully and Dushane, this part of the scene used various over the shoulder shots to show the emotion of both characters; both characters emotions during the conversation were serious this connoted that the conversation was going to esculate into an argumen. The scene then stayed on an over the shoulder shot whilst Dushane sarcasticly left the building the use of blur on Dushane whilst he was walking out made the scene look tense and exciting. 

The editing of the trailer was done excellently. The pace of the trailers shots and images in the scenes were very quick, the use of the high tempo cuts will keep the audience entertained and on the edge of their seats. At the start of the trailer the camera showed quick cutting shots of images of the estate, the quick shots linked with the music as you can see the quick cuts were in time with the beat. However the camera showed quick shots of certain characters in the s and linked it with the tempo of the beat, this made the trailer look more exciting making audience want to watch more. The trailer showed many mysterious panning shots from behind some of the characters, this connoted that  there was going to be a lot of drama as the panning shots showed various panning shots of characters looking at something that the audience cant see, and we can tell that the character has a concerned emotion. The editing of the drug scene in the trailer was edited in a way to make the explicit substances stand out, you can tell by the way the room has a lowkey lighting and the drugs are bright white. This showed excellent contrast of both the colours, the use of the contrast made the drugs look more powerful. Also the trailer showed various panning close ups to show every characters emotion throughout, the panning style was either from the bottem going up or from the right moving to the left. The best edited shot of the trailer is the behind shot of the man in the car fully blacked out, and all you can see is police sirens flashing in the distance; that shot was very impressive it showed a lot of tension within the trailer. Further more the editing style made the trailer look superb it showed the same types of shots of the characters, drugs, weapons, violent activities with different characters showing different types of emotions

Critical Investigation Task #3

Desmond's | Peckham's Sweeney Todd | Channel 4

This scene of Desmonds used highkey lighting throughout the whole scene, the scene uses highkey lighting to suggest an upbeat mood. this is often used in sicoms and comedies as you can see in this episode. High-key lighting is usually quite homogeneous and free from dark shadows. 

The clothing used in this scene was from round the late 1980's, everyone wore normal casual clothing. Such as, polo shirts, normally fitted jeans pulled accurtly on the waist, buttoned shits, religious clothing and blazers etc. This positive style typer of clothing connotes that all the moods in the room are calm and friendly this connotes that this show always shows a theme of positivity and happiness. This is an excellent excellent example of contrast shown between Topboy as you can see in top boy shows clothing such as tracksuit bottoms, big puffer jackets, hooded tops, air forces etc. This type of clothing has a negative image to the audience and also it shows that T.V prgrammes are making the steriotype about black males being intimidating harder not to believe.

Most of the actors in this episode are black obviously due to the genre on the series, the actors from Desmond's show great contrast with their personalities compared to Toboy. As you can see all of the actors in the barbers are encouraging Desmond's son to go UNI and are willing to help him get in, this shows that everyone in that environment was hoping for the best for Desmond's son. Desmond's present black people as kind and welcoming people you can tell from the way everyone has positive vibes throughout, this shows great contrast compared to to Topboy due to the fact that the black males in Topboy are presented ans violent, angry and dangerous people. This connotes how the genereation of black males has changed over the years and has become a crucial topic around London. The new generation of black males have influenced other audiences to believe the stereotypes from the way black males are true from what they say see on T.V, this image that black males create for themselves on T.V makes it harder for black males in London to find jobs due to the reputation that created; sadly making them financially unstable.

The setting on the film was in Peckham which is based in South-east London. The setting of Desmond's is ironic because Peckham is a very dangerous and rough area with a high criminal rate. This connotes that Peckham was a more calm area at the times of 1994 when Desmond's first started, this shows that the new generation of black males have a more wild and angry state of mind. However not all black males are like this, there are many black males that are successful in London such as Trevor McDonald.

Desmonds used diegetic sound throughout. Youcan tell by the way the sound comes from the world of the episode we are watching. It includes dialogue by the characters in the scene or other sound that comes from a source we would naturally expect that sound to come from.

The episode starts off with various wide medium shots, the used medium shots due to the fact that there were many people in the room have a group conversation this is an excellent way to show that everyone is involved. The shot then shifts when Desmond's son enters the barbers to a over the shoulder shot  in the angle of Desmond's perspective, the over the shoulder shot was used to show Desmond's son sons emotion; as you can see he had a serious emotion on his face this connoted that they were going speak about an important subject. The shot then changed to a medium range shot showing Desmond, his son and his wife, this medium shot to show the concerened emotion of Desmond and his wife towards his son; this shot make them look like a very close and loving family. Over the shoulder shots on from Desmonds perspective were shown various times. The next medium shot shown was represents the love and respect that Desmond and his son had for one another when it show Desmond offering his son a handshake and his son rejects the hand shake and gives his dad a hug with an apology. As you can see the younger generation on black males in London were brought up with respect for their peers and parents, this shows great contrast compared to round the times of Topboy, Topboy presents black males as people with no respect and no morals. Furthermore the episode showed various medium, wide range and close up shots throughout the rest of the episode