Codes and Conventions of case studies

• Shots: When looking into films about bereavement, it is quite apparent that some shots are typically used to represent characters who are grieving. For example; In the film 'Three Billboards' their is a scene where Frances Mcdormand's character 'Mildred' where she is  planting flowers by these billboards, when she is approached by a dear, the character here thinks that the dear is some kind of kindred spirit of her deceased daughter. In this scene the shots tend to linger largely as close ups, this is to show off the emotional pain the character is currently facing at this moment in time. There is also some uses of long shots to show the area around the character, showing that she is alone and surrounded by nothing but this dear, this relates well to the use of bereavement because it uses these shots to show the isolation of grief. Both these shots uses are well done because it tells a story not just through dialogue but with uses of shots showing us the inner workings of emotions and the visual translations of these emotions through uses of scenery and facial expressions, doing this gives us the audience an emotional understanding of what our character is currently going through.

Sound: The use of sound in films and television which themes are about bereavement tend to use a very similar formula when breaking down certain scenes which  show emotional moments about grief. For example in the series 'Skins' there is a moment where the character of 'Sid' finds his deceased father lying in a chair. The build up to this moment is silent, there is only diegetic sound, this builds up the moment for the emotional reveal which is about to take place, we know at this point sid's dad has passed away but the build up to sid finding out see's him slowly walking through the doorway, there is no music currently at this point, then there is a use of music when Sid finally discovers his father is dead, the use of this music gives the emotional lift to the audience and to the feelings of the character.


Lighting: after analysing films about bereavement their is a certain way in which films which deal with this subject matter tend to use lighting which resembles a large amount of grey scale. The lighting most apparently uses this because it relates highly to feelings of grief and pain.For example in the film a 'singe man' Colin firth's character is currently grieving over his last boyfriend. The lighting in this scene tends to use a great amount of shadows and lighting onto the characters face to convey his emotional trauma he is currently facing. This use of lighting highlights to us as the

audience, the emotional weight of the situation. Being able to see the characters face correctly highlighted but also adding some additional shadows and colours which create connotations of grief helps us as the audience understand what our character is currently facing at the time. The use of lighting is a good way of showing us as the audience conflict and sadness which is running through this character.