In the opening sequence of the television drama, the audience is shown a close up and a long shot of the white stretch limo. The limo represents masculinity and the working class, and it comes across as quite tacky. The words ‘Blackpool’ slides across the screen in big gleaming lights as diegetic music of Elvis play during the sequence. There is a tracking shot of the big house that the protagonist lives in as the limo pulls into the driveway. We are then shown the protagonist getting ready and dancing and singing in front of the mirror. He is coming his hair; he’s a sharp dresser, wearing a white suit and tie. His appearance is very ‘Elvis inspired’, especially his hair and sideburns. He seems conceived. There is an over the shoulder shot of him as he pampers himself and looks into the mirror. The camera switches to an extreme close up of the man hand as he puts on aftershave. This makes him seem vain, yet confident. There is another close up shot if him doing up his tie as he gets ready.
The camera again switches to a women character and pans around her. She is sitting on the edge of her bed, and who as well is getting ready. She too is singing along to the track. She is the wife of the protagonist. She is wearing a low top and high heels and gives the impression that she is used as a sex object.
Afterwards, there is a bird’s eye view shot of the daughter as she lies on her bed. She is talking on the phone and painting her nails (multi taking). As she sings along to the track, she looks like the image of her mother, especially in what she is wearing and how her image is. The camera zooms in to her face. Then, the camera cuts back to the father and there’s a close up shot of him putting a watch on and sliding rings on his fingers. These items suggest that the protagonist wears tacky jewellery. The camera moves back to the protagonist and moves towards the mirror, where you can see the wife in the background too. Most of the lighting is providing by lights in the house, and is very ambient. The camera switches back and forth to the wife and husband getting ready and both miming the words to the Elvis song.
The camera then switches to a low angle pan shot of the young boy who is the son. He is standing outside of the house on the balcony, lighting a cigarette. The lighting is very non-ambient, as it is late and dark outside. He is wearing basic clothes and they’re not very formal, comparing to the rest of the family. This shows him as an outcast and a rebel of the family, but also that he is not fitting in. He is also miming the words to the song that is still playing.
The male and woman protagonist and the daughter then come out of the rooms ands head downstairs, while dancing, the boy the follows on as he is beckoned by his sister. By what he is wearing, he looks out of place with the rest of his family. There are various close ups here, as we see one up close at the male protagonist as he is singing and one of all of their feet as they walk down the stairs.
The camera cuts outside as the family walk downstairs, outside. We can see high/side angle shots showing the family as a group. The camera zooms out as they get into the white stretch limo. From here, there are lots of low angle shots of buildings and sights in Blackpool, and the audience is shown what type of place it is. The family are drinking champagne in the limo and there are lots of close up shots of each of the characters faces. There’s a tracking shot of the limo as it travels down the road and also the characters, as they look out of the window. The camera zooms away on the road of which the limo is travelling. The limo eventually stops outside a building, which is a casino. As they enter it, there are lots of protestors outside, and the camera closes up on some of these signs after the family pose for pictures. The protestors are obviously unhappy with the fact that the casino is opening up. There’s a close up of an old man who’s holding up a sign. He has quite a menacing look on his face. The old man protestor is wearing a dark suit and he’s an antithesis. This seems like he could be the protagonists enemy but also shows he’s a moral figure. The editing here is very quick and swift.
As the family enters the casino, they are still singing the words to the elvis song. They are greeted by applauses by fans and spectators. The male protagonist and the family, stand on a balcony as the he gives a speech of the opening of the casino. The camera switches back and forth from him talking, and high angle shots of the admirers and people watching. The lighting here, reflects the view of gambling. It’s bright and breezy when the thought of gambling is good. And it shows the darker side to gambling through dark contrasts of light.
Throughout the speech, the camera cuts to the family in response to what he says, the daughter looks at the father with a smile on her face, which suggests that she looks up to him. The wife however doesn’t look too pleased sometimes as she is seen looking unsatisfied and at one time embarrassed when the male protagonist says some foul-mouthed words.
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