Genre deconstruction - Period drama

Genre deconstruction - Period drama

Opening scene

To look at my chosen genre, period drama, I have decided to look at the opening scene in The Imitation Game.

Plot

This opening scene depicts a young man (Alan Turing) being held at a police station for questioning. As the police officer walks in and drops the file onto the table the shot changes to show a room. The windows are covered in diagrams, the tables covered with books, cigarette butts, broken glass and old fashioned technology. As the camera pans across you see a pair of hands picking up some of the pieces of paper. As we move into another room there is more science equipment, including jars containing various experiments. The next shot shows the same person that picked up the photo looking at a wall that has been covered in diagrams and other sheets of paper, in this shot we can see that the man is wearing a military uniform which tells us what sort of time period the film is set in, as it is different to the uniforms they wear today. We then see someone pickup an old phone from the floor and put it on a table, they then put the phone to their ear and ring for the operator. This follows on to a shot of young women working at a call centre and you can hear the hustle and bustle of their work place. This is followed by some one receiving a message at the MI6 headquarters, this is where we first hear about the robbery and it explains that the mess was caused by somebody breaking in and the man was a detective which conforms to the common conventions of this genre. Finally, the message ends up in an office with a high class man at a desk who is handed a sheet of paper that reads "Alan Turing has been robbed". This is conforming to the conventions of a drama because as the audience follow the route of the message from Alan Turing's house to MI6 it builds suspense before revealing the problem that is required for a period drama.

Typography

The name of the film is not displayed during the opening scene. However, it does have text over the shots of Alan Turing's room that was broken into. This text tells us the production companies involved and the location they are in during the opening scene. The text used is an old fashioned font that conforms with the conventions of this genre and time period as it looks like the font used in typewriters at the time.

Locations

The locations used in this are conforming to the conventions of a drama as you see inside the police station which is a commonly used location in any drama because the police are usually the people who have to sort out the problem/conflict. Also, the contrast between the dark, dirty police station and the large, clean office at MI6 helps to distinguish between the classes which were a major part of society during the war.

The locations used are old fashioned with high windows and wooden floors this conforms to the idea of this film being a period drama as it is clearly set in the past.

Sound

00:00-00:25 - is in silence so you focus on what is happening on the screen to establish that Alan Turing is in a police station and is about to be questioned on an event, however at this point we are unsure of why he ended up there.

00:25 - at this point the non diegetic sound begins and it is a voice over of Alan Turing speaking. He begins by saying "Are you paying attention? Good."

00:33 - The voice over says "If you're not listening carefully you will miss things, important things." This suggests that the story he is about to tell will be full of vital moments that make his the deep, complex character that conforms to the common conventions of this genre.

00:49 - Turing says "You think that because you're sitting where you are and I'm sitting where I am that you are in control of what is about to happen" this highlights the class divide between Alan Turing a common scientist and the police officer questioning him, which during this time period was an accepted rule in society. Because of this his next statement subverts the common conventions of this time period as he says "You're mistaken, I am in control because I know things that you do not."
01:08 - Here the monologue stops and you can here the diegetic sound of the call centre, and the person receiving the message at MI6 headquarters. This is conforming to the conventions of the period drama genre as most of the sound in this genre is diegetic and there is normally very little non-diegetic sound.
01:18 - The voice on the receiver says "send a detective down will you" this explains who the person was in Alan Turning's house and is also conforming to the conventions of a drama as a detective is used to resolve the problem/conflict.

01:27 - At this point in the monologue the character asks that the people listening "will not judge [him] until [he] is done." This demonstrates how people during this era were very judgmental, particularly those of a higher class as they look down on working class people.
The score playing in the background is called 'Alan' and was an original motion picture soundtrack for the film by Alexandre Desplat. The soundtrack is repetitive and made up of high pitch notes on a piano, this is conforming to the genre of a period drama because it is classical and traditional which keeps it fitting with the time period but it is also sharp and staccato which builds the suspense before the action starts.

Mise-en-scene

The mise-en-scene in the opening scene of this film are important to demonstrate some common conventions of this genre. For example the piece of paper that is handed to the man at the desk at the end of the scene. This is vital as it illustrates the common convention that there is a problem/conflict that needs resolving usually by the police which is what happens in this case as Alan Turing is being questioned by the police and the message was handed to a man in MI6.

Camera movement and editing

During this scene there is a lot of movement with the camera. There are five pans and three tilts, this is because the camera needs to show different elements of the police station, the house and the MI6 headquarters to set establish what is happening. This is conforming to the conventions of this genre because movement plays a large role in setting the scene for an audience and keeping up the pace of some scenes (although this is not necessary in this case as it is not a fast paced scene). The camera does not stay still for much of this scene except when the police man walks into the room to question Turing. This keeps the scene running smoothly so the audience does not get bored also more of the house and MI6 headquarters can be shown this way.

Evaluation

In the opening for the imitation game there is a voiceover. I liked this aspect as it shows how the story is being told retrospectively which we could use in our piece as we follow the villain, so it could be a "how did I get here?" storyline.