Life On Mars TV Analysis

Life On Mars: Episode One

Representation of place - past/present. Life On Mars. (Manchester 2006)

The opening sequence in episode one cuts between the credits and an extreme close up of the front wheel of a car going at high speed on a main city road, in present day, Manchester. The colour palate us grey ( use of grey filters) which connotes bleakness, monotony and technology. The car is also a masculine signifier, and is an object characters identify with. ( The car represent Sam Tyler) The grey steel is unforgiving textures, reliant on technology, washed out colour. The use of the rule of thirds and the rule of diagonal creates a sense of movement and perspective. The medium close-up shot of the terraced houses junxtaposed with the tower block that dominated the mise-en-scene. The tower block connotes the crime and to some a hostile environment. The terraced houses connotes community, neighbours, more control and in the shot they represent that past. Life over towers block because it is more modern, Mars is over terraced housing which could suggest another dimension. This could mean that the past and the future are so different we associate the past with terraced housing roof which creates a sense of movement and dimensions. Cloud over the tower block ( modern day weather ) and reflective light over the terraced housing ( representing another dimension) They grey clouds over the tower block could suggest that the director finds modern day boring and the light over the terraced house more interesting.


Tyler's associated with the suits, smart cars and he is the middle of it all. He is shown to be very stylish and modern. Tyler seems to act like a machine and that he has lost part of himself and has become cold. He has quite robotic feelings, and is dismissive which is proven when he speaks to his girlfriend. It is clear the the couple are having problems, but when she tries to speak to speak to him, Tyler says to her " What use are feelings?" Which show she he is cold and robotic and is lost in a materialistic world of technology and smart suits. Tyler's girlfriends clothes are the same colour as the clothes he is wearing and the colour are also associated with police colours and technologies, grey, cold colours.

The low angle tilt shot of the police headquarters and Sam Tyler's car indicated the importance of the police headquarters in the narrative and the importance of Tyler. The dominant grey tone reinforces the contemporary setting which is hard metallic surfaces. The use of the tilt shot represents confusion and disorientation. The police car is beside Tyler's car which shows us that it is the police headquarters.


In the interview room they rely on technology, they use a tape recorder. ( This also resembles something from the past ) They also use a laptop to show the criminal a picture of himself, in which the victims have identified as the attacker. In the interview room everything is blue and grey. The police are very hard on Colin ( accused of being the attacker) and the social worker tries to stick up for him, because he has an alibi, as he was with her at the time of the attack. At this point Tyler is felling angry because this was the only lead to finding the attacker, and this puts him back to the start of his investigation.

After the interview and after Tyler had acted harshly towards his girlfriend, he receives a call about a crime scene. The crime scene is set in a child's park surrounded by tower blocks, and grey clouds. The park is set against the tower blocks which brings innocence into the shot, but the shirt that Tyler's girlfriend was wearing was covered with blood and it is draped across the swing. At this point Tyler is feeling upset and guilty as his last words to his girlfriend were very cold and dis hearted.


In the next shot it focus's on Tyler's face and his expressions, as he is upset that his girlfriend has been either kidnapped or murdered. His last words to Mia were cold hearted, unloving. He used robotic personality while sowing emotion for his girlfriend. There is a shot of his ipod, which is very modern and 21st century. The song changes to David Bowie - Life On Mars which brings the 70's into the car and the scene.

Don't Look Now analysis

The scene opens up as the Bells of Venice, a man humming the it fades into black. The scen then opens outdoor's and soft music is playing. A shot is then shown of the little girl throwing her ball into the shallow river, this could represent the outcome of what may happen. There are a lot of water shots and refelections of the little girl in the river. The girls father is in the house looking at images and there is an image of a church with a little girl sitting in a pew. The little girl outside is wearing red, he then begins to link the two things together and starts to panic. There is then a shot of their little boy playing outside on his bike, and he falls off, this is when feelings start to kick in because you know something bad is going to happen next. The music is playing inside the house, but the camera shot stays outside. The shot outside is of the little boy running to save his sister, because he has seen her fall into the river, drowning. Inside the house, their father is still looking at the image, hand water leaks onto it, linking everything together. The colours of the images begin to smear together which gives the idea of the little girl falling into the river, and drowning. Their father then panics and jumps up and rushes outside to the rive, where he hears his son shouting 'Daddy' He rushes over to river and jumps in to find his little girl. The camera stays on him trying to find his little girl, and his son overlooking, trying too see what is happening. When the man has finally found his daughter he reaches the surface and lets out a scream, at this point the scream cuts across the sound. The shot then shows the man staggering out of the river with his daughter in his arms. As he lays her down onto the river bank and tries to resuscitate his daughter, his son is looking anoxiously looking over. Their mum is inside the house, unaware of what has happened, until she looks out the window at the camera and lets out an almighty scream. Her loud screaming then lead into the next scene of a man drilling into the wall.

Analysis of Leon

In the opening scenes of Leon, its pans across trees and water. The camera then carries us across a landscape and cuts into a city road. The camera then moves into a dark doorway, which leads into a shop. It then leads into a room which is lit very dull, where 2 men are sitting at a table. You can only see one man. You can only see the other mans dark glasses and his hands, in which he is holding a glass of milk. The shot then carries us through into a hotel where we see a stocky gangster. From the opening scenes we can see that there will be some sort of gangster trouble as there is use of dark lighting, and dark shades. We first see Leon in his shades, but the rest of his identity remain hidden. In the opening of a scene we can see spiral staircases, these are used to create a mystery because we can't see who is coming up the stairs but we can hear them. The opening of the scene shows a stocky gangster in a hotel, who is having sex with a blonde girl, and is dealing with drugs. Leon kills all of the gangster's bodyguards, in a clever, but simple way. The shots show how he kills the bodyguard's but still they don't reveal his identity. There is a moment when the stocky gangster tries to escape, but Leon has cleverly blocked him in the room, meaning that the stocky gangster can't escape. We then see Leon emerge from a dark doorway and put a knife up to the stocky gangster's throat. After Leon has finished with the stocky man, he goes back to his apartment, where Matilda, a young innocent girl is introduced. She is sitting in between the railings of the spiral staircase, looking down, smoking a cigarette. The young girl is shown to have been beaten by her father. When Leon arrives back at his apartment, Matilda confides in him.

Street font poster

This is my street font poster. The aim of this was to find fonts that we thought were 'street' The 3 down the left hand side are the sorts of fonts that you would find on graffiti walls.