This document discusses techniques used in the long-running British medical drama television series Casualty. It analyzes the camera shots, angles, and movements used to immerse viewers. It also examines the mise-en-scene elements of setting, props, costumes, makeup, hair, facial expressions, and lighting used to create realism. Finally, it notes that Casualty follows a linear narrative structure with cliffhangers and employs Barthes' codes of narrative to engage audiences.

1. Keeping schtum

2. Background Information
• Casualty is a British medical TV series drama which airs weekly on BBC 1. This is the longest
running medical drama in the world. Created by Jeremey Brock and Paul Unwin, it first
broadcasted on the 6th of September 1986.
• Casualty and Holby City are both filmed in Holby city hospital in the south-west of
England.
• The TV show is focused on the staff and patients of the hospital's Accident and
Emergency Department.
• The original producer of Casualty was Geraint Morris.

3. Camera angles, shots and
movement
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dFK1M5BRrE
• Throughout the 5 minute clip we see different camera angles and shots that
allows the audience to get familiar to the atmosphere. The camera shots,
angles and movements that I have noticed throughout the clips are: Over the
shoulder, Close up, Extreme close up, High angle, Wide shot, Two shot, Deep
Shot, Cut-In. All of these shots makes the audience more engrossed and
involved.

4. Mise-en-scene
• Settings-The setting of this TV drama distinguish what the genre it is. Because
this is a medical drama, the obvious setting for this would be in a hospital. The
setting influences the audience because it gives them a certain expectation
on what's going to happen. This has an effect of realism.
• Props-Props can help the audience identify the type of character they are.
For example in the picture below, the denotation of this picture is a women
has rubber gloves on and a stethoscope. On the other hand the connotation
of this is that it suggests that she is a doctor.

5. Mise-en-scene
• Costume- The costumes that the actors are
wearing immediately tells us what age/society
that they are in. Especially in a medical drama
we can see the different status. In this picture
below we can see 3 different dressed people
below. The connotation of the people that are
in blue shows use that they are nurses which
suggest their at the bottom of the hierarchy ,
then two men that are in green and then the
women in the green dress. The reason why we
can tell that she is at the top is by the way that
she is dressed
• Make-up/hair- The hair and make-up for the
staff are all done causal because to create
more realism. However for the patient they are
done more drastically to make it more realistic.

6. Mise-en-scene
Facial expression/Body language- Facial expression and body language gives
use a clear indication of how someone is feeling. The representation of staff
working in hospitals are serious and professional which doesn’t allow them to give
that much emotions however for the patients it’s different, to make the TV drama
realistic there are different emotions. However because it’s a TV drama there are
different emotions that are involved.
• Lighting- Lighting can be used to give a realistic look and it can bring out a
dramatic nature in a scene. Different types of lighting can appeal to different
genres. For example in Casualty there isn’t much natural lighting but on
artificial white lighting.

7. Narrative
• Casualty is more a linear structure where the audience introduced to
characters at the beginning, then in the middle the story builds up and then
there is closure at the end. However because this is a TV drama there are a
lot of cliff hangers.
• I think that Casualty follows Barthes theory. His theory described narrative as a
series of codes that are read and interpreted by the audience.
• The codes that he follows are:
• Action code- is something that the audience doesn't need to be explained.
• Enigma code-something hidden from the audience
• Semic code- something that the audience recognise through connotation
• Symbolic code- something that symbolizes a more abstract concept.
• Cultural code- Something that is read with understanding due to cultural
awareness.