House Of Cards

Frank/Francis Underwood (Congress) "House majority whip – keep the sludge moving."
Shady Character. Was promised to be made the secretary of state, however, is betrayed, lied to and is out for revenge through manipulation.

Claire Underwood (CEO of charity)- Shady, ruthless, own ambitions for her and her husband.

President-elect Garrick Walker,

Linda Vasquez Chief of staff, woman, latino tuff as a 2 dollar steak

Clair (Frans wide)

Washington Herald: Zoe Barnes, ambitious, willing to go against the law

Recently elected secretary of state   Michael Kern –

Peter  Rousseau -    drink driver, solicitation, use of controlled substances. Becomes an errand boy to Frank through blackmail and is made to help Frank to get revenge.

Christina Gallagher Chief of staff, Peters assistant

Donald Blithe- Educational secretary.

Michael Kerne -Senator and to become secretary of state

THRILLER CONVENTIONS

► Uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements 

► Includes many sub-genres: Mystery, Crime, Psychological, Political and Paranoid. 

► An atmosphere of menace, violence, crime, and murder. 

► Society is seen as dark corrupt and dangerous 

► Literary devices like plot twist, red herrings, and cliffhangers

►Crime: ransoms, captivities, heists, revenge, kidnappings 

►Mystery: investigations, ‘whodunit technique’ 

►Psychological: mind games, psychological themes, stalking, confinement, deathtraps, horror of personality, obsession

Political Thriller-
Corruption
Enemy of state, the Main protagonist wants to make something right.

DRAMA CONVENTIONS

Exhibits real-life situations with realistic characters, settings, and stories 
Portrays journeys of character development
The audience can relate to the Characters (Preferred reading – Halls Theory)
Structured with climaxes and anticlimaxes to keep the audience emotionally attached and the tension ongoing

Political Drama-
Power Struggle - Frank tries to make it to the top
Corruption - Peter is blackmailed
Realism - HOC has parallels to real life

House of Cards- Synopsis

The main protagonist Frank Underwood is seen giving a monologue about pain while strangling an injured dog to death. This introduces that he is a cold-hearted character.

At a New Years celebration, Frank introduces a few key characters. Recently elected president, Garrick Walker, the vice-president Jim Matthews, and the presidential Chief of staff, Linda Vasquez. He introduces himself as House Majority Whip and a member of Congress.

After the party, Frank and his wife Claire reveal their plans. Frank says he will give her charity a large donation when he becomes Secretary of State. She says that it is a big year for them.

Zoe Barnes is the next main character to be introduced to the audience. She is instantly shown as an ambitious character. She works at the Washington Herald, wants her big break and will do anything to get it. She asks for a larger role but is turned down by an editor.

Peter Russo is also shown as an untruthful character instantly when in the middle of an important meeting about a zoning bill, he distracts the man he is meeting, with a fake phone call from the President-Elect. The call is actually from his secretary Christina Gallagher. They are having an affair (6months in)

The main protagonist Frank is told by Linda that he is not being made Secretary of State, although this is what he was promised, because he is more useful in Congress. He is told that Senator Michael Kern will be promoted instead. Frank accepts this however he is upset.

Claire Underwood is meeting with her office manager, Evelyn Baxter, and telling her that she is wanting to expand to international and will need more employees.

Zoe is still trying to get a better role, by going to Chief Political Correspondent and asking to help with research but is turned down.

Francis tells his wife that he is not getting the promotion, she is angry that he was avoiding her. This affects her as well because she will no longer be getting the donation. They have a meeting in the middle of the night where they start to plot against the president and his team.

Frank is given the draft of an education bill which he is to review.

Frank is given potential replacements for Kern as Secretary of State.

Claire (with no donation) has to tell Evelyn to let some people go.

Zoe turns up at the home of Frank after a picture of him looking at her at an event is sent to her. She wants to get access to Capitol Hill and pass information to the paper in order to get promoted. A few days later he gives her the education bill draft which she gives to the Herald after she has written an article.

Frank (who was arrested for drink driving) is bailed out by Frank, who blackmails him into doing whatever Frank needs, no questions asked.

The president addresses the education bill.


Zoe’s story makes the front page.

Glossary

Drama:  TV drama is a broad genre. At its simplest, it is fictionalised action in narrative form.

Long-form TV drama: Long Form Drama is a term coined to describe the recent shift of interest towards television series of high quality that many consider having replaced the cinema as a locus of serious adult entertainment. Unfolding over multiple episodes, hours, and even years, these TV shows are seen to provide a content, often dark and difficult, and an innovative style that strain against the conventions of cinema as well as network television.

Media convention:  A code is a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following: technical codes - all to do with the way a text is technically constructed - camera angles, framing, typography etc. verbal codes ...

Code: a system of signs which can be decoded to create meaning.

In media texts, we look at a range of different signs that can be loosely grouped into the following:

•technical codes – all to do with the way a text is technically constructed – camera angles, framing, typography etc

•verbal codes – everything to do with language -either written or spoken

•symbolic codes – codes that can be decoded on a mainly connotational level

Genre:

A genre is basically the category of any type of art or literature, for example, categories of a movie would be a comedy, horror, thriller etc. 

Genre Hybridity

Some media texts are hybrid genres, which means they share the conventions of more than one genre. For example, Dr. Who is a sci-fi action-adventure drama and Strictly Come Dancing is a talent, reality and entertainment show.

verbal codes ...

Synopsis  -   A brief summary of the major points of a written work

Code Theory
*-Enigma Code

The Hermeneutic Code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

 • The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

*-Action Code
The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next. Applies to any action that implies a further narrative action.
-Semantic Code 
EG Red Rose has connotations of love, lust, sex, perfection, england, perfection, Labour (politics)
-Symbolic Code
-Referential Code

Subvert
Going against authority (undermining their power)

Verisimiltude 

the appearance of being true or real.

How audiences consume and interpret long from television dramas

Binge watching is where you watch a lot of a certain series is one (or a few) sitting(s). The concept of live TV has started to disappear due to the world being able to stream movies directly to their devices whenever they want through services like Netflix.

Long Form TV Dramas take weeks-months to complete and most of the time they are updated with many hours worth of new content, keeping the consumer subscribed and giving them money.

The "on demand" feature appeals to those with deadlines or busy schedules. They would be able to watch whatever you want, whenever you want. The use of multi-platform devices also allow you to watch wherever you want.

Long form TV dramas such as House of Cards are – open ended narratives.
This makes compelling viewing as audiences cannot be sure how the story will be resolved
House of cards has enjoyed 5 years of success since its release in 2013
Frank Underwood and Claire represent the anti-hero their characters are complex, what makes us want to watch/empathise with these characters?

Frank makes the audience feel as though they are a part of his inner circle through the breaking of the fourth wall. So although he is not the nicest character, the audience empathises with him as they feel like a part of his schemes. This makes him a likeable villain.
The show is immersive and allows the audience to feel like a part of them.

Discuss the inter-textual links between house of cards and Shakespeare’s Plays

Claire Underwood, like Lady Macbeth, is as power hungry, if not more so, than her husband. (Macbeth)

The only people that Claire and Frank seem to care about other than themselves are each other which parallels the Macbeth marriage.

Frank, like Macbeth, is ruthless and willing to kill anyone who gets in his way.

Frank’s breaking of the fourth wall parallels “Richard III” this makes characters that are, essentially, villains, much more palatable to the audience.

Claire hinting at an affair between the president and Christina is similar to Iago’s hinting at an affair between Desdemona and Cassio in “Othello”: Both Iago and Claire know that sometimes it only takes a subtle hint to unravel an entire relationship.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

Realistic, subdued lighting
lighting tried to look as natural as possible
Absence of light - many scenes are dark, a conscious decision play on the seedy, corrupt undertones of the series

Blues, grays, natural (yellow)
muted, desaturated

Shot on digital film: RED Epic Camera
NEVER any use of hand held camera work, or steadicam shots (More dialogue focused)

VERISIMILITUDE

Various aspects of D.C. are displayed within the series (both nonfiction & fiction)
Capitol Hill, White House, Underwood's home
The Washington Herald's HQ

Freddy's BQQ, Zoe's apartment

This conforms to the genre conventions of a political drama as it reinforces the idea of real life parallels.

House of Cards “the influence of technological change”

Similarities and differences of UK Soaps and US Long Form Dramas

S- Both go on for a long time
D- Soaps are half an hour/ LF TV Drama is not fixed.
D- LF  has higher budget


Long form TV is an American concept which effectively is a hybrid of a serialised drama with the high production standards of film.

DRAMA

a show that runs in a series over years.

Starts with an intense beginning to grip their audience 

They contain cliffhangers to maintain interest

TV drama is very much dialogue led.

Production values are lower than film (funded by advertising revenue or PSB)

FILM

Typical costs $100 M to produce, distribute and market a film

Funded by box office receipts

High budgets permit high end actors and high end production

LONG FORM TV DRAMA

Drama that runs in a series

they start with an intense beginning to grip their audience 

They contain cliffhangers to maintain interest

they conclude the episode until the end where they conclude the episode. 

very much dialogue led.

Production values are higher than TV drama (funded by subscribers)

High budgets permit high end actors and high end production

A film print costs about $2000, a digital disk less than $100. 

A 90 minute movie is usually over 8,000 feet of film. Modern reels of film come  in 2000 ft. lengths, so that’s almost nine reels of film per movie, and many movies last longer than 90 minutes.

With digital filming you no longer have to stop “filming” to reload film magazines

Netflix reaches 93 million people worldwide.

video streaming services such as Netflix deliver programming “on demand” via the internet, viewers can choose what and when to watch instead of watching “what’s on.” 

Its popularity is achieved by providing high production content in several TV serial genres.  This includes complicated serial dramas (“House of Cards”), action series (“Daredevil”), horror series (“Hemlock Grove)

TASK 4 

what is the comparative production costs of a typical UK Soap e.g. Eastenders compared to an episode of House of cards

Eastenders- £141,000/ episode

House of Cards- £4.5 million/ episode

How is this reflected in the production values of the respective dramas? 

Eastenders is based all of a set which is cheaper than House of Cards which is shot on the streets of Washington DC. 

House of Cards hires well known actors with higher salaries 

House of Cards is distributed worldwide

Camera quality is a lot better in HoC (4k)

House Of Cards: Codal and Textual analysis

House of cards uses a variety of media techniques in order to portray different representations of the main characters, location and politics.

The editing of the show gives us a strong representation of the character, Frank Underwood.  The pace of the editing varies from scene to scene however it all adds up to paint this character, Frank, as a vicious and vengeful character. In an argument between Frank and his wife Claire, there is the use of shot reverse shot. The cuts and changes are very quick to suggest that this argument is heated and this shows the tension in the scene. This represents not only Franks but also Claire as characters that will not back down and will fight until they get their own way. There is also a very similar example that shows Zoe Barnes as and ambitious and arrogant character. In the scene where she is handing in the Education Bill, she is constantly interrupting her co-workers and there for the shot pace is very fast as the camera goes to the co-workers then is instantly back on her as she always has something to say. This shows that her character will make sure that her voice is heard as she want to make it to the top. In the title sequence of the show, there is a series of sped up establishing shots of the city of Washington DC. This represents the setting of the show as a very fast paced and busy establishment. This also sets the tone for the show itself.

Moreover, the camera work also does a good job in the representing of characters in the show. There are many close-up shots on peoples faces in order to show emotion. Peter Russo is portrayed, through the use of camerawork, as an untrustworthy character. In the scene where his meeting is interrupted but his secretary posing as the president elect there are close up shots to his face and we can see that, even though we know he is lying, he keeps a strong, straight face. This immediately show the audience he is manipulative and not to be trusted. This is also reinforced in the scene where he lies to his secretary saying that he was alone the night before. This is a heated scene which uses the shot reverse shot at a fast pace. This shows that he wont crumble under pressure also. It also show that Christina, his assistant is quite a doubting character and is sceptical of his actions. When Russo is finally caught and called out by Frank he becomes worried and paranoid and agrees to everything Frank says. This shows him to be a pushover character being easily controlled by Frank. In the scene where Frank is told that he will not be made Secretary of State there is a close up shot, which shows his slight change is emotion. The change is enough for the audience to know he is hurt by the decision however it also shows him go from neutral to hurt to angry in a matter in a second showing he is ready to fight for his position.

The mise-en-scene of Chapter 1, gives a strong representation of the main character, location and politics. The main character Frank Underwood is seen as a quite sinister character and through mise-en-scene. This is portrayed through the continuous scenes the use lowkey lighting. This represents a sense of mystery and suspense which all conform to the conventions of a thriller. Frank Underwood is always in uniform or dressed very clean and is well groomed which exaggerates the closet and lifestyle of politicians. Frank Underwood is also looking for revenge and is a power hungry character, this is represented through setting as most of the plotting and scheming occur late in the day with very lowkey lighting (normally natural light from the moon) this represents a sinister atmosphere as well conforming to a political thriller conventions it also shows how sinister Frank’s character is. For example, when Frank shatters the plates in his house this can represent the power struggle Frank is going through as he was cheated from being State Senator. Another example of corruption is when Frank blackmails Peter to work for him with no questions asked.

In House of Cards, there is a use of dull and muted colours and with low-key lighting. The dull muted colour offers a sense of realism towards the audience as House of Cards portrays the corruption and power struggles within Washington, which is unknown to the public/audience. The low-key lighting conforms to the genres of a thriller and in House of Cards case the genre hybridity of a drama/thriller.

Also mise-en-scene has a part to play in the character of Zoe Barnes. Zoe’s life has a major contrast from the lives of most of the other main characters who live in large and clean spaces. She lives in a messy apartment with paper and work scattered everywhere this suggests that she doesn’t care about her appearance. When Zoe first meets Frank she was wearing a revealing V-neck to try and sway Frank. This suggests that Zoe will do whatever it takes to get where she needs to be.

Peter Russo is a corrupt solicitation, who is involved in dark matters such as drugs and adultery. Peter becomes one of Frank’s pawns when he gets arrested for drink driving. Through mise-en-scene it showed Peter’s situation through dull/muted colours also when Peter was arrested it was set in the night, which gives it a more sinister feeling.

Another significant part of Chapter 1 is the sound used throughout the episode; there is a use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound within the episode. More significantly diegetic sound is more predominant, this usually occurs from Frank when he is narrating what’s happening within the episode and what he is planning. Frank looks directly at the camera almost if it’s a conversion between Frank and the audience. Despite this there is still non-diegetic sound in the episode, which is mainly the background music, this is more mysterious and it adds to the tension of the episode, it also gets your blood pumping and heart racing through the music. With the background music it conforms House of Cards to a political thriller. During the presidential elect winning party, there was a lot of patriotic music but Frank’s voice was more noticeable. During the episode the characters voices override the background music.

Verbal Codes also help to understand the Frank Underwood is a very

This man is wearing black gloves which could suggest he is a criminal as gloves are associated with those that commit crimes.

He has a buzz cut hair cut and scruffy facial hair suggesting he is a convicted criminal.

His facial expression is aggressive and determined suggesting that he is a violent person.

She is wearing the colour red which is associated with love and passion and also has connotations of prostitution.

She is licking a lollipop very seductively to suggest a very sexual nature

Music Videos- Michael Jackson

Snoop Dogg- Promotes drugs
50 Cent- Promotes drugs/ Ganster/ Thug
Ice Cube- Ganster/ Thug
Skepta/Stormzy- Ganster/ Thug
SantanDave- Ganster/ Thug/ Political
Childish Gambino- Lovable

MTV
MTV launched with the words "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," spoken by John Lack and played over footage of the first Space Shuttle launch countdown of Columbia (which took place earlier that year) and of the launch of Apollo 11.

The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star", originally only available to homes in New Jersey.

Rick James
Hyper-sexualised video and message
Represented badly (drug addiction)
Open shirt, tight clothing
Women are all chasing him and trying to touch him

Black Male Stereotypes
black sidekick of a white protagonist (secondary role) – learners may independently research the meaning of the “foil” as a character role.
the token black person,
the comedic relief, Snoop Dogg
the athlete,
the over-sexed ladies’ man, Rick James, Drake, Chris Brown, R-Kelly
the absentee father or,
the violent black man as drug-dealing criminal and gangster thug. Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Ice Cube

Story Line of Billie Jean

Michael Jackson claimed "Bille Jean" represented all the groupies and crazed fans from the Jackson 5 days. The lyrics suggest that the story is about Michael not being this stereotypical "absentee father" as he claims not to be the father of the child of "Billie Jean". However the video suggests that he does sleep around quite a lot. Alternatively the video may also be saying that the media try to frame him for sleeping around. This paparazzi looking character follows him and fails to catch him.

Identify at least 5 aspects of the video which enable you to create meaning.

Everything he touches lights up- Close up shot of his shoes on bin- Magical negro

Disappears when paparazzi tries to get a picture- Wide angle shot of MJ in bed with paparazzi outside. MJ is well lit as he is the centre of attention. Pap is outside in shadows trying to hide away- Rumours? No evidence?

 Wearing clean and sophisticated clothing- close up of shoe and mid shot showing shirt and trousers-

Compared the Rick James Video (SuperFreak) to Billy Jean, what aspects of the videos Media language make Billy Jean more “acceptable” as a cross over  video?

Hyper sexualisation- RJ is wearing open shirts and tight trousers whereas MJ is wearing sophisticated clothing.

Lyrics- RJ lyrics are very based around women and having sex which is a negative representation of the black community. MJ is talking about how he is not included in this bracket, as he goes against the stereotype. 

That girl is pretty wild now

The girl's a super freak
I really love to taste her -RJ

Billie Jean is not my lover
She's just a girl who claims that I am the one
But the kid is not my son -MJ

Discuss aspects of the video which present Jackson as a music/video innovator.
"Billie Jean is the most important record he's made, not only because of its commercial success but because of the musical depth of the record. It has more hooks in it than anything I've ever heard. Everything in that song was catchy, and every instrument was playing a different hook. Every day, I look for that kind of song."

The video for this song is often credited with breaking the color barrier on MTV, which debuted August 1, 1981.
Jackson's "Billie Jean" video was the first to make heavy rotation, and more black faces started appearing on the network soon after


Director : Steve Barron
Also directed for Toto, Aha and many musical documentaries.

Discuss aspects of the video’s (media language)  present Jackson as an American Teenage Star/Heart throb.

Costume: He is wearing a pink, smart shirt. The colour pink signifies love and romance. The shirt suggests sophistication and being a gentleman, treating women well and respecting them. Similar to a prom outfit.

Michael Jackson is also well known for his dancing ability. Which he showcases throughout the video.

Lyrics:

 And mother always told me, "Be careful of who you love

And be careful of what you do, 'cause the lie becomes the truth"

Michael Jackson is highlighting that he is still a young teenage figure.

To what extent is the video sexualised, identify examples 

His dancing is slightly sexualised due to most of it being centred around him thrusting.

At the end of the video he gets into bed with a mysterious figure

FOIL

The foil is a secondary character whose role is to contrast completely from the primary.

The foil is the detective who, unlike MJ, is not well lit and always in the background.

Counter-Types

MJ's costume suggests that he goes against the stereotype of black men being aggressive thugs and gangsters. What he wears is sophisticated and clean. 

Discuss how Jackson’s video consolidates the representation of  “talented musician/dancer”

Michael jackson proves this by going against stereotypes. He is an innovator and well respected by his audience and others in the industry.