TV Drama Review

The Moorside- Episode One 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dxvc0

My review of The Moorside

I thought that The Moorside was an extremely interesting two episode drama, due to the extremely realistic nature of it. For example there is a moment where main character Karen; mother to abducted daughter Shannon, calls the police and the ITV and BBC news crew turn up, this was extremely effective as it was bringing the real world into the drama. I also thought the setting of the drama was effective using a council estate for the main location, a community centre, and then a police station. It was obvious that none of them were created sets and they were filmed on location, and as the drama is based on a true story it added a more realistic feel. The fact that quite a lot of the show is filmed hand held is a technique that creates a feel that I as the audience am there at the locations which again makes it more raw, and something I would like to do in my own work when following characters. I really liked how the audience are made to feel sympathy for Karen at the start of the programme when Shannon first goes missing, and then when they find out that Karen knew where Shannon was I as the audience was immediately angry at her, but then when we find out why she did what she did we again feel sorry for her. I felt that this shift in how I was made to feel was very clever and made my connections to characters stronger.

How The Moorside influenced my work

The first way that The Moorside majorly influenced my screenwriting was the use of dialogue surrounding the children. The drama is about child abduction and the main character Shannon that was hidden is only featured in the programme once and it's a wide shot with just her back shown, this was powerful as the whole story is about her yet her face is never seen, this is definitely something that will influence my work as it is based around a child similar age to character Shannon. There are a few moments where children are playing in living rooms or in the police station however they have very little dialogue and the shots are more focussed on them playing, this creates a more infantile feel and is something that I will use with my main character May who is nine to highlight that she is only a child and is vulnerable.

Another way that The Moorside influenced my work was with the locations used. Particularly the outside locations such as park benches, alleyways, busy run-down housing estate streets and in cars. They are very simple locations yet they are effective as it gives a raw sense to the programme and creates a strong sense of realism; something that I wish to convey in my project. The scene where Julie (Karens friend) is sitting on the park bench chatting to her friend Natalie definitely influenced my work as it is a very infantile setting and surrounding with the distant sound of children's laughter. The shot is focussed on Julie and Natalie however in the background there are children playing and this again highlights that the story is about children but shown from the adults perspective. The play on perspectives here is something that has influenced my work as I would like to show my story from the mothers perspective and then the childs perspective to create a strong and unexpected twist. The programme also influenced me to use a park for my setting as in The Moorside they are sat in the park discussing child abduction which is quite ironic as it is a place that is usually associated with innocence and they are discussing danger in the centre of it in a wide shot with children playing in the background, this creates high levels of tension. Therefore this influenced me to use a park as May tells her mum that she is "touched" and I thought it would be good to set it there due to the extremely safe and fun connotations with parks and then add danger to it by having the May tell her mum she has been sexually assaulted it flips what the audience expects just as The Moorside did.

The Moorside uses many pauses of dialogue with music to indicate moments. For example when Shannon has been found there is a scene of the local community cheering in the streets and then this cuts to a much quieter scene of the main police officer working on the case DC Freeman looking out of the window watching Shannon enter the station. There is a soft ambient piece of piano music playing quietly and we see a close up of her, she has a blank expression but the shot style and music alone convey the emotion of the scene. This influenced my work as I wish to use a piece of music that is quite dark and dull whilst showing May walk into the bush where she says she is assaulted, this is one of the key moments in my script so I want it to stand out. I would like her to have a blank expression and hopefully that with the music will convey that something dark is about to happen, just as it did in The Moorside.

The Moorside also uses time of day and lighting to indicate levels of danger. For example when Shannon is found there is no danger as the audience know she is safe and we see a wide shot of the community cheering, it is indicated that it is midday with the high key light being the sun and the scene is quite upbeat. Whereas there is a scene set in the evening in Karens home where we see a establishing shot of the town at night and then inside Karens home with DC Freeman telling Karen that Shannon may not be alive. This scene has a more dangerous feel to it as it's the first time I as the audience also considered that Shannon may be dead. Even though it is set inside the lighting is still very low and this adds a dark and sad tone to the show. Therefore I would also like to use this effect in my extract. The piece will start in the afternoon when all characters are safe and there will be a bright light outside to portray that there is no sense of danger, then when the evening approaches and the light becomes darker until it is very low the danger will creep in and this is when May will go into the bush and scream. Hence the different times of day and different levels of lighting will indicate the levels of danger in my film, just as they do in The Moorside.

The final way that The Moorside has impacted my work is with the style of dialogue. The programme is set in West Yorkshire and there are lots of slang terms used in it such as "nout", "innit" and "aint". These all make the programme feel natural as well as cutting to many shots of the local community doing normal everyday activities such as feeding cats and cleaning windows. This is something that I have used in my own script with May saying lines such as "oi" to her mum rather than something more formal as that would not fit with theme of my film, I want it to feel natural so I have included shots of May walking through the park and sitting on the play equipment.

In conclusion The Moorside has definitely impacted my screenwriting with lots of different aspects such as lighting levels, shots, dialogue, settings and how to portray safety and danger.