About Gossip Girl Characters:

Blair Waldorf is the series' main character. She is described as having chesnut brown hair and brilliant blue eyes in the series , being widely involved in extracurricular activities and having a tenacious attitude towards studies. Blair uses her charm, money and social status to get to where and what she wants. Throughout the series, she has an on-off relationship with Nate Archibald. During their off times, he has dated several other girls including her close friend Serena van der Woodsen, whom he dated before dating Blair. Blair attends Yale University.

Serena van der Woodsen is described as being slim, ethereally beautiful, and "perfect". Serena dabbled in modeling before landing a starring role in Breakfast at Fred's, a remake of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Serena has kept a steady string of admirers, including Nate Archibald, Dan Humphrey, Aaron Rose, and an entire a cappella group at Yale University.Serena longs for true romance, and initially seeks this with Nate, despite his relationship with her friend Blair. Serena is often criticized by her classmates who find her an excellent source of gossip, but resent her effortless good looks and her ability to get the attention of any male. At the end of the book series, Serena decides to stay in New York City, instead of attending one of the many Ivy Leagues schools into which she was accepted, so that she can she discover her life for herself.

Nate Archibald is a wealthy, good-looking lacrosse player from St. Jude's School for Boys. He has dated a number of girls in the series, but his only serious relationship has been with his on-again/off-again girlfriend, Blair Waldorf and her close friend Serena. After stealing his lacrosse coach's Viagra, he relied on Blair and her alumnus father's connections to get accepted to Yale, although he eventually left to sail around the world with his father's Navy mentor because he is unable to choose between Blair and Serena.

Dan Humphrey is a thin, sensitive, caffeine-addicted poet who often sees the darker side of things. A romantic whose imagination runs off wildly at the worst times, he is also over-analytical and easily frustrated. He was in love with Serena for years before they met and briefly dated, and experimented with homosexuality, before he began dating Vanessa Abrams. He is a published writer of poetry and songs. At the end of the series, he is attending Evergreen State College in Washington.

Jenny Humphrey is Dan's younger sister and an aspiring artist who wishes to be more like Serena, whom she eventually befriends. She often tries to fit in with the rich girls at her school, even though she does not hold a place in their social sphere. She is eventually kicked out of the Constance Billard School for Girls and sent to a boarding school where she reinvents herself as the "it girl", a la Serena.

Vanessa Abrams is a budding filmmaker and the total opposite of most of her classmates, sporting a shaved head and always wears black. She has a shaky relationship with Dan Humphrey, particularly after she ends up living with the Humphrey's for a short time. At the end of the series, she is attending New York University.

Chuck Bass is the series' handsome, lust-driven antagonist who tries to take advantage of several girls, though it is eventually revealed that he is bisexual and he begins dating a male named Greg. He is largely despised by other characters but due to his wealth and power he is tolerated. At the end of the series, he is not accepted into any college that he applied to and claims he is going to military college. However, he never arrives at the school and his whereabouts remain unknown. In the books, Chuck is a secondary character. However, he is elevated to a primary role in its television adaptation.

What goes in to making Gossip Girl:

Format Teen drama
Developed by Josh Schwartz
Stephanie Savage
Starring Leighton Meester
Blake Lively
Penn Badgley
Chace Crawford
Taylor Momsen
Ed Westwick
Jessica Szohr
Kelly Rutherford
Matthew Settle

Narrated by Kristen Bell
Theme music composer Transcenders

Country of origin USA
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 45

Gossip Girl:



Gossip Girl is an American drama television series based on the book series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series was created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and premiered on The CW on September 19, 2007. On February 24, 2009 The CW renewed the show for a third season. Narrated by the omniscient yet unseen blogger "Gossip Girl", voiced by Kristen Bell, the series revolves around the lives of privileged teenagers attending an elite private school in New York City's Upper East Side. The series mostly follows the life of 'it girl' Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) upon her mysterious arrival, Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley), an outsider who becomes a part of the turbulent Manhattan scene, and Serena's best friend and ally Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), a beautiful Queen Bee of Manhattan's social scene. As of the third season, students who graduated from high school navigate their way through the real world or university.

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.

My television drama ‘SPOOKS’ essay:

In this essay I am going to be analysing an episode clip from the television drama ‘Spooks’ on the BBC channel entitled, 'Talking Him Down'. I’m also going to be exploring the representation on MI5 and terrorism through Mise-en-scene, cinematography and sound. The definition of the word representation is when the media re-present and construct an image of people, places and events.

This episode of ‘Spooks’ constructs a representation of terrorism as the man in the clip is holding a target gun, wearing thick black clothing and aiming the gun directly at a man walking around in a building across the way from him. Firstly, at the beginning of the episode it begins with ‘Shoot him’, showing a very strong in control order by the man who is talking even though there is a woman behind him who looks very dominant, looking almost like she is the boss of him. You can see this because she is standing behind him watching, almost looking over to make shall he is giving the correct instructions and information. The man given the orders is close to the camera, however the women is in a long shot behind him to the right. Suddenly the image changes and another man comes on who is also working for MI5, we know this because he is holding a gun and talking to the man in which has just been shown. When this change happens the sound becomes louder, however this man looks nervous. After, there is a image of a man dressed in black clothing, unshaved and holding a gun targeting to someone. This is a long shot, with black wire fencing connoting that this man that could be thought to be a terrorist may feel trapped. Next there is a circler motion of the camera which shows that these two men a talking on top of a city with many buildings, during this the sun seems to be in the corner of the screen. There is then a extreme close shot of what we believe is the terrorists hand on the gun, connoting he may feel anxious to shoot. There is then a camera angle which looks as if it is the gun target following a man in the next building away. The metal bars behind the terrorist which are holding the wire up is in shape of a cross connoting that this man holding a gun may be religious and the act in which he is doing may be out of character for him.