Deutschland 83: case study

Introduction: Reviews and features
Read the following reviews and features on Deutschland 83:

The Guardian - Your next box set: Deutschland 83
The Guardian - Deutschland 83 Pity the Germans don't like it

1) Find one positive aspect and one criticism of Deutschland 83 in the reviews.

-It’s a perfect moment in a near-perfect series. Deutschland 83’s first episode of eight was the most-watched foreign-language drama in UK history.
-It was riddled with very silly inaccuracies, which were required for the plot to work; and it was on at the same time as the Voice

2) Why does the second Guardian article suggest the Germans didn't like the show?

-By focusing the story around Martin Rauch, a young East German border guard going undercover in the west, it doesn’t just make the viewer empathise with a Stasi agent on a human level – in the way The Lives of Others did – it makes us engage with the socialist regime’s worldview, in which a military exercise in West Germany poses a potentially existential threat.

3) Find three 'below the line' comments from either of the Guardian articles. What did the audience think of Deutschland 83? Do you agree with the comments?

-'Deutschland 83 was great, and I also hoped it was a sign of things to come on German TV. "See; Germany can do it". "Only then to find out that it was an American writer....'

-This shows clearly that the Germans wanted to hope that writers from their country could also produces successful and worthy shows, but they were disappointed to know that the story of Germany and its hardship was delivered to audiences by an outsider.

Promotional interview

Channel 4 News: Matt Frei interviews Jonas Nay



1) What does Jonas Nay say about growing up in a united Germany? 

-Jonas says that when he was born in 1990 there was not east and west just a united and nice Germany.

2) Interviewer Matt Frei asks about the current political situation in Germany. Why might this interest the a Channel 4 audience?

-The audience may not know much about the politics in Germany so they would want to know how Germany progressed after the time the show is set and how life was in a united Germany.

Textual analysis: Audience pleasures and representations

We need to consider the audience pleasures of Deutschland 83 alongside various representations created in the first episode.

Type up your analysis from the lesson using the headings below. You may want to watch the key scenes again and develop your notes in further detail - the more specific and memorable your analysis, the better it will serve you when writing an essay on TV drama. Here's a Google doc we have worked on in past Media lessons on this topic - feel free to use these notes alongside your own. You'll need to use your Greenford Google login to access this.

Production and industry contexts

Deutschland 83 was produced by German production company UFA Fiction and distributed internationally by Fremantle International. It was broadcast on RTL (Germany), Sundance TV (US) and Channel 4 (UK) as well as many other broadcasters around the world.

Scene 1: Garden/BBQ scenes (East & West Germany)

(1)4.58 – 8.20 and (2)34.00 – 37.20

Make notes under the following headings:

• Technical codes – particularly mise-en-scene

(1)-Hand held shots make it realistic and it is meant to make audiences feel as if they are also                        attending the party

    -Actors-create a warm environment 

(2)-Mise-en-scene-the environment is very formal and uncomfortable 

     -360 hand held shot-constant feeling that martin is being watched 

• Representation of East & West Germany / Family / Gender

(1)-East Germany is under supplied-seen through the fact that martins mother doesn't have access to          her medication and that the coffee is a branded one form the west

     -Fetishisation-the working class is presented better then it actually is in reality

(2)-The west is more privileged-their house is much bigger

     -The west is shown as cold and unwelcoming 

   

Scene 2: Martin/Moritz first sees the West German supermarket 

14.30 – 20.25

Make notes under the following headings:

• Technical codes – particularly mise-en-scene
• Audio codes – particularly music
• Representation of East & West Germany / Communism & Capitalism / Historical accuracy
• Audience pleasures

-Medium shot of supermarket, west has more supplies

-Authorities deliberate in west, ice cream

-80s music in market with lyrics "some of them want to use you", refer to Martin

-Postmodernism, Andy Warhol pop art

-Excess items, e.g. fruits

-Lighting is much warmer

Scene 3: Training montage scene when Martin/Moritz learns how to be a spy

20.40 – 22.40

Make notes under the following headings:

• Technical codes – particularly camerawork and editing
• Audio codes
• Audience pleasures
• Intertextuality

-Upbeat music , parallel and fast with sequence

-Dialogue used to fill in narrative gaps

-Women dressed as man to kill real Martin

-Fruit split screen, east has none

-No supplies is east shows repeated motif

-Camera shot through leaves, reinforces surveillance

Scene 4: Briefcase scene when Martin/Moritz is stealing the NATO nuclear plans

31.13 – 33.30

Make notes under the following headings:

• Technical codes – particularly camerawork and editing
• Audio codes – diegetic and non-diegetic sound
• Audience pleasures

-Spy shot through blinds, CCTV

-Intense close-up for movement, stress, documents

-Uses real life documents as reference

-Slow tense music build tension

-Entertaining 

-Character relationship of Martin and receptionist

1) What kind of company is UFA Fiction and what shows have they produced? 

-UFA Fiction is a German award winning film and television Company and a unique leader in the German film and television market, offering a remarkable portfolio of films and series which have strongly influenced the German production landscape. With productions such as Our Mother, Our Father, Naked among Wolves and even series like Ku'damm 56/59/63, Deutschland 83/86/89

2) What kind of company is Freemantle and what do they produce?

-Freemantle produces and distributes culture defined entertainment, drama film and documentaries. They have one of the most successful formats their series/films are watches in 180 countries all around the world. One of the world's largest and most successful producers and distributors of entertainment, drama film and documentaries

3) How does Deutschland 83 reflect the international nature of television production?

-It reflects the international nature of television production as the show was produced in Germany, by an American but became a hit in the UK. This clearly shows that a show doesn't need to be specifically for people of the own country but instead can also appeal to foreign places.

Walter Presents

Watch this Channel 4 trailer for their Walter Presents international drama:

 

1) How does Channel 4 introduce 'Walter'?

-Channel 4 introduces Walter through a handpicked selection of the very best drama from around the world. Also it introduces it as mostly crime and mystery genre television

2) What audience are Channel 4 trying to appeal to with the 'Walter Presents' series?

-Young adults and older teenagers,b0th females and males.

3) How does the 'Walter Presents' series reflect the changing nature of television in the digital age?

-It shows more violent and crime scenes, which over time is starting to be more acceptable in society.

Marketing and promotion

Trailer



1) What audience pleasures are suggested by the trailer? Think about Uses & Gratifications theory (Blumler and Katz).

-Personal relationship- Martins character connections with his family and his girlfriend Anette.

2) How does the trailer use action and enigma codes (Barthes) to encourage the audience to watch the show?

-Enigma codes - Making the audience question Martins mission of being a spy, how he will achieve his mission without getting caught.

-Action codes - chase scenes make viewers feel more excited and building up tension during the drama and what will happen.

3) The only words heard in the trailer are in English. Why do you think the UK trailer avoided subtitles or German dialogue?

-To appeal to the British audience because of it was in German the British audiences wouldn't know what was being said.


Press pack

Read the Channel 4 press pack interview with writer Anna Winger. (If the link doesn't work, you can find the text from the interview here). 

1) How did she use the historical context and real-life events to create a successful drama?

-Historical context and real life events created a successful drama because most of the drama was based on real, life events that have happened that anna has researched about and used to create a historical drama with spy mixed in it.

2) Anna Winger discusses the use of music. Why might the soundtrack attract an audience?

-The top 100 songs of 1983 are still on the radio all the time! It was just an incredible year of pop culture and the songs really travelled. This means that it was important from the beginning of the drama to use music to show audiences what they can recognised.


Press release

Read this Channel 4 press release on the success of Deutschland 83. (If the link doesn't work you can find find the text from the article here).

1) List the key statistics concerning audience figures. Why was it considered the most successful foreign language drama?

-After launching with 1.49 million viewers, the first episode has now consolidated with 2.5 million viewers, overtaking the launch of The Returned (9th June 2013) on Channel 4 which previously held the record with 2.2 million.

2) How does the press release describe Deutschland 83?

-TV Times described the show as “This is the next subtitled sensation……..unmissable TV.”

International marketing

Look at these two different marketing campaigns - the UK DVD release (left) and the American Sundance TV advert (right).




1) How does the UK DVD cover communicate the sub-genre of the drama?

-Its able to communicate the genre of romance through the the graffiti on Berlins wall to reflect any subtly upcoming romance felt by the main character.

2) How do these use font, colour and graphics to appeal to an audience?

-In the Sundance cover the font is bold as well but in black and pink replicating a graffiti style. The bright colours contrast with martin who is in full grey, which may show what type of life he is living. In the UK cover we can see the use of the bright colour yellow which is often associated with danger an being cautious.

3) Why might the distributors Freemantle International have used different marketing campaigns in different countries? 

-The campaign may be different in each country in order to get the target audience they desire.