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Thursday, 5 December 2013

Representation of Gender - Homework

Representation of Gender



Initial thoughts:
During this clip shown, the gender representation of men was revealed more than the women. The few things that have been shown about the women are the following; They're emotional, argumentative and victims of abuse. The one thing shown that was not placed in a stereotypical view was the fact that the one of the women shown in this clip was not motherly and caring about her own children as usually revealed as. For the men, this clip shown them to be; Abusive, violent, intelligent, messy, unargmentative and childish. This are all shown through camera shots and mise-en-sc

Thursday, 28 November 2013

Representation of Age. - Criminal Justice.



Criminal Justice. - Representation of Age. 



Initial thoughts:
During the Criminal Justice clip, there was shown to be an extreme amount of authority shown by the older men against the younger. This ranged from the young boy in prison with the older men to the younger police officers against the older detective. The authority was not placed on place but on ages instead. Another thing that was shown was the fear, this fear was based on being beaten around because of the age such as the young boy against all the older men but also the police officer who was going to court on pleasing the older detective. This links in with the authority because it shows the older you are, the more power you have and the fear you cause on the younger. The only time this authority and fear changed was upon the old man sitting down speaking to the younger boy as to show that he was lowering his status for a few seconds. This all changed when he revealed that the older have more aggression towards those who need to be taught how to behave in a prison. As the youngest in the prison, the young boy tries to copy the old man as he is shown to be a role model as well as a cell-mate.  This young boy  seems to have one role model but also what is shown to be a 'guard' as another prisoner decides to pull him away from trouble and give him the 'respect' symbol with their fists. The audience interprets this as his safety until the old man which is his cell-mate becomes aggressive and opposes this with the truth that he knows about him. This shows the older you become unlike the middle aged man, the more knowledge you seem to know.

Camera shots:
The first shot shown in this clip was the hand held camera movement. This shown the two unknown men prisoners staring towards the audience, this was then moved into a tilt movement to show the young boy behind as a fearful child. This shot alone reveals the first amount of power of the older generation of the middle aged men against the teenage boy. This is because the older men seem to reveal a stern facial expression to show how much bigger and older they are to create the young boy  to 'squirm' and show so much fear of approaching. The fact that these shots was used to show these actions to the audience, the audience can quickly interpret that the young teenage boy will have no way of making through the prison life without trouble as the middle aged men have already shown their power of being older and see the young boy as an easy target because he does not have enough knowledge to know what he is doing.


The next shot used that really agreed to the audiences opinions on the higher authority on younger people was revealed. The Medium close up shot, shown the audience a coloured man which was a prisoner looking down upon the teenage as he would tease and torment by blowing on him as if he was a 'feather' that can be blown away. The medium close up shot was used to also reveal the height as the power as the older someone becomes the more they seem to grow. It's to reveal that they have grown up and matured to an extreme consent while the teenage boy seems to be going through this stage with confusion and fear as he's placed in with many aggressive men who see him as a 'feather' and a 'play toy' to torment and bully until he cried for help like a younger child would. This coloured man did not care about the ethnicity in the place it was more of age and growth to show off and control those who are physically weaker due to being so young. There was no father figure shown in this scene. More of a controllive fun in authority and power.


In this clip, there is quite a few extreme close up shots of the youngest prisoners face. The emotions of worry, fear and depression is shown extremely clearly to the audience. This provokes sympathy from him as a bond is created between them as then the audience feels what he feels of being in a place full of aggressive and older men who look down at him as a 'joke' to their prison. With these extreme close up's showing his age as a vulnerable in a place like the prisons, other shots can easily be placed in to fit to represent more traits in being young, middle aged and old. All the shots shown of the young boy being 'vunerable' and 'clueless' due to being young and undeveloped in society but being placed in a fully developed and fearing place of just men provokes an extreme amount of sympathy to him even if he has committed a crime.


Continuing from this there is a contrast, as an older middle aged man approaches and creates the younger coloured guy to move away leaving the teenage boy with him. Most audiences would sigh with relief in this medium close up shot as the older man would approach with a more 'father figured' atmosphere about him as he 'helps' the young boy. As the young boy is clueless and only wants protection he automatically falls into this trap not knowing what he truly getting into. As this older middle aged man is more knowledgable with tricks up his sleeve on using this young boy, he automatically gives him the friendship symbol by hitting fists with him as 'respect' in a close up shot. This close up shot of the 'respect' symbol of hitting fists is emphasised to the audience to make them think that something terrible is going to happen as the age gap is shown with big and completely different traits.

After the trouble this boy is shown going through for being younger, his vulnerability does not end there in the next shot when he meets his cell-mate. The only thing that relieves the audience to begin with is the fact that his cell-mate is quite old in appearance. The first shot shown of him is the medium shot of him sitting down removing his boots before responding to the young boys comments as a greeting of some sort. All though he is shown to be quite blunt like a stereotypical old man would be shown as, he's slightly accepting of the younger boys age as if it reminded him of his own son/ grandson. The fact that he is shown to be sitting down when the younger boy comes in shows that the younger boy has more status for the first time due to the fact that as he is younger he is physically stronger and more athletic compared to the man. He even notices this as he tries to keep this high authority during the next few shots. 


In the next few shots, the authority changes between the young boy to the older man as he reveals who he really is and why he's there. This is shown through the repeated the handheld camera movements as a sense of reality but also medium shots. The young boy is shown to try and keep a high authority as he believes this old man to be so much weaker compared to the middle aged men as he keeps upright and standing with his arm leaning on the bed, as he soon realises he should not contest the old man he decides to retreat and sit on the bed becoming once again vulnerable as the old man decides to take this moment to show agression as he closes up on the boys face in a extreme close up shot while he reveals his anger about the middle aged apparently 'protecting him' as he opposes against it and tells the truth. This also reveals that the oldest of the prison in age has the most knowledge with the truth and that he does not play games.


The last extremely interesting shot that reveals the old man's age gives him more knowledge is when a close up shot is used upon him using a torch in the dark while he sews a blade onto a a normal everyday object, creating an extremely dangerous weapon. Even though the next shot does not reveal why this weapon is being created, the old man is still interpreted as being more knowledgeable and dangerous compared to the middle aged men. 


To contrast against the audiences views of high authority and power only happens in the prisons, a clip is shown of taller police officers running around and handing stuff to the detective who is as about as old as the older man in the prisons in tracking shots but also a medium shot as they try too approach him. This detective is shown to believe that his higher power due to his age, he can boss around those younger than him no matter of the height of body built. The youngest police officer that approaches him seems to treat him like a god as he squirms with fear every time he looks at him but also tries to act the way the detective see's as a perfect police officer as he tries to please him in every way possible. This tells the audience that weight, body built and height does not matter, it's whether you have lived around longer than everyone else to have the most knowledge and cunning plans in life. 


Editing:
During this clip, there was different types of editing used for different reasons, these are continuity and montage but also the cutting of clips with long takes, eye-line match and also jump cut. The last would be the editing move of using an appearance of a cctv camera view upon the action of the prison. 

The continuity was used briefly through parts of the clip as the camera shots would follow the young boy through his troubles, by using the continuity editing the audience was able to make a close bond with the young boy as he experienced the threats of the middle aged men. This draws them in closer into watching more as they fear of the young boys vulnerability on his travels through meeting different people. 

The montage editing was also used throughout the clip, this is because some clip parts had to repeatedly change as a change of time, this is because it keeps the audiences on their toes as they want to see what is around the corner instead of having to wait for the time to slowly go past. The montage editing also keeps the audience wondering and fearful for the young boys safety as each shot quickly changes from one to another showing the different reactions and troubles. The montage editing is clearly seen when a shot outside the prison walls are shown in the daylight after the lights went out in the previous shot. 


The first lot of cutting used was based in the first shot. This cutting was the eye-line match as it placed the audience in the view of the young boy to create fear of what they're looking at before giving them a close up shot of the side of the young boys face. This gives a sense of reality but also a link with emotions to the audience and the vulnerability of the boy with the huge age gap in the groups against him in the prisons. 


The next type of cutting used was the cutaway. This cutaway used was to reveal to the audience the action happening away from the jail but to do with police and the offence the young boy and his 'crime partner' have made. This editing reveals age as the older the person is the bossier and more aggressive they become while the young teenagers are vulnerable and try their hardest to please the role model. It also opposes from the jail to the police to show that even if there is contrast between places and reasons they're there, there is no change in the way the certain age groups would be because all their traits relate. 


Sound:



Cutting it Analysis - Homework.

Cutting it Analysis



My initial thoughts:
During the Cutting it clip, there was a representation of Gender shown. Gender refers too Masculine and feminine traits. This short clip revealed that the women has the feminine traits while her husband had the masculine traits. Through out this clip, the media does not battle against the stereotypes instead it influences it. The feminine women was shown to be 'emotional' with the way she would either be upset with her husband,  cry about her news, become snappy and grumpy after being all 'loving and caring' with her husband like she was in the beginning. She is also shown to be emotionally jealous about this 'Melissa' female that by interpretations that he was either seeing or doing things with her. The last representation of the female character was that she always looked perfect and tidy, even when she was hit by a car near the end of this clip, her make-up and hair did not smudge or become ruined. The masculine husband was also influenced with stereotypes, through out the clip he was shown to have a high status in his life with the amount of times he had married. But also emotionless as he did not seemed phased with his wife's attention he was receiving and he did not respond with crying when she died at the end of this given clip. He was also shown to be wearing a suit as a normal everyday life meaning that he was independent and the bread winner out of this family. The last thing that really stood out with him in a stereotypical influence was that he was slightly aggressive before he was blocked out with his own wife's comments.

Camera work:
To begin the clip, a quick action shot was used to reveal the husband and wife being together in the taxi. This action shot, represents the gender in this clip by showing the women to rely on the husband (The breadwinner), her actions would show this as she would lean into his side and show all her happiness that she felt protected by his 'strong masculinity'. The man is also shown to be 'compassionate' when he lifts her hand and kisses the fingers. The audience would interpret this as him being the 'stereotypical gentleman' who looks after his wife like a prize. After this action, the action shot also reveals to the audience that feminine people are very 'emotional'. This is shown when the women look away to the taxi window with a 'grumpy' and 'moody' face. This camera shot all together is used to show how the masculine gender try their hardest to show how compassionate and loving they can be while the feminine gender would ignore this and become suddenly moody as if the masculine person is not aloud to do this.


The next two shots are close up shots of the husband and wife's facial expressions as their topic of conversation becomes serious about the past. The name 'Miranda' also popped up during the conversation when the masculine character would end the conversation before the feminine character decides too place down her jealousy about Miranda in a comment. By using these close up shot, while it become a shot reverse shot the audience are able to interpret that the feminine character is extremely jealous like they would be in a stereotypical view while the masculine character is shown to be emotionless and not completely fussed over the past.




The next shot that really stood up and actually went against the stereotypical views on feminine and masculine people was the close up shot of the feminine character placing her hand upon the masculine characters hand. This opposition shown the feminine character supporting the masculine character, when this is usually produced the other way around. The fact that a close up shot was used, was to shock the audience a little as most of the clip follows the stereotypes and only contrasts against it once. 


After the constant shot reverse shots of the close ups while the conversation deepened. When the couple got out of the taxi another action shot was used to only reveal to the audience where this taxi stopped, this created them to question it before the other the shoulder shots were used suddenly. These over the shoulder shots mainly shown the audience the reactions of the feminine character as she shown no mercy representing that feminine people do not care about the pain they give others while the masculine character shown that masculine people are very short fused and can become angrily quickly if they've been tricked. 






Tuesday, 5 November 2013

Silent Hill movie. - Analysis.

Silent Hill Opening Scene Analysis.



The film I have selected for the opening sequence is Silent Hill. Even though I have embedded the full movie, I will only be analysing the first three minutes.

Editing:
During the opening of this Silent Hill film, the editing starts with the fade in of the institutional information then is shown to fade out into a black scene. This was quickly led onto the beginning of the credits with; 'Samuel Hadida presents' before fading out. This keeps the Audience on their toes as instead of the title revealing itself, the opening scene begins with a cut of the female character screaming 'Sharon'. Even though a character is shown to begin the opening scene with mentioning the main characters name, the main character of this film is not shown to the audience till a little later in the opening. This helps with the dramatic questions from the audience of 'who is Sharon', 'why is this female character screaming her name at night' but also 'how is this character Sharon got out of the house with out her parents knowing.' By having these questions, the opening scene manages to pull in the audience to wanting to watch the rest of the film as they want to know the next lot of action which would answer their questions.


Further through the opening scenes with the help of different Camera Work, the editing of this film created the clips to cut in with each other one after the other while the younger women and man run through places to find 'Sharon'. This is also known as Continuity, because the scenes are followed one after the other as the area changes to show the characters moving. Once the characters started moving, the editing of the cut ins became quicker as one shot would focus on the female character, it would then rapidly change to a car driving on the bridge above before focusing back upon the female character, this creates a rapid change for the audiences though patterns creating their emotions to become manipulated as they believe that 'Sharon' may have been run over and become extremely upset for the mother. This is quickly change as the audience then see slower cut ins of the road to the women running across the rocks to then the young girl who the audience recognise as 'Sharon' standing upon the cliff above a waterfall. This then leads once again their thought patterns onto the questions of 'why is she standing on the cliff' and 'what is she going to do now, as she is young and confused.' The editing has then also manipulated the audiences emotions again to create them to be come fearful and confused. 


After the next few cut ins in the opening scene, the audience was lead onto a birds eye view looking down above the girl but also the bottom of the waterfall, this was used for the editing to lead into an special effect of an CGI, as it reveals the view of 'hell' with hot pipes and old meshed paths and flames. To reveal this special effect appearing into the water, a dissolve was used. This dissolve, created the waterfall to slowly disappear as the 'hell' appears quickly behind towards the audience as if it was opening up to the girl. The dissolve is only noticeable to the audience when they observe the edge of the waterfall. The editing then continued to zoom straight through onto another dead looking girls face before the cut in of 'Sharons' face was shown to the audience. This created the audience to believe that there was a bond between these two girls as the 'dead looking' one took control over the living. 


The continuity of cut ins was used again after this short CGI editing, this time the cut ins were quick as the scenes changed from the mother pushing the daughter down, to a close up to then the scene of the father running across the road and nearly getting hit by the lorry. The quick cut ins of this gives the audience a second of calmness as they feel relived after the young girl was saved to then a quick heart beating moment of fear as they believe that the father may have just been run over. By choosing to edit the scenes quickly from one to another did not give the audience a chance to relax over the previous action, but it aloud to them to let their guard down as if nothing was going to happen again to then get shocked at the quick reaction of the lorry missing the father by inches. 


The cut ins after these shots became then slower as they varied between the child's dreaming state as she would scream about 'Silent Hill' to then the parents as they give the response which would certify their questions and answers. The girl is only getting worse and that this has happened before. This was quickly led into a shot of them sitting all together which gave the audience the belief that, that would be the last time the whole family would been seen together. A fade out was used after into the black screen while the title of the film would fade in. Silent Hill. This would let the audience know for sure that the little girl Sharon was the main character as the film would mostly be based only upon her and the 'dead girl' they had seen earlier. 



Mise-en-scène
The mise-en-scène through out this film was used carefully to reveal to the audience that it was a horror genre. The mise-en-scène is shown through the six categories of: Setting, Decor, Lighting, Body language/ movement and blocking, Props but also Costume and make-up.

Setting:
To begin the opening, the setting is shown to be outside a lightened up house at night time. This automatically gives the audience the opinion that it is a horror genre, because most action happens at night time to give a scary feel. Also by including the house as the setting to begin with, the shot reveals to the audience that the silence of the house is abnormal and that even with no-one living close the silence shows the danger of the action which is taking place. It also shows the audience the state of the female characters emotions with no distractions, causing the audience to really feel the fear and panic that the mother has. 


During the opening scene, the region seems to change slightly from a modern housing area which is extremely quite and must be located in the country side with the noises of the crickets played, to a more urban place as the roads are shown and the underpass is covered in dirt and graffiti. This creates more fear and tension for the audience as they go from a more relaxing and safe feeling to a quick sudden shock as they expect the worse to happen in this place known for violence and drug taking people. To continue this  fear but also showing that this film is a horror genre, the setting are all kept in the darkness. This lets anything jump out and hide unexpected from the audience. 


The road which is briefly shown twice in this opening scene, continues the urban city look. This once again is also contrasted with the setting beside it. The setting beside it is shown to be a massive lake with a waterfall, leading up to this waterfall there is shown to be rugged and sharp rocks which have been chipped away. Above the waterfall there is shown to be a forest with the grass which would lead up to the road. By showing the rocks that are chipping away and the women trying to run up  them, the audience get a more of a shock as they believe that the action will only happen to her. This all changes when the camera shoots the young girl 'Sharon' standing on the edge of the cliff but also how far the waterfall goes down. This keeps them on the edge of their seat as they really feel the height that is and become terrified for the girls own life. 



Lighting:
Lighting was not used a lot in all of the scenes. The reason why the lighting was not used in most of the scenes, is because by creating a horror film most scenes have to be dark and very mysterious as it creates the audience to feel threatened and uneasy. The following scenes had shown lighting effect to cause the audience to become more unease and fearful; 

During the first few seconds a scene of a forest was shown. The lighting in this scene was only shown through part of the trees to resemble the houses lights leaking through. This also highlighted the character up to the audience as they see her rush through the branches in the distance. The lighting in this scene also highlighted the mist of the background to create a more scary feel to the audience as if 'something lurked there' like in many other films. The lighting was also used to keep the other side of the forest dark to go by the stereotypical view of a forest in a horror film. 


After the forest scene that was shown an interesting light effect being used to display the urban cities underground tunnel. The lighting was carefully used to keep a natural 'moon light' effect upon the edge of the tunnel as it only settled upon some of the graffiti and the actual edge of the beginning of the tunnel. As the audience can see the continuousness of the uneasy and unexpected actions which may happen next. 


The darkness continues to cover most of the places e.g. the road scene which is shown all the way to the other side of the road, this is a contrast compared to the left side of the road which is seen as a dark and dangerous area covered in mist while the right hand seems to be lightened up as the light reflects against the chipped rocks and grass. This creates a slightly suspense emotion over the audience as they now clearly see what lies ahead of this older female character while she tries to clamber across the rocks. Another great thing about using the lighting quite bright upon the rocks, it shows clearly to the audience how wet the rocks are, giving them the thoughts and opinions that the women is probably going to die. 


After the split second of the audience worrying that this older female character would fall, the rest of the lighting was mainly based upon the cliffs edge and the waterfall. This kept the audience uneasy and feeling noxious about the edge and how far the waterfall goes down. This quickly links them to a connection with the young girl and older female character as they try and urge the character onto saving the young girl before she jumped. This creates them to become more anxious and stressed as their own minds scream to help the young girl. 


During the last few seconds of the opening scene, before the title was revealed the lighting was played in two different ways. The first way was by lightening the artificial lighting more, so the family connection which is finally shown is revealed to the audience as the interpretations quickly become clear that something is going to break this family apart as they're shown in an small amount of the light and the rest is dark. The second way the lighting was used was to contrast against the evil that the audience had just experienced was to show a cross in small lamps right in the background. This cross does become the focus point for the audience as they have the ambiguous meanings to why the cross is shown. These reveals the audience a false safety and relaxation as if the evilness would not return soon due to the 'light' of the religion battling against it. 


Body Language/ Movement and Blocking
The body language and movement in the opening scene are used to create a connection between the audience and the characters. This creates the characters to manipulate the audiences emotions and body language as what they show the audience would also feel. During the opening scene, there was no blocking used. The reason for not using blocking is so the audience stay in tension and confusion as their emotions can quickly switch from one character to another based on their movements and body language. 

Straight away into the opening, the body language of the first shown character and connection catches them off guard before they can even settle into the film itself. By catching the audience off guard by the character showing a full on emotion of fear as her body would be tensed as she stops to a halt, the audience would then become tensed their selves as they would grip onto the name that she calls. The sudden movement on the screen would keep the audience observing closely as they wonder who and why this women is calling the 'Sharon' character. 


After the scenes of the older female character running, she finally stops after climbing up the side of the cliff. The emotion she shows of confusion and fear as she finally breathes in causes the audience to be on-ease and worried as they have the suspense of what point of view this women has before witnessing it themselves. The suspense really has an appealing affect on the audience, this is because in the horror  genre many 'creatures' or situations will reveal themselves to the character but then slowly reveal itself to the audience to feed their curiosity of what they cannot see yet. 


The next body language and movement shown would be when the young girl would rock back and forth on the cliff, her body is shown to be controlled by other things such as 'spirits' to go with the belief that the younger generation are more likely to be spiritual and possessed than the older. Her facial expressions also revealed to the audience that she way unconscious in a way as she tried to fight control over her own movements. This continued the suspense of whether she would jump or stay but also the questions of 'who was controlling her?' and 'will she survive?'


The next movement of the body to draw in the attention but also answer a few of the audiences question was when the girl was pulled down to the grass by the older female character. As soon as she was pulled down, her body would shake and tremble while she screamed 'silent hill'. All the audience would take this suddenly as a 'possession' as the girl would not react or respond to the parents. By creating the audience to translate this as a possession, the film was able to resemble that this girl will be a main character of the film as this must continue through her life. This was certified when the parents spoke about this being the second time that she had acted this way. 


To change the audiences mood for the  scenes after the title is shown, the characters choose to feed them a fake safety and happiness to the audience. The way this was shown was through the movement and body language of the family as they would huddle together in a stereotypical family hug. By creating a fake safety and happiness emotion across the audience, it would continue the manipulation of their emotions but also keep them off guard for the scenes that would happen after the title was shown. 

Props
During the opening scene only one prop was used. This was the teddy bear that the older female character was shown to run with before dropping it under the tunnel. This teddy bear is actually important in the opening scene as it signified a young child that the older female character was calling out for. This teddy bear also resembled vulnerability and innocence as the child was only young, this also then leads onto the beliefs from anyone that young children are more vulnerable to possessions from spirits than the older as they were more spiritual. This certifies the audiences expectations of a horror genre'd film. 


Costume and make-up
In this opening scene, there was no make-up seen being wore on the characters, the outfits shown to be worn by the characters resembled that they lived in the 21st century but also the fact that they were all in bed to begin with before the action applied. By keeping the characters in their pyjamas before and during the action of the opening scene, the actions become more realistic towards the audience. This is because they feel the true intentions of the characters as the action was 'unexpected' but also 'dangerous' as it started of as a peaceful every day life routine that the audience also experience. By relating the everyday outfits to the audience, the audience quickly understand and relate to what they're wearing, what time of day it is and where the characters originally were before they realised the Sharon character went missing. 


Sound:
At the beginning of the fade in of the beginning scene the non-diegetic sound effects of a conversation and crying was played. Even though this was not seen by the audience and only heard, the audience were off guard for the next shock of an older female screaming 'Sharon'. This is because the non-diegetic sound effects caused the audience to believe that the film was going to quickly open up on an argument instead of the scene after. 

During the first few scenes of the opening, the diegetic sound effects of the nocturnal creatures e.g. crickets was being played. This was used to resemble the setting as a quite and out of town place in the forest as it was a less likely place for something to happen. This was all quickly changed when an loud diegetic sound suddenly played of the cars driving across the roads, by having this full on it resembles the contrast between the peacefulness of the dark forest and the activity of a busy road. This sound effect can also cause the audience to believe that there was an accident above relating to the Sharon character. This kept them in suspense. 

Among the characters voices being played, there was two different types of sound being played. One was Diegetic which was the sound of the waterfall and the girl moaning with unconsciousness which would unsettle the audience and make them become very uncomfortable as they believe that they would know the next outcome, but the second one was non-diegetic. The non-diegetic sound was of the mood music being played, this mood music works the way it's name is. The mood music was creepy and scary to manipulate the audiences thoughts and change them to think of consequences of this girl standing on the edge of the waterfall which is completely opposite to what they would next show.

Near the end of the opening scene, chimes were played as a non-diegetic sound. The reason for this was to once again manipulate the audiences emotions into happiness and safe thoughts that the family was back together again and nothing will go wrong this time as they will mostly get over it. This keeps them off guard for the scenes after the title has been shown. 


Shot types:


Film opening themes. - Listening and interpretation.



After listening to a sound track which can be used as a film opening, I had the feeling that it would be something dramatic but also with the hint of depression after an action has happened when the women starts singing. The ideas that created a short opening of a film came to mind as follow:

There is a masquerade ball happening but the camera was mostly focused on a couple in the middle. During this few second dance, the camera shot her falling down to the floor with an unexpected reason, this action that happens causes her husband to suddenly look around as the crowd would quickly fall to their knees trying to revive her again. When this husband looks up, a glimpse is caught of another masked man running out of the room in a hurry ignoring this fatal action. As the song continues further, I could imagine this all being a flash back for a man who sits on his own in a dark room, around him including his hand would be alcohol bottles resembling that he turned into an alcoholic due to this incident of his wife's death.

After I caught the glimpse of him being an 'alcoholic' I can imagine that when the music develops, him revealing his plans of revenge against the man as he would answer his phone quickly and grab a hammer laid close by him. This would lead into shots of him following close behind a man which is once again only seen briefly before he smashes him down with this hammer.

As the hammer is caught seen with blood, the body of the man who is seen unconscious  that is  revenged against is seen being dragged away quickly. The ending of this imagination of a film opening, I can imagine that I hear the victims husband as a close up of his eyes is shown saying; 'I spent eternity  hunting him... I spent the rest of my life causing him hell in return of my wife's death.'


Adagio for strings: 



In this second sound track that I listened too, I got the opposite emotion to the Donnie Darko end theme. This sound track created a quite upsetting and depressive emotion towards me. This music stayed the same through out which created me to think of the following film opening;

The first shot would be of someone leaving flowers upon a grave, a young female to be precise. As the few seconds of watching her slowly starting to cry, I quickly imagined the grave stone revealing the name and death before it would black out for another few seconds.

As the fade in would happen, I would imagine happy memories of this couple or family related members being shown as they went to places like the forest or the field. I could see the way they smiled and hanged off each others arms but also the way they would play around by pushing each other. The feeling from this did create me to feel like something was going to tumble and create this happy relationship to fall to pieces.

With all these quick cut ins of all the happy yet different memories being shown briefly, I imagined them both sitting at a table one day before one person would hand over a very detailed letter. The grief on both their faces would show as the music got higher in tone, while one grabbed the others hand and started to cry. Near the end, I could see the person who was troubled and passed the letter would quickly get up and run away as if to never be seen by the girl again. Even though the girl would follow, I could see in her position of the street which seemed bare as if they disappeared in the mist. This would  then follow back by the shot of the girl touching the grave stone as she rose. I would see her then walk away, looking up into the sky before I caught the shot from behind her as she ran away into the darkness. This was then followed by the black out.

Monday, 4 November 2013

Representation of Regional Identity Homework. - North and South extract.



My initial thoughts:
During the North and South clip, there is shown to be a representation of Regional Identity. Regional Identity refers to the certain location/ area some one is from. The regional identity through this clip was shown through Nottingham (North) and the South, these were also compared with each other but also a women from the North being apart of the South in her travels. In the North of the country, the regional identity is shown to be well mannered and religious but also well groomed. This is shown through the mise-en-scène but also sound. Another few things which represent the North's original identity is that the North are all upper class, this is revealed through the expensive furniture in the background but also the fact that the women wear jewellery while the men are well groomed in hairstyles but also wear suits. The North is briefly spoken about being 'money focused' by the older women character. This media clip shows that it does not battle against stereotypes but follows it. In the South, this clip shows again more stereotypical views. These views of the South are that they have rude behaviour, shown when they picked on the Upper class women, they all come from a working class area. The region itself is shown to be run down with dark alleys and clothes hanging up outside, there is also shown to be bustles of working men and women running down small steps as they push each other about. Slang words were also used when a working class man from the south spoke to the upper class women from the north. All the people from the south were also shown to be wearing grey work uniforms and the men were unshaven and scruffy while the women had messy hair and lopsided hats. 


Camera shots:

To begin this clip, the first camera shot used was the tracking shot. This shot was first used to follow the movement of the old women as she finally stood up but also by using this shot, the mise-en-scène was revealed of the Upper class characters from North. The audience were able to interpret that Nottingham was 'posh' and 'wealthy' as the shot revealed the expensive earrings that the women character wore but also the painting and its golden frame in the background as well as the candelabrum holding the candles. Various other objects were shown briefly but using this shot the audience were able to get the interpretation of the way the North live in expensive surroundings and outfits.



To continue this shot, the shot reverse shot was used over the shoulder. I found the next shot interesting as this one continues to reveal the appearance of the northern people as being wealthy. This is shown by revealing the older man in a well groomed state with his hair and sideburns but also suit which is completely done up to his neck. This shot also reveals to the audience that they are very emotional as the women seems to always frown in the shots while he reveals the calmness and passive behaviour of northern people. 


The last shot that stood out showing the regional identity of the northern characters would be the medium close up shot of the women when she started to speak about 'God'. This shot shown the regional identity as being a religious area as the camera only focused on the women's face and body language as her emotions conveyed to the audience when the subject about 'God' was bought up that the topic was very serious and sensitive to speak about. 


To begin the second part of the clip about the south region after the editing has token place, a pan shot was used to slowly create the camera to view the alley way from a high view to a lower view. This gave the audience the interpretation that the alleyways were dark and a working class area as the washing was shown to hang above while the people below continued washing in big tubs. The area is also shown to be smoking to reveal the stereotypical view that the 'working class' people who live down the south live in crowded small areas which would smell and become misty from the heat and smoke of their own cigarettes and boiled water. 


A few seconds more into the revelation of the southern working area, an extreme long shot was used. By using an extreme long shot, the clip was able to continue the viewing of a dark area which is run-down and mostly hand built to the audience, but also it shows that an action is about to happen as the young women is shown in the distance on her own.


After the quick establishing shot was used briefly, a hand held shot was used based on the crowd of working class people's movement. This shot alone reveals to the audience that the southern region is a busy place as bustles of people would violently push and pull each other out of the way as it becomes their break. They are also shown to have rude behaviour in this shot as the camera focuses on the way they also choose to pull and throw the upper class women's items and clothes around. This is a contrast between the calmness of the northern area to the violent and rude behaviour the working class southern people have as they reveal it as 'playing around'. The camera shot also shows that the southern region seems to be more male dominated than women. 



After this shot, more shots followed based on the story line that an older working class man stood out and helped her from the behaviour of the working class people. He stood out and battled against the stereotypes of the media. The ending of this clip, a medium close up shot of this kind working class southerner was shown to the audience. This shot alone reveals the mise-en-scène of the south region as wearing old rags and clothes while they're unclean and unshaven. This shot also grips the audience with the emotions as they really feel sympathy for the male character with his kindness yet loneliness in the south region. 


Editing


Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Class and Status Stereotype

In the media, Stereotypes (Labelling, which involves a process of categorising an individual or group) are targeted at Class and Status. Class is a social stratum where members share certain economic, social or cultural characteristics. These classes are: The working class, Middle class and Upper class. Status on the other hand is different. Status is the position or rank of someone compared to others in a group or organisation. The difference between these is Class is made into three separate groups of people in society and Status is the role some one has in the selected group.

The stereotypes shown about Class vary between the three groups. In the media, the working class are shown as:

  • Men are lazy, foolish selfish and childish. - Argued by Richard Butsh
  • The women are physically out of control - fat, loud, overly sexual and dressed in a 'loud' and inappropriate clothing. This is manly shown in television sitcoms, which is shown by Pepi Leistyna in his documentary 'Class Dismissed: How TV frames the working class.' 
  • Racist.
  • Shown as failures.
  • Complete more physical/unpleasant jobs than anyone else.
  • Alcoholics
  • Extreme fans of football. 
The working class are also referred to 'Blue collar', or 'Low - wage workers with out college education, who also struggle in society economically.' 


The middle class are shown as: 
  • Financially stable family
  • Nuclear family
  • Children go to university
  • Able to go on vacation once in awhile
  • Do not entirely depend on government for money
  • Have some extra money on the side
  • Works white collar jobs e.g. Doctors or Office workers
  • Often follow in their parents foot steps to maintain some sort of professional job.
The middle class are also referred to as the 'White collar workers'.



The upper class are shown as: 
  • Work in high paid jobs.
  • Wealthy and powerful
  • Posh
  • Well mannered 
  • Private schools and expensive universities for their children
  • Own big businesses to live off the investments
  • Tend to be quite arrogant 
  • Have achieved the 'American dream'.
  • Well dressed
  • Have their own personal clubs.

In the media, the Status is is shown in two different groups. These are also stereotyped. These are:

High status:
  • Show a lot of pride.
  • Show a lot of anger.





Wednesday, 16 October 2013

Eastenders clip. - Homework 10th October.




My initial thoughts:
During the Eastenders clip, there is a representation of age. This is through Patrick shown as the older man of the table, the teenage girl known as Chelsea and the adult Denise. During this clip, Patrick is shown to not be in a stereotypical view of old people as being 'frail, always grumpy, rather be alone.' instead he is shown to be a story teller about his past of being a first immigrant and how it was to be nearly the only black person in the country, this conversations leads onto the 'teddy boys'. Another opinion that can be taken from Patricks actions is the fact that he is very 'upbeat' and a 'partying' person. This is revealed when he speaks of the 'blues clubs'. This is where there would be 'partying and music and dancing, down in a basement somewhere in the town'. With his cheerfulness shown when he speaks of this, this clip represents the age in another view in the media unlike other stereotypical ways. Later during the clip, he is also shown to complete an 'hand action' when he's over joyed. This represents that his teenage attitude still continues but just in a more mature way. Moving on from this, the younger teenager is shown in a different light. This teenage girl called Chelsea unlike Patrick IS shown in a stereotypical way, as she is represented to show that young people are more concerned about their weight than anything else. This is revealed when the topic of 'fat tuesday' is presented. When it comes around to her opinion of this eventful day, she responds with the comment 'Or fattening tuesday'. This comment alone reveals that the young teenager has a negative thought upon such a 'cheery' and 'specific event' in which the family would get involved with because she does not want to gain weight. All teenagers are seen through out the media to want to keep a thin figure and stay skinny. This leads onto the view of Adults as the mother replied. The mother Denise in this clip is shown in a stereotypical view of always being 'concerned.' The point when she is shown to be a 'concerning adult' is when she responds to her daughters comment with the response 'For once, give ya' self a break will ya'.' this shows that unlike teenagers, she is not bothered with having to be a 'specific weight' to be 'perfect' and that she is more concerned with keeping her daughter healthy. Another main point which her age is represented through is when the mother does not know anything in personality or thinking ways as her daughter does. This is shown when she responds to Chelsea asking her question about Patricks roots with 'Ah, Chelsea's taking an interest in something. How much have you had to drink Chels?'. This reveals that with the age differences, the adults expect each other to only be the ones interested in family hierarchy, instead of the younger teenagers including their own sons and daughters asking questions and actually showing interest.

Camera shots:
During the first shot, an arc shot was used. This represented age in the circumstance that even though there was no age restriction as everyone at the table was from mixed age groups, the camera was able to move while keeping the focus on Patrick through out the few minutes of his 'story telling'. This camera shot was able to reveal that through out the story telling, the older person had a higher 'authority' and enjoyed being the 'centre of attention' while telling a story like the stereotypical old person would do, in the media. This shot was then lead into an action shot to reveal that there was not separation of age groups as they were all 'mingled' in together.



Another shot used which represented age was the medium close up shot. This was used when the comment 'Or fattening tuesday' was said. By using the medium close up shot for when this was spoken, the audience was able to get a closer view on her own appearance to link in with why her comment about the fat tuesday was mentioned. This shot gave the audience the appearance of a stereotypical teenager as well with the make up she wore, the jewellery that was being worn e.g. her earrings and the fact that she had a slender face and neck, resembling that she was indeed already skinny. This shot can  was then be able to be moved in a quick shot reverse shot between her, her sister and mum. This is when the differences in the age representation is shown. 



With the shot reverse shot between the three females about this one comment. An action shot was briefly used to reveal her mother's reaction which can show the differences between how their minds work differently with the age categories. With this action shot, Denise the mother was shown to keep a more stern and upright figure as her face seemed to frown with her response, this camera shot was able to show the image of concern of an adult when they reacted towards the daughters comment, it also revealed that the 'adult women' seemed to be more concerned than the 'adult man' in this concern. 



Another action shot was briefly used after to once again represent the age differences. This action shot was able to display the shock on the faces of the adults but also the youngest girl, when Chelsea the teenager decided to ask Patrick about his life. By using the action shot, the audience was able to interpret that the family was not used to a 'teenage girl' being interested in something family wise unlike the other 'teenagers' shown in media clips of not wanting any relation with the family. This shot was used for the purpose of capturing the important confusion and emotions of the mother and younger sister as they both seem to show shock as their minds from different age categories do not understand Chelsea's.  


The last shot which really stood out against most of them, would be the medium shot of Patrick as he completed his 'hand action'. By using this shot, the audience were able to view that Patrick was not a stereotypical 'fragile' old man, but that he was a lively man that didn't let his age in body get in the way of his liveliness.  The topic in discussion before he done this lively hand action was about girls, this also shows that he was happy to admit how cheeky he was with girls then but how he still is. This shows that not all old people are the same in stereotypical ways. This camera shot was able to capture how
Patrick defines 'liveliness' and 'happiness' that old people are not shown in, throughout the media.




Editing:
During this Eastenders clip, the editing was used to snippet each clip down shorter. This was also used to base Patrick in most of the clips, to either reveal his reactions or comments among the conversations that the whole family are having. Age is represented through editing because they reveal him as being the centre of attention. This shows a stereotypical view on old people through out the media because they are always the more emotional people who like the attention. This editing also goes against that stereotypical view because instead of creating the close up shots on his face when he is being serious, they are always linked into his emotions when he is extremely happy and shows a 'younger persons' actions.


Sound:
During the whole of this clip, a synchronous sound is played. This is the classical music played faintly in the background. By using a synchronous sound of classical music, Patricks house represents the age with the selected musical choice. The classical music shows the stereotypical view of that old people enjoy the quieter more calm sound of instruments playing than something quick and upbeat. The voices of the characters are all asynchronous sounds. During this clip the older person Patrick, has a stereotypical old croaky voice for an 'old man' which can be related to a lot of smoking or drinking. The youngest girl had a very shy and innocent voice unlike the teenage girl who has a very 'snobby' and 'sarcastic' voice as she moans about the 'fattening tuesday'. The adults voices are also shown to sound 'concerned' and 'deeper' compared to the two younger girls.



Mise-en-scène:
Through the clip, the mise-en-scène of the background reveals that it is Patrick's house. This is because the house is shown to have the old 1958's wallpaper but also furniture. Age is represented through this because it reveals that old people like Patrick, rather keep their own houses in the fashion they had when they was younger instead of the more modern look that teenagers would go for. The other way age is represented is through the clothes that they wear.
Patrick: (Old Person)
Patrick is shown to be wearing a buttoned up shirt which is open at the top but also a waistcoat. He's kept his clothing too more neutral colours. The media have shown old people to always wear old dated textured clothing which are still formal but worn as every-day clothing. Even in this clip, Patrick is shown to be wearing that style.



Denise and Lucas: (Adults)
Denise and Lucas are been shown to wear less revealing clothes that are mostly black or grey. They are shown to be tidy and wearing less 'in your face' clothing but have a more basic style. In all media clips, including this clip, adults are shown to wear less revealing clothes but also dress smartly. This age representation is shown through how 'mature' their clothes are.



Chelsea: (Teenager)
Chelsea in this clip is shown to be wearing a blue, bright coloured top. She is also shown to wear jewellery which is her earrings but also make-up. Teenagers in the media, like this clip are always shown to be wearing bright colours but also makeup. Their clothes are usually shown to be more revealing and more patterned than what adults would wear. This age representation is shown through how more effort the teenage girl has put in to get a 'perfect' outfit and makeup.



Libby:
Libby is the youngest character on the table. Through the clip, the youngest girl is shown to be wearing a covered up grey jumper, her hair tied up and glasses. The age represented in this clip is that she is very young. This is because she seems to not be very worried about her own clothing or the way she looks like a teenager was, but she does not dress in an extremely smart way like the adults too.