Existing Product Primary Research

Friday Night Dinner

Textual Analysis

Mise en scene
Characters are wearing normal, everyday clothes, this represents the fact that they are normal people going about their day-to-day lives. The sitcom is set in a suburban house, showing that the characters are quite well-off and also family orientated. There is not a lot of action in the episode, the characters spend a lot of time standing around talking. This is an attempt to portray every day life and is very common in sitcoms. This would be appealing to the audience, as people watch sitcoms as they are very close to real life. Therefore, the audience are able to relate to the characters and their lives. Colours are quite muted so that they are close to every day life, perhaps showing how ordinary it really is. Simon Bird from 'The Inbetweeners' has been cast in Friday Night Dinner, this is because he is known for being in sitcoms. This will also make the show appeal to people who already like and watch 'The Inbetweeners.'

Sound
Most of the sound used is just ordinary dialogue, typical of sitcoms. This is because sitcoms are mostly based around dialogue. The dialogue is ordinary so that the sitcom can be as close to to real-life as possible. Small amounts of non-diegetic music is used when not a lot of talking is happening, perhaps to make the scenes more interesting.

Camera work
The camera differentiates between long-shots, mid-shots and close-ups depending on what is happening and who is talking. When only one person is talking, there is usually a close-up of them, so that we can focus on their dialogue. The camera angle doesn't change and there isn't much camera movement, this is once again to make the show as realistic as possible.

Lighting
The lighting matches the situation. When the family is outside, the lighting is low key so that we can tell it is the night time. When they are inside, the lighting is quite natural so we can believe the setting is an every-day house.

Editing
There is no noticeable editing. All editing is kept natural and to a minimum in order for the scenes to look realistic. There are no major transitions between the shots, only jump cuts are used. This creates a continuous shot, looking as natural as possible. The shots are in a linear order so that it mimics real life.


Narrative

Equilibrium:
- Jackie and Martin are cleaning out the garage
- Johnny and Adam are coming home for dinner
- Jackie is in a rush to cook dinner so that she can watch 'Masterchef'

Disruption:
- Jackie wants Martin to throw away old copies of his magazines
- Martin has ordered more copies of 'New Scientist' magazine and asks Adam not to tell Jackie
- Martin asks Johnny to look after his old copies of New Scientist for him
- Jim (the next door neighbour) keeps interrupting dinner by asking to use their toilet
- The sofa-bed man comes unexpectedly, interrupting dinner further. They all have to help carry the sofa-bed out the house
- Jackie misses Masterchef because they have trouble taking the sofa-bed downstairs

New Equilibrium:
- Jackie finds out that Martin still has the magazines and Martin agrees to throw them out
- The sofa-bed is no longer needed so they leave it where it is
- Jim tells Jackie who wins Masterchef so she no longer needs to watch it


Action:
secrets between characters shows there will be trouble- will they find out? what will happen if they do?
practical jokes set up- will it work? will it go wrong? what will the aftermath be?


Enigma:
What happened to Jim's toilet?

Semic:
Adam- a bit of a nerd, socially awkward but quite clever (jumper, glasses, neat hair)
Jim- a bit weird and creepy (big glasses, moustache, greasy hair)
Jackie- quite posh, likes to take care of herself, successful (well dressed, neat hair and makeup)
Martin- a bit odd, still tries to look cool, typical dad (no shirt, jeans, trainers)
Johnny- good job, but still a bit stupid and inexperienced (suit, young, longish messy hair)

Symbolic:
Big, posh, tidy house shows they have quite a lot of money
Focus on family dinner shows they are family orientated
The amount of rows they have show they are quite a dysfunctional family

Cultural:
Reference to another show, makes it seem as though they are like us and watch the same shows as we do
Slang and bad language used by characters, use the same sort of language as target audience, so they can relate