House

(from watching TV Series House MD - 'Pilot') 

House is one of the medical dramas I can bring myself to watch. Although it sometimes makes me squeamish, the way the stories are told are clever and engaging, because of all the twists and turns in every episode.

Hugh Laurie (who plays the main character Dr. Gregory House) portrays the part to an excellent standard, presenting to the audience a character, which is considered to be the best diagnostician in the nation, but also showing his struggles and differences, such as hating dealing with patients and physical health problems. The fact his ethics are quite questionable by the audience, makes him (and the show) different from other medical dramas (Doctors in shows such as Holby City are portrayed as caring and kind) – it makes his character more complex, making the audience more interested about finding out about him, and also makes the show stand out from those in the same genre.

As the show goes on, I started to notice some conventions in footage, for example, when House figures out a condition, the same expression is shown on his face, which the audience learn to recognise and therefore understand what’s about to happen in the drama. This keeps consistency, and also allows the audience to know there’s a twist they wouldn’t expect, they expect one, but it still poses an enigma as to what it is.

Most camera work is kept eye-level, allowing the audience to feel like they are there with the characters and therefore more enticed into the program. And shots are usually very professional in regards to a scene. If something is happening (e.g. a patient crashes) the shots are changing fast to capture the room and what role every doctor is playing to save the patients life, or if something as happened in regards to losing a patient, the music and shots are slow to capture the atmosphere and present it to the audience in a way to make them emphasise with the character. It transfers these emotions (or tension) to the audience, using music and realistic medical sound effects.

There are many things to say about this program, but it’s something I’m looking at in regards to making my work stand out in its genre, as well as producing my work to a professional standard for both my audience and myself.