Beneath the water- TV Drama title sequence
Beneath the water
Synopsis:
The protagonist and antagonist is both Phillipa Knoxx. She is a 35 year old woman living in current day
St. Albans. She works for the Hertfordshire Constabulary as a detective in the C.I.D (Criminal Investigation Department). When we learn of her criminality we both root and hate her, creating her to be a farrago of personalities that we like despite of this. Unknowingly, she has undiagnosed dissociative identity disorder, which leads her to have a second personality that she is oblivious to. In the scenes prior to the title sequence, we see her drowning a small girl around the age of the audience, but unaware to the audience. We then get introduced to her character as a detective and a new face, Emily Leonard, who we later learn shares a house with Phillipa.
A few days later there is a search for a missing young girl, and we see Phillipa alone, looking around a public lake. She is searching whilst out of hours, which gives the audience an insight of how dedicated she is to her job.
Around 9pm, she is approached by a 15 year old boy who informs her that she's found the body. She follows him closer towards the lake, when we start seeing flashbacks of her drowning the girl. Panicked, Phillipa attacks the unsuspecting boy and drowns him. Although it is more struggle, as he is stronger and older, but manages to kill him and returns home dripping wet.
On the 5th day of the search for the girl, news is broadcasted saying that two bodies have been discovered in the lake, and unaware that it was her own doing, Phillipa starts to find the person responsible. Slowly she begins to doubt her innocence, as she looks further into the investigation and rules out all the possible suspects.
The following evening, Emily gets suspicious of her actions and accuses Phillipa of having some involvement in the murders.
Disorder and chaos breaks out as they argue about the case and Emily attempts to ring the police. Phillipa then knocks her out and takes her to the boat house where she drowns her. This time however, she is conscious of her actions...
Characters
Other characters include:
Synopsis:
The protagonist and antagonist is both Phillipa Knoxx. She is a 35 year old woman living in current day
St. Albans. She works for the Hertfordshire Constabulary as a detective in the C.I.D (Criminal Investigation Department). When we learn of her criminality we both root and hate her, creating her to be a farrago of personalities that we like despite of this. Unknowingly, she has undiagnosed dissociative identity disorder, which leads her to have a second personality that she is oblivious to. In the scenes prior to the title sequence, we see her drowning a small girl around the age of the audience, but unaware to the audience. We then get introduced to her character as a detective and a new face, Emily Leonard, who we later learn shares a house with Phillipa.
A few days later there is a search for a missing young girl, and we see Phillipa alone, looking around a public lake. She is searching whilst out of hours, which gives the audience an insight of how dedicated she is to her job.
Around 9pm, she is approached by a 15 year old boy who informs her that she's found the body. She follows him closer towards the lake, when we start seeing flashbacks of her drowning the girl. Panicked, Phillipa attacks the unsuspecting boy and drowns him. Although it is more struggle, as he is stronger and older, but manages to kill him and returns home dripping wet.
On the 5th day of the search for the girl, news is broadcasted saying that two bodies have been discovered in the lake, and unaware that it was her own doing, Phillipa starts to find the person responsible. Slowly she begins to doubt her innocence, as she looks further into the investigation and rules out all the possible suspects.
The following evening, Emily gets suspicious of her actions and accuses Phillipa of having some involvement in the murders.
Disorder and chaos breaks out as they argue about the case and Emily attempts to ring the police. Phillipa then knocks her out and takes her to the boat house where she drowns her. This time however, she is conscious of her actions...
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| Font used |
Characters
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| Phillipa Knoxx (Main character)- Played by Rosamund Pike |
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| Emily Lenard (Flatmate)- Niamh McGrady |
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| Joan Waters (assistant officer)- Sophie Okonedo |
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| David Knightly (Police chief) -Mark Bonnar |
Other characters include:
David Bradley (Policeman)- Jamie Dornan
Jake Bailey (Neighbour)- James Norton
Robie Uniacke (Chief Detective)- Idris Elba
Ian Pipe (Father of little girl)- Derek Riddell
Cassie Pipe (little girl)- Skyler Wexler
Danny Kasper (older boy)- Jack Dylan Grazer
Evaluation questions
1. In my title sequence I have used various media language to describe camera angles, mise en scene and editing such as low angle shot, non-digetic dramatic music and fading from one scene to the next. These follow the codes and conventions of a TV drama sequence as they are typical in most sequences. The mise en scene is particularly important as it foreshadows parts of the drama and alludes at the themes which is reinforced by the camera shots in the water and of the lakes.
2. Our TV drama is a hybrid genre of thriller and horror. This is made clear in the title sequence as there is a shot of a girl drowning provoking mystery and shock and there is the thriller connotations with the police badge. All this is then reinforced by the synopsis giving a detailed account of the mystery and suspense surrounding the eerie storyline.
3. The title sequence would begin approximately two minutes into the story after some action has occurred leaving a cliff hanger yet not spoiling the main plot. This is seen in TV dramas such as Stranger things however the action before the sequence is longer than I would want.
4. The mise en scene suits the genre of our TV drama as it is based primarily on water (with the establishing shot of the lake, low angle shot of the water and shot of the girl sinking) and has links to the police force (with shots of the badge and jacket hanging up) which connotes the mystery and thriller themes. This also suits the setting partially as the drama will be set in three main locations; the lake, the Police station and Phillipas house (shown in the establishing shot with the jacket on the coat stand). The era would hopefully be reinforced by the technology in the shots of the house and modern day badges in the slow-motion shot. Finally the narrative should be clear due to the obvious water theme which would then be highlighted by the girl being drowned.
5. I believe that the target audience would range from demographic categories C1 to B (maybe into section A) as it should be captivating and appealing to many people who can understand the details and infer plots and enjoy the 'thrill of the chase' theme with a concluding twist. I believe the age range should be between 16 to 50 as a younger audience may find this disturbing and unsuitable, therefore it would have to be shown after the 9 o'clock watershed.
6. I referred to TV dramas such as Remember me and Top of the lake for the water theme and then Doctor Foster for the thriller elements.
7. If I was asked to complete a textual analysis on this TV Drama sequence I would comment that the camera shots show details which are critical to the plot and really focus on the water theme as they focus on both the outside of the water and on the details and mystery inside the water with the different shots. The editing would be skilfully used for example in the slow motion shot of the badge to foreshadow the downfall or mistakes of the Police force as the badge is falling down or allude to the hamartia as the main character is part of the Police force. I would comment that the eerie non-diegetic music would've been used for suspense and to enforce the horror genre. Finally for the mise en scene I would say that the water theme is evident as the majority of shots are in the water or based upon it and the darkness of the shots connote the horror alongside the Police theme which highlights the thriller genre.
8. I believe that the strengths of my title sequence is that it is effective in enforcing the genre and themes as the horror is clearly portrayed with the girl in the water however this could also be a weakness as it may give too much away about the plot in the title sequence alone.
Evaluation questions
1. In my title sequence I have used various media language to describe camera angles, mise en scene and editing such as low angle shot, non-digetic dramatic music and fading from one scene to the next. These follow the codes and conventions of a TV drama sequence as they are typical in most sequences. The mise en scene is particularly important as it foreshadows parts of the drama and alludes at the themes which is reinforced by the camera shots in the water and of the lakes.
2. Our TV drama is a hybrid genre of thriller and horror. This is made clear in the title sequence as there is a shot of a girl drowning provoking mystery and shock and there is the thriller connotations with the police badge. All this is then reinforced by the synopsis giving a detailed account of the mystery and suspense surrounding the eerie storyline.
3. The title sequence would begin approximately two minutes into the story after some action has occurred leaving a cliff hanger yet not spoiling the main plot. This is seen in TV dramas such as Stranger things however the action before the sequence is longer than I would want.
4. The mise en scene suits the genre of our TV drama as it is based primarily on water (with the establishing shot of the lake, low angle shot of the water and shot of the girl sinking) and has links to the police force (with shots of the badge and jacket hanging up) which connotes the mystery and thriller themes. This also suits the setting partially as the drama will be set in three main locations; the lake, the Police station and Phillipas house (shown in the establishing shot with the jacket on the coat stand). The era would hopefully be reinforced by the technology in the shots of the house and modern day badges in the slow-motion shot. Finally the narrative should be clear due to the obvious water theme which would then be highlighted by the girl being drowned.
5. I believe that the target audience would range from demographic categories C1 to B (maybe into section A) as it should be captivating and appealing to many people who can understand the details and infer plots and enjoy the 'thrill of the chase' theme with a concluding twist. I believe the age range should be between 16 to 50 as a younger audience may find this disturbing and unsuitable, therefore it would have to be shown after the 9 o'clock watershed.
6. I referred to TV dramas such as Remember me and Top of the lake for the water theme and then Doctor Foster for the thriller elements.
7. If I was asked to complete a textual analysis on this TV Drama sequence I would comment that the camera shots show details which are critical to the plot and really focus on the water theme as they focus on both the outside of the water and on the details and mystery inside the water with the different shots. The editing would be skilfully used for example in the slow motion shot of the badge to foreshadow the downfall or mistakes of the Police force as the badge is falling down or allude to the hamartia as the main character is part of the Police force. I would comment that the eerie non-diegetic music would've been used for suspense and to enforce the horror genre. Finally for the mise en scene I would say that the water theme is evident as the majority of shots are in the water or based upon it and the darkness of the shots connote the horror alongside the Police theme which highlights the thriller genre.
8. I believe that the strengths of my title sequence is that it is effective in enforcing the genre and themes as the horror is clearly portrayed with the girl in the water however this could also be a weakness as it may give too much away about the plot in the title sequence alone.
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