Deutschland 83 Intro

Season 1, Episode 1 - Quantum Jump
Episode title taken from actual NATO military exercises.
First released in October 2015, but in the UK January 2016 on Channel 4 it has subtitles for UK version.
A different audience compared to Stranger Things due to the fact it is on at 9pm. 

What meanings are created in the sequence you have studied and what do they tell us about narrative, character development and genre?

What meanings are created in the sequence you have studied and what do they tell us about narrative, character development and genre?

Stranger Things is a long form TV drama produced by 21 Laps entertainment and is published on the streaming service Netflix. The monthly subscription charge funds for the advertising and the cost to buy the rights for the drama.

Stranger Things is a long form TV drama due to the fact it cuts across a range of different hybrid and sub-genres including 80’s nostalgia, Sci-Fi and romance and many others. The serial series has strong characters that people can attach and learn progressively more about the more we watch the series for example we get to see how Nancy and Mike behaviour at home and how their family life is affecting the choses they make later on in the series. In the last six minutes of the episode we see on two occasions we see the two children disobeying their parents. This could show us how the children go against parents and allows the audience to relate to the characters as the target audience for Stranger Things is likely to experience similar encounters. They also follow the long form TV drama convention as they leave the episode on a cliff hanger as we are left with the boys shining their torches on Eleven’s startled face. This is used in long form TV drama in order to entice the audience into the next episode. This is very important for Stranger Things due to the fact it is shown on Netflix where the next episode is immediately available so people can watch at their own speed so if they do not want to watch they will simply choose another LFTVD to watch as there is thousands immediately available to binge on.

Stranger Things is a multi-stranded, fragmented, non-linear and open ended narrative. This means that there are multiple storylines going on at one time in non-chronological order. They may do this in order to keep the audience interested. This is shown when Steve is sneaking into Nancy’s room whilst Mike is going out to look for Will. This is shown as the continuously jump cut between the two. They do contrast with the fact that of the light colourful bedroom of Nancy’s compared to Mike and the boys going out in the dark and rain to look for Will. This could show the fact the bright room signifies the young love that is blossoming between Nancy and Steve as they are seen in nice shirts in her room and showing that all they are worried about is impressing the other sex where the younger boys who are seen to be immature are counteracting against their stereotype and dealing with something much more worthwhile and important. This could encourage the audience to attach to the 3 young boys due to the fact a lot of the young audience are likely to feel as though they are not taking seriously by people older people who think because of your age you do not know as much as them.

There are also several important areas of character development within the episode. One of these is the changing emotions and thoughts of Joyce and Jonathan, especially after Will goes missing. This is shown when at beginning of the episode Joyce says how Jonathan needed to be more responsible for Will, instead of working and covering shifts to get extra money for the family. This shows representations of both teenagers, and mothership. For example, Jonathan being somewhat irresponsible, and Joyce trying to correct that, and educate him on this. Then towards the end of the episode we see an example of this in the form of a close-up shot of some pictures of Will scattered around the table, and a mid-shot of the two of them sitting together. We see a change in Jonathan having become more compassionate and warming towards Joyce and vice versa. This is shown when she says that “this disappearance is not his fault.” From the perspective of the audience, we can note that there is a definite change of character from both, one that an audience member might not have expected.  

Netflix and technology

How are different social groups represented in the sequence you have analysed? What role does the use of media language, signs and signifies have in constructing and presenting these representations as real?

How are different social groups represented in the sequence you have analysed? What role does the use of media language, signs and signifies have in constructing and presenting these representations as real?

In Stranger Things children have a very strong representation as an age group and have two sub-sections as older teenagers such as Nancy, Barb, Steve and Johnathon who are constantly represented as an age group that all they care about is impressing the opposite sex and being as popular as they can. This is compared to the other sub section of pre-pubescent teens such as the main characters Will, Dustin, Mike & Lucas who are represented as nerdy kids who are still creeped out by girls and don’t understand why everyone doesn’t just enjoy life and spend time with their friends due to the fact they have no stress or worries in their life of a significant nature. This division between the two teenagers slowly fades throughout the long form TV drama due to the fact they both realise the significance of the disappearing children.

As well as this, the different social groups clash as adult’s vs teenagers is created as Nancy and Mike constantly clash with their mum where Nancy leaves the dining table as she is not able to go out and ‘revise’ and Mike shortly leaves after as he doesn’t think he parents are doing enough to help find Will and simultaneously creates a divide between the different social groups. This clash is presented to the audience when Copper interviews the 3 boys and constantly belittles them and could be seen as quite rude to the boys raising his voice and threatening when he warns them not to look for the boys. This can show that the boys want to be respected as they seem to be a lot more mature than the other students we encounter although their interest in board games and technology which at the time would have been seen as nerdy but know it is the norm. 

The social group of single mothers is boldly presented within Stranger Things. Will’s mother Joyce, is one of the most important characters within the Long Form TV drama and a huge part of the main story line. We jump to her point of view often through episode one and follow her journey on her quest on finding her son. Joyce is represented in many different ways in episode one and we see a distinct contrast. At the beginning of episode 1, she is presented as a panicked and disorganised we see Jonathon cooking breakfast for himself and his younger brother and having to wake him up in the mornings, which also shows a contrast of teenagers stereotypes of being selfish and reckless but Johnathon is shown as caring and considerate. Joyce’s house appears to be cluttered and messy, supporting her disorganised stereotype, as she looks for her keys she later finds in her sofa which is not where someone would leave their keys if they had life under control.

Stranger Things Circulation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RDBwl4DcrSHPSEI3e_-kY4B-Kym7_Sv9t76ceN5_rHo/edit?usp=sharing

Introduction to TV drama

TV Drama now competes with film – Long  form? 

Can we build 3-dimensional characters. (anti-heroes) - strong independent females 

 LFTVD Has high production values. I.E. One episode can be around $1-3 Million 

Viewing Methods 

• Terrestrial – BBC 1,2  / ITV / C4 / C5 
• Streaming- Netflix
• Sky Digital / Virgin Media / HBO etc. 

State of the Nation  

• Terrorism 
• Greed 
• Politics / Corruption 
• Crime 
• What's going on? 
• Cultural Zeitgeist 

Memes 

• Funny user-generated content 

 

Ingredients and Conventions of Long Form TV Drama 

• Various Locations Featured 
• Stock Characters – Persistently following, we're going to spend lots of time with them 
• Multiple narratives – Many different sides to the story at the same time 
• 1-hour long 
• Released whole thing at a time (Binge watching) 
• Very dramatic cliff-hanger endings 
• High Production Values 

Scene Representation