CHARMED CASE STUDY (P2)

CHARMED

GENRE

Charmed is an supernatural action televised series with elements of horror and fantasy, Charmed was created and written by Constance. M. Burge, who has also written for and produced television series such as, Ally McBeal and Boston Public. Charmed's genre is somewhat unique, in the way that t combines supernatural action with family drama and even some crime and mystery, Charmed could be compared to television series such as Charlies Angels, that also focus's on 3 women who fight crime. In this way Charmed is repeating a successful formula of female witches or females involved in the supernatural, Charmed could be considered a contemporary of series like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, all of which could be considered as being made popular by fore-runners like the original Bewitched series. Charmed however, breaks many generic conventions by mixing genres, and combining fast paced, high octane action, with slow, family scenes that explore relationships, and love, this is what differs Charmed from related series, and what contributed to its major success with women.

PURPOSE&CONTENT

The show focus' on three sister witches, Prudence, Piper and Phoebe, and later when Prudence is killed, a long lost sister Paige is introduced into the family. The stars of the show are Shannen Doherty(Prudence), Holly Marie Combs(Piper), Alyysa Milano(Phoebe) and Rose McGowan(Paige), there is many supporting actors that play re-occuring characters throughout the series, most notably these include Brian Krause, who plays Leo, the sisters guardian angel and Pipers husband, and father to her children, Julian McMahon, who plays Cole Turner, Phoebes true love and soul mate, but also a powerful demon called Belthazor, who later becomes the 'Source', a powerful being with extraordinary supernatural abilities, and Kaley Cuoco, known for playing penny in 'The Big Bang Theory', who plays Billie a lost witch who is helped by the sister witches to find her true path. Charmed focus' on the Halliwell sisters and there powers, the three sister witches are the "Charmed Ones", a prophesied trio of witches who will once and for all destroy "The Source" a powerful demon who is believed to be the root of all evil. Eventually after losing there sister Prudence and finding a new sister, Paige the Halliwell sisters vanquish "The Source", only for his powers to be inherited by Phoebe's husband, Cole, who unbeknownst to the sisters was already a powerful demon. After we see the relationship between Phoebe and Cole deteriorate he becomes almost indestructible and does everything in is power to get Phoebe back. Eventually Cole is vanquished, but still exists on a spiritual plane through which he contacts Phoebe. The sisters spend much of there time fighting evil an correcting the wrongs that magic has created in the world,the sisters must also battle to keep there magic hidden from there mortal partners and to keep normal functioning lives in society. Charmed not only is a fantasy programme but explores relationships between family and friends and questions the morals of the sisters, they are often forced to choose between two great evils and are forced to make great personal sacrifices to save the world and keep people safe from demons itches and warlocks. The last episode of Charmed shows us that the Charmed sisters and there offspring eventually conquer evil, and are able o fulfil their personal goals of having a quiet family lifestyle, we see Piper and Leo in the ancestral family home, old and peaceful surrounded by grandchildren. The purpose of Charmed is to entertain, Charmed also sends a message about family, and relationships, and explores these themes constantly. Below is a list of Charmed series, with the number of episodes and that the date that each series premiered, and also the timeslot in which it was shown on its original run.

FORM&STYLE

Charmed is set in modern day San Francisco, the sets, except the Underworld, are all realistic, and the family manor is a real house located in San Francisco. Each Charmed episode is around 45 minutes long, and has a linear and serial timeline, so each episode will reference the one preceding it or will reference something form a much earlier episode. In Charmed imagery and costume is used frequently to show us who someone is, which side they are on, and even their mood, for example, demons are usually shot in dark places with only a little lighting from below, this coupled with their dark, usually black and tattered costumes show us their evil and deceiving nature, juxtaposed to this is the "Elders" angle like beings that are portrayed in long white and gold flowing robes, always brightly lit, usually from above, and are rarely seen on earth, and are frequently said to be "UpThere" which we would assume is a heavenly like place, this along with soft and never raised voices give us an image of a typical pure, gentle angelic character, which shows who they are and that they will not be a threat to anyone dealing with them. Charmed often includes fast moving fight scenes and so the way the camera moves to portray these are paramount to the whole feel of Charmed, the camera mostly focus' on which ever sister is fighting, and often jumps from a body shot to a long, or establishing shot, the fight scenes often dwell on the physical combat and injuries caused, often resulting in death.

PRODUCTION PROCESS

Charmed was first aired in October 1998, its last episode being broadcast in May 2006, during the eight year run of charmed there were 178 episodes of Charmed, with Holly Marie Combs being in every one of them, after the programme ended a series of spin off comic books were created that are still published and are successful today. Charmed was originally broadcast in America on WB television, at 8 o'clock on a saturday night, because of the timing the show must be family appropriate, for a pre-watershed show some scenes in Charmed can be quite violent and sometimes graphic, for example the fight scenes, one of which shows part of a woman's ear being ripped off, and when demons are vanquished by the sisters, they mostly catch fire and burst into a fireball.Produced by Spelling Television and Paramount Pictures, Charmed had a wide release and large audience, through the series the characters change and evolve, the action and focus of the series changes to accommodate for the audience growing up and to appeal to wider audience, for example as special effects developed they were used more in the series to create more action scenes, perhaps to entice a male audience, rather than the largely female following the series originally attracted.