Production research

Charmed

 

The mise en scene in this clip is quite effective. The first scene is shot behind these sharp spear like poles showing a long shot of people walking into the room. This suggests something dangerous could happen. There is a crane shot which shows a group of people walking in from a high angle. There is low key lighting which makes the room seem very dull. There is fire in the background giving the place some warmth suggesting it may be cold and horrible. It is set in a grand hall sort of place which has a cave feel to it. The costume of the man talking at the beginning connotes importance as he is wearing a red robe, however it could also suggest blood and gore. The man he is talking to is wearing a black suit which connotes evil and death. The man wearing the robe has a very pale skin colour due to makeup and has blonde/white hair; this connotes purity and goodness. Whereas the man wearing black has dark hair as well as black clothes which connotes he could be malicious, this shows binary opposition.

There is non-diegetic sound in the background as this creates more tension because the music is like a low pitched piano key being pressed down, this also sounds mysterious and is parallel sound as it fits in well with the scene. The prop which is used is a book which is important to the narrative as the man in the robe is granting powers to the man wearing black, which cannot be done without the spells in that book. The prop is also placed on a book stand and is kept high, in good condition which suggests it is a crucial part of the narrative.

The 180 degree rule is used when the two actors are talking to each other; there is a medium/close up of them which show their facial expressions, they seem serious as they are discussing something important. After this the man wearing black then walks off and the lighting appears to be a bit dimmer as there is low key lighting. The guards then escort the man to another part of the cave. There is a long shot of them walking towards the camera, showing the guards surrounding the man as they are protecting him, which connotes he may be important and is the protagonist. A man is then shown hiding behind a statue using a medium shot, although he is not shown the camera acts as him by the tilt and panning movement of the camera filming from behind the statue which suggests someone is watching them. This was a point of view shot which is quite effective. He is then shown using a close up of him trying to hide. This creates enigma code as the audience would want to know who he is and why he is hiding.

 

The next shot is a long shot of the man coming out from hiding. We can then see his costume which us a long cloak which has fur over the shoulders. The way he is dressed connotes he has power and authority. He is holding a long stick, which is a significant prop as it has magical powers, without this the narrative wouldn’t be the same. He then taps the stick on the floor twice which tells us something is about to happen. An orange glow then appears next to him and one of the guards magically appears besides him. There is a medium close up of both of them which show their facial expressions to be very serious as the man wearing the cloak orders the guard to ‘arrest him’. The guard seems to be under his influence as he acts very robotic as he appeared because of magic. The lighting in this shot is very low key, back lights have been used which create shadows, and this effect is chiaroscuro.

 

The next scene shows the guard pulling the man being arrested into the place where the book is kept. The man with the red robe is still there and deals with him. The audience then find out the man being arrested is a wizard. There is a side shot of them talking showing the height difference between them, the wizard is shorter and has to look up which connotes the other man is more dominant as he is looking down on the wizard making him look pathetic.

 

Throughout this all the editing that was used was mainly straight cuts which portrayed continuity editing as the scenes made sense in the order they were shown. At the beginning of the clip there was a fade in edit which faded in from the screen being all black.

 

Target audience- Charmed is a supernatural drama about the relationships between good witches and is about sisterhood. It is shown on E4 and started in 1998. The audience members would mainly be female ranging from the ages of 16-35.