Textual research: Midsomer Murders

I watched season 16 episode 1 (which, admittedly, I chose as it was the first recent episode which I found on Daily Motion) of Midsomer Murders, ITV's popular murder-mystery series starring John Nettles which has been on-air since 1997. I chose to watch this as one genre which I am considering making for my coursework is the murder mystery genre. The episode is entitled 'The Christmas Haunting' and focuses on the investigation into the fatal stabbing of a man with an antique sword during a ghost-hunting party at a 'haunted' manor house.

Overall I enjoyed the episode; it was quite cheesy but was entertaining and didn't take itself too seriously. However, I'm not sure that a murder mystery programme (at least in this form) would best fit the coursework brief, as I can't see it appealing to many millennials. The show feels very old-fashioned and does not seem cool or edgy enough to have the kind of young, mainstream appeal which the exam board is after. It can be done, however, as shows like Sherlock have shown, by giving a modern twist to a somewhat dated genre - something like that could be the kind of show that ITV might be lacking and, therefore, looking for.

The style of the episode I felt was fairly typical of the crime genre. The colour palette was quite dull and had lots of cool blues, and the camerawork consisted of a mixture of tripod and handheld shots, along with various tracking, panning and tilting shots throughout. This type of style would work well for my coursework as it shows the ability to use a range of micro-elements to create meaning whilst not becoming overly-stylized. There is a definite hybridity in this sequence with the horror genre, created with the use of mise-en-scene such as the creepy dolls and low key lighting along with the sound design which combines non-diegetic atmospheric music with diegetic sounds typical of the horror genre such as wind chimes and footsteps. The camerawork is fairly simple, although a couple of shots which stand out are the POV shots from the killer's perspective, especially the night-vision one near the end, and the group shots of the ghost-hunters with torches and equipment with Spielberg-esque lighting.

I chose to study the opening scene in more detail as I felt that this (along with one or two other scenes) would fit the brief for the coursework by showing a turning point/moment of conflict in the show.

As for my action plan, I had aimed to decide on my final genre by the end of this week; at this point it feels like my decision would be a little premature, however I think that the general crime genre (including its many sub-genres such as murder mystery) would be my best option in terms of feasibility, meeting the exam brief and - of course - how enjoyable it would be for me to make. I may have been a little over-ambitious with my action plan, so will have to update it accordingly and push back some tasks to next week (I still have yet to put pen to paper and write down any specific ideas for shows).