500 Word TV Review - Top Gear Season 22 Episode 1

Today I wanted to review one of my favourite shows, Top Gear (This episode is S22 EP1). Whilst I have watched the show for years I never really thought about how it's made and shot so that's what I'm going to reflect on today.

Sound:
Sound is a big part of Top gear, we have the usual opening sequence which has symbolic sound as even if you don't watch top gear regularly, you would recognize it. The use of a live audience is interesting for the audio as well, live reactions make things inherently more funny. However you do suspect that many of the shots are retakes and the audiences laughter would not be as much as when the joke was first made. Diegetic sound is used mostly in the studio as when they are setting up a piece no background influence is needed, but once the get into a car review or a race against each other there a mix between non-diegetic and diegetic sound as the extra music and sound effects used.The reason background music is used to to heighten the drama and make us feel that is more intense than it probably actually is.

Editing:
Editing in Top Gear is vital, it is what makes a good scene into a great scene in my opinion. Some of the sequences in this particular episode are great as the action cuts so quickly it means the viewer doesn't have much chance to see a particular shot and means we instinctively move through the scene very fast. As what they are doing in this episode is a race they need to make sure the editing. The term used for this sort of editing id temporal editing as it manipulates time to seem faster than it is. Continuity editing is used to we have a correct timeline of what is going on in the scene.

Cinematography:
Multi camera is used in Top Gear and they have so many shots for the same segment it means we have great coverage of what is going on and shows they really have though about how they wanted this sequence to come out. I would say that telephoto lens are used in Top Gear so they can get all the action needed and also zoom into certain areas in which smaller lens types could not.Some angles are shot from Normal/Medium telephoto, especially the in car shots looking at the presenter but in the most part a long lens is used for the best coverage of a scene.

Mise en scene:
In Top gear all the presenters dress like us, like normal people. Whilst they are probably multi-millionaires they dress like us so that they engage with the biggest audience. Whilst in some scenes they may dress in suits its normally jeans and a shirt. The most part of this film is located in Russia but the show is broadcast from the UK and that is where the main hub is. The main props that are used are vehicles but sometimes as comedy gags they will buy each other presents and that will be a funny gag for the scene. In terms of lighting they mostly use natural lighting whilst outside, but in the main studios they use focused lighting so that we focus on the main 3 not the people in the crowds behind them.

Summary:
A lot of effort went into these episodes and I now realise that through doing this review. It makes you really respect the levels they go through for one shot but that can make or break a scene so it is totally worth it.