Analysis of Max's Death

In our British TV Drama media lesson, we watched Max's death scene, during this we wrote down some of the micro aspects of the scene, such as camera angles, composition, camera movement. We then wrote down what this implied about the macro (the bigger picture).

The mise-en-scenes highlight gender and the way that the genders deal with issues, such as death, differently; for instance Steph's reaction to seeing Max dead is very melodramatic and uncontrolled, she is wearing her wedding dress and cries "Max!" whereas OB jokes around even though he is holding his dying friend, and says to him "don't be gay" this difference between genders give the impression that men are more likely to joke and be controlled about situations such as death, however women are portrayed to be less controlled and more dramatic and need to have male support during times of crisis; Steph looks to OB for support and guidance. As well as being portrayed as weak, they are also seen as feminine and this is shown through the arrangement of Steph's wedding dress, which is perfect and in a semi-circle around her; your wedding day is supposed to be the one day where you outshine everyone else, by looking perfect in everything you do, and Steph does. Her dress, hair and make-up are all perfect and the attention is on her reaction as well as Max's death. The mise-en-scene also shows contrasts between different people of the same gender; for example Max and Nile. Max's head is against Steph's white wedding dress, this suggest a slightly angelic look about him, and that he is free from the troubles of the world, as white is perceived as a colour of innocence; however Nile is wearing all black which suggests that he is still trapped by the torment of the world and has to live with his crime against Max until he dies.

Some other micro aspects that are used in the scene are camera movement, the use of these give the audience a chance to look at the bigger picture, and ask themselves questions; what/who is this movement representing? During one particular shot the camera spins, in a bird's eye view, as Nile gets out of the car, this could suggest Nile's experience of just hitting someone, or this could show Max's disorientation of just getting hit, and the movement and type of shot could imply an out of body experience for Max. The assumption, Max's out of body experience, that the audience get from this camera movements and shots is strengthened by the transitions and the mise-en-scenes; the transitions that are used suggest Heaven and death, for instance: white light fade, and fade to black; also in the mise-en-scene Tom's action man falls and hits his head on the kerb, the action man represents Max, he is the fallen hero, Tom's fallen hero. The action man hitting his head, is a direct link to what happened to Max when he was hit by the car. Although the sense of Heaven and out of body experiences are strengthened by transitions and things that happen in the mise-en-scene, it is predominately camera movement, shots and angles that give these impressions; in one part of sequence the camera is upward tracking from Max's body to the sky, this implies that Max is traveling up towards Heaven, this scene involves a transition-white light fade-which also suggests Heaven, follow the light.

The different use of shot types involves the audience and builds up the tension and atmosphere of the scene. In the start of the sequence there is a collage of shots that is made up of 9 different shots, the speed of the shots is very quick this indicates confusion and as the audience may not understand initially what is happening they get the impression of tension and fear. The last shot of the sequence is a point of view shot using a hand held camera, this adds a personal touch to the characters and involves the audience with their emotions, also as it is at the end of the sequence, the audience can look back on the events and feel more emotionally attached as they know what will happen to Max after that recording.

The rule of thirds is used in one shot, just after Max has been hit, and there is Max, OB and Tom with Max being held by OB this shows Max's weak, vulnerable position compared with OB; having Tom slightly further away from OB and Max this suggests that Tom is trying to detach himself from Max in order to make the situation less real, like a dream. As Max is dying he is surrounded by his three most important people, Steph, OB and Tom; however Steph is similar to Tom, she finds it difficult to attach herself to Max, she wants it to be a dream; this gives the impression that women act similar to children involving issues such as death, because they can't cope with the grief and aren't as stable as men-as OB is holding Max's head-and fall to pieces without them.

During Max's death scene the micro aspects are all very different: shot types, mise-en-scene, transitions etc. Even though there are all these different aspects in the micro section, they all link to a similar bigger picture (macro), which generally links to an ongoing theme that is running throughout the sequence, in this case it is death and Heaven. The use of different shot types, transitions, and camera movements all add to the atmosphere of the scene and all involve the audience and their emotions, by using techniques such as the Point of View shot using the hand held camera.