TV Drama Still Evaluation

1.       My chosen shot features two actors and is framed as an OTS shot. Both of the characters are wearing white and are facing each other, with one of them standing in a lift as the doors close. This signifies an important element in the legal drama genre as these type of shots build up tensions for the audience and creating a cliff hanger with the audience wanting to know what happens next, that's why it's common for them to feature at the end of episodes.

2.       To achieve my desired effect I positioned my first actor in the lift and had him look at my second actor, with a disappointed expression, to express to the audience that my second actor had done something wrong to him. For my other actor I had him facing away so that the audience cannot see his face and therefore do not know how he feels which creates a sense of mystery to the scene. I also had both actors in white so that it connotes that they are in a uniform and that they work together, and finally I took the image just as the doors were shutting to create a closing effect on the scene and the audience.

3.       I intended for my dominant reading to be that there had been some wrong doing between the characters and that one of them was leaving as he looks disappointedly, at the other character. This narrative is intended to leave the audience asking questions as they don't know what happened next, and intrigue them to find out how the situation was resolved.

4.       My shot is successful because it features many of my genres convention, for example, there is a sense of mystery between the characters as we don't know how they are feeling or who they are entirely which intrigues the audience. My shot is also successful because it gives the audience a sense of setting and allows them to relate to the situation.

5.     In hindsight I would put my first actors hand on the lift button, and I would also position my actors closer together to give the audience a more personal feel to the shot.