Downton Abbey clip
Camera shots/movement
The clip starts with a panning shot of the man on the bike which leads up to
the establishing shot of Downton Abbey to set the scene for the audience. This
leads up to a crab shot of the high class woman who looks down onto the servant
who rides past below. This shows the class difference as the man outside is
filmed from a high angle to show that she has more power over him. The staff
are filmed with a master shot as all characters are in shot and then it moves
to close-ups as the characters begin to work. At 0.57 the character who appears
to be in charge of the other staff are filmed from low angle to show that he is
higher and so although they are all staff there is still a status difference as
he is in charge as he is telling him what to do. As Lord Grantham walks down
the stairs the camera zooms in to him and his whole journey is filmed to slow
it down and to show that he has heard the bad news and he does not want to face
it. A point of view shot is used to show Lord Grantham
reading the newspaper and it shows the audience what he can see and what the
news is he is talking about. At 3.00 it is shot in shallow focus as the
women walking towards the room is not in focus whereas the people already in
the room are to show that she is less significant as she does not know
what has happened or who is hurt. As Lord Grantham leaves the room the other
characters are filmed at a long shot to show that they are all confused about
what has just happened and they are all left unaware. He is then followed using
a tracking shot to show that he needs to go and speak to his wife and tell her
what he has found out which is clearly important. At 3.49 focus pulls is used
to switch focus between Lord Grantham and his wife and during the conversation
every time the camera switches to Lady Grantham it gets closer to show how the
news is sinking in and she finally realises what has just happened.
Sound:
At the start of the clip music is played, as
non-diegetic sound, to make the bike ride smoother and the transition
towards the house appear more elegant and to introduce what is to come acting like a sound bridge. These are placed with
sound effects of the natural, diegetic sound of
the man riding along the road on his bike and then as they enter the room the
sound of the fire. The first line the audience hears is from the staff who says
"and they're off" which shows his status and how he
does not like having to cater for the family and he is fed up of it. Within the
staff there are different levels of power and respect, this is seen through
certain things different people say within the staff. For example, one woman
asks the others for help and another replies with "I've got her
ladyships to carry" which makes her seem more important than the
others as she gets to personally deliver the ladyships breakfast whereas the
other members of staff have to carry the various plates to the main room where
they are dining. The downstairs breakfast room is
accompanied with synchronous sound of pots being moved around as other members
of staff carry them in/out to the family. Also, further in the clip the
Charles Carlson, a butler, appears to take control over the other man who is
ironing the newspapers. He tells him to "do the times first"
and then to only do the others later if required which shows him to have power
over the other and gives him a higher status than the other servants who look
to him for guidance. When the man who is delivering the newspapers arrives he
is late and when he is asked for an explanation he says "But...you'll
see" showing he is going to explain it but then decides it would
be better for them to read the news rather than finding out from him. One
of the staff clearly shows the difference in status as when they are asked "why
are the papers ironed?" she says that the lordships should not be
as black as hers. This shows the audience that the staff are there to provide
for the family and do the jobs that the family would not get their hands dirty
doing. The transition between the busy staff downstairs and the lordship is
shown through music which highlights to the audience the change of status and
how it is suddenly calmer as he does not have those things to worry about. When the butler says most of the ladies had been saved from the ship the
lord corrects him by saying "you mean the ladies and first
class", showing how he believes they are more important than the
lower class people. This is also shown when her ladyship says "surely
they were picked up" to the news that her friends may have been
on the ship and not saved.
Editing:
Parallel editing is used in this clip to show the difference between the
higher class family and the working class staff. For instance, during the start
of the clip where the servant on the bike and the women in the family waking up
are edited in parallel to show they are happening at the same time but to show
the different types of mornings. This is also shown in
cross cutting as when she goes to the window the shot changes to him cycling
past to show how they are happening in time.
Action match is used similarly when she rings her bell
and the shot changes to the clip downstairs where the first bell rings to show it is in sequence.
Continuity editing is also used to show how the morning goes and
although some clips are edited alongside each other it runs in time order and
the events happen after each other as the characters find out the news.
Shot-reverse-shot
is used during the breakfast scene downstairs to show how chaotic it is once
the family are awake and how unlike it is like the families morning. It is used
with short takes to show how the conversations are quick and show the fast pace of the work
downstairs with lower class.
Eye line match is used during the breakfast scene when the Lord is looking
at the newspaper and the news of the Titanic but then the camera shot changes
to view the newspaper and the picture of the ship to show the audience what he
is referring to.
This could also be seen as a motivated cut as the audience wants to see what the news is about and what the Lord is reading in the news.
Mise en scene:
The first two frames from this clip show the difference in status
immediately as there is a member of staff who had to get up early to go and
collect the papers for the family and the women who had woken up inside the
house who looks down to him. The man is shown darker than the background in the
first frame whereas the woman is in more light than the background which shows
the difference in status.
Her position of status is also shown through her
costume which appears to be silk and, unlike the staff shown later in the clip,
white showing how her clothing can be more delicate as they can be looked after
or replaced unlike the members of staff which may only have a few different
outfits they have to wear over and over. The staff's costume is basic with dark
clothing, dresses for the women and suits for the men, with an apron over the
top to protect their outfit from stains that they will undoubtedly encounter as
they complete their daily chores.
The hair also signifies the difference in class as
the family have their hair in different intricate designs once they are awake
and it looks like it took some time to produce. The staff however have there’s
slick back so it does not get in the way of their chores and they probably
didn’t have as much time to do anything fancy with it.
The difference is status is also highlighted through the different breakfast
scenes where the staff has to dine at once and do not have an option of
different meals. Furthermore when the family ring to say they are ready for
breakfast the staff have to go and cater to them whether they have finished
their breakfast or not whereas the family would not have to do this. The family
arrive at different stages during breakfast to show they have a greater freedom
of choice compared to the staff who work for them.
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