Red+Riding+-+Group+1D

=Red Riding= =The Year Of Our Lord 1983=

Based on the 4 books by David Peace – completely fictional but set against the real events of the Yorkshire Ripper.

Narrative
Young Clare Kemplay has gone missing and rookie Yorkshire Post crime correspondent Eddie Dunford decides to investigate links with the two similar unsolved abductions in the last five years. When Clare's mutilated body is found on a construction site owned by local property magnate John Dawson, Eddie finds himself out of his depth in a world of secrecy, intimidation, shocking revelations and police brutality as well as in love with the widowed mother of one of the missing girls. It's 1980 and the 'Ripper' has tyrannised Yorkshire for six long years. Senior Manchester detective Peter Hunter is brought in by the Home Office to conduct a secret review of the Ripper investigation to date. Hunter's been involved with West Yorkshire before: he failed to complete an investigation into a shooting involving Yorkshire coppers back in 1974. This time Hunter's determined not to leave without getting results. 1983 Nine years on and another Morley child has gone missing on her way home from school. Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson is forced to remember the very similar disappearance of Clare Kemplay, who was found dead in 1974 and the subsequent imprisonment of local boy Michael Myshkin. Washed-up local solicitor John Piggott becomes convinced of Myshkin's innocence and begins to fight on his behalf, and unwittingly provides a catalyst for Jobson to start to right some wrongs.
 * 1974**
 * 1980**

Serial or Series

 * Red Riding is a “high end” serial – it has a complete story from beginning to end – this kind of serial is a “closed” serial.
 * “High budget serial with a limited number of episodes” (Allen, 1995:18)
 * “Series refers to those shows who’s characters and settings are recycled, but the story concludes in each individual episode. By contrast in a serial the story and discourse do not come to a conclusion during an episode, and the threads are picked up again after a given hiatus.” (Sarah Kozloff)
 * It is important to remember that serials have no set length and can be either “closed” which is: Concluding in a matter of episodes or, “open” which means that it is potentially never ending.
 * High end serials are designed for the well educated affluent audience segments. For which advertisers are prepared to pay premium rates.
 * “The serial story unfolds in a sequential and usually linear fashion with each episode contributing new developments and often ending in some kind of cliff hanger to incite audience speculation about events to come (Television drama: 51)

Genre hybridisation

 * “Boundaries between production, distribution and exhibition have collapsed…” (Holt, in Nelson, 2007: 20)
 * Red Riding can be considered along with a high end serial a feature film – its genres also mix further, for example it is primarily to do with serious social realism but romance and a slice of paranormal is mixed in, i.e. the Medium.
 * It is also in part based on the fairytale of Little Red Riding Hood. A young virginal girl goes missing, killed by the Reverend (Wolf).

Technologies

 * Move toward digital, allowing better quality image and sound, and a greater degree of manipulation of each
 * Use of CGI, e.g. when to shoot on location is either impossible or too expensive, also for other effects
 * Yet even in digital form the TV image is distinct from the cinematic, being electronically configured rather than projected by light. (Nelson, 2007: 109-110)

Aspiration to Cinema

 * Aspect ratio traditionally differed between cinema and TV. However, has become less significant as more people own widescreen TVs or “home cinema” (Nelson, 2007: 110-112)
 * Crossover of directors: Quentin Tarantino guest directing CSI series finale, Grave Danger, and actors: Joseph Fiennes and Jack Davenport in Flash Forward.
 * Crossover of TV and films: Stargate (the film, 1994) followed by a TV series, 2 spin off series and 2+ straight-to-TV films. (www.imdb.com)

Red Riding Technical Specifications

 * Camera – Red One Camera, “Ultra High Definition” as used in Che (2008), Angels & Demons (2009) as well as Supernatural (2008), and Wallander (2005), among others.
 * Printed film format – 35mm, traditionally associated with films, TV usually 16mm, including The O.C.
 * Aspect ratio – 2:35:1, widescreen (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259573/technical )

Visual style

 * Digital effects differ in purpose for different dramas:
 * Ally McBeal: comedic effects
 * CSI: otherwise impossible shots
 * Doctor Who: spaceships, alien planets.
 * Rome: ‘invisible’ usage such as crowds in the background, battles.
 * Aim to appeal to youth market and range of new media (mobile phones etc.) using colours, sounds, special effects. (Nelson, 2007: 112-118)

Split Screen

 * Use of split-screen, previously avoided for fear of breaking the illusion, now digital editing allows for advanced usage, e.g. 24, Sanctuary (Nelson, 2007: 125-128)
 * Not used in Red Riding so as not to detract from realism.

Red Riding Visual Style

 * “The most evident impact particularly in “high end” contemporary TV drama is in visual style. This is not of course a single style but a tendency towards the production values which aspire to the depth, complexity and visual interest of those traditionally associated with cinema” (Nelson, 2007: 112)
 * Change of colours to create ‘old’ look.

Soundtrack

 * Music for each film was scored by a different composer
 * 1983 Original Music by Barrington Pheloung
 * Other work includes Dalziel and Pascoe, Inspector Morse and Lewis
 * Also written scores for several West End plays
 * “Barrington Phelong’s segment shifts gears a good deal, as he moves away from horror / suspense and into more general dramatic / romantic music.” (http://www.cinemusic.net/2009/09/18/red-riding/)