Critiques

Hi, my name is Esther Neema. I have been viewing and critiquing Mother in law. It is aired on Sunday night from 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm. It has a very interesting story line and a unique, a line of thought that has not been thought by many productions.
It is a comedy as well as a drama just like many of the current local productions. It has a continuous story; however the mother in law has new dramatic actions in every episode.
The outstanding theme in this program is that of the relationships between mother in laws and their daughters in laws as well as family relationships.

31st January 2010
In this episode, the mother in law had gossiped about the grand daughter. The story line was close to what usually happens in normal circumstances.
The lighting was great, giving the atmosphere and the surroundings a natural look. There was no exaggeration. Also there were shadows which again gave a sense of naturalness.
The voice of the production was audible and clear meaning there was good microphone usage. The sound was also pleasing to the ear.
On the other hand there could have been more times when both speakers are being shown, because in the instances when an individual is speaking a lot, one is left to wonder for a long time who the person is talking to. To add on to these, there could have been more shoulder lengths to ad to this effect
Also in some cases, there were instances when the sound effects were out of place and uncalled for. It was not all bad; there were cases when suspense as well as tension came in very well because of the sound effects that fit perfectly for the part.
I like the establishing shots that kept reminding the viewer the scene or the place where all the activities were happening. It also gives us an idea of what kind of people we are dealing with. According to the appearance, these are well off people.
I like the mid shots that show people’s faces and reactions, however in some cases, certain parts of the body were out of focus. For instance there were times when half of the mother in laws hair was cut, or quarter shoulder. In my opinion such occurrences are not necessary. In many cases they may be more of a distraction to the viewer.
In general it is a good production; it captures audience attention and does not appear too fake.

14th February-2010
The major problem in this case may come in as a result of the directing. The angle at which people were standing in the sitting room during this shot appears very unnatural; there are two people standing by the stairs, and one person sited on the couch. Two of the people standing by the stairs are standing facing each other, while both facing the one sited on the couch. Under no circumstances would people, especially members of the same family, be standing in such a way, which looks planned. The angular shot was not really necessary.
The issue of exaggerated suspense is also very persistent. There cases when there is too long a pose for an issue that does match up to the issue. In my opinion, there has to be a good enough reason to include suspense, and especially with the use of long poses or sound effects.
It is evident that most of the shots are medium shots. There is no close up shots in the whole production, making it almost predictable. In my opinion close up shots are necessary to achieve the right effect and maximum tension
Positively, there was very good lighting as well as good sound. The establishing shot is also still great. The best shot was the one between the father and the son. The son was sited on a chair, while the father was standing. It established some kind of authority.
There was also great focus between Robert and the brother when they were both in the room. The focus achieved maximum effect of showing the tension that was present in the room. This was even made more serious and even better by the sound effect. The movement in this shot also complimented the above. In my opinion this was a better production than the last I watched on 31st January.

21st February-2010
I liked the use of shoulder length shots. I liked the sound and even the script. This time there was a good close up shot of the mother in law. The medium shots were also very well used.
I had a problem however with a shot that I felt was not necessary. When the elderly daughter in law was having tea with the brother in law, there was a shot that was showing the tea cups, ad the chef serving. It focused on his hands, the flask and the tea. It might have been necessary at the beginning, the first time, but it was prolonged for such a long and repeated for a second time to a point it got annoying. It was at this point also, that there was obvious advertising with the shots of ribena juice, infarct there was a point where the camera focused and zoomed on the ribena. In my opinion this maybe to obvious and may not go down too well with other people.
In th