programme critique

PROGRAMME CRITIQUE (INSPEKTA MWALA) NYAMBURA NGUMA
This is a hilarious weekly show that centres on the going-on’s at the Kona-Mbaya Police station and the escapades of the vertically-challenged Inspekta Mwala, his boss and his juniors. There is never a dull moment at this police station...From regular conmen, highway robbers to victims of love affairs gone-bad…they all end up at Kona Mbaya Police Station.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This show targets all kinds of audience as it is a comedy programme. There is no particular audience that would best enjoy it. Although, the audience has to be those that speak Kiswahili or ‘sheng’ an understand English.
PLOT AND OPENING MONTAGE
The opening montage of the series is very interesting. It has an up beat to it that introduces one to the action that is expected in the programme. As the opening montage is playing, some sort of a newspaper is shown with Inspekta Mwala’s name and face on it. They also show the faces of the other police officers and the kind of action they go through. It runs for about fifteen seconds before the programme begins.
The plot of the story is basically Inspekta Mwala and his officers trying to deal with the issues that arise at the police station. Whenever a crisis should come up, he and his junior officers always have to deal with it.
DIALOGUE AND CHARACTERISATION
The dialogue in the programme is quite interesting. It is in both English and Kiswahili. Sometimes they use ‘sheng’ to put a point across. They use English when they are at the station especially when victims come in with their problems. They also use it for official business such as when talking to their superiors. Kiswahili is used when they officers are communicating with each other when they have no work to do at the police station. Kiswahili is also used when a victim should walk in with a problem and they can only speak Kiswahili. ‘Sheng’ is used by the officers when they are going on missions to try and capture thieves, robbers or any kind of law breakers. They use this language because it is more familiar on the streets and will not identify them as police officers. Once they speak this language they are able to camouflage into the ‘scene’ without any problems.
Characterization of the programme was also done well. It is clear that the protagonist is or are the police officers. The antagonists are the problems they encounter as they try to go through solving cases they have been given in the station. Inspekta Mwala is the main character of the show. His height is the most interesting thing that causes irony. Considering that he has juniors who are taller than him it also causes the audience to find it humorous. The other characters each bring out their roles very well. For example Bokelo is one of the officers under the leadership of Mwala. He is always getting on his nerves because he never seems to be doing things the right way. He always makes mistakes once they are given work. Also is the character of Lavender. She is also an officer under Mwala. Her role mostly is to exude a serious hardworking female officer and that is what she shows exactly. The support characters are also very good actors. They include the law breakers or those associated to those that are law breakers. They portray mastery of content as they know their lines very well. It does not look like they had crammed their line but they made them part of them. Thus making the programme believable.

TYPES OF SHOTS
The types of shots used are many. The establishing shot movement is used mostly when the officers are to go on a mission. We are given this shot to show us exactly where the operation will take place. This shot is also used when they aere showing us the police station at Kona Mbaya. The extreme close-up shot is used a lot of times when they wan to show facial expressions. This shot is used on all the characters. Once it was used on Mwala when he was so angry with Bokelo. We could actually see his veins on his veins because he was angry and also his blood shot eyes. This shot is also used when they want to show the lawbreakers facial expressions when they want to go and commit a crime. This shot is very useful because it shows causes the audience to believe what is happening. It gives us a view of the non-verbal cues that makes a character sellable to the audience. Long-shots are used when Mwala is talking ti people taller than him to be able to get a full view of both of them. This shot is used when the two are standing. If the two should be seated in an office they use medium shots. The camera shots used seem to be white balanced.
CAMERA MOVEMENTS
The camera movements used are many. They include panning. This movement is used a lot when they are moving from one character to another whether it is pan right or left. The zoom movement is used in many scenes. Zoom in is used mostly when they want to show for example a victim crying. They zoom in to see the tears rolling down. The zoom out movement is used when they want to show a shot of the characters full body details. This shot is also used when the scene opens with the camera on a certain object and then move out to the exterior environment of the object. Tilt movement is used a lot. Tilt up is used when they want to especially give the audience an arial view, sort of the type that Mwala would have when he is looking at someone. This shot helps us to see how it feels to be in Mwala’s shoes and see the world from the perspective that he does. Tilt down is used when they want to give a view of others looking at Mwala. It is also used when they are showing for example the shoes that a prisoner is wearing.
EDITING EFFECTS
The show has some editing effects. For example the cut aways. This shot is used when they are moving from one shot to another. this is also used at the end of the show when they suddenly cut the show abruptly and the character generator comes on. They also edit the parts where the actors may make a mistake. This is known from the funny moments they put on Citizen after the show.
CLOSING MONTAGE
The closing montage is the same as the opening montage but this is used as the character generator is running.
CONCLUSION
The show is basically good but it could use a bit of improvements. This should be applied to the way they keep cutting the show and putting ads in the middle. This causes the audience to get bored of watching the channel and not following the programme. They also need to improve on the script because where it ends is usually very sudden. It leaves the audience wondering… it is something that the show should stop. They also need to get more officers involved as characters because it would make the show much mire interesting.