'Orange Is The New Black' Case Study

Utopia Series 2 Episode 6 Opening

The opening scene to Utopia is effective because it immediately sets the scene for what the rest of the episode is going to be like. It creates a shock to the reader by making the assassin discuss cutting a child’s throat to a random stranger he has just encountered. This makes the audience feel shocked by the content of the programme, but also sets up the episode for what is probably about to come, without actually using any violence what-so-ever. The use of the zoom on the assassin’s face makes the scene even more un-nerving, as it enables the audience to see the serious and fixed expression on the assassin’s face. This adds to the shock value of the opening, as it creates quite a hostile feeling to the character, and makes the audience feel uneasy. The fact that he is speaking in a public place also adds to the atmosphere, as he doesn’t care that there might be witnesses to what he is saying.

The fact that the character brushes off talking about slicing a child’s throat open as ‘chatting’ suggest to the audience that this man probably isn’t a nice person. This makes the opening sequence an effective one, because if somebody thinks that this is equivalent to a random chat, then he is pretty twisted, and will probably play a key part later in the episode. The audience can then see what the character’s personality is like, and make assumptions about him based off of this.

The music in the background is possibly the most important aspect to the atmosphere of the opening sequence. The music creates tension during the assassin’s monologue, which then makes the audience wonder what is going to happen to the woman and child, as ‘Utopia’ is a programme which features an excess of violent content. The music then abruptly stops when he pulls out his bus ticket and leaves, which immediately eases all tension. This is effective as it creates a dark and sinister atmosphere, which is what the writers were aiming for. As the music is progressing throughout it creates an uneasy feeling for the audience and adds suspense as the character progresses through his monologue.

The use of colour is also interesting in this scene, as the colours behind the defenceless woman are very bright and vivid, and the colours behind the assassin are very dark and dull. This is used to influence the audience about the feeling of the characters. The dark colours are used for the assassin as it makes him look dangerous and threatening. This adds to the emphasis of the feeling towards the character. Subtle things like this often go unnoticed and are key in creating a successful atmosphere and feeling towards characters, which may often be subconscious. They also put bright, vivid colours behind the female character to show that she doesn’t pose any threat, and is a harmful character.

The low angled shot used when he walks away makes the assassin seem threatening. This is very important, as it quickly establishes that this character is evil, and doesn’t have the best intentions at heart. This is needed quickly so that the audience are aware of the threat and danger that he possesses, so that not a lot of build-up is involved to add unnecessary length to the episode.

There is also a quite big reference to the zeitgeist in the opening sequence, as the main reason the assassin tells the woman that she should kill her child is because he will use up a lot of Carbon, which is a resource that we are using too much of. He explains this to her in the programme, and then says to kill the child so we have more Carbon. The fact that the man is relating a child’s life to a resource will make the audience feel like he has no emotions or feeling, and is an evil character. The fact that they refer to Carbon use, which is something that in the real world we are constantly reminded in the real world, gives the programme a more “real” feeling to it, so would possibly make it strike a few nerves with particular watchers, as the reference to the real world makes it more believable. This makes the opening sequence really effective, as it helps the audience to relate, and adds a touch of reality.

Thriller Film inspiration

Thriller Film Inspirations


Me and Matt were looking at the films 'The Evil Dead', and an independent British film 'Symptoms'. We chose these because they suited the setting of the Woodlands that we were using, and we could analyse the use of camera angles and lighting which we would take inspiration from, so that we could give our films a thriller/horror atmosphere and make the setting as accurate as possible. This is of course not going to be completely achievable, due to our restricted total budget of £0, but it will help us none-the-less.

We most notably looked at the director Sam Raimi due to his successful and well-know thriller/horror film series 'The Evil Dead', which is more of a horror film following a man and his group of friends who travel to a cabin in the middle of the forest and are haunted by an entity within the forest. Even though this is more of a horror, it has thriller aspects and the setting is very similar to the setting that we want to have in our thriller, so we decided to look at this one.

Thriller Planning

I chose to work with Matt Wells on the thriller piece, as we worked well and were happy with the final outcome for our preliminary piece.

We started to discuss ideas for the thriller that we are due to be creating, and decided upon a political-psychological thriller, focused upon a man who has just escaped a medical-government facility. During his escape, he encounters several hallucinations, which he is unsure whether they are real or not. He also suffers from flash-backs during his escape, which lets the audience establish what he has been through, and where he has escaped from.

We planned our location by looking on Google Maps at a woodland area around North Wingfield and Clay Cross so that it is accessible, and provides a suitable setting for our thriller.

An example of a thriller is:

Se7en Textual Analysis

Preliminary Task Final Product

Here is the finished product of our preliminary task:

Preliminary Task Evaluation Link

Barthes

The French theorist Roland Barthes thought up 5 key codes for film, which are vital to create a successful narrative. They are as follows:

Action Code
This is where the audience predicts the next logical step in the scene, due to the key point which happened before it.
For example, in my preliminary task we filmed a shot where the drug dealer opened the door to reveal the drug addict sat there nervously. The next logical step that the audience would presume is going to happen is that they are going to engage in conversation.

Enigma Code
This code is used to explain the narrative by setting up a point of interest which starts off with the audience unaware what it is, but ends up being resolved during the film.
For example, we had the drug dealer keep his hood up over his face, so the audience were unaware of whom he was, but this got solved when he met the addict, and pulled the hood down.

 

Semic Code
This code uses signs and meanings that tells us about the narrative and it's characters.
For example the drug dealer carries a bag which symbolises that he has something worthwhile he is carrying.

 

Cultural Code
The cultural code is used in order for the narrative to make reference to social and cultural aspects of real life, and relatable to the audience.
For example the drug dealer carries a tattered bag and is in a hoody, this suggests lack of money or that he is lower class.

Code of Oppositions
The Code of Operations is where a narrative relies on binary opposites. Examples of this are black vs. white, male vs. female, nature vs. civilisation.
We did not have an example of this in our preliminary task.