Cuffs exam questions

Blumer and katz 
- Entertainment
- Surveillance
- Self identity
- Social identity

What do the opening scene and credits suggest/tell us about the genre, narrative and characters? What would the audience expects form this series?
Within the opening scene of Cuffs it shows us how its stolen the opening editing from Skins because they edit it so the screen is split into two sections and in the top left corner there is normally police whereas in the bottom right corner there is normally graffiti, this could suggest the theme of the higher archy against society, this attracts the target audience because it shows the differences between the police and society and this would give the audience a bit of a teaser which would show the audience what they're getting themselves into. The colour pallet they used for this opening scene was bight colours and the text was usually yellow which again is different from the usual typical police drama colour pallet because normally its dark colours like black, blue and white, this would attract the target audience because the colour pallet is different from others and uplifting they might like this because they are bight colours. The music within the opening scene is very upbeat which you wouldn't expect to see in a police crime drama, you would expect a low beat and slower type song compared to what cuffs used, them using all these things combined creates a very non traditional vibe to a police crime drama show, this would attract the target audience because again it is uplifting instead of the usual music for a police drama.

How has sound been used to create meaning?
In the first opening scene the first sound is seagulls squawking which is a use of ambient sounds                             , telling us how the episode is set in a  seaside town, we later find out it's set Brighton. A few seconds after the seagulls the sound changes into background music which is a deep sound making the scene more intense and mysterious which is a non diegetic sound. The background noise continues however over the top of the non diegetic sound a police radio starts talking which is diegetic dialogue gives us contextual information about the series of cuffs and the episode itself. Shortly after his sirens start playing over the top of the police radio, during this the background music is still playing. It then switches from the sirens and police radio to the police chief doing a voice over the non diegetic sound. The sound makes the genre seem different to what it is because a crime drama is normally dark and gloomy however with this music it makes the genre seem light but also dramatic because they use dramatic but upbeat songs. You could argue this is a use of 'car chase' music because it creates tension but its also upbeat therefore you could say this makes it exciting for the audience which it could be because of the type of music.