Lockdown Content 2

 Lockdown Content

A) How are the main characters introduced? What character types are they supposed to represent? What are their individual personality traits and family and social backgrounds and how are these depicted? 

In this short we are introduced to the main character from the perspective we are watching her video journal in lockdown. We find out her name as we hear her talking to herself in day one of her video journal. As we go on, we meet the rest of the characters via an online video call. Over the course of the episode you begin to find out the different personality traits of each character. 

For the main character Nira, it is clear right from the outset of the video that she is living in a nice house with a family that are doing well for money. This is seen by seeing shots of her house, like the one in the screenshot below:

There are two other female characters we get introduced to. They are called Sam and Emi. It is clear, throughout the video that the three girls have there own 'close' friendship group. Several times throughout the video they convene into their own video call to gossip. This can be seen below:

We learn that the character Emi is obsessed with this guy called Luke that she 'creeps' on because she it too scared to actually talk to him. We do not really learn as much about Sam in my opinion. She seems neutral. Looking at their houses it is clear they are all living well.

There are two boys in the friendship group, Aiden and Chris. You see throughout the video that Chris is obsessed with getting online fame. He wants lots of likes.

Meanwhile we don't see much of Aiden in this episode, but when we do he comes across super relaxed and much of a 'gamer guy'.

B) What elements of new technology/online culture/social media are incorporated in the way the characters interact and how the programme is constructed? What, if any elements of what we see, is non-diegetic,i.e. do we ever see events not mediated through webcams/phone cameras/ zoom calls, etc? What effect does this have for the viewer and how we relate to the characters or action?

The most obvious method of new technology and online culture which is featured in the programme is the communication via a video calling programme, created to essentially be a replica of zoom which was a software heavily used during the pandemic.

Throughout the episode pretty much all the sound we hear is diagetic. The only sound we hear which is non-diegetic is the scream which the episode is themed around.

The entire episode seems to be filmed on either phone cameras or webcams. This is good from a production point of view in lockdown as all the actors would have probably had access to these devices.

C) How does the episode use Thriller, Crime or Horror conventions to set up it's central mystery? Give examples and say in what ways you think Lockdown plays with our narrative expectations?

Throughout this show we are introduced to several conventions of Thriller conventions. Often in a thriller you will find a group of young teens. This is exactly what you can see in this piece of content. The main character is the one who 'witnesses' the crime and upon telling her friends begins to understand that they don't really fully believe her. This is another typical convention of this genre.

The fact this is created in lockdown adds to the sense of tension created by the thriller. This is because you know if something is about to happen to one of them. None of the others are nearby to save them or help them from being in danger. This plays with our narrative expectations as we leave ourselves guessing in are head what might happen even more than normal. It is not a convention of thriller to be in lockdown!