Laura Jayne!!!

The Tudors essay:

The TV drama sequence of 'The Tudors' creates a feel of being back in the time of Henry VIII. In this analysis I will use my skills of denotation and connotation with this TV drama, 'The Tudors'.At the beginning there is a crown sitting in an empty throne. The camera moves closer to the crown, connoting that someone maybe close to becoming King in this drama. The music during this is medieval and may show religion, Catholic Church this could mean death, punishment and crime. There is also flashing images of different religions symbols and objects, for example: cross, wine cup, church etc. This creates a feel as if you are in the church looking at all these different symbols. Many of the shots are close up and just on that image with very little backgrounds in the camera shot. While these images are being shown to the audience there is the sound of swords or knives being sharpened, this could connote death, murder and punishment. There is then a man sitting in the chair in which the crown was just on, the camera moves closer and becomes a close up shot, the man also keeps making his eyes wider, showing that he could be powerful and in control. The position in which he is in with his back straight showing a good posture and show great power. The level of in which the camera is in is directly in the level in the chair the man is sitting in. This creates a sense of being in power and makes the audience think he is in control of what is going on. This also prevents us from getting a sense of the 'bigger picture', of who this man may be. Also the name of 'Henry VIII' comes up and then there is a picture of Henry VIII which could connote that he is trying to have the same power as the King of England in the 15th Century. Many women are in the sequence showing he is like Henry VIII again with many wives. He could be very powerful and in control of the women, everyone may want him if he is rich. The camera at the beginning starts on a hand held camera as if someone is watching the crown sitting there what could be a thrown. This makes the audience believe that they are there looking at it, this creates verisimilitude. The man then is sitting on the thrown and looks over his shoulder. This could connote that someone is in this way. During the sequence many swords are being shown, there is sword fighting, and one sword being taken out of someone’s pocket. Again showing that people are going to be killed, people could also being trained to use swords. There is also a wide shot of two men standing in a church with the other one whispering in the other mans ear. This could show that there is going to be untold secrets and hidden lies, maybe involving death. There is also someone looking as if they are being knighted, showing someone is in control and has a strong role in a church. This takes us back to the beginning with the man looking as if he is in power. The camera shot at the beginning also looked as if it faded out, this could connote that it could be a CCTV camera watching around. At the beginning there is also a man talking, maybe he could be telling a story and giving the audience a 'taste' of what the drama could be about. In the TV sequence there is also a moving image of a sun moving around a building during the day which could be connoting that somebody's days could be becoming brighter and better. Someone is also holding a Bible which could show mercy. The Bible is a close up shot of the object and someone’s hand holding it. Each character seems to have different objects to hold themselves once there name has appealed on the screen, the camera shot of these people is a mid-shot and they are all holding something to do with the church.
In this TV drama sequence the audience are able to understand what the drama maybe about. This sequence is made so it draws the audience in to watch the series. The sequence uses many different angles: mid-shot, wide shot close up shot and extreme close up shot. There are also a lot of different sounds, non-diegetic and diegetic.