Deutschland 83

Deutschland 83
Season 1, Episode 1
'Quantum jump'

Verisimilitude- the appearance of being true or real.

"the detail gives the novel some verisimilitude"

How is media language used to create meaning?

Contrasting palette- split image-world,personality,roles 

Clothing- left/East= dark clothing solider- military 

               Right/West= colorful, casual clothing, bright.

left- iron fist Germany violence- binary opposition- right- peace sign, kites= freedom, kiss= sexual tension 

left- military jets, linear construction on buildings, political figures of the founder of communism.  

grass/concrete representing rigid structure 

Walter presents' 

trailer music- two tides 

similar to stranger things both set in 1983 

trailer= editing is cut quickly builds tension- lots of action

two sides to the center- main character, sexual tension throughout.  

Historical, economic and social/ cultural context for East Germany in the early 80's?

Consider: 
What was life like? 
"Apart from the wonderful sights and sounds of Berlin, the overriding feature was the tension that one unmistakably felt when you came close to any part of the wall. It was not imagination, it was real and genuinely scary. There was The Wall, the electrified barbed wire fences, the watch towers with scary soldiers carrying scary looking weapons, the 'no-man's-land' near the wall where you were at risk of being shot, posters of people who had died trying to escape to the West" Spoken by Ravi Thatté, worked at Germany.

When the doors of border houses were locked, people jumped out the West-facing windows. When the lower floor windows were sealed, people climbed out of 4th and 5th floor windows and the West Berlin firefighters caught them. The Wall evolved: people started by vaulting over the Wall, so the East German government built it higher. Later they added barbed wire, watchtowers, a second wall, watchdogs, a death strip, all in an effort to stop their people from continuing to escape to the West. Over the years, the Wall became deadly and insurmountable, so people dug tunnels, crammed in hollow spaces of cars, escaped by swimming, by balloon, by ultralight aircraft, even by surfing. Yet others used the fact that the subway and the sewers still ran under both parts of the city. In the end, you cannot keep people apart if they're determined to get together.

What did young people do for fun, like, listen to?
 The young eastern Germany kids, like many, loved playing with toys- although as you can imagine all toys during the war often had a military theme, and diecast tanks and model air planes and ships were popular. Board games were very popular as were books and activities such as stamp collecting. A location where young people loved to hang out and socialise was the Tiergarten, Berlin’s large central park, which was crossed with paths, trails and streams. And the adjacent world famous Berlin Zoo was always a hit with the young people. 

What was education like? 
The communist leadership’s punishment against anyone who opposed its regime meant that the children of those interested in human rights in the Eastern bloc would have to pay a heavy price.“Those regarded as oppositional or academic children, whose parents were not members of the communist party, were not allowed to study. It was the social engineering of the East German dictatorship. They wanted to ensure that children who were socialised at home to be independent thinkers and would not rise to any position.”

Why was there so much tension and suspicion? 
Many east Germans were put under surveillance if the stasi thought that they were being rebellious by associating themselves with western culture.
east Germany regarded the west as being run by old fascists that corrupted by big, international companies. They suspected the wet to prepare for ww3. the west stated that the east deprived citizens of their human rights such as freedom of religion, speech and ability to leave the country.

Why did people want to escape the East? 
 West Germany, with a social market economy and the backing of the Marshall Plan, was soon much more prosperous than East Germany, which had a planned economy which was being bled by the Soviets. In the 50s and 60s, East Germans fled to West Germany in droves, both to escape their brutal regime, to escape scarcity, to re-unite with family and in the hopes of becoming prosperous abroad. Particularly young, healthy and educated people moved, further weakening the East German economy.

Escapees had various motives for attempting to flee East Germany. The vast majority had an essentially economic motive: they wished to improve their living conditions and opportunities in the West. Some fled for political reasons, but many were impelled to leave by specific social and political events.

How did they view the West? 
For East Germans dissatisfied with life under the communist system, West Berlin was a gateway to the democratic West. Between 1949 and 1961, some 2.5 million East Germans fled from East to West Germany, most via West Berlin.

This fan made stranger things inspired poster- imaging south park design of their characters. it highlights an important scene in stranger things episode 1 where hopper and other people are gone searching for will in the woods, having torches as their main prop in the scene. Edwardian Taylor from the united states of america, is a young adult and come across stranger things on Netflix and lowed the access which enabled him to binge watch the entire season one at once. his creativity inspired him to create a combination of his two favorite TV shows. (Stranger things at South park related) You're able to access this poster from amazon and his social media pages, as his hobbies is making fan posters. The main feature of the dramas content is about the community will lived in coming together to find him, friendship and loyalty is represented. this poster makes stranger things look adventurous and mysterious due to the scared facial expressions and location of the design. (e.g. forest) and i think potentially he could have been targeted or certainly others have to encourage to widen the advertisement for the production of stranger things.

This is a fan designed product in the form of a poster, of which highlights the discovery of eleven in season 1 episode 1. you have the three boys with a shocked and worried expression and eleven serious and concerned, looking quite intimidating. This poster was created by Kyle Runciman’s final Stranger Things fan art of the crew. it doesn't have any information about the demographic however you're able to see they're big stranger things supporters and makes fan posters regularly for to encouragement to stranger things to be seen by many and enables larger advertisement for the production.

Class notes- LIAR

Camera
High angle looking down on social worker- patriarchy
Ecu phone after it falls extreme panic
Most camera shots of the young people were eye level equality amongst us and directly with the audience
Gun shot long shot of Connie cut to cu eleven shot demonstrate panic
level three shot of boys in woods
two mid shots of jonathon and Joyce close on the sofa signifies closeness in relationship.

Mise en scene
Byers house- dim lighting, brown clothes, 80s interior
yellow phone contrasts and stands out=
communication
Benny diner- eleven seeks shelter
woods- heavy rain
Nancy's bedroom
choppers, torches, shine elevens, theme of light.

SOUND
Off screen sound of pot wash in beenys diner to on screen of Benny washing
off screen diegetic knocking disruption in the narrative and raises alarm
diegetic dialogue 'you dont sound the same as you did on the phone
non diagetic contrapuntal song commences as soon as Benny is shot- white rabbit Jefferson find song- volume and pace increases as eleven runs away.
non diagetic sci fi instrumental emphasizes tension when they find eleven
Joyce on phone screen diagetic sound of mysterious creature
nacys room- Africa Toto is contrapuntal- romantic moon-80's theme
looking for twig sound and music instrumental

editing 

jump cut nacy room/proximity/intimacy

Connie pace of cuts increases- panic 

sfx electric bang from phone communication with will and sci fi other 

shot reverse shot 

order of the narrative- multi stranded narrative

underlines the LFTVD drama conventions. in the scene- happening mostly simultaneously expect elevens escape and discovery. linking characters at the end of the episode.

the impact of digital technology

Presentations of LFTVD

Production...

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1hPOdOLhCoMXUMpyvVQj5BqzCWgECtAtC1casZ3Nv6iQ/edit?usp=sharing 

Ownership...

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WcOZORCu8fFKySiAlzXFDJ8EZIe26SJyc9ijsDJm8p4/edit?usp=sharing 

Distribution...

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1-1c6Ikuopbl7ItwvhWcHWAQfXHM3uzCAurdBLl_Wb08/edit?usp=sharing 

Circulation...

• https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1RDBwl4DcrSHPSEI3e_-kY4B-Kym7_Sv9t76ceN5_rHo/edit?usp=sharing

Theorists

Todorov: Equilibrium theory

-         Traditional narratives follow a 3 part structure of beginning middle and end which unfolds in a narrative arc of 4 phases: 1. Exposition, 2. Introduction to conflict, 3. Climax, 4. Resolution

-         Narrative is usually a chronological and linear sequence of themes, actions and motives.

-         Todorov identifies that the 3 part structure has 5 stages:

o   Narrative begins with an equilibrium

o   The Equilibrium is usually disrupted by and event to create disequilibrium

Strauss- Binary Oppositions

-         Identified that we understand the world by the relationship that two opposites have together.

-         He believed that narratives are arranged around the conflict of binary oppositions.

-         Some of these oppositions could include:

o   Man vs women

o   Good vs bad