Desperate Housewives S05 Ep12: Narrative

Usually, in every episode of Desperate Housewives, a lot happens and the narrative progresses much further, as with most modern TV dramas, in order to satisfy a modern day audience. Most of the scenes are fairly short and there are a lot of scenes in each episode as audience demands are greater and audiences want to be constantly entertained and lose interest very quickly.

In Desperate Housewives there are several mini storylines which revolve around each of the main characters. In each episode, as with most TV dramas, we see a progression with each of the characters in some way.

Beginning, Middle and End
Edie and Susan get locked in Edie's basement. Edie asks Susan about her love life and tells her she is dependent on men as she has never been without one for very long. Edie then tells Susan about her father and Susan realizes that is why Edie has been with and used so many men. Finally, Susan tells Jackson she's not moving in with him and Edie forgives Dave who moves back in with her.

Lynette finds out where Porter is - with her mother. Her mother lies to Lynette and tells her that Porter has left. In the middel the audience think Lynette's car has crashed but in actual fact it hasn't. She tricks her mother and Porter in order to get them to come to the hospital. She then convinces Porter to come home and face his trial. Porter gets off his case and Lynette visits her mother. They agree things have to change and make-up.

Equilibrium
- Bree and her son-in-law are getting along fine.
- Katherine and Mike's relationship is going well and they are happy.
Disruption
- Bree gets told by her son-in-law Alex that she treats her husband unfairly and is rude to him. In the middle we see the two of them fight after which Alex declines her offer for the house. Bree then argues with her son over it and he refuses to come in between them.
- Katherine tells Mike she might move away but he doesn't try to persuade her not to.
Equilibrium

- Finally they make up when Bree gives Alex permission to criticize her as she realises she often steps out of line and so he could help her.

- Dave asks Mike if he is still in love with Susan but Mike tells him he is falling in love with Katherine. At the end Mike leaves her flowers with a card saying don't go and they kiss.

Happy Ending
At the very end we see that all the characters have progressed in some way and the ending is a happy one. Mike leaves flowers for Katherine telling her not to leave and we see them kissing. Edie forgives Dave who then moves back in with her. Gaby is happily wathcing her kids being told that from now on they must obey her. Lynette is spending time with her mother and is happy. Bree has made up with Alex and is showing him colour samples from their new house. Susan is learning to live alone without a man and enjoy doing so for the first time.

So overall the ending is a happy one for everyone. However, as is typical with the end of Desperate Hosuewives, the audience is given a warning that all is not ok and something bad will soon happen. This is portrayed through the character of Dave and the audience is already aware that he wants to take revenge on Mike. While Katherine and Mike are sharing a kiss at the end, we see Dave behind a window watching the two of them.

Characters - Binary Opposition
This is most evident in this episode through the characters of Mike and Dave. Mike offers to let Dave stay at his house. The audience is already aware that he wants to take revenge on Mike. The camera shows us a CU of Dave's face letting the audience know what he is thinking. He smirks as he realises this could be an oppurtunity he could use. Mike is completely oblivious to all this. IN the final scene with Miek and Katherine where they share a happy moment together we see Dave watching them from behind a window. He is an outsider and separte from this moment, looking in from the outside. The camera focuses on him even though he is not involved in the moment and this tells the audience his intentions are sinister, particularly as we are aware that Katherine and Mike are not aware that he is watching. The camera acts as an indicator to the audience that Dave is going to disrupt their happines very soon.

Desperate Housewives S05 Ep11: Body Language

Susan Mayer

Susan can hear her neighbours having an argument outside. She instantly looks up and within seconds is standing by the window. She is already bending down and then bends down further to get a better view. Her facial expression shows she is focussed on trying hard to listen to their argument. All this demonstrates her more inquisitive nature as she is known to be quite a nosy neighbour.

She then comes outside to talk to her neighbour. Her body language is quite animated and less controlled compared to other characters in Desperate Housewives. This is why she is clumsy and known to be a klutz. As her neighbour walks away from her she runs after him with her body leaning forward. This reflects her more needy nature, which becomes apparant in her relationships with men she has been with. She also comes across as very dependent in the conversation as she begs Lee to let her come clubbing with him because no-one is home. After she has stopped running her hands continue to sway showing how she can easily be clumsy.

Throughout the conversation her movements are over-exagerrated as she nods her head and bends down slightly and this fits with her nature as she is a bit of a drama queen. She also uses her hands a lot as she speaks making her body language quite animated. She shrugs a lot and at the end of the conversation gives him the thumbs up as she tends to exagerrate her emotions. Her facial expression is generally easy to read and so the audience can always tell what she is thinking and feeling. She does not try to hide her emotions. Therefore her character is frequently used to add humour to the episodes. At the end after Lee tells her to wear more make-up as drag queens get free drinks she puts her hands to her face and her expression shows she is perhaps not sure quite what to make of that comment or that she is not likely to do so.

Spooks: Narrative in TV Drama

STANDARD NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS

Beginning, Middle and End

A couple wake up and go downstairs to eat breakfast. They do not realise that they are being watched by terrorists. The woman Fiona and her partner Danny, who both work for the MI5, get kidnapped by the terrorists. The terrorists demand that the Prime Minister must annouce he will remove troops from Iraq. Danny ends up getting shot and in the meantime the MI5 work out that taking their agents hostage was simply a ploy to distract them from their real aim; to kill the Prime Minister. In the end, Fiona's husband Adam saves her and the Prime Minister while the terrorist holding Fiona captive is shot.

Characters - Good/Bad

The audience is usually able to identify the good characters and the bad characters quickly when watching a TV drama. This is because the director chooses to present a character as either good or bad in different ways so that the audience will see that character a certain way. These different ways include the following:

• costume
• body language
• camerawork
• editing

In Spooks, at the very beginning this is done in many ways including camerawork. We are let into Adam and Fiona's world and feel as if we know them well in the first few minutes as we already know so much about them through MCUs and MSs. However, with the terrorists seated in the car outside we are unable to se their faces and some of the shots are made to look obscure to make their identities even more ambiguous. We only see parts of their faces at a time such as their eyes or their lips and even though these are CUs we feel distanced from them. The director gives us little pieces of information at a time about the terrorists whereas from the first shot of Fiona we are able to see her gender, race, class and are given information about her lifestyle as well as Adam's.

Happy ending

At the end of this episiode of Spooks, Fiona is rescued after the female terrorist caves in and tells Adam where she is being held captive. Tension is heightened as petrol is being poured over Fiona by the terrorist. She begins to get hysterical and the audience is put on the edge of their seat. At the very last minute, just as the terrorist is about to burn Fiona alive, something smashes against the window. Then men come in and shoot the terrorist. Fiona is rescued and runs outside to meet Adam. They hug each other and the episode finishes on this image, which is essentially a happy ending.

Most stories end happily because they follow the narrative pattern of equilibrium-disruption-equilibrium. Audiences naturally prefer there to be a happy ending as it has more of a positive feel and leaves the audience feeling satisfied and not distressed. TV contains an element of escapism as audiences often watch TV to escape from their lives for a while. Therefore, audiences would want a happy ending as they want to feel happier after watching a TV drama.

Beginning

A standard way of beginning a narrative story is what starts as an ordinary, everyday morning suddenly being threatened. This follows the narrative structure used often which begins with an equilibrium but then there is a disruption. The disruption is then usually resolved and then the narrative returns to an equilibrium.

In Spooks, the day begins at an equilibrium as an average normal day. Adam and Fiona wake-up and start this day just as they would any other. Fiona makes coffee and toast for breakfast and Adam is getting dressed for work when he enters the kitchen. We then see them both leave dressed smartly for work.

Audience involvement

This is done through the danger that is set up. The audience is encouraged to take sides through binary opposition. Some character is identified as evil with traits that suggest this and some characters are identified as good. In Spooks this is set-up at the beginning through thew use of colour in mise-en-scene. The walls and background in the couple's house are clean and white, a colour we associate with goodness. We are able to see them with clarity and each of the shots show us their actions and tells us about their relationship, making us feel as if we know them intimately and allows us into their everday life. The terrorists, on the otherhand, are sitting in a black car with darker surroundings instantly making the audience view them as a threat and as evil. Their identity remains hidden and ambigous so the audience is made to see them as a threat and will be less inclined to like them. They are still and tense, not giving much away, making the audience unable to relate to them and therefore distanced from them.

Desperate Housewives: Costume

Bree Hodge

Bree dresses imacuately and is generally well-groomed, with even her hair styled perfectly. It is pushed back out of her face completely and not even a single hair is out of place. This shows she cares about her appearance and that she is a perfectionist. It also suggests that she cares what others think about her. The clothes she wears represent her role as the typical housewife and are quite stereotypical. She wears plain cardigans and tops, often in feminine colours such as pink. She often wears dresses (sometimes with floral patterns on them) or skirts as she is stereotypically a very feminine character as a housewife who enjoys cooking and cleaning. In the picture above she can be seen wearing a pearl necklace and earrings. These are simple and again represent her femininity. They also signify her class as middle/upper class. She wears make-up but it is usually quite subtle therefore making her seem classy as she does not wear a lot. Generally it appears she is trying to conform to the role of the perfect housewife. Appearance clearly also means a lot to her and she seems to really care what her neighbours will think of her and her family. This is reflected in some of the narratives like for instance when her daughter becomes pregnant and she tries to hide this from her neighbours by pretending she is pregnant.

Desperate Housewives S05 Ep10: Sound

When Porter is telling his parents and lawyer he has an alibi there is initially no non-diegetic sound. The audience are not aware at this point that he actually does not have an alibi and is mistaken. As the audience have not been made aware of this humourous element yet, there is only diegetic sound and so the audience expect him to have an alibi. They do not expect there to be a joke at this point.

Porter then says 'I went to her [Edie's] house, but only so I could break in and steal her gun.' At this point non-diegetic music begins to play in the backgrounded. It is light-hearted and often used in Desperate Housewives to make the audience aware that the scene they are watching is intended to be funny and make them laugh. Now the audience may assume that Porter doesn't in fact have an alibi and is now confessing to another crime and therefore not helping his case. The music then continues throughout the scene, which is made funnier by Porter's confession of hiding the gun in Lynette's flour jar. Finally he asks 'do you think that will help?'. The silence that follows increases the comedy element, as the non-diegetic music gently continues in the background. When Lynette then tells Porter it is not an alibi, the music stops to reinforce the reality of this fact and make it funny for the audience. It then picks up again and and continues till the end of this scene.

The next scene begins just after the music for the previous scene has ended. The music was light-hearted but as it has stopped it indicates not only a new scene but also that at least the beginning of the next scene will not be funny. At the beginning of this scene only diegetic sound can be heard as Edie and Dave exchange some dialogue. The camera then moves in on Dave as he looks out onto the street. He begins to turn his head but then something catches his eye. At this point non-diegetic music then begins. This notes are prolonged and the music is slightly sinister. The music reinforces the significance of something catching his eye and stopping him form turning back to what he was doing. It indicates to the audience that what he has seen is important to the narrative and that it is also something slightly sinister.

Edie's voice then fades slightly and almost sounds like an echo as we are shown what Dave is looking at. The audience is at this point put into his character's position and made to feel as though we are him and are in his head. We are able to not only see but also feel from his point of view the effect what he can see is having on him. This reinforces the significance of this scene. We are then suddenly brought back to reality as the glass in his hand smashes. It is quick and effective because the audience is put in Dave's position and therefore like him we are not aware of what is going on around him. The sound of glass smashing brings him and therefore the audience back to reality. The eerie music continues till the end of this scene and until the woman and child leave, indicating there is something sinister attached to this story and to the woman and child he can see. The sinister music begins once Dave is made aware of the presence of the woman and child and then stops when they leave reinforcing the idea that something about them is not quite right.

Desperate Housewives S05 Ep10 - A Vision's Just a Vision: Summary

DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES IS BACK!!!

Here is a summary of what happened in the first episode.

The police arrest Porter over the fire at the nightclub. He assures Lynette he has an alibi but it turns out that he doesn't and instead confesses to another crime, stealing a gun from Edie. Lynette than takes extreme measures to protect her son. Meanwhile Bree discovers her son's boyfriend is a gay pornstar. Carlos has his vision restored but only to discover how much Gabi has had to sacrifice for their family. Susan tries to act okay about Katherine and Mike dating. Dave is planning to take revenge on Mike for the deaths of Laila and Paige.

Chosen TV Drama Series: DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES

I have chosen to watch the TV drama series 'Desperate Housewives'. However, the new series does not start till later this month so in the mean time I will be watching 'Gossip Girl'.

'Desperate Housewives' is an American comedy-drama series that was created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. The show is set on Wisteria Lane and follows the lives of a group of women through the eyes of their dead neighbour. It follows their lives and often the revelations of secrets hidden beneath the surface of the beautiful neighbourhood.

Cast

Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer
Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo
Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge
Eva Longoria Parker as Gabrielle Solis
Nicollette Sheridan as Edie Britt
Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair (from series 4 onwards)
Brenda Strong narrates as the dead Mary Alice Young

The show premiered on ABC on 3 October 2004 and since has become a success with critics as well as the audience. It is a multiple Emmy, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award winner. In April 2007, it was reported to have the most popular show in its demographic with 115 to 119 million viewers worldwide.

TV DRAMA: A Definition

TV drama is scripted and fictional. Each series will usually consist of 10-24 one hour episodes that are aired on TV once a week.

There is an on-going storyline throughout the series with a sub-plot in each episode. Each episode will usually not end with an equilibrium as the plot is ongoing and so any disruption will not be fully resolved. An episode may end on a cliffhanger or deliberatly leave something unresolved so that viewers will want to watch the next episode.

Hovis Advert

In the bread shop
Boy wearing brown old days styled hat, brown coat, brown shirt and dark grey top in possibly the 18th century with soot on his faceIn an old bakery with Hovis sign in the backgroundHolding a loaf of Hovis breadDialogue, baker speaks to boyMusic begins and plays throughout, is quite upbeatMCU of boy and camera tracks

Cart
Boy wearing same costumeOn a narrow street, with 'Hovis Bakery' sign visibleMeat hung on the right sideHorse neighsPan of boy walking to CU to show boy's expression to an ELS of boy and cart swerving

Women's March
Boy no longer wearing hat, but wearing a pale grey shirt and dark grey top with the brown jacket
Women wearing long dresses of darker colours. On a wider street possibly in Victorian era.Men/police trying to stop women and one woman is resisting. Signs 'Votes for Women' are visibleWomen chanting/shouting
Boy runs through the protest
ELS, MCU of boy who stops to watch

Soldiers
Boy wearing same costume but with a white shirtMen wearing army uniforms and holding guns
During wartime in Britain probably WW1
Boy marches with them and then runs away and jumps over a wall
People have gathered round to watch and girls are skipping by
ELSs, MCUs of a soldier and the boy when he marches along side them

Street with car
Boy can only be seen form behind and is wearing a similar jacket but with dark grey shorts and long socks
Men wearing suits with hats and woman wearing a flat dress/skirt and hat, standing by an old-fashioned car
Small dog on the street
Boy runs past
ELS, camera tracks

War - bombs, people passing and plane
Boy now wearing a blue top with the white shirt and dark grey shorts
On a street with rubble and black smoke rising so likely to be during WW2
A policeman, young lady, small boy, and old woman who carries a portrait look at him and walk through
Boy stops to look around
Dialogue from a wireless about never surrendering
Sound of aircraft overhead
Music dies down making mood more sombre
ELS of street with rubble, MCU and camera tracking of boy, MCU low angle of boy standing on rubble

Street Party
Boy wearing same costume
Another boy is dressed as a pirate with eye patch and bandana
British flags hung everywhere, so perhaps after winning WW2
Ladies wearing flowery and patterned dresses are serving food
Pirate boy waves at main boy, who waves back, goes under the table, takes a glass of orange juice and then comes up wiping his mouth as he runs off
Music more happy, fun, relaxed and begins to build up
Sound of general chatter and laughter
MCUs of pirate boy, MCUs and MSs of people at the table, ELS and camera tracks

Girls/Football players
Boy wearing a pale blue T-shirt, a brown leather jacket with white stripes and trousers
Girls wearing short dresses, boot and big hair are standing at street corner
Boy runs between the two girls, turns back, smiles at them, runs some more and waves at the football fans in the car
Car and windows in background are covered in England flags
Music more upbeat and faster
Girls giggle and football fans shout ‘Tottenham’ and jeer
LS and MLS of girls, MCU of boy smiling, ELS of football fans in the car and MS of boy running

Street with Asians and TV Shop
Boy wearing a striped top over a chequered shirt with a brown leather jacket
Asian women wearing a sari, Asian man wearing a large beige coat over a jumper
TV shop in background containing many TVs
ELS and MS and camera tracks boy running, ELS and MCU/MS of Asians

Cole not Dole strike/protest
Boy wearing a bright blue T-shirt and his brown jacket now has yellow strips on it
Protestors wearing jeans and clothes that are more modern and holding signs
Near an industrial site
Boy stops in the middle of the still protest and they stop shouting
The music also dies down
Chanting/shouting ‘Cole not dole’
A protestor shouts ‘Eh lad, isn’t it past your bedtime’ at the boy
ELSs of protest, MCU of boy’s expression, MLS of policemen, MCUs and ELSs of protesters from front and back, camera tracks boy slightly as he starts running again

Fireworks
Boy wearing the same costume
Now night and so it is dark
Boy runs and jumps over something with fireworks visible in the background probably for the new millennium
Sound of fireworks exploding
ELS, MCU and camera tracks

Home
Still wearing the blue T-shirt but with a plain brown modern jacket
Back in his home in 2008
Boy enters his kitchen puts the loaf of Hovis on the table and sits down at the table
Music dies down to a slower pace just before dialogue
Boy’s mum shouts from somewhere in the house ’Is that you home, love?’ and boy replies ‘Yeah’
MS of boy at table, MCU and LA of boy when he speaks, with final MCU shot of the loaf of Hovis bread

Sound throughout
The music dominates throughout, with the other sounds and the dialogue as background sounds often muffled and distant
The music throughout changes according to the time-period and events associated with it. For instance, with the war the music slows down and almost dies down to create a more serious and sombre mood. When the boy passes the girls and football fans the music suddenly becomes up-tempo, fast and lively.

Narrative/Story Throughout
The narrative of the advert is basically a boy buying a loaf of Hovis bread in what is likely to be the 18th century and the running through different time periods and zones until he gets to his home in 2008 where his mother is expecting him, presumably with the loaf of Hovis bread. He passes through a march demanding the right to vote for women, probably in the 19th century. He comes across soldiers marching during a world war as well as bombs destroying Britain in WW2. He also passes a street party that may have been celebrating their victory in the war. He passes some newly arrived Asians as well as a TV shop with the invention of TV already having taken place. He then runs into the Cole not dole protest and then past the fireworks for the new millennium. Finally, he reaches his home in the present. The idea behind the advert is that Hovis bread is ‘as good as it’s always been’, as the line reads at the end.