Cuffs Extract Practice

Police Genre Conventions:

• Audience Expectations: 
• Violence
• Chase scene
• Generic police
• Exciting violence
• What Kind Of Characters:
• Good cop/bad cop
• Generic police officers
• Family issues
• What Locations:
• BTEC-Colchester
• Urban and rural
• Props:
• Handcuffs
• Police cars
• Police uniform
• Narrative:
• Plot enigma drives audience appeal 

What do the opening scene and credits suggest/tell us about the genre, narrative and characters? What would the audience expect from the series?

Within the opening sequence of Cuffs, the genre is portrayed differently to most crime dramas. This is shown in the opening sequence when most of the visuals are of graffiti, crime or deprived areas with parts where it shows the main police officers. This is also accompanied by yellow text which is different to most dramas which usually adopts the colour scheme of blue and black with the inclusions of red. This sets up the show to be a different from most within the genre.     

How has sound been used to create meaning?

Sound has been used to create juxtaposing opinions of the police force from the public to the force itself. This has been used when the voice over says, "earning enduring respect from the public" but further on, the man who the main police officer helps turns to him and says, "Seriously, what is the point of you?". This dialogue creates a view of how the public sees the police force compared to how they think they are respected within the public. This creates meaning within the show on how it portrays the hardships of being in the police force.

Sound has been used to portray the hardships of the police officers through the use of the diegetic sound. This has been used when the officer has been punched and the diegetic sound of the "click" is heard. This portrays the headship of police officers interacting with the public. This then further creates meaning within the show in how the police are mis-treated by the public.