after watching 5 minute segments of 3 different T.V shows I came up with a short summary for the story of each.
1. Eastenders
the theme here seemed to revolve around mothers. The first shot of the scene was of a 40 something woman in a maternity dressing gown silently staring down in deep concentration at the floor implying a serious event that had taken place in a previous program. From this brief scene the program then cut to a succesion of three other mothers with children. All of whom were protectively holding them implying that a tragedy had occured to an infant in a previous broadcast. This was emphasised by a quote from one of them "sometimes babies...just die". In all of these enviroments with the different characters there was a distinct lack of lighting and an emphasis of shadow which connoted a sense of foreboding. This created drama and atmosphere for the rest of the 25 minutes of the show.
2.Crooked House
Half of this segment's narration relied purely on a conversation between two actors. The object of conversation (or McGuffin) is an iron knocker a teacher has presented to another asking for identification. He hopes it is a relic which can be sold for profit however the antique collecter he gives it to tells him its not. Instead the plot changes as the collecter relates to him the history of the artifact which turns out to be a ghost story including wolves and bloodshed. This would be comically laughable if it wasn't for the intimate close-ups of both the actor's faces while this story is being related and the very fast editing cutting from one actor to the other. The room is also fairly dark which helps to raise an atmosphere. Whats especially effective is that after this purely fantastical tale and suggestedly unrealsitic situation the rest of the segment is taken up by the teacher's everday life which happens to be a very regular day at school talking to fellow employees about mundane things like T.V,family and lessons. This juxtaposition of two very different scenes is very effective in presenting the theme of regular life living alongside the supernatural
3.Zen
This first episode of the new drama Zen has the title "vendetta" and that is certainly the subject of the first 5 minutes of the show.It starts with the establishing shot of a car going through a collection of dry grassy hills while in the background of the shot there are a collection of terracotta houses implying that this program is set in Italy. It cuts to a man in the car listening to Mozart's "Eine klein nachtmusic". They are then apprehended at gunpoint by two men one of whom (called Tito Spadola) reminds him that he set him up to be arrested 7 years ago before killing him with a shotgun. Before he does he tells him he is not going to be the only one he will have revenge on.It thens cuts to a man with shades walking down a busy street in Milan. This is the main character Zen. The fast movements of the camera coupled with his power-walking imply that he doesn't want to be followed. He then follows a woman into a building who addresses him as "detective". These two scenes connote the genre of the program:crime/espionage. Which allows the rest of the program to build on it.
