Product: Game of Thrones

A) Purpose

Entertainment is the first purpose of media such as movies, TV programs, games and music which are made to entertain their audiences whether it be at a cinema, concert or at home. Game Of Thrones has only one purpose to entertain its audiences. It entertains the audience because Game Of Thrones involves a lot of different characters and genres that the audience can connect with and fall in love with. Each character is very different and once you connect with them, you'll care about what happens to them and cause you to keep watching. Even if you dont do this with the character, eventually you'll connect with the story. Media is also used to promote brands by using social media that can reach out to the younger generation and using promotional videos which can be used to reach out to older generations that might use TV and internet. Game Of Thrones use advertisements to promote their box set DVD which can be a way to reach out to a wide range of audiences because TVs are used by all generations. Merchandising is creating products that are related to a certain film or show. Game Of Thrones has clothes, film-based maps, mugs and much more to create more ways to make money from the show. Selling these products also promote the show to people in stores or internet shopping, increasing the audience.

 

B) Genre

My chosen TV show is Game Of Thrones and its genre is Fantasy because it includes a range of different locations, creatures and characters which are either mythical, magical or un-natural. Even though it is mainly fantasy based, it includes medieval aspects from our normal past such as castles, horses, knight-like characters and kingdoms. Its sub genres would be thriller and romance because it includes a lot of suspense and love between the characters. The codes and conventions of a fantasy genre are mythical creatures, magic, supernatural, high key lighting, bright primary colours, often set in the past, and can include violence and romance. Even though Game Of thrones has much darker, lower saturated colours, it does have mythical creatures, violence and romance, is set in the past and includes magic so it meets the fantasy genre very well. The codes and conventions of the fantasy genre that Game of Thrones adheres to is:

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• High production value - Back in the earlier seasons, a season would cost around $6 million to make and even some episodes can cost millions. 

• Significant CGI and/or VFX - Game Of Thrones has used a lot of CGI equipment to create the atmosphere and creatures in GoT. A significant CGI use is for the dragons who are a big part of the show.

• Escapism for audience - The audience can escape from the real world in this show because the world is so different and contains characters that the audience can also connect with and reflect themselves upon, changing themselves in real life.

• Mythical creatures, magic, supernatural - GoT contains dragons as tits main mythical creature swell as more supernatural beings such as the white walkers.

• Other worlds/primitive society - Game Of Thrones is set in another world but is very much like a primitive earth back in the High Middle Ages when there were knights and castles.

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C) Form

Narrative form is very important in constructing a sotryline in film and tv shows to ensure the structure is correct. Todorov believes that a film has a equilibrium at the start but, in the second stage there is a disruption to the equilibrium. The stage after this there is a recognition of the equilibrium and may cause conflict. After, there is an attempt to repair the damage to the equilibrium and finally return to the normal state of equilibrium. In Game Of thrones, the equilibrium at the start of the series isn't peaceful because all the kingdoms have tension between each other and fighting but this is what is normal in Westeros. There is a disruption to the equilibrium at the start of the series because a character dies due to an enemy called  a ‘white walker’ and all the main characters recognise this. This an example of the next stage when there is a recognition to the change in equilibrium. The kingdoms that are all in conflict realise that winter is coming which is a rare period to occur in the story of Game Of Thrones. The next stage is trying to repair the damage to the equilibrium and, this is represented throughout the series when the main characters are trying to stop the enemy that occurs during winter from attacking Westeros. The final stage is when the equilibrium goes back to normal but, Game Of Thrones has not yet finished its series so we have yet to find out if this happens. A way in which it will return to normal is if the enemy called the ‘white walkers’ are able to be stopped.

 

Levi Strauss believes that a film always contains some sort of conflict and examples of this is good vs evil, rich vs poor or a more personal conflict with someone trying to fight against a mental problem. In Game Of Thrones, conflict is shown between all the different kingdoms as well as the kingdoms vs the undead. Another type of conflict involved is within the kingdoms where the rich such as the royal family and the poor who lives within the kingdom because the poor are treated with no respect and no humanity.

 

Propp believes that there needs to be different character types to make a narrative. The first one is the Villain. The villain is the character that creates a disruption in the equilibrium. The Donor the character that gives the hero aid for their journey to restore the equilibrium. The Helper is the character who joins the hero on their task to restore the equilibrium. The Hero is the character who restores the equilibrium to normal. The Dispatcher is the character who makes the villain known in the story and sends the hero off. The Princess is the character in need of help from the hero. In Game Of Thrones, the villain is the undead army and the undead leader because all the kingdoms, even though they have their own problems, have a very small chance of winning against them. However, there is no clear hero is Game Of Thrones because all the characters do good and bad things in the show and here is no clear donor because there are many times where characters help each other to complete a task. One example of a hero is a girl who ends up killing one of the characters who caused disruption to the equilibrium. Her donor was her father who gave her a sword that she uses throughout all the episodes. The dispatcher in Game Of Thrones was a character who first noticed the undead villain and this character then told one of the heroes in the show who ended up facing this villain.

 

D) E) F) Style/Content/Meaning

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Camera: In the Game Of Thrones scene that i have chosen, there are many camera angles used during the battle. Because a battle is such a big scene with so many different people in different positions, lots of camera angles are needed to let the audience experience the battle from all perspectives. First person camera perspective are used very often in the battle which lets us experience it as if we are apart of the battle. This allows the audience to have a personal experience of what it would be like in the battle and the dangers it has. Another important camera angle is a hand held angle when following the horses. It is used to create the sense of being on a horse at a fast pace. It helps build suspense for when they reach the enemy in the battle. One last important camera angle is a birds eye view to represent what the dragon is seen from above. Because the dragon is an important part of the scene, i think that the camera angle that shows what the dragon is seeing is important because it shows a viewpoint that is very overpowering and god-like, telling the audience that the dragon is a powerful, significant beast that will be important win the future of the show.

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Sound: The scene i am using uses both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The sound of the horses gallops and the screaming of men can be heard during filming. The sounds of the swords hitting each would be a post-filming sound, made during editing to add into the episode and is made to be heard by the characters. They added the gallops and sounds of swords to emphasise the feeling of being in a battle for the audience, creating a realistic atmosphere that the audience can dive in to. As the army starts to get close with the enemy, music starts to play which is not heard by the the actors but instead is added during editing. The music has the sound of horns in it and this is meant to represent the horns that may be played by the soldiers when charging towards the enemy. As the audience, it makes me feel excited for what will happen and creates a lot of tension, making me feel overwhelmed.

 

Lighting: The scene involves low-key lighting and darker colours such as brown and dark red which represents how dirty and uncomfortable the battle is. They did this to enhance the unpleasant atmosphere of the battle, making it a much more realistic scene for the audience, causing the audience to escape from the real world.  The lighting is natural but may have been lowered in brightness during editing to create the unpleasent world. The only bright colour during the scene is the fire that is spread everywhere and this may be done to show the danger of fire on the battlefield. This contrast between the dark colours of the battle and the bright colour of fire may have been used to represent the intense things that can occur during a battle. This makes the audience feel confused and uneasy which may have been the goal for the production team because they want us to emerge ourselves with the events that take place.

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Editing: At the start of the scene, it is edited to switch between each army which represents the differences between the armies, one being calm and nervous whilst the other is charging and shouting. This emphasises the impact that the armies will have once they come in contact with each other, causing the audience to get nervous and excited. As the battle starts to get more violent, the scene changes very often between the view of the charge, the dragon;s birds-eye view and first person view. This may have been done to show how much is happening during the battle and shows us all the different experiences and feelings that the characters have. It could either make it confusing for the audience to show how crazy a war is or may have been done to help the audience see and understand everything that is happening.

 

Mise en Scene: 

 

Setting: Because Game Of Thrones is a fantasy genre series, it is difficult to know when it is set but it has a very medieval atmosphere due to the props they use such as swords, horses and medieval armour as well as large kingdoms and knights suggesting it is set in the past. They may want it to be set in the medieval era because the characters and kingdoms fit very well in that type of period due to the characters similar thoughts and plans a medieval king or queen would have. The fantasy aspects of the show fit very well because they keep the supernatural low profile and there are real world creatures swell as mythical creatures.

 

Location: The location isn't a real place on Earth because Game Of Thrones is set in a fictional land called Westeros. Westeros is very much like Earth in the medieval era, the only difference being that some things have a fantasy aspect added to it such as creatures and magic. The castles that they designed for the show are similar to medieval ones from the past which is why the designers may have designed Westeros to be like medieval era so that the castles fit the land.

 

Costume: One of the armies are in full armour sets which represent what medieval armies would have been wearing implying that they are part of a kingdom whereas, the other army are all wearing rags and animal pelt implying they are much more rouge. It brings back the idea of medieval because armies back in that era wore sets of armour to represent their kingdom. 

 

Props: In Game Of Thrones, many props were used to make the fight scene more realistic and similar to a medieval battle. Swords and shields are used by the warriors just as they did in the medieval era as well as wooden carts used as props to represent the movement of the kingdom’s important goods. Horses are used to also emphasis the medieval atmosphere of the battle.

 

G) Production Process

 

Pre-Production: Before filming, HBO had to prepare a lot of the locations for different scenes. HBO built a castle which later became Castle Black in the show. They casted many people for different roles as well as 

 

Production: Most of the interior sets are located at the Paint Hall studios in Belfast, Northern Ireland which is the main headquarters for production. Most of the on-location shooting occurs in Northern Ireland and the more exotic locations are filmed in more diverse locales in other countries. The scenes in the second seasons’ southern scenes were filmed in Croatia and Malta. The more superior characters have a low angle facing up towards the actors playing these superior characters to give the illusion that they are taller and in charge.

 

Post Production: After filming, the editing starts and this is when non-diegetic sounds are added into the scenes such as music or sound effects such as the dragon’s roar. They edited the scene that i have chosen to change between the two sides of the battle constantly, not only to build and show the tension but to also help the audience understand the two sides of the battle. If the audio of an actor or event in a scene was not recorded properly during filming, they may ask for the actor to come back and re-record what they said during the scene or use items to re-create the sounds.

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In Conclusion:

 

The use of low saturated and dark colours emphasises the thriller and violent aspects of Game Of Thrones as well as the uncomfortable atmosphere that the world of Game Of Thrones has. This means it always sticks with the dark, gloomy theme that works along side the show. All of the characters are built and connected to make a narrative which is one of Propp's beliefs, creating one of the purposes for the show which is allowing the audience to relate with the characters and their problems and can help them to understand their own life.