Downton Abbey

In the BBC TV series Downton Abbey there are representations of different social classes e.g. upper, middle and working. An example of the upper class is the Crawley family. The audience can immediately tell that this family has a huge amount of wealth due to their clothing (smart and expensive looking), house (mansion sized), accessories and their accent (standard English). The daughters of the family are stereotypes as they have a snobby attitude which is to be expected when they have a lot of money however the father of the family, Robert, is a counter stereotype. This is because he shows emotion when knowing innocent people are being harmed despite their position in society, this is shown when he hears the news about the Titanic sinking and mentions how the working class women and children wouldn't have been rescued due to their lack of wealth. An example of the working class is the Crawley's servants. This is seen to be obvious due to their low quality clothing which consists of dull colours and lack of shaping although the workers who give the members of the family food are seen to be wearing smart clothes e.g. tux, dress. This is to keep up appearances in front of the family. Their accents are less standard and more informal whereas the Crawley's accents are very formal and contain standard English.



In this first few seconds of this clip there is an establishing shot. This is used to set the scene, by doing this they are able to show the audience where it's set and give the viewers an idea of their position in society e.g. castle shows they are wealthy, trailer shows they are poor. Another camera shot is used later on in the scene which is an over the shoulder shot. This has been used when the father of the Crawley family, Robert, is looking at the newspaper and the camera goes over his shoulder when he's on the page about the Titanic sinking. By using this shot the audience is able to finally see what the characters have been reacting too. Because the viewers hadn't been shown what all the characters knew it built suspense and made a tense atmosphere. This shot has been used a numerous other times in this clip such as when two servants are talking in the basement at the start of the scene. By using this here the audience are able to recognise the characters having a conversation and are able to follow the storyline by understanding what they're saying.  There is also a close up shot used in this clip. This has been used with certain characters to try and gauge their expression for the audience in tense moments e.g. finding out the news about Titanic. Close up shots make the atmosphere even more tense as it feels more realistic for the viewer as they get more involved with the story and characters so they think their part of the show.



In this clip from the TV series Downton Abbey there are a lot of editing techniques used. The first one is cuts. This is when different shots are cut together to make the scene seem continuous and to show a lot of things are happening at once. In this scene cuts have been used throughout the clip especially when Robert Crawley finds out they knew people who were on the Titanic and didn't get rescued - at this point the cuts appear faster which makes a tense atmosphere. By having faster shots it builds suspense for the audience as they are aware of something about to happen and knows whatever it is will be bad news for the Crawley family. Also the faster cuts show how the characters are feeling which makes the viewers relate more e.g. the faster the pace the more upset/angry the character is. Another editing technique that has been used throughout this scene is a shot reverse shot. This is normally used to show two characters are in a conversation. However this shot has been used numerous times with the servants when they are downstairs preparing the Crawley's breakfast e.g. when one servant is ironing the newspaper and he gets told to only do one. By using a shot reverse shot here the audience is able to see the characters having a conversation but also can see the speed of which everything is happening, this also relates to the pace of the cuts. The audience are able to see how fast the servants are working by the hand-held effect when the camera is reversing with two characters, the shaky effect makes everything looks rushed which contrasts when the camera is upstairs with the Crawley family - this shows the difference between the working class and upper class lifestyles.



During the tense parts of this clip there is non-diegetic sound used. This type of sound is used when the Crawley family find out about the news about the Titanic sinking, after Robert finds out he knew people on board the ship music starts to play over their dialogue as he goes to share the news. The music has a deep bass to build a tense atmosphere which keeps the audience interested with the storyline so they don't get bored or don't understand what is happening. At the start of the clip there is no music to show the order of business and to show the difference between the servants and the Crawley family. There is also diegetic sound used which is shown when the characters use dialogue. Whenever the characters are seen to be talking the audience hear what they are saying, their accents help the audience know which people are from what social class. The servants have a more cockney accent which is more informal with a lot of slang and not a lot of standard English unless they are speaking to one of the members of the Crawley family. Whereas the characters in the Crawley family who live upstairs and not in the basement their accents are more formal with a lot of standard English which doesn't change depending on who they are talking to. Due to the differences of their accents the viewers find it much more easier to understand where each character belongs and helps when following the storyline of the series.



There are a lot of other things suggesting the characters social class. For example, their clothing. Members of the Crawley family all wear clothes that would normally be worn for important occasions however they seem to wear them for everyday use e.g. women wear dresses/gowns and men wear black tuxes. Their clothes also look expensive due to their high quality and form fitting looks. The servants who work in the basement are seen to be wearing dull and dirty looking rag clothes that seem to be cheap and have a lack of good quality fabrics due to the tears in their outfits. However the servants who deliver the food to the Crawley family wear better looking clothing e.g. tux so they look professional and put together for every member of the family. This makes it clear for the audience who is who and who's wealthy or poor. There is a contrast of lighting in this scene to represent the different areas of social class. In the basement the lighting is dark and dreary to show the servants position downstairs whereas upstairs with the Crawley family the lighting is bright and cheerful looking. This could represent how the wealthy people in upper class are happier and have no worries due to having everything they want but people who are poor and in the working class are sad/depressed as they have to work hard everyday in order to eat food and stay healthy. The props also show the characters position in society as the servants are surrounded by cleaning products, dishes etc. but the Crawley family have expensive looking furniture and ornaments.