Shameless Camera Angles and Sound

As part of our media course we were asked to select a 5 minute TV Drama clip and analyse the different Sound features and camera angles used. I have picked the TV Drama of Shameless.

One of the camera angles used in Shameless is the extreme close up when the camera is showing the character face. This happens to draw in the audience and makes us feel what the character is feeling . In addition, it helps draw us in to the story and in this case makes us syphasize with the character who is visiting a grave yard to lay some flowers has someone he knew has just died after being knocked over by a card. Another shot that is used is the over the shoulder shot when two teenagers are sitting having a drink at a cafe. When the characters are talking we can see there surroundings behind them and this helps us to build up a image of the setting e.g. where they live and also because they are looking out for someone the camera focuses behind them as the person so that the audience sees the person they are looking for before them. This also makes the audience think why do they want to see and talk to this person? At the very beginning Frankie is on the screen and is talking and behind him we see different images of where he and his family live in Manchester. This is called an establishing shot as we learn from this where they live which is a Manchester estate. Also from the litter and the graffiti we get the impression that this might be quite a rough place to live. In the clip of Shameless that I watched we see the use of a two shot between two of the characters. Here the two shot shows shows that they are friends and the facial expression that the characters use in the two shot e.g smiling backs up. Also it shows that the two character are of similar status in the TV Drama because one does not dominate over the other. As well as different Camera angles and shots being used there is also a different range of sound features that are used to help tell the story of the TV Drama. At the beginning of the dialogue when Frankie is talking we hear some background music. This accompanies the TV Drama and helps set the scene. When one of the characters is having a flash back we see the shot of a watch accompanied with the sound of a watch ticking to indicate a passing of time. This is called selective sound because it is helping us as audience hear exactly what the character is hearing. In Shameless there are several places where pauses are used and this is helps create atmosphere.

Thanks for reading.