Analysis of “Primeval”
Representational issue: Gender
Representational issue: Gender
In the establishing shot we see a woman stomping off in a stereotypical manner and an unknown man attempting to stop her. She says that “None of this should have happened”. There is then an over the shoulder shot, showing the woman getting into a car, as sad, slow pace non-diegetic music plays. Already this shows gender reversal as land rovers are big cars that are stereotypically considered to be a man’s car. A fellow man advises him to “Let her go”, perhaps signifying that stereotypically men don’t understand women well enough to be able to help. There is sad, deep music in the background with the sound of birds chirping; signifying that they’re in a natural location with a lot of trees. The sound of the ignition is heard and the scene changes, as this happens a drum is introduced to the music and it changes to become more suspenseful signifying to the audience that something serious is happening.
The beginning of the scene features a lot of action as three of the characters appear to be setting traps. Instantly there are clear gender reversals as we see a woman in a JCB digger, she is wearing a leather jacket signifying she is rebellious; this is a job area vastly controlled by men; showing that her character has masculine qualities. Also one of the men is dressed femininely in a pink shirt with a red scarf and a hat; showing the exaggerated binary opposites in this clip.
The slow panning shots quickly switch to fast paced cutting when the Sabre-tooth tiger appears, as well as the non-diegetic sound of drums during the chase; this helps to build excitement as the audience are being conditioned to fear the tiger and empathise with the man running away. As the man is being chased by the tiger the woman is trying to save him, this goes against the norm and instead shows the male as the ‘damsel in distress’ and the woman as a heroine, challenging stereotypical gender ideals as it emphasises the binary opposites. The excitement continues to build as the audience are shown a long shot of the man shouting: “Come on!” this shot depicts the equal bravery of the man showing that males too are capable of being the hero, as the audience feel the male and female are both fearless.
The sound of running is audible as the man runs through bushes whilst a high angle, bird’s eye shot is used. He climbs a ladder to escape the tiger, still chasing him. In order to maintain excitement and anticipation amongst the audience, there is rigid crosscutting between the man attempting the zip wire and the creature roaring up the tree, this causes the audience to empathise and feel uneasy as they can see how close the animal is to catching the man, further building excitement. The fast cutting used, as the man puts his belt onto the zip-wire, portrays the man to be brave and courageous; also this causes the audience to feel the rush as the character tries to escape. The fast pace music builds up, speeding up as the sabre-tooth draws nearer towards the man, this tension is then broken by the loud noise of a gunshot, which is later revealed with an extra long shot to have come from the woman with a gun. This again continues to signify that she is brave and shows the clear antithesis of her character, challenging the stereotype of males being the hero and the females being weak. The slow motion editing used as the tiger leaps over the ledge and away from the man allows the audience to capture the relief of the male character as he eluded death by the hands of the creature.
There is a slow-motion long shot pan from right to left, presenting all the characters to the audience as they walk towards the camera. This shot enables us to see a male dressed in pink, wearing a hat. This helps to challenge the stereotypical ideas of males being strong and females being weak. There is clear antithesis between the strong woman and the male character in pink, portraying obvious qualities that make him female. This character could possibly be used for comedic effect, as we are later shown him picking up a spade as a defence weapon, maybe using humour to make the programme less serious and more entertaining at times, keeping the audience intrigued when there’s no action.
The scene changes to a barn setting; there is cross cutting between Mr. West and the woman conversing. The woman is dressed in black, with a white coat. This implies to the audience that perhaps her character is attempting to appear as friendly and trustworthy when in fact she has underlying evil traits and unlike the other characters, has bad intentions. There is a medium long shot of Mr. West with a gun, followed by a medium close up of the woman, displaying her fearful expressions to the audience, signifying that she feels threatened by Mr. West. This portrays men as the stereotypical; evil, vindictive people who resolve problems with brute force, as now it is the woman who is the ‘damsel’ and Mr. West is threatening her – conforming to gender stereotypes. The lighting used in the barn scene is dark, foreshadowing that something bad is about to happen, causing the audience to feel intrigued but tense. As the male character holds the gun over the woman, there is the loud diegetic noise of the dogs barking, reflecting the female characters panic and urge to cry for help. The editing is used to build anticipation, as there is slow motion as Mr. West raises his gun as if he were about to shoot, accompanied by deep non-diegetic drum music, making the scene even tenser for the audience as they empathise with the woman as she is seconds away from being shot. The tension is suddenly broken by dialogue from a familiar male from earlier on in the programme; the medium long shot used allows the audience to see the three people standing behind Mr. West. This shot emphasises that all the other characters are good as the sunlight illuminates them from behind in an ‘angel-like’ appearance. The scene ends with a close up of Mr. West as he hears “sabre-tooth”, allowing the audience to see the fear in his face, building curiosity amongst the audience as to whether he was the one to blame. In conclusion, the representational issue of gender in this clip is not continuous as there are various points where the women take control and ‘save the day’ but there are many examples of antithesis and breaking of stereotypes as well as conformity.
‘Peak Practice’ Clip Analysis
The representational issue that was most visible in the clip itself was the issue of gender. The clip follows a woman, call Dr. Elizabeth Glover, through three scenes, Scene 1; at work, Scene 2; at home and Scene 3; in a prison.
After this, Dr. Glovers husband, Jack, says to her “You’ll be wanting some time off soon.” He is referring to them adopting a child together. The camera then zooms back in to Dr. Glover’s face to signify to the audience that she might be nervous about her life. This is clearly conveyed in the Mise-En-Scene with her serious and contemplative face.
The ringing phone, just as they’ve made their decision, interrupts their alone time and could be a foreshadowing that Dr. Glover will have to chose between work and family in the future.
The lighting is quite dim and the room is a dark colour showing that their relationship may not be up to the task of having this baby. Blue is a very negative, dark colour that could suggest depression or sadness.
In the thirdand final scene; there's a clear example of emotive language when the prisoner says "Please make it go away", this language technique is used to connect with the audience.
The crying, snffling noises that the prisoner makes emphasises the mood and clearly signifies to the audience that he is to be pitied.
The crying, snffling noises that the prisoner makes emphasises the mood and clearly signifies to the audience that he is to be pitied.
All these effects contribute to the overall effectiveness of my clip; Peak Practise.
Clip Analysis – Doctor Who
The representational Issue I’ve chosen to address is sexism. The clip is set in 1879 in Scotland. Under the reign of Queen Victoria the United Kingdom was still very sexist.
In the establishing shot we see The Doctor and Rose lying on the floor laughing; the camera angle used, crane shot - from above, confuses the audience because of the strange perspective and causes them to focus more on the characters and their actions.
As they exit the Tardis the sound is very effective, The Doctor slows down his sentence to a stop as we hear guns being cocked. These sounds help create effect as we can’t see the guns being cocked but we see a looking-into-the-distance shot of The Doctor staring at the soldiers – off screen.
The director quickly pans the camera around to show the sheer number of soldiers aiming at them and then the clip cuts back to The Doctors’ worried expression. There’s a short over the shoulder shot which shows The Doctor standing slightly in front of Rose, showing his general dominance in the situation.
There’s a lot of quick cutting between the soldiers and Rose and The Doctor. There is also use of the 180° rule, this causes the audience to be more intrigued in the action of the scene. It draws attention to the ‘nakedness’ of Rose as she stands out amongst the other characters clothing, such as The Doctors trench coat and the soldiers uniform. Also by having a worm shot of the soldiers and a slightly elevated shot of Rose and The Doctor it conveys the higher status and authority of the soldiers over them. The shocked facial expression of The Doctor and Rose cause the audience to feel sympathy with the main protagonists and also portrays that they have ended up in a place in which they did not desire setting the plot of the episode. During the over the shoulder shot with the gun aimed at The Doctor, tension and anxiety builds up for the audience. Also during this shot, the wind blowing only through Rose’s hair shows her separation from the others in the scene at the time as she is currently the only female. As she is the only female this means that she is slightly degraded and isolated and her clothes clearly portray her lack of place in this time. The use of many different camera angles gives a wide range of view for the audience, they are able to see the landscape as well as the detailed facial expressions of the characters the importance of this is to demonstrate the different elephants of the scene.
The clip then moves on to the revealing of Queen Victoria, tension is built up in the scene as The Doctor and Rose walk towards the mysterious black carriage by the sound and camera angles; the harmonious string music builds until the carriage door is opened where the music reaches it’s crescendo and Queen Victoria is shown for the first time. The Doctor and Rose are unaware of the person sitting inside the carriage until this moment, this is shown as they hesitantly approach with caution and the camera is panned beside them as a dolly shot as they walk towards the carriage. Again the carriage is above The Doctor and Rose showing the Queens authority, status and power. She is hidden in the shadow which suggests that she is a closed and unapproachable character, however it also makes her the most important one in the scene. To demonstrate her importance and power she looks down on The Doctor and Rose and demands to see his credentials, however as soon as they are produced she suddenly becomes friendly and welcoming; this gives the audience a sudden sigh of relief and reassurance for The Doctor and Roses wellbeing.
As the Queen commands the soldiers to walk on, it once again reaffirms her authority over the other characters, The Doctor and Rose however are also made to walk with the soldiers, this portrays that he doesn’t yet trust them enough, and the audience will still worry about what could happen to them next. The clip I have annotated ends here.
As they exit the Tardis the sound is very effective, The Doctor slows down his sentence to a stop as we hear guns being cocked. These sounds help create effect as we can’t see the guns being cocked but we see a looking-into-the-distance shot of The Doctor staring at the soldiers – off screen.
The director quickly pans the camera around to show the sheer number of soldiers aiming at them and then the clip cuts back to The Doctors’ worried expression. There’s a short over the shoulder shot which shows The Doctor standing slightly in front of Rose, showing his general dominance in the situation.
There’s a lot of quick cutting between the soldiers and Rose and The Doctor. There is also use of the 180° rule, this causes the audience to be more intrigued in the action of the scene. It draws attention to the ‘nakedness’ of Rose as she stands out amongst the other characters clothing, such as The Doctors trench coat and the soldiers uniform. Also by having a worm shot of the soldiers and a slightly elevated shot of Rose and The Doctor it conveys the higher status and authority of the soldiers over them. The shocked facial expression of The Doctor and Rose cause the audience to feel sympathy with the main protagonists and also portrays that they have ended up in a place in which they did not desire setting the plot of the episode. During the over the shoulder shot with the gun aimed at The Doctor, tension and anxiety builds up for the audience. Also during this shot, the wind blowing only through Rose’s hair shows her separation from the others in the scene at the time as she is currently the only female. As she is the only female this means that she is slightly degraded and isolated and her clothes clearly portray her lack of place in this time. The use of many different camera angles gives a wide range of view for the audience, they are able to see the landscape as well as the detailed facial expressions of the characters the importance of this is to demonstrate the different elephants of the scene.
The clip then moves on to the revealing of Queen Victoria, tension is built up in the scene as The Doctor and Rose walk towards the mysterious black carriage by the sound and camera angles; the harmonious string music builds until the carriage door is opened where the music reaches it’s crescendo and Queen Victoria is shown for the first time. The Doctor and Rose are unaware of the person sitting inside the carriage until this moment, this is shown as they hesitantly approach with caution and the camera is panned beside them as a dolly shot as they walk towards the carriage. Again the carriage is above The Doctor and Rose showing the Queens authority, status and power. She is hidden in the shadow which suggests that she is a closed and unapproachable character, however it also makes her the most important one in the scene. To demonstrate her importance and power she looks down on The Doctor and Rose and demands to see his credentials, however as soon as they are produced she suddenly becomes friendly and welcoming; this gives the audience a sudden sigh of relief and reassurance for The Doctor and Roses wellbeing.
As the Queen commands the soldiers to walk on, it once again reaffirms her authority over the other characters, The Doctor and Rose however are also made to walk with the soldiers, this portrays that he doesn’t yet trust them enough, and the audience will still worry about what could happen to them next. The clip I have annotated ends here.
Monarch of the Glen Clip
Waterloo Road - Remake
Analysis of Waterloo Road Clip
The establishing shot in the scene is a crane shot aimed down at toilet cubicles, this sets the scene and clearly conveys to the audience where the scene is taking place There’s suspenseful, upbeat music playing which will cause the audience to become more intrigued as it attracts attention. We start to hear the conversation between the two main characters, Amy and Lauren they’re both inside the same cubical toilet highlighting that they are trying to be secretive. Then once the panning movement has stopped the audience can see both characters from a bird’s eye view and the drugs are in the centre of the shot signifying that this is what the scene is about. Whilst this is happening, non-diegetic sound is playing, the music is quite fast paced as well, and however at this point there is practically no editing. After this, the director focuses on the characters faces using a close-up shot to show all of their facial expressions to convey their emotions. However, when the conversation is short and quick a panning motion is used, instead of different shots and a faster edit which may confuse the audience.
Furthermore the non-diegetic music has become quieter as the diegetic sound of the characters speaking is more present in the scene.
The mise-en-scene signifies that the scene takes place in the school toilets as the audience is able to see that they are dirty and also there is writing on the toilet walls which is a stereotype for school toilets. Also the characters are wearing school uniform but they don’t look very smart signifying that they are not good students and break the rules, this highlights the fact that they are the kind of students who may take drugs.
Then the third shot is a high angle shot looking down on the two girls, suggesting that they are inferior to whoever they are looking up at.
Then the editing speeds up as the non-diegetic sound fades out, signifying to the audience that the scene has become more serious and is a focal point. The director then changes the camera angle to a medium – over-the-shoulder shot so the audience is able to see the setting as well as the characters, and know who Amy and Lauren are talking to. It also has all three characters in it as Amy and Lauren have emerged from the toilet, highlighting that the drugs they were trying to keep secret, have been found out, which foreshadows what will happen later on in the episode.
Furthermore the editing is fast and many close-ups are used which highlights the heightened emotions that the characters are feeling drawing in the audience even more.
The over-the-shoulder shot then switches to show that the two girls, Amy and Lauren, are united against the other character in the scene, singling her out showing to the audience the clear cut; right and wrong.
In this part there is only diegetic sound used which again highlights how the scene is important and quite tense.
Waterloo Road Storyboad
Script
Waterloo Road - Drugs
(Upbeat Music)Lauren: Is it strong then?
Amy: Yeah, one joint and you’ll be totally baked.
Lauren: Well, what, have you tried it?
Amy: No but Trevor reckons it good stuff and he knows all about it so…
Amy: No but Trevor reckons it good stuff and he knows all about it so…
Lauren: Well, d’you reckon we’ll be okay?
(Lauren Sniffs Bag)
Amy: Soon find out. We’re trying it tonight at mine you up for it?
Lauren: Err yeah I suppose
Amy: You don’t suppose you in or what?
Lauren: Yeah I’m in, totally.
(Both hold bag, look in and smile)
Sam: What are you playing at Lauren?
Amy: You stupid or what? You almost made me drop this down the
Amy: You stupid or what? You almost made me drop this down the
toilet!
Sam: Yeah and that’s the best place for it!
(Closes bag)
(Music Volume Raises) (Exit Toilet) (Music ends)
Sam: What? You into drugs now Lauren?
Lauren: It’s just a bit of grass Sam.
Sam: And you think that she’s gunna take it like that when she finds out?
Amy: WE weren’t planning on telling her.
Sam: Are you mad or what?
Amy: What’s it to do with you anyway?
Sam: I was talking to a mate actually
(Amy looks around - exaggerating)
Amy: What is there someone else in here?
Sam: No one finds you funny
(Lauren puts her hands on Amy and Sam)
Lauren: Shut up, both of you, were all mates aren’t we. Come on Sam you are being a little bit of a downer about this; it’s just grass… We should all to go Amy’s after school, smoke a bit, it’ll be a laugh!
Amy: What? She’s not coming mine!
Lauren: Oh come on
Sam: Do you know what I’m not, look you want to get yourself into drugs hen fine but don’t expect me to hang around with you
(Sam leaves)
“Cutting It” Extract - Essay Analysis
CameraAt the very start, the establishing shot of the extract is a mid-shot of two characters travelling together in a taxi; the black taxi-cab style and urban traffic signify that they’re in a city location. However, since we have not seen them enter the taxi and there is no dialogue as of yet there is a mystery as to where they’re going. There’s an example of a mid shot two shot where the woman leans on the man’s shoulder, indicating that they have a close relationship, this is reaffirmed when he kisses her hand signifying that they are in a very close relationship. The medium close up shots show the severity of the conversation. There are even further significant shots to indicate that they are in a marriage as we clearly see a shot of them with clasped hands and then a cut to the other side so we clearly see both wedding rings.
SoundDuring the first part of the scene, the sounds of traffic help set the scene of a city location. As they exit the taxi the noise is emphasised to further convey where they are. The diegetic-noise then dies down to focus on the dialogue. As the woman walks away towards the hospital, the music changes to percussion with a female voice singing calmly about “leaving” and “being free” this foreshadows the woman’s looming death, the lack of dialogue at this point builds up suspense as the audience is wondering what the results of her consult are. This effect, of deep percussion music, gains the audiences sympathy and places them on her side. The music becomes more serious and electronic as it fades out and she walks back, this builds up tension as the audience is wondering what happened. The music suddenly stops and is followed by a short, concise sound of squealing brakes and the sound of shattering glass.
As the man realises what has just happened he stands there and the camera focuses on him, there are distinct sounds of a heartbeat before he runs towards her, there is a cataphoric reference to the crash as he’s running towards her and is narrowly missed by a car, the sharp blast of a car horn snaps him back to reality. The final part of the clip is only diegetic sounds, which adds effect as the woman says “It was the perfect day” and the man breaks down to tears. There is a single piano playing as the scene fades to black.
As the man realises what has just happened he stands there and the camera focuses on him, there are distinct sounds of a heartbeat before he runs towards her, there is a cataphoric reference to the crash as he’s running towards her and is narrowly missed by a car, the sharp blast of a car horn snaps him back to reality. The final part of the clip is only diegetic sounds, which adds effect as the woman says “It was the perfect day” and the man breaks down to tears. There is a single piano playing as the scene fades to black.
EditingThe pace of the editing varies throughout the clip; the conversation in the taxi is kept sharp and interesting by the cut back and forth between the characters. The speed changes from real-time in the taxi to much slower as she goes into the hospital, as she’s in the consultation there is a lot of slow fading between shots of her and cut aways to him waiting for her outside to add emphasis to their impending separation. As the woman exits the hospital the clip is back in real-time, she walks towards him and there is a cut to him standing up waiting for her, over-emphasising the final time that they will see each other before the crash. As the crash occurs the clip immediately becomes slow motion and there is a lot of cutting from him to where she would be, but blocked by a car. While in slow motion the man runs towards her, it only becomes real-time again as he is almost hit by a car, signifying to the audience that he was forced back into reality. In the final part of the clip the cuts from his face to hers are fast and then the final cut to an aerial shot adds emphasis as it shows her in her final resting place.
Mise-En-Scene
In the beginning of the scene, the taxi scene suggests that they are a slightly higher class (that they can afford it) and, that when she pays, she is in control of the relationship. The traffic visible through the window shows the audience that they are in an urban location and the black taxi indicates this is Central London somewhere. The couple are well groomed and stylishly dressed; this signifies again that they may be a higher status or class. As they emerge from the taxi the woman’s expensive dress is revealed signifying that they may have been to some important function. There are repeated focuses on their gold rings to indicate their commitment to each other.Generally the Mise-En-Scene connotes that they have had problems in the past but they’re both willing to move on to be happy together, come what may.
Screen-Shot Evaluation
Hotel Babylon - Representing Ethnicities
The very first thing you see in this clip is a hotel employee turning around to see two policemen covering the back of the hotel, stating “We’re only here to stop people getting out”. Already the music is deep and suspenseful causing the audience to wonder what’s about to happen. This image portrays the police, right from the start, as evil, non-emotional robots.
As he reaches the reception desk the music stops to limit the distractions so the intended viewers can focus on the speech element of this scene.
The man is not polite as he disregards what the receptionist says and tells her bluntly that he is the immigrations officer and he has a warrant to search the premises, thrusting his ID in her face as he states his business.The fact that the immigrations officer is wearing dark clothes subconsciously suggests to the audience that he is the typical ‘bad guy’ where as the receptionist is in a white business suit suggesting the hotel should be acknowledged as the innocent, caring ‘good guys’.
The music starts up again, more intense than before, louder and with more echo in the background in order to get the viewers’ hearts racing and to make the situation seem more suspenseful.
The director then used the effect of a ‘tracking shot’ where the camera follows the man as he runs through the hotel to inform “Jackie” of the situation.
The camera never focuses on the immigrant’s faces as they’re not meant to be thought of as individuals, more as a collection of outcasts who don’t have the same freedom that we do, this intensifies the audience’s feelings and allows them to empathise with the immigrants on what they have to deal with.
The low level lighting from above creates shadows which really intensifies this scene in the sense that it makes the situation more dark, eerie and suspenseful.
The music calms down to a low level and gives auditory imagery of a heart beating. The door is locked and all that can be heard is heavy breathing of the shell-shocked immigrants. When ‘Jacky’ has counted them she realises someone is missing and suddenly all the suspenseful music comes back in and the editors cut transition to ‘Ibrahim’ for a second to further foreshadow his arrest.
One of the male cleaners comes forward and announces that the woman is diabetic and she’s having a ‘hypoglycaemic attack’. This could shock the audience as typically because of stereotypes we do not expect immigrants to be doctors.
The editors put in another cut to ‘Ibrahim’ to yet again foreshadow his arrest. The reason they inform the intended audience his name is to cause empathy and to personify the immigrants, making the audience think about how badly they are treated.
The music also returns to the previous deep, repetitive tense style as the ‘henchman’ chase him down.
As Ibrahim notices them and tries to run, the camera is zoomed in to show a close up of his face. He runs and trips over the hoover and the ‘henchmen’ pounce on him as the immigrations officer casually walks, showing his hierarchy and power over everyone. The camera is zoomed in to show a close up of the immigrations officer’s face. This obvious example of binary opposites really emphasises the severity of the situation further provoking the audience to side with the immigrants; portrayed as the innocent ‘good guys’.
After ‘Ibrahim’ was taken away the music changes to slow, sad string instruments to evoke the audiences feelings of sadness. Some of Ibrahim’s closer immigrant friends’ standby as Jacky clears out his locker. The camera angle used by the director is really effective; as it pans it reveals the immigrants expressions and evokes more feelings of empathy and compassion from the intended audience.
When Jacky finishes clearing out the locker the director recorded a shot focused on the keys as she locks the locker door very slowly and over-emphasised to once again show the connotations of being locked up.
In the staff dining room there is a lot of noise and talking and the first thing to notice is their expressions, they’re not sad that their fellow colleague has been taken. This scene shows how even within the group of immigrants there are different groups of them; here the African immigrants are even further excluded from society even by people who know how they feel. This is yet another example of how the director manages to evoke feelings of empathy and compassion from the audience.
