Extract Practice: Game of Thrones

The extract I looked at was the Game of Thrones extract. At the beginning, there are two man who seem to be traveling from somewhere far since they have journeyed by water. They are travelling to another land to meet with the other three men, in this extract, at some sort of bank (we are introduced to the bank in the second scene). After a conversation between the men and one of the bank people, it appears that the two men are denied what I believe is a loan. However, one of the two men decides to argue his and his companion’s right to receive the loan. If I were to make a prediction, he seems to try and create an alliance between their kingdom and the bank. 

The first scene opens with an aerial shot of a sailboat. Then the audience is presented with a two-shot of two men. The two-shot in the extract of the two men standing on the boat recognizes that the two men travelled together and are allies. The two-shot is also a medium shot. The medium shot allows for the audience to witness the body language and costumes which signify a serious tone and wealth. In the background of the first scene, you can hear a little bit of dialogue and non-diegetic sound. The non-diegetic sound, shown by the sound of seagulls, helps convey the idea that the two men are travelling by water and nearing shore. The dialogue in the background signifies that there is a crew on board of the ship which could also add to the wealth idea or leadership since then men aren’t doing anything. The lighting in this scene is very cloudy which signifies a serious or ominous mood. Overall, this scene gives a serious mood possibly meaning that the boat is sailing to this other land for business.  

The first scene then changes using a cutaway which signifies that time has passed and they are now inside of the city. We first see another two- shot of the men. They are in a large room that seems to be a real set. The large room can also go back to the theme of wealth in this extract. It also feels somewhat ominous because of how empty the room is. The only things inside of the room are a long table, three large chairs, and two benches on the opposite side of the chairs. The lighting in the room seems to come from the outside, matching the serious and gloomy tone from scene one. Then, the audience begins to hear dialogue from the two men and soon from one of the three men that enters the room. The dialogue signifies interaction between the two different parties and can be identified as business inquiries. When the men are talking, a medium shot can be identified. As stated, the medium shot helps to identify their feelings through body language. In this scene, they are all standing tall and looking one another in the eye which adds to the serious tone. With these medium shots, there are also shot reverse shots that show the conversation between the two men and one of the bank people. Similar to the first scene, this scene also gives off a serious, business tone.  

In summary, the vision of the extract was to create a serious tone in relation to business. In many circumstances, the different camera angles, shots, and movements along with editing, sound, and mis en scene have contributed to the creation of this tone. The overall use of dialogue two-shots, and shot reverse shots helped convey the interaction between characters. The mis en scene in this extract helped with the serious tone and the idea of wealth among the characters.