His Dark Materials

 Language 

1) Write an analysis of the episode - using notes from the screening in class. Make specific, detailed reference to moments in the text using media terminology (e.g. media language - camera shots and movement, editing, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene etc.)

You can currently watch His Dark Materials on BBC iPlayer here.

Camerawork, editing and sound: Low angels for the women to show that they are powerful and independent.

Mise-en-scene:props are mixed between fantasy world and modern world familiar objects.

Narrative and genre: witches fighting, supernatural.

You can access our notes from our close-textual analysis in class here - you'll need your Greenford Google login to open this.

2) How does His Dark Materials fit the conventions of the fantasy TV genre?

- Mysterious places.For example a castle in the sky.

-Witches

- Supernatural creatures.

3) Applying Propp's character theory, what character roles do some of the main characters in His Dark Materials fit into? 

Ms Coulter fits in the Villain role.We can tell her role in the story by her appearance and way of speaking.This is because miss Coulter is showed in a red dress to represent danger.

4) What enigma and action codes (Barthes) can you find in His Dark Materials? Make specific, detailed reference to the text using media terminology (e.g. media language - camera shots, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, mise-en-scene etc.)

  Enigma

- Who is the mysterious creature with Lyra ?

- How did Lyra get into this unknown place/

- Does Ms Coulter Know that Lyra is her daughter?

- What plans does Ms Coulter have?

  Action Code

 - Audience can tell actions part is slowly coming based on the music in the background and what kind of vibes it gives.

5) What examples of binary opposition (Levi-Strauss) can you find in His Dark Materials? How do these create narrative or drama for the audience? You can find reminder notes on all these narrative theories here - just scroll down to narrative. 

- Evil vs Good

- Witches vs Human

- Powerful women vs weak men

- Women being in control and men following women their word 

Industries

1) Which companies produced this His Dark Materials series?

BBC produced His Dark Materials

2) What were the UK viewing figures for A City of Magpies? How did this compare to season 1 of His Dark Materials?

The City of Magpies episode 1 of season 2 got 4.4 million audience meanwhile His Dark Material season 1 episode 1 got 7.2 million audience.

3) What was American network HBO's role in making His Dark Materials and why is this important? Look at the notes above for more on this.

America network HBO's role was important in making his Dark Material because it was co-commissioned for an international audience along side of BBC.

4) What famous stars are in His Dark Materials and why do you think they were selected for the show? Watch the Comic Con panel video in the notes above to see the stars talking about the show.

5) Who are Bad Wolf and what do they produce

Bad Wolf is a company founded in 2015.They help create ambitious,imaginative and relevant drama for the global TV marketplace.

Audience

1) Read this audience rating guide for His Dark Materials. Based on the screening and this article, who do you think the target audience is for His Dark Materials and why? What about psychographic groups? You can revise Pyschographics here.

The Target Audience at first were people from age 19 and above however later on it changed to 14+.This is because people wanted other young teenagers to discover this series at a young age and later grow up watching it like the old audience even when there are some dark scenes in the series .However the age rating can prevent teenagers from watching His Dark Material therefore it was later decided to change the age rating to 14+.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: An example of a group of people seeing themselves reflected in His Dark material - The city of Magpies is the Black community.An example of this is one of the witches being Black.

Personal Relationships: One relationship in between Lyra and the boy.As audience we may be interested in how their relationship will turn out.

Diversion (Escapism): Audience may feel like they are escaping the real world away from their problems and running into a fantasy world that they might find comfort in it.

3) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to His Dark Materials? Refer to specific scenes or moments in the episode to explain your answer. 

Visceral:An example of a visceral is His Dark Material is the scene where Ms Coulter was tutoring the witch.

Vicarious: Examples of Vicarious in His dark material are flying and time travel.This is because audience can experience flying and time travel for the first as watching His Dark Material.

Voyeuristic:An example of voyeuristic is His Dark Material in women being the one in power.An example of this is Ms Coulter being the one in control.

4) How did fans react to Season 2 of His Dark Materials? What about critic reviews? You can find some possible answers for this in this BBC website article on the critical reception for His Dark Materials and watch the fan reaction video above.

Season 2 didn't receive much love as season 1 which lead to the view of episode 1 of season 2 to be less compared to episode 1 of season 1.This was because some fans thought season 2 was great but it didn't inspire as much as it used to do.

5) What might be some of the preferred and oppositional readings for His Dark Materials? Why did some fans love it? Why have other people criticised it? 

Some fans loved it because it looked great,it's robustly made,and there are great actors everywhere,occupying a well built universe.However on the other side some fans didn't like it because the series is about magical words but season 2 did not seem to have much magic involved in it.

Comparison:

1) How are the technical conventions different between 1963 Doctor Who and 2020 His Dark Materials (e.g. camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene)?

On episode one of Doctor who we can immediately notice that the episode has a low budget because of the shaky cameras.It was noticeable that someone was carrying the camera.Another thing is there wasn't many cuts and change of angels as that would take a lot of time.Another thing is the editing.There was not much effect used and the editing looked very low quality.

Compared to His Dark Materials that had a high budget.We can notice that the camerawork is very angles.Another difference is that their are many different camera angles used for certain moments.e.g worm eye views on women to show that they are powerful.Another difference is the editing.Compared to Doctor Who His Dark Materials is very high quality.

2) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of genre and narrative?

Some similarities are in genre.Both series contain time travel and fantasy.Another Similarities is in the narrative.Both series are about time travelling in order to save the world from the vilians evil plan.

Some difference are in diversity.In His Dark material we can see the Black community being reflected while in Doctor Who all the actors are white.Another difference is the way women are shown.In His Dark Material women are shown to be powerful and in control.While in Doctor Who women are represented as weak and need a man to help her.An example of this is the female teacher hiding behind the male teacher as the ship starts moving. 

3) How are representations of people, places and groups similar or different in the two shows?

The representations of groups and people are very different from each other.In His Dark material women are seen as powerful while in Doctor Who women are seen as weak.Another Example of this is the representations of different communities/groups.In Doctor Who no groups are being represented apart from white people.But in His Dark materials we can see different type of groups being shown such as Black people.