Thursday, March 12, 2015
Open Series Analysis
Raven Maragh
Open Series Analysis: Television Studies
Fall 2015
The Affair
The
series The Affair premiered on
Showtime in November 2014 and has since won a Golden Globe in the category of
Best Drama Series in 2015. With a viewership of 3.8 million viewers per week,
according to Nielsen ratings[1],
The Affair, follows the journey of
two individuals, Noah Solloway (Dominic West) and Alison Lockhart (Ruth Wilson)
who start an affair together in the Hamptons but are both still married. Add in
the complication that Noah’s relationship doesn’t seem ‘typical’ for an
affair-inducing environment (both he and his wife seem happy), Alison having
personal tragedies and someone being murdered, this show is ripe for sex, lies,
manipulation, and retribution.
This open series
analysis explores these themes and more by looking at each frame and drawing
some important trends out about the show and its appeal to viewers. Rushing
bodies of water are seen throughout the opening coupled with Dominic and Ruth
together and separate. The beach as vast and wondrous is often juxtaposed with
darkness and the crashing of waves, possibly signaling the clean, crisp
exterior of the Hamptons and the depth of turmoil that often belies beneath the
surface (also germane for individuals and their marriages). The first frame
begins with the ocean and crashing waters with a high angle looking downward
with dim lighting; the credits begin here as well as the song that begins, “ I
was screaming into the canyon at the moment of my death…” The second camera
frame moves from above to looking ahead with the same dark lighting, except the
make out of the sunrise or sunset is now visible. This above camera angle to
below is common throughout the opening series and could be seen as inviting the
viewer into the chaos of life (the show). From the crashing waves, a book
appears in frame #3 with its pages flipping quickly–the camera angle moves here
from above the book to a side angle with a close up throughout. Throughout
these frames there are images superimposed upon each other with a sort of
shuttering of the camera gaze. In other words, the opening invites the viewer
in, on a ground level rather than above, to open her/his curiosity through
fleeting images superimposed on each other. Frame #4 then moves from the book
(referencing Noah as he is a writer) to a woman under water who is lying
horizontal and slowing blinking over the audio (“…buried a man”). Here, this
frame seems to allude to Alison’s turmoil in her past as she lost someone who
drowned yet it seems that she is the one drowning, which could be foreshadowing
to her reliance on Noah.
There are also
very quick frames like the rock being uncovered by fleeting black sand between
clear frames such as #7 where two bodies are caressing each other–the camera
angle still on the side (from the left in this frame). From here, the frames
move from Noah and Alison caressing each other to the waves crashing furiously;
then, Noah and Alison are seen separately both pensively looking into something
not shown. Interestingly, Noah’s wife is shown in frame #22 looking down
(disappointed and hurt by her husband cheating) but Alison’s husband is not
shown in the opening. As Stuart Hall reminds us, absence is just as important
as presence in terms of analyzing content. In frame #20 a boy is seen running
and playing on the beach, which seems to disrupt the adult, harsh images of
tension between Noah and Alison. This could allude to some innocence in the web
of relationships throughout the show such as Noah’s 4 children or Alison’s lost
child. Overall, the opening series presents fleeting images like the shutter of
a camera that alludes to the conflict of the show: a forbidden relationship,
its consequences, the innocence that could still be found and the swallowing up
of it all in the ocean–for better or worse.
_______________________________________________________________________
An Analysis of The
Affair
Shot #; Video; Audio
1. Series opens with moving dark body of water and credits;
high angle looking down on water; Audio: “I was screaming into the canyon at
the moment of my death…”
2. Camera angle moves from looking down on ocean to looking
ahead; same body of dark water; can see sunrise/sunset; credits still rolling;
Audio: “…the echo I created outlasted my last breath…”
3. Moves from moving water to close up on a book; shot into
the book with high camera angle, pages flip; camera angle down into book then
moves from the sides of the pages; back and forth between high angle and side
angle of pages; flutter angles; Audio: “…my voice it made an avalanche and
buried a man…”
4. Slight picture of women under water; back and forth with
the book; words on her face; Audio: “…and buried a man…”
5. Clear side angle of profile of someone’s face under
water; left angle; eyes open, blinks once; woman; lying down; closes eyes, end
of frame; Audio: “…I never knew…”
6. Moving water over shot of a bowl holding water on a rock;
blueish tint to frames; Audio: “…and when he died his widow…”
7. Hand holding on to another body; caressing; man and
woman; water in the background—not physically but superimposed; sunset/rise;
Audio: “…bride met your daddy and they made you…”
8. Gravel or sand; black/gray; wind blowing it and revealing
object (rock?); Audio: “I have only one thing…”
9. Two bodies in bedroom; left side angle; man caressing
woman’s body; angle from her behind; can’t see faces; only see the back of her
and his hand over her body; bottom of screen in sunset/rise over some hilltops;
Audio: “…to do and that’s be the way that I am and then…”
10. Wild ocean again; shot looking ahead into the
sunset/rise; angle on top of water with high tidal wave looking like it will
consume camera; Audio: “…sink back into the…”
11. Camera gets swallowed by wave quickly, comes back up;
Audio: “ocean”
12. Shot of hook on black sand surrounded by rocks; wind
blowing sand off to reveal more clearly rocks and hook; Audio: “I have only one
thing to do and that’s be the wave that I am and then…”
13. Shot of ocean; less blue tint and more sun now (yellow);
rather than facing out to the ocean and sun, this angle is the side of the
ocean facing the sand, partly in the water; sand in one part of the screen and
ocean in another; person (woman?) standing on the beach looking into the ocean;
waves crash at her feet; Audio: “sink back into the ocean”
14. Angle from under water; looking at an object; Audio: “I
have only one thing”
15. Woman sitting on something; feet to her chest; camera
angle from her chest, all you see is her feet and her arms wrapped around her
feet; Audio: “to do”
16. Noah (Dominic West); superimposed over water; looking
pensively out; Audio: “and that’s be the wave”
17. Then Noah, water, and Ruth Wilson comes up; looks like
she’s looking out a window; all superimposed on each other; angle from left
side; more profile on him; more front on her; Audio: “that I am and then”
18. Full frame on Wilson now looking out of the window;
Audio: “sink”
19. Water colliding, angle high; Audio: “back into”
20. Child running along beach; camera to his back; tilted
angle toward ocean; full clothed; no shoes; another child in beach; Audio: “the
ocean,” start whisper “sink back into”
21. Front angle of Noah; close up to face; blurry;
presumably what Ruth sees? Audio: whisper “the ocean”
22. Wife of Noah; close up; head down; profile; superimposed
over water; Audio: “sink back into”
23. Water wild; colliding; angle looking like you’re in the
ocean; Audio: “the ocean”
24. Under water; bubbles; Audio: “sink back into the ooooh”
25. Above water again; angle in the ocean; very quick shot
of hand reaching out into the ocean; married finger shown; looks like he/she is
in water reaching out with one hand; on right hand side of the screen; Audio:
“sink back into ocean”
26. Hand goes down; camera goes down back into ocean; Audio:
“sink back into the ohh”
27. Water—distorted images
28. Wave coming at camera angle again; Audio: “sink back
into the”
29. Goes under; camera then pans out; from beneath water;
Audio: “ocean; sink back into the ocean; crazy water”
30. Quick pan from under water to surface to where sand
meets water; sees feet (one pair); high camera angle looking down to feet at
bay of water. Audio: end of song instrument like a gong
31. Fades to black: “The Affair” comes up; pans over dark
surface of water
# posted by Raven Maragh @ 9:11 AM 
