‘The Missing’

Unit 22 Learning Objective 1

Emma McDonald

The Missing• The director of ‘The Missing’ is Tom

Shankland.• Release dates – October 28th 2014• 8 episodes.• Format is a series.• Genre is Crime/Drama/Mystery.

Narrative Structure• The drama uses a non-linear

narrative as it includes flashbacks and is set in two different times, back when Oliver was first missing and also 8 years after he went missing.

Story Arc

Beginning Middle End

Exposition

Inciting incident

Rising Action

Crisis

Climax

Falling Action

Resolution

Tony, Emily and Oliver are in France on a holiday.

Their car breaks down on their way to their destination, maybe foreshadowing that something is going to happen. Oliver asks to

go swimming.

There is a crowd surrounding the television where the football match is on.

Oliver lets go of Tony’s hand, and Tony realises he has went missing.

Tony and Emily inform the police and they are searching. 8 years later, Tony

goes back to France and him and the detective meet again and find clues, like a house that Oliver was taken too, they also find a drawing in the house that Oliver drew on the wall.

Technical Editing - Editing• At the very beginning, the captions include the location

of where they are which is very important as that is where the drama is going to happen and it is important that the audience knows that.

• The drama continuously switches between the past and the present, the past being when Oliver went missing and the present being when Tony has gone back to France 8 years later as he thinks he has found something that could help.

• Shot reverse shot is used regularly in this drama which is very important as the audience needs to see how each of the characters are feeling so by using shot reverse shot, we can see how all of the characters are feeling.

Technical Editing - Sound• The drama uses diegetic sound, such as the

rain, to add to the realism of the drama, but to also set the scene of what is happening.

• The drama also uses non-diegetic sound, which is very important, they use music, particularly quite slow and intense music, for example, when Oliver went missing during the crowd of people watching the football, the music was quite intense because it was an intense moment, so again, it contributes to the realism of the drama.

Technical Editing - Camera

• At the very beginning of the drama, an establishing shot is shown to set the scene and allow the audience to know where the location is, which also gives the audience an idea that this is where the incident is going to happen.

• Close up shots are very important in this drama because of how intense it is, the parents are obviously devastated by what has happened so close up shots are important so that we can see their facial expression clearly so we can understand how they are feeling.

• Once Oliver has went missing and Tony has gone out to look for him, it slowly zooms out to where you can see the area at almost a birds eye view, this was important as it makes the audience think and wonder where Oliver could have gone, also, because of how big the town is, it makes the audience feel emotional and question, will they ever find him because of how big the town is.

• Hand held movements were used in the drama to contribute to the realism of the drama. Hand held movements are when the camera is held with the hands rather than using a tripod, this creates tension and makes it more emotional and real.

Technical Editing – Mise en scene

• Lighting is extremely important and crucial in this drama. They have made it so when Oliver is there with them, its high key lighting but when he goes missing, it switches to low key lighting, symbolizing how they are feeling at each time.

• Also, once it goes to 8 years later, Emily’s point of view is always high key lighting, but Tony’s is still very low key lighting, maybe suggesting that Emily has started to try and move on from it but Tony will not give up or feel any differently, so the lights are also symbolic to how they are feeling 8 years after the incident.