AICE Media Extract Essay: Game of Thrones
This extract shows two men entering a new city on the premise of making a request. It is likely that the request was to form an alliance. The lords of the kingdom refuse. However, after a discussion with one of the men, the lords will have the fulfill their request. All of the characters in the extract are reluctant and seem as if they would’ve liked to have avoided this new forced alliance.
From the beginning of the extract you can sense a sort of tension in the two men entering this new city. Right of the bat the non-diegetic music is completely dry of hope, which adds an ominous mood to the upcoming scenes. The aerial establishing shot that comes with the ominous music provides context to the scenes that follow it by showing the men arriving into the city; proving that they are not from there. Not to mention that the lighting in this scene is bright but drained of color. All of the characters clothing is dark, the city is dead, and the sky is pale. This shot is followed by the two men are staring off into the distance at the city with serious faces. There was no dialogue in this scene, but it was not silent: seagulls gawked in the background and so did the mumbling men sailors on the ship. Therefore, showing that the two men heading into this new kingdom are unhappy about being there.
From the ship to the scene in the castle we see a jump in time. This jump cut along with some help from the dialogue that followed helped show that the men had been waiting a long time. Waiting a long time is often a sign of unfortune. The men came to the kingdom for a reason and seemed to be waiting on someone or something to complete what they set out to do. In the meanwhile, the men begin to talk. One of the men is pacing up and down while the other one is speaking to him. This two-shot shows one man’s anxiety in the background and the other one’s composure in the same shot. It can serve to contrast the two and how differently they will react in future scenes. The dialogue they produce introduces a superiority factor in their relationship. It begins to become clear that one of the men is the other subordinate. The lighting in the castle they’re in is very dark. As they were talking you could see the shadows from the man who is pacing. Overall, this scene serves to introduce the characters and a bit of how they are like, which foreshadows the scenes that are to come.
After the men are converse a little, three new men come from a door in the room. As the door opens you hear a squeaky noise come from it which is immediately followed by the clopping of footsteps. The feet of the three lords are followed with a tracking shot which does not capture their faces. The close up of the feet introduce the new characters with a superiority complex as they sit at the table. After the lords sit down, they begin speaking to the two men. Only one of them speaks but when he does the dialogue, he uses immediately shows he believes he’s brunt and thinks lesser of the two men. As the men begin to converse their words are followed with a shot-reverse- shot. This technique was used to focus on each person as they talk. Another trend in their conversation is that all the men are shot at eye-level. This could be to show that neither of them is superior than the other. Their words might suggest that the three lords are indeed better at first, as it develops it appears that they need the two men as much as they do. It also becomes apparent that one of the two men is a lord as well. However, upon learning that his request was denied he quickly gets up to leave without arguing. His subordinate begins to defend him and while doing so the viewers get a better view of his clothes. In comparison to the four other lords in the room his clothes were made of cloth while theirs was made of leather. All of these factors develop the status of the people in the room and develop their characters.
In conclusion, the extract showed two men going to a different kingdom in search of an alliance. Throughout these scenes viewers get to learn about the characters, their personalities and status, all while understanding that the situation they were in was not wanted.
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