Coronation Street Extract

After watching Coronation Street extract I was able to pick up various techniques that have been used in this extract.
Firstly I am going to talk about mise-en-scene. The director used objects and techniques typical to this type of TV drama.
First of all the clothes that actors have been wearing were a non brand clothes. This technique is used to avoid the advertising and to show a standard working class way off dressing. This also shows us that not all of the clothes you see on TV have to be well known branded ones.
Then in the pub scene there are fruit machines clearly visible in the background, this suppose to give us an image of what a pub or a bar should look like in real life. In one of the scenes I also noticed a pile of boxes, my first impression was that someone was either moving out or moving in. Also in the same scene the character opened a letter regarding his divorce this also shows us a situation that occurs in real life frequently. Throughout the extract there were objects recognizable, real life objects such as golf clubs, bottles and beer cans. I noticed the beer can in the scene when one of actors puts the beers in the fridge for someone else to have later. Coming back to the pub scene there were also some paintings/pictures visible on the wall, these props were used to catch viewers attention to how the pub in the show looks like so that they can see its not different from a real life one. One of the characters was wearing a hat since he started a scene, this reflects on normality.
As soon as the establishing shot starts you can hear the theme tune that is clearly recognizable, there is always some diagetic music is heard throughout the extract. Music in the background fades out slightly when the dialogue starts. There are also people talking in the background, cars driving nearby, this technique has been used to enhance realism of the scene. Most of the sounds in the background were ambient.
Simple editing rules were used in between scenes. The most frequent technique used in this extract was hard cuts. These were used to get from one shot straight to another without any fuss or confusion. Action match was also used in this extract when two of the blokes were playing mini golf on the street, this technique was used to avoid viewers missing out on the facial expressions and the dialogue. Fade in and out of sound was also used frequently to make the sound quieter or louder, this was most commonly used as soon as the characters started talking to each other. There was also a long take in the pub scene; this was used because the situation needed more explanation than in other scenes. When two of the guys were playing golf in the street a reaction shot was also used.

The establishing shot at the beginning was crucial to introduce the viewer to the show, in this like in any soap opera establishing shots are very important as they are recognizable and they help the viewer to “settle in”. The close-up was used very frequently especially in the pub scenes to show the characters reactions and facial expressions. This technique was used in the dialogues to show the character’s faces. There was a dolly shot used as two men were walking down the street, this technique was used to keep up with the characters as they were walking along the street. And also because the director wanted to get the dialogues. Over the shoulder shot was also used throughout the extract to point viewers attention on whatever the character is looking at.