Television Drama and the Representation of Regional Identity

1. Coronation Street By Nick Anderson, Leigh Last and Katy Matthews

2. Mis-en-scene The mis-en-scene in this picture suggests that Coronation Street is set in a city area which is shown by the terraced housing-suggesting an industrial area. The milk truck and pub we can see suggest it is a small area with the locals and the milk truck has common British connotations. Also the title shown in the bottom right hand corner containing the word street gives you an automatic idea of setting.

3. Mis-en-scene Inside the ‘Rover’s Return’ (the local pub on the estate another British tradition) is a classic idea of the pumps containing alcohol along with many booths as somewhere to sit away from the bar. The bell we can see behind the bar is used for “last calls” which is more likely to be seen in a British pub than any other. We can see that younger women who own the pub are often dolled up and wearing low cut tops whereas the older civilians and other occupants are less exposed and more naturalistic. This conforms to the stereotype of a landlady.

4. Coronation Street Extract http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=227468

5. Mis-en-scene Within the first 20 seconds we can see that in the mis-en-scene there are connotations of region. There is a phone box and when the camera turns we can see a post office both are iconic British figures We can also see a factory which tells us that it is an industrial area.

6. Camera work within the clip Establishing shot showing them walking from the salon with the mis-en-scene I have just listed Over the shoulder shot for the short conversation between Gail and Audrey- this shows Audrey’s facial expression clearly putting her face towards us as an audience we have more sympathy for her as Gail physically turns her back on us we may feel she has done the same to her son David Long shot showing David hurrying away-suggests he isn’t confrontational Gail’s worried expression from the over the shoulder shot to the close-up shows us that she is a caring person who now realises she may have hurt his feelings

7. More camera work Long shot showing “teenage behavior”-TV drama contains all kinds of characters Wide shot whilst they clean up. Shot reverse shot to show the urgency of hiding. Two shot to show the host and the reaction of the guests this suggests that the people aren‘t necessarily close as politeness is being overly used. Close-up used to show something to the audience that not all the characters know and Graham’s reaction to it giving us the sense of drama in the place.

8. Sound in Coronation street The accents from coronation street are meant to represent the North West England populace as that is where it is based, As coronation street is a TV drama it is hard to come up with any sound for the still images that are made from it. With the moving images the sounds used will be normal sounds that you would hear on a day to day basis in a rural area, much the same as the location in which this drama is set The music from coronation street isn't a fast paced soundtrack as the TV show isn't like a fast paced action show, it is relatively slow paced to represent the living http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e54gzq5Xr0Y

9. Editing in coronation street The editing in coronation street is simple and effect for the style of show that is being represented. The editing between shots is very simple and repetitive as the show is mostly based around characters dialogue and there reactions. The main type of editing found in coronation street is shot reverse shot or a plain jump cut Though other forms of editing do get used as much as these, they are more obvious and used on a more repetitive scale as the show follows alot of different characters throughout a single episode http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKNLKJbKNUc