Eastender's (Preliminary Study Two)

The preliminary study is an episode of Eastender’s. The main outline of the storyline is that the son of Phil Mitchell, Ben Mitchell is considering (and finally acts out a betrayal to his father) because he feels jealous of Phil and his older (adopted) brother, Jay’s relationship. Ben’s way of betraying his father is by calling the police. Ben calls the police because Ben knows Phil killed Stella and can't deal with knowing but mainly because he is jealous of Phil's increasingly close relationship with Jay.

The type of betrayal which is addressed in this episode of Eastender’s is jealously and betrayal within the family unit. I think jealously is quite powerful within this episode due to many reasons such as the camera angles, script and acting.

I think that the target audience of Eastender’s is mainly family-oriented. I think this because the show is broadcast on the UK’s main channel, BBC One which is a family-oriented channel. The show is also broadcasted roughly about 8pm, this before 9pm (where swearing and adult issues are allowed to shown) so it means Eastender’s is a fairly “safe” show. Of course, the show is based on “real-life” issues so some issues are distressing but on the swearing/adult issues it is a fairly safe show.

(Phil finds out that Ben betrays him)

I found the show interesting; I am not an Eastender’s fan but I found the camera angles interesting such as the close up’s they use to show emotion. I found that made an impact on the audience and added dramatic effect, one example is the scene where Ben is sitting with the rest of family and the camera angels show how alone he feels within the family. I have seen this camera angles in many TV shows, by having the camera still and spaced out, it shows loneliness and perhaps awkwardness within a group. Another thing which I found interesting was the setting, the sets such as the square and the Mitchell’s garage. The sets add natural and realistic effect. Also, there were about four to five settings where the Mitchells are seen. I think by putting them into different backgrounds each time, avoids confusion to the audience and adds reality to the show. I liked the script in the episode, I think the script was well written and explained the story well. The episode ended on Phil being arrested and Ben smirking, and saying “Happy Birthday, Dad”. By Ben saying this, it adds a different interpretation to the character and leaves the audience to wonder.

The first style of the work I have chosen is the sound effects. The sound effects during the show are digective such as a door slamming or music being played in a shop. More importantly at the end of every episode, there is the classic “dum-dum-dum”. They add this to add more impact to the cliff-hanger and make the story more interesting. At the end of this episode, Ben smiles and says “Happy Birthday, Dad”. By adding this statement at the end, it makes the audience have a different interpretation of Ben. Personally, I think after watching two episodes which involve the Mitchell’s betrayal storyline. The comments at the end made me not like Ben. At first, I wasn’t quite sure whether to have sympathy for the character because of his jealously of Jay/Phil relationship.

However once Ben said that statement, it made me not like Ben so I think it was effective to have that final statement and then having the classic “dum-dum-dum”.

Another main method they used during the episode was camera angles. There is one scene when Ben is attempting to drive the rally car, instead he ends up flatting the engine and he is told to let “a proper driver” Jay drive. The camera angle is very good because it has a close up Ben’s face to show his embarrassment and anger. Also during that scene there is a huge crowd who chase after Jay and leaving Ben behind. This was well filmed because once again it showed Ben’s loneliness within the Eastender’s neighbourhood and family. His mother or step-mother stays behind. I think this was effective because it showed that he has some support within his mother or step-mother. However I do not how the story pans out.

The main method of the show is for me, the way the script writers and producers made the show realistic (even though some of the plotlines are non-realistic to me). But it is shown in a soap opera realistic context. I think this is a good method because it can show important issues which pop up in everyday life such as betrayal. The acting is used in Eastender’s is mainly informal language and everyday language such as slang. I think this adds a natural environment for the audience and makes them feel more at home.

The similarities between GHOST the musical and the episodes of Eastender’s are that both show the betrayal involving jealously. (For example, in GHOST Carl kills Sam because he wants money but also jealous of Sam relationship with Molly. The jealously aspect in Eastender’s is Ben becoming jealous of Jay and Phil). Both studies share the same dramatic effects of the betrayal. By that I mean, because Carl is jealous of Sam, it eventually involves the death of Sam. In Eastender’s, it involves Phil getting arrested). I think both results are slightly un

I think the best one which explores betrayal is Eastender’s. I believe that because I find Eastender’s more realistic, I think GHOST is unrealistic because of the murder of Sam by Carl and the Ben story is more believable.  I think I favour Eastender’s more because I watched a full half hour episode, whilst GHOST I watched a two minute trailer, so I didn’t get to see the full storyline involving betrayal.  But on the production side, I do prefer GHOST’s production because of the lighting and projections and find this quite influential in my expressive arts work. On the betrayal side, I do have to go with Eastender’s because I liked the script writing. The script writers managed to build the Ben/Phil story up throughout the episode, however in GHOST it was an unexpected betrayal and I prefer tension building up because it adds more dramatic feel to the piece.