Analyse how the producers construct representations of working class in the first 5/6 minutes including the opening credits.

Shameless Season 1, Episode 1

By analysing how producers construct representations of the working class in the first five-six minutes, including the opening credits of the Shameless episode, the opening begins with an ‘establishing shot’ showing high rise flats, signifying that the characters might be residents in the building. It is noticeable that the flats are simply a part of a housing estate, which provides the audience with evidence referring to the ‘social classes’ of citizens that the programme will be depicting. Due to the way that we have been raised and brought up in society, we have been made to believe that housing estates are rough, damaged areas which consist of either working or lower class residents, which this programme certainly illustrates. The camera shots leading on from the opening scene, includes ‘close ups’ of each building on the estate before focusing on one in particular where only the windows are seen. The next shot is an ‘extreme high angle shot’ or an ‘extreme aerial shot’ of what seems to resemble a child’s playground with children playing inside, as well as a grass area with terraced houses surrounding it. In the subsequent shot, one of the main characters, Frank begins to narrate and discuss his children; one is seen being held by the corner of his jacket, before Frank is hit over the head with a loaf of bread by one of his children. We are then provided with a ‘point of view shot’ that illustrates Frank being stood over by his children as he lies on the floor unconscious. As soon as Frank makes a grunting noise, his children are depicted running away immediately.

Subsequently, Frank begins to mention his six children, starting with the eldest in the family, Fiona. Frank explains how he views Fiona as a mother figure to the remainder of his children as she is a “big help,” where she is seen looking after the youngest children in the family. One of the children are seen learning how to put on a condom which suggests that he has hit his pubescent period and is becoming sexually active, whilst Franks other child is shown running around as he is compared to his absence mother. His child Karl is seen riding on his bike acting violently as he is shown barking and crawling around as if he were a dog. Debbie however is originally portrayed as being an “angel,” but in the next shot she is depicted holding a rolling pin and a knife, allowing the audience to assume that she can be both good and bad at times. The following shot highlights Debbie’s good behaviour as she carries out the folded laundry in her hands. The last child mentioned is Liam who is the youngest in the family, the toddler, and is described as being a mini “Rock and Roller.”

The next shot exemplifies the flats in the evening, as the camera slowly begins to pan downwards as we see people surrounding a car which has been set alight, assuming that these are the residents who live in the housing estate. Frank refers to them as a “half descent community” which illustrates to the audience that the community are exceedingly close to one another and that each individual living on the estate is important to them. While the community surround the burning car, Frank is shown smoking and drinking beer. Clearly, the director has incorporated characters that resemble ‘stereotypes’ of people who currently live in housing estates, as well as their lifestyle and appearance. However, this may be an unreasonable representation of either working or lower class families who live in housing estates. In the subsequent shot, a numerous amount of residents are illustrated throwing their beer cans into the fire which slowly begins to intensify the flames, before laughing and enjoying one another’s company ahead of the police arriving. It is this behaviour which allows the audience to question whether these actions support the ‘stereotypical’ view.

Overall, the opening scene focuses on both the working and lower class residents who currently live on the housing estate. Shameless, represents a working class family which could be aimed at a target audience of the working class as they would be able to relate to the situations that appear throughout the series. However, not all working class families may feel that they can relate to the programme, but some may watch it due to its high level of realism. Some audiences may empathise and sympathise with the characters, as they think about how these people are happy with their lives and who they are as an individual and as a community. This show seems to be aimed at an audience who is either male or female and with any ethnicity.

Ashes to Ashes Re-Creative Task

Our Re-Creation of Ashes to Ashes

The real life scene from Ashes to Ashes



a) In the popular TV drama, Ashes to Ashes, main character 'Gene Hunt' is portrayed as the head of the force and the protagonist throughout this entire scene. In this sense, it is noticeable that when Hunt is showcased using a 'low angle' shot, this illustrates to the audience that he is of a high authority and has characteristics of significance and importance which are key features of his personality. The camera shot creates an immediate idea that Hunt is being represented as a 'God' like figure, someone who is above everyone else in his force. It questions the audience about whether he acts as the 'Judge, Jury and Executioner.'

When watching this scene, our perception of Gene Hunt changes all the time. At one moment, we observe his tone and manner towards the same gender as debatable, appalled and impolite when he has a discussion with the man who’s holding the woman. To allow the audience to change their perception of Gene Hunt, we must think about the camera shots and humour which surround the character.

In the original scene of the Ashes to Ashes extract, we see Hunt’s vivacious red car speeding past bushes and barrels. Perhaps the car reflects the personality of the character seated behind the wheel. As the car draws to a stop, Hunt steps out the driver seat where the camera immediately changes to a close up and draws attention to Hunts shoes. Clearly, Hunt is wearing cowboy boots rather than the usual police uniform. Possibly, this questions the audience about the occupation of the character. By grouping the cowboy boots and vivacious red car together, it enables the audience to query the character and who he is as a person. From his materialistic items, we gather that he is headstrong, macho and butch man, an image which clearly reflects his personality.

b) A way in which we could modify our first impressions of Gene Hunt in the Ashes to Ashes extract through slight changes in the filming and editing process, is that if we were to remove the fast paced, cross cutting shots of Hunts car speeding down the different swerved roads and the shots where both the female and male character are seen gazing in the direction of where the car is located, this would avoid the audience from questioning and attaining information regarding Hunts personality from the features of his car.

Perhaps, a nicer more suspenseful way of introducing the characters would be to film from inside the car. Rather than filming the car speeding along the roads from the outside, the camera could be situated in the back seat or on the passenger headrest so that the camera could overlook the driver and focus on the driver’s hands as he turns the wheel of the car, without revealing too much of Gene Hunts and his body language.

Shameless:

Shameless

The series is about a young group of siblings who have been abandoned by their parents and now have to survive by themselves using their wits and humour on a rough council Manchester estate. The genre of the film was both a ‘comedy’ and ‘drama.’

Production:

The production company for Shameless was ‘Company Pictures’ which is a British independent television production company. The series was written and created by Paul Abbott who also played the role as executive producer. Company Pictures has also produced a variety of programming for a large amount of broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

For series one – four the exterior shots were filmed on location in Greater Manchester. Since series five the exteriors and interiors have been filmed on a purpose built set located in an industrial estate in Wythenshawe, Manchester.

Distributors:

The distributors of the show were ‘Channel 4 Television Corporation.’ The first seven series of the programme was aired on Tuesdays 10:00pm from January 13^th 2004 on Channel 4. The channel E4 was the sister channel and allowed repeats of the programme to be aired in the same week if you missed the episode on Channel 4.

Reception:

In April 2005, the programmes first series won Best Drama Series category at the British Academy Television Awards. It was also nominated for the ‘Best British Drama’ at the National Television Awards 2007 but sadly lost out to Doctor Who. However, Shameless did win an award at the Royal Television Awards Society North West Awards 2007 where it beat

Coronation Street

to the ‘Best Continuing Drama Award.’

The programme has been sold overseas, where it airs on channels in Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Canada, France, Netherlands, Finland, Portugal, Ireland, BBC America (only aired the first series), Israel, Latin America and Italy.