Friday, 24 March 2017

How is meaning constructed in the pub scene from 'The Walking Dead?'

Clip  from 00.00- 2.18 minutes
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How is meaning constructed in the pub scene from 'The Walking Dead?'

Devices have been used to portray meaning to the audience from ''The Walking Dead'' using filming techniques. This scene has a mise en scene of a few men siting in an old looking pub. With the frames showing the setting of a few chairs and bar which all looked many years old and out of use, possible it may have not been used in several years.

As the clip commenced, we can see the tension that is presented before the audience will even understand what the short three-minute clip is going to be about. The use of suspense and tension was visualized by the use of cross cutting. This certain technique was done by skilled camera work professionals between a two of the actors. Cross cutting was showing the tension between two of the actors, this is done to give the audience a chance to view the expressions between themselves, the cross cutting technique is popular when used for n argumentative based manner. 

Symbolically, the location and the lighting of this scene all create a symbolic sense of danger. Locations of pubs will always contain alcohol. Alcohol is an adult drink which in this case and many others can cause a temperament issue that may get out of hand, due to people being less careful and thinking less wisely. Less wise actions can be a hazard to others around. In addition to this, the lighting is very dull, dark and eerie and has been used for a source of technical coding.The lighting seems to be of natural source at a possible evening time. The producer would have made sure that the actors were filmed at this time of day in the location provided. This method of natural lighting is ver cost effective. These factors contribute to the meaning of this short scene before any action occurs. Both of these symbolize something dark with possible danger, which creates a suspense and hint with what might be to follow.

Communication between the group of men in this scene varies. There is a lot of spoken communication between the men in quite an arrogant manner, the arrogance between them is justified by the simple use of an over the shoulder shot between two men. An over the shoulder shot was used, which portrayed an equality between the audience and the situation the men were in and created a sense of realism as if the audience is in the scene with the actors. This is a type of non verbal communication due to the way the camera is glancing at the actor in front of the camera lenses, this makes it seem like they are looking towards us, their facial expressions are strongly composed with the use of the actor scrunching his face together which show anger lines with a sterner look than normal. Furthermore, non verbal communication is shown through the use of close up facial expressions by the use of camera shots using an extreme close up method. This focuses on every fine line and detail the actors are showing. As the guns are placed down in this scene, we can see that the older men with grey hair is filled with anxiety as it looks as if he took a gulp from worry, the concern in his eyes is drastic, the camera makes sure the audience see this glare of worry, by making the expression the main focus and emphasising the outlook. 


Throughout the clip there are diegetic sounds, as the men are bickering amongst themselves, although, after the tension strikes and anger rises, the sound of a loud gun shot is shot from one actor and attacks several others with a shot. Allegedly, we know gun shot are usually related to death and danger but this non diagetic use of sound, was defiantly done off the set. These sounds are done off the set because the sounds get enhanced to produce an effect of an enhanced dramatic 'bang'., A gun shot wouldn’t be able to be fired in such a place like that film set because of the hazards that are likely. A gun shot is a narrative code that one of the men in the pub were the antagonist over the other  characters, the gun shots infer that death will be the ending cause of this scene.

1 comment:

  1. This is a good outline of the scene and you pick up on some interesting features. One thing that I would have looked at early on would be the way that 'good characters' and 'bad characters' are established and the way that we the audience recognize this. This is important for the meaning of the scene as the tension we feel is for these characters. I would also place greater emphasis on the actually shooting. Look at how the camera moves and the use of the mirror. The scene builds towards the shooting. This is what they have in mine when constructing the scene. Think about the time and how slowly it unfolds. Look also at dialogue how does ' Nebraska - this guy' act as a 'trigger' for the shooting? This I think is a very clever piece of television. You know it is going to happen but it is massively effective when it does.

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