Mrs Molyneux Homework

The scene above was taken from the TV programme know as Charmed. I am going to discuss some of the key concepts this media text contains.

The first key concept is ideology, and this is portrayed in this scene in many ways. The ideas and values in which this scene offers is family; this is evident because the girl doesn't want to go back because of her broken family. Therefore the sisters are trying to persuade her that by leaving she is going to make her mother feel the same way she felt when her parents separated. Furthermore it shows how children escape into fantasy worlds to escape from their problems, and once again its reinforced by one of the sisters that by forgetting about your troubles only leads to them getting worse. This offers a lot to the audience because it allows them to relate to an issue that affects millions of children worldwide. Therefore from this one scene the audience is capable of empathising with the child characters, allowing them to understand how it would feel to be in their situation.

Another key concept was the audience. From this scene alone it looks as if it could be aimed at females aged 6-11. This is evident by the fact that there are fairies in the scene, as well as the cast only being female. In addition the young girl seems to be the focus in this scene, and girls in that age range tend to believe in fairies.  I would say the target ethnicity is white people because all the characters in this scene are white, and American. However it could still appeal to all ethnicities and nationalities. I would say that this could also appeal to parents, especially mothers because they may be in the same situation as the character and therefore are once again able to sympathise with the young character.

The final key concept is micro-aspects. In this scene the lighting is very dark, and the majority of light in this scene comes from the fire, and light of the fairies.The sound in this scene is mainly speech, and effects from the fairies movement, and there is also the background music which is quite mellow and calm. The mise en scene is quite natural, emphasising the mystery and magic surrounding fairy tales. Within this scene the cinematography isn't that varied because the majority of them tend to be mid- shots, and there are a few close up e.g when piper's giving her speech. Having close ups allows the emotion from characters to be shared with the audience. With the mid- shots they also allow you to receive the emotion but also continue to give you a sense of location, relating back to a sort of fairy tale theme. There is also a long shot with gives you full view of the two fairies. The editing in this scene is done in a way that allows you to feel the emotions from the young girl as Piper's giving her speech, and allows you to see her change her mind about the situation.