My case study on the TV show Teen Wolf for my AS Media course.

1. My Case Study on…
May Contain Spoilers

2. Information
Teen wolf is a MTV TV Drama based off the 1985 film. Jeff Davis is the
Executive Producer, Writer and Creator. It is on its “fourth” season,
though it has technically had five, and a “fifth” season is in the
making. 61 episodes have been aired and each episode is around 40
minutes long. It was premiered on July 5 2011 and Season 3B had the
highest viewing average (US) at 2.05 million people.
Genres: Teen Drama, Horror, Supernatural, Action, Comedy-Drama,
Romance Season Average
Views (in US)
(Million)
1 1.69
2 1.70
3(a) 1.9
3(b) 2.05
4 1.61

3. Original Characters and Cast
Scott McCall
-Tyler Posey
Stiles Stilinski
– Dylan O’Brien
Allison Argent –
Crystal Reed
Lydia Martin
– Holland Roden
Derek Hale
– Tyler Hoechiln
Peter Hale
– Ian Bohen
Jackson Whittemore
– Colton Haynes
Isaac Lahey
– Daniel Sharman
Werewolf
hunter Banshee
human
Kanima / Werewolf

4. Storyline
Season 1 is based around the character Scott who got bitten by a
creature, which turns out to be a werewolf, while helping his best
friend Stiles find half a dead body in the woods. It focuses on what he
goes through and the battle between werewolves and Hunters, who
just happen to be the family of his girlfriend Allison. There is also the
mystery behind the Hale family. Fights happen not only between them,
but also wolf to wolf, for the position of Alpha; the one wolf that the
other wolves in the area or “territory” have to listen to.
The seasons to follow continue with new characters and new creatures
being added and also characters leaving, either moving or dying.

5. Does it Reflect the Zeitgeist?
• An iPhone is used in a scene which
makes it clear that it is the 21st
century. It relates to modern society
with our technology, i.e. nearly
everyone has a mobile phone.
• Laptops are used constantly by
the characters for researching,
showing that even though it is
set in a universe of supernatural
creatures, even they have a
dependence on the internet
over books.
• They make references to
movies or TV shows from
the 21st century, for example
the movie The Notebook or
the comics/movies of
Batman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist

6. Camera Shots
Shot/Reverse Shot is
used a lot, for it is
used to convey a
conversation.
This shot is typically
used to show a
character looking at
another or holding
conversation.
Close ups are
used frequently
throughout. They
are normally used
in filming to hold
a character in
close frame to
show emotion or
to convey the
importance of an
Extreme Close ups object.
are used and the
shot is often to
show the
characters eyes,
mouth, teeth or an
object.
Long shots are used to
show the whole scene,
which can also be used as
an establishing shot.

7. Mise-en-Scene
Some of the characters are shown to
be wearing a form of leather jacket.
This shows that they are all part of the
same group, in this context this would
be Derek's pack.
In the scene where Stiles is either having
panic attacks or nightmares, the clothes
he wears are always dirty/sweaty/ruffed
up. And the lighting is always dim or
unfocused to make for a dark, uneasy
atmosphere.
They use mise-en-scene to
show where the characters
are, for example they put
lockers down a corridor and
it becomes a school.

8. I am going to use this clip to show what they
do typically in a few scenes of teen wolf. (clip is
from season 3B, Stiles isn’t normally “evil”)
The show is produced by MTV so they use music a lot, they take popular
songs and change them/revamp them for what they need. In this scene they
take this song and revamped it with new music and singer. They completely
change the mood of it.
They also add sound effects to this scene, such as
the stabbing of the nurse through a desk, or the
panting coming from the nurse after.
There is diegetic sound at the start like life support machines and people
talking. These are the natural sounds you would hear in a hospital and sets
the scene for the rest of the clip.
The non-diegetic sounds are there to build tension. The “thrum” sound in
the background and “thump” when they stab the nurse at the desk. They
are for dramatic effect to show the audience the seriousness of the
situation.

9. Editing
Used this clip to show a way editing is
used. (This is from season 3A)
The way that the camera shots are editing make it so that you can see
Isaac’s panic. He is claustrophobic so he is terrified. And the shots are
made to be short and fast to represent that he is getting more and more
wound up. The shots then suddenly slow down to bring out the colour
change in his eyes, so the audience knows that he has lost control and is
running on instinct.
They use to clip of her opening the door to come right after the
close up of Isaac’s face to speed up time, and make it seem that
they have travelled to the next scene. This is away of compressing
time.

10. Convergent Nature of Modern Media
Media convergence is the merging of two or more mediums (Such as
TV/Radio etc.) The producers of Teen Wolf have taken this into
consideration. They have made soundtracks for the music they produced for
the seasons, have their own section on the MTV website, a animated recap
show and have the episodes online. They have their own YouTube, twitter,
Facebook and tumbr pages. All of these things make it for easy ways to find
out about the show and to start to watch it.
To add to this they even have an “After Show” and a “After After Show”.
These are used to get more viewings for the next episode by showing
previews or showing the actors behind set/the actors opinion on what is
happening and this entices the audience to carry on watching or to start
watching.
This shows that the makers have an understanding of the convergence
of modern media because they know that people will look on the
internet and find this stuff. They know that it would be a lost
opportunity if they didn’t do these things.

11. Genders
In Teen Wolf gender isn’t really used as how you would normally see it in a
drama. In the hunter family, the females are in charge and the males take
orders. In relationships there are scenes where the female is the ‘dominate’
one. Because of their “creature instincts” they don’t like to be seen as soft.
There are female creatures too, such as werewolves, werejaguars and a
banshee. They are not seen as weak because they are female, they are in
some cases stronger than the male counter part. If the female character is
shown as “weak”, like the character Erica, later on they become confident
and strong.
There are males that are seen as “alpha” but there
are also male characters who are seen as weak too.
The character stiles is normally seen as weak and
useless because he is human.
Erica –
before and after.

12. Sexuality
Sexuality is shown in a good way. There is a gay couple in Teen
Wolf and not once is there a negative scene about sexuality.
They don’t use terms like “that’s so gay” or the like. There are
jokes about certain character's sexuality, but they are not
offensive. Overall sexuality is mainly heterosexual but there
are moments of different sexualities coming in, and they are
never in a negative light.
The reason for this is the director, Jeff
Davis, homosexual himself and he wanted
to show “a world where none of that
matters.”

13. Ethnic Groups
There are lots of different ethnic
groups incorporated.
75.9% of the characters are white, 10.3% are black, 6.9% are Hispanic, 3.4% are
Hawaiian, and 3.4% are Indian. They are representations of the census of the
California state (where the show is set). There are no stereotypes at all used to
show these groups.
Boyd - Black
Kali - Indian
Danny - Hawaiian Scott - Hispanic