Gender Homework. ~ Dr Who

Homework

In this clip extract of Dr Who, the gender is shown through camera angles, sound, mise-en-scene and editing. 

To begin this clip, a medium camera shot was used upon a female character who is shown to have two male security guards behind her. This shot alone shows the audience how the masculinity is shown only with the males as they are shown to dominating and powerful over the feminine character who is shown to be captive. A tracking shot of two maids and another imprison-er was shown to be standing with another guard. Once again these three characters were shown to be vulnerable with their facial expressions whilst the guard on the other side resembled a masculine pride as he holds the gun up to them. A low angle of a medium shot was placed in straight after this shot, of a male character containing a masculine appearance and behavior. This was through the stereotypical outfit he wore e.g. the suit but also how the camera angle makes him look more dominating and fearless unlike the camera movements and shots upon the feminine characters. The tracking shot in which was used to follow the feminine women's character's movement, was used for a sense of reality to the characters but also glide and show how she becomes more feminine based on appearance with the contrasts of the obvious masculine characters but also how she walks across to the main character with a glide but also her body swinging with every movement. 

Furthering on from this, a low angle shot was used to establish the difference between the masculine characters and the feminine characters. Whilst these gender's were stereo-typically placed between both sexes, the masculinity was mainly shown through the action seen as he lean down a little with his arm out-stretched which shows commanding and authority over the victim. As he is shown to be the masculinity, he is also shown to have the power and plans as he becomes over dominating and stronger. This contrasts hugely against the female character in the background, who is shown to be more quite and less involved, who also stands there, like she's casually 'eye-candy'. She is also shown to be more vulnerable and weak to the audience as she does not take the reign of having power and domination over the victim like the masculine character does. Once again this also contrasts against another women known as the victim who's outfit through mise-en-scene shows that she may be in the lower status, but she continues to have power through her masculinity with the way she dresses which in fact can actually hide any strength or any secrets from the villain.

Continuing on from this scene, we are introduced to the masculine Doctor through a medium camera shot, who is shown to be surrounded by an extremely radiant blue light through his transformation of an old man to a younger version of himself. Even though this is shown to be a power, the masculinity of the Doctor himself is still shown to over-throw the other male character as the other character starts to become more feminine with vulnerability and fear instead of standing up for his own ground. Even the quick medium close up shot's of the feminine female character shows how weak she really is in an object manner as she joins the more masculine Doctor in the end. This only shows feminine characters as objects in which would choose who's more masculine to stand by and become protected by, as they are unable to fight for their-selves or say a word in which would cause corruption. Moving on from this as well, when both the masculine characters are shown together, they are shown to fight each other in a more sci-fi powered way. This represents how masculinity is supposedly fought over and controlled by the most powerful. 

The editing used was mainly the quick paced cut ins of each scene. By using these quick paced cut in's, the audience can quickly see the power in which ranges between the feminine character and the masculine characters through different camera angles in their own conversations but also the speed in which shows how feminine characters are usually not meant to have the 'spot light' due to being to weak and vulnerable to control it. A flash back was also shown through editing with a crosscutting of the scene of a women struggling through rough weather. This women is only shown to be masculine due to her strength and ambition of getting to the finish line in this flash back as she is shown to not back down to natural problems. She continues to show this masculinity as she is able to perceive on-wards and tell other people of all ages her own thoughts and stories as she becomes the 'spot-light' and takes control. This whole clip shown continuity through out to show how the further time moves forward, the more sex of people change from the stereotypes they are placed through at birth, into the opposite genders. This continuity also gave a sense of reality to the audience, as the clips moving forward in time show a more real outcome.

Sounds were used in this clip throughout. The non-diegetic sound was used with mood music. This mood music was used to build tension with the masculine character to show the features of being feared of, aggressive, powerful and non-stoppable. With the mood music being strong with sharp noises from the first scene which appears, the audience are easily manipulated over, into believing that there is no hope for help with the feminine characters as they're too weak whilst the other masculine side characters are shown to be so feminine against the main villain. Continuing on, diegetic sounds such as the women's laughter shows how femininity can quickly change within certain ways. This diegetic sound of the feminine women's laughter is shown to be timid at the beginning before she becomes more powerful and feared of as the confidence is shown through her loudness. This reveals that feminine characters can and sometimes will over power the masculine characters in unique ways. This also fought against stereotypes laid in media, as the feminine character should never come into more power and reach of being the villain than the masculine character.