Case Study 5.1 – Hollyoaks

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ULgi3r76q3E&feature=related

Hollyoaks – Niall Start’s To Loose Control – Day 3
Time of scenes: 3:16 – 4:26

I will be breaking down the episode of Hollyoaks “Niall Start’s To Lose Control”. I will be looking at two scenes and comparing the contrast of them.

Michaela sticks up for this man she fancies and show’s off a bit: “Oh yeah you better run”, the camera has stayed in long shot for you to see the man getting a drink spilt on him by some teenagers and you see her coming along from down the street. The camera pans and follows them sitting down and starts talking, he asks “What are you doing anyway?” and the camera angle changes to a shot of her face smiling in a sweet innocent way and you can also see the side of his face, then it changes to a more serious way to try and show she’s there for a reason and asks if she could have a word, when he says he’s busy she suddenly says it’s something about Amy. The camera angle changes so you can see the back of Michaela head and his face, you can she he is concerned about what’s wrong with Amy and he asks “What has she done now?” and then the camera angle changes back to Michaela and she says that it can wait; It seems like she made this up just so she could talk to him. After he says that she can go to his after he’s finished work and she changes from looking at the ground from sitting p looking at him in excitement and then as he gets up she grows a big grin on her face and says “Ok, yeah I will!” in a really cheery way. Then they say goodbye and the camera angle changes to him walking off saying thank you, then back to her still with a big smile on her face as she says goodbye and whispers “yes” under her breath.

The scene suddenly changes to a camera close up shot of Niall’s hand unlocking a door and then the camera changes to inside the room and you see a shot of him barging in, pushing the door onto Mandy as she was just about to leave; He asks where Steph is as he walks towards the camera, after she says that Mandy’s gone and the camera angle changes to a close up of his angry face; “Gone where?” he asks quickly, then the camera angle changes to an over shoulder shot where you can see Mandy above his shoulder and she says that she can‘t tell him. It then changes back to a shot of Niall and a small zoom in to a close up of his face, he get’s even more angry. Then the camera changes to a shot of his shoulder from behind as he’s walking up to Mandy and you can see a nervous look on her face; Mandy then explains that Steph doesn’t want to be around him, then shot changes again to a close up of his furious face.
The contrasts of these two scenes are different; in the first scene with Michaela is sweet and heart warming to the audience, you understand that she likes this man. But the next scene with Niall threatening Mandy is hard hitting and makes the audience feel vulnerable. The camera angles are similar, they both have close up on faces to project the character emotions so the audience can understand more of what’s happening. There isn’t any background music but if there was I expect that in the first scene the music may be relaxing or a little romantic; but for the second scene I expect that the music may be tense or dramatic.