Analytical task - Hawaii Five O

Hawaii Five O shows that it is a crime drama through different ways. Firstly is the use of the characters which are always used in typical crime dramas such as villains, heroes, experts and ambiguous characters. The episode has the typical characters for this specific genre, for example the heroic characters are the cops and there are villains who are engaged in the crime in the prison. The heroic  The props used are all generic features of the crime drama genre as there are: guns, prisoners uniform, prison guards uniform, body armour and police cars. It is set in an American big city which follows the generic features of crime dramas, as they tend to be set in big cities where crime tends to take place. The camera work in this episode of Hawaii Five O matches the genre of crime drama because the editing is fast making it exciting as this genre is supposed to be.

We can see from this episode of Hawaii Five O that it follows Robert McKee's narrative structure. It begins with the inciting incident when Chin wakes up handcuffed to the bed by those who have broken into his flat. Then progressive complications begin to take place, Chin is drugged, kidnapped and put into a prison. The crisis then occurs as Chin realises he is in prison with people that he himself, as a cop, has put into prison. The climax of the narrative happens when the prisoners escape out of their cells and a riot takes place, those who Chin had put in prison previously now go head to head with him. Then the main issue is resolved as Chins friends break him out of the prison and return him to safety.

Enigmas are used throughout the episode of Hawaii Five O in order to make the audience question what is happening and keep them interested. An example of this is when Chin gets kidnapped and put into prison, we as the audience wonder why he has been chosen to be put into prison and who has decided to do this. Once Chin is in the prison and riots take place we wonder whether Chin will survive and we question if he will be able to escape. This makes us want to keep watching in order to see what does happen. 

A series tells a different story in each episode whereas a serial has on going stories that run through many different episodes. Personally I think that Hawaii Five O is a serial as there a little stories running alongside the main story within the episode, which will carry on throughout following episodes. An example of this is the story of the detectives boyfriend and his suspicious behaviour, we will find more about this later on as it is not the main focus of the episode. 

Codes and conventions

For my chosen magazine I have used cosmopolitan, which follows all the codes and conventions of a magazine cover. It has a masthead at the top of the page and a pug in the top right hand corner. This magazine cover also has a feature article photograph of Angelina Jolie in the middle with a headline linked to it. It displays the date and price and also the barcode. Furthermore, there are secondary articles around the side of the cover which give you an insight to what is going to be in the magazine. However, on this magazine cover there is no puff used. 

The mode of address for this magazine is informal as it uses informal language such as 'sex' and calls people by their first name only, for example 'Angelina' rather than 'Angelina Jolie'. The colour scheme of the magazine cover is blue, yellow and white. These are all bright colours suggesting that this is an uplifting and engaging magazine.

Connotations and denotations

For my film poster I have chose the horror film A Nightmare On Elm Street, the colour scheme of this poster is black and red. The designer of the poster has chose this as red has connotations of danger and blood which gives you an idea of what the film is going to be about. The designer also uses black as this colour has connotations of death and creates a sense of mystery which gives you a further insight on what the film is about. On the poster there is a woman on the floor with a look of fear in her face which suggests the figure stood tall behind her is haunting her. The fact that the figure behind her is stood tall shows that he takes pride in his work. Furthermore the figure is wearing a dark outfit which implies that he works at night where he can hide in the shadows. Finally, the light coming from the window outlines the figure suggesting that he is the prominent character.

For my game cover I have chose the game dishonored, the main colour scheme is black and grey suggesting that this is a dark game as both of the colours used are dark. Furthermore, black has connotations of death which suggests that this game involves death.

Specification Link

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