CAPITAL CASE STUDY

Reviews and Features

1) What positive points does the review pick out about Capital? What criticisms are made - either of the TV drama or the original novel?

 - Brilliant allegorical portrait of London, the cast is brilliant, It rings true to a lot of Londoners.

2) What references can you find in the reviews and feature to the idea Capital is a 'state-of-the-nation' drama? How does it capture modern-day London?

 - The bonkers housing market and increasing rate of gentrification across London means that Capital’s ideas still stand. Reflecting the times, the setting has been changed from Clapham (in the 2008 book) to Balham / Tooting (in the 2015 series).

Trailer Analysis

1) How does the drama use camerawork to capture London life?

- All of the shots taken are featured in London.

2) How does the trailer introduce the different narrative strands suggesting tension or enigma in the 40-second running time?

- The trailer features suspense and mystery where we see the characters receiving strange postcards with a vague message written on it. also when one of the hidden characters takes a picture of the outside of someone’s house.

- The trailer also shows tension when a lady wants to know why the postcards are going around and one of the other female characters is getting frustrated at her husband due to the situation.

Capital in Media Magazine

1) What does the article suggest about the 'state of the nation' genre and how Capital is an example of this?

-The action takes place in the melting pot of the UK’s capital, London

- Capital is an attempt to cast a critical eye on the choices made in the first episode around setting, representation and identity, narrative focus and genre.

2) What does the article suggest regarding the setting of Capital?

- Centring the action on a single street then helps bring some focus to the narrative. This is demonstrated in establishing shots at various points in episode one. Aerial shots of large chunks of the city zoom in to smaller segments, before zooming in on Pepys Road in particular, and then a single house or character.

3) What are the major themes in Capital and what does the article suggest regarding the impact of money on communities?

- Income, Immigration

- It seems that money is breaking up the community and, by extension, breaking up social bonds up and down the country.

4) What different representations in Capital are discussed in the article?

- The representations of good versus bad, rich versus poor and industrious versus feckless make for straightforward drama. 

5) What does the final section of the article suggest regarding genre and overall message of the drama?  

- Capital positions the actions of the banks as criminal. 

- If the state-of-the-nation is in some ways unseen, perhaps the job of the artist is to make it clear. Perhaps that is just what Capital is trying to do.

Capital Media Factsheet

1) What does the factsheet say about the characters on the first page?

- The interactions of the characters reflect the tensions between different cultures.

2) Focusing on the industrial contexts, how does Capital help the BBC meet its obligations as a public service broadcaster?

- It aims to support learning of all ages and show the most creative, highest quality and distinctive output services. 

3) What do we learn about the ownership structure for production company Kudos? 

- The ownership of Kudos is a horizontal integration company. 

4) How can David Hesmondhalgh's ideas in The Cultural Industries be linked to Capital and Kudos? 

5) How does the factsheet suggest Capital meets the genre conventions of crime and social realism?

- They used the convention of crime when they included: narrative enigmas, restricted narrative and resolution of a mystery.

- They used the convention of social realism when they: strived to represent regions of UK with authenticity, triumph over adversity and humour and seriousness intertwined in a narrative.

6) How does the factsheet analyse the DVD packaging and what this communicates to the audience?

- The use of promotional images on the DVD cover creates the recognisable brand for the audience. 

- The colour draws the attention away from a stereotypical crime drama since yellow is not associated with crime. 

7) Look at page 5 of the factsheet. Choose one of the audience theories in the table and apply it to Capital.

- Reception Theory: 

Negotiated Reading- We are supposed to learn about the financial and poverty problems in London.

Oppositional Reading- We may think of the drama as being a show about crime or poverty.

Negotiated Reading - From the DVD folder we settle that the show is not about crime because of the colour used(yellow) which isn’t associated with crime. 

                                   

8) What does the factsheet suggest regarding binary oppositions in Capital?  

- Capital uses binary opposition to highlight differences and inequality in Pepys Road to makes us question the inequalities and differences in London.