I am going to compare and contrast the representation of medical personnel and the portrayal of emergency medicine in 'Casualty' and 'ER'.

The receptionists in both ‘Casualty’ and ‘ER’ couldn’t be further apart in differences. The receptionist in ‘Casualty’ was a young ladies man referred to as ‘Jack the lad’. He wore casual clothes and looked more like a member of the public so patients would feel more comfortable talking to him than they would a person dressed in clinical ‘scrubs’. The receptionist in ‘ER’ is nearly the complete opposite. He is a middle aged fat man who wears ‘scrubs’ and is very serious.

The hospital in ‘ER’ is much larger than the one in ‘Casualty’ and so would have more supplies and facilities on site. In America they pay health insurance so the hospitals get more money than in England where we have the NHS which is a portrayed as under funded and the reason why the health service is poor and has long waiting times. Even though the hospital in ‘ER’ is larger and has more facilities it also has to cover more people so they are still under pressure and have to wait to use more hi-tech facilities such as the scanner.

The most common camera shot used in ‘ER’ and ‘Casualty’ is mid shot (MS). This gives the viewer the image of what the hospital looks like and how crowded or not it is. They like using close up shots (CU) of the patients’ injuries in ‘Casualty’, which shows the viewer what the hospital have to treat and also adds to the action and gore. They also use an unusual technique of looking down on the patient, which makes the viewer feel like a god because they are looking down on what’s happening from above. This is unusual because it separates you and you loose the feeling that you are in the heart of the action. In both ‘Casualty’ and ‘ER’ they pan around patient’s beds which shows either how busy the hospital and staff are working if the person is being treated or it gives the viewer a general idea of how packed the hospital is and how few beds they have spare. Another unusual technique used in ‘Casualty’ was putting a single bed in shot with a patient laying in it, then only lighting the bed, leaving the rest of the cubicle in darkness and looking down from above which in this case echoed the storyline. This also gave a feeling of sadness and death. When ‘ER’ went on location they used lots of background lighting and sound effects such as thunder and lightening. These added to the reality feeling and made the viewer feel as if they were there in the action. Other sound effects used include sirens, cutting equipment and people speaking on the other end of a phone. Unlike in ‘Casualty’, ‘ER’ uses background music in certain places to add tension and a sense of urgency to the action taking place. This also sets the speed or mood of the action. ‘Casualty however uses fewer sound effects because it has lower production values and can’t afford to spend money on sound effects like ‘ER’ does but instead use ambient sounds to create reality such as people talking on the phone. There are more visual effects like close up cuts and gashes used in ‘Casualty’ which create a sense of realism whereas ‘ER’ seem to have less.

The dialogue used in ‘ER’ gives the impression that the staff are rushed and irritated. They shout lots to be heard and sound quite angry sometimes. Other times however they are caring and gentle which shows doctors care and aren’t all heartless. ‘Casualty has dialogue that makes the staff sound less rushed but more irritated, maybe due to the lack of funds for the hospital which hampers their job. They often sound surprised as well when they are told a patient will have to wait for long periods for treatment. This sometimes turns to anger and again shows the caring side of medical staff. Both ‘ER’ and ‘Casualty’ use specific technical jargon to add realism to the drama such as ‘CT scan’ and ‘Catheter’.