Mad Men Textual Analysis

Mad Men - Episode 1

Camera: At the start of the clip, the is a ariel shot from the side of the building looking down on 1960's New York, the two of the cars are the typical yellow New York taxi's this is also an establishing shot as it starts the scene of and lets the audience know where its going to be taken place. The camera then goes in to a lift with a close up shot of a lady with three men behind her, the men are all taller than her showing male dominance. When the lady gets to her floor she is greeted by another female worker showing her round the office, a tracking shot is used to follow the women which also passed lots of different people working and talking, this shows how many people are in the office showing how full it is.

Sound: When the scene is opening there is non diegetic sound used over to cover up the sounds coming from the busy city streets below, its covered with old fashioned piano music, they used this type of music because it fits in with the 1960's when they are trying to re-enact. When we get up to the office there is synchronous sound used as there is a loud sound of type writers from all different directions creating the feeling that the office is full of people all typing at once, there is also a lot of diegetic sound as people are talking all around the office, the sounds of the type writers and people talking creates a work atmosphere making it feel like a working environment.

Editing: When the two women are talking there is shot reverse shot used showing one of the women talking to the other woman off screen. There are three main places that the scene shows: the lift, the main office, and the managers office. There is a smooth transition from off of these places but when Jone (woman teaching new person) takes the mans coat there is a cut into his office then the two men start talking. Continuity editing is also used to make it feel like there aren't any stops its all one whole motion, in reality there would be some stops when people are not talking be is edited to make it feel smooth.

Mise-en-scene: There is many props used to show that it is meant to seem like it is taking place in the 1960's, some of these props are very big and obvious whereas some are more discreet, for example one of the main big props is the old cars at the start, at the start of the scene when the ariel shot is showing the road there are many cars including two yellow taxis just from the top view of the cars we can see that the cars are old, this should show the audience that it isn't meant to be a modern day filming. Another prop that is used to show how it isn't a modern day setting is the use of cigarettes, I know that cigarettes are still in the modern day but people are smoking in the office which now-a-day wouldn't be allowed due to new laws that have made it safer in the work place. Also you can tell from some of the peoples hair cuts, for the men a lot of gel is use to slick their hair back, although people still have this hair cut it is a lot less common. Another may the scene is made to feel like its in the 60's is that its clear men are more powerful/ higher up in the workplace, a way this is show is the way the worker is talking to the new lady, she talks about finding a way to make her ankles to sing meaning show her ankles of more to give something for the men to look at, this makes it feel like its in the 60's because that wouldn't be allowed in the modern day due the amount of women who are higher up them a lot of men.