Evaluation Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?
My media project represented several social groups. Although the main focus of representation was definitely gender.
The gender representation in my sequence is very important. One of the main motives of our film was to have a non-conventional female lead role. We wanted to show the woman using violence, intelligence and tricks to fool the male lead. It shows the woman in a very powerful light and the man in a weaker position which is against the stereotype in traditional films.
The first element of mise-en-scene is the setting. The sequence is set in a household. It has a very homely feel, a family household. From the scene, we can tell that they have been together for a while. The first half shows the wife in the kitchen. This is very typical stereotype for a woman. They are usually shown in the kitchen either cooking or cleaning and doing domestic tasks. We wanted to show this to start off with as, the woman eventually kills her husband which is non-conventional. We did it to show contrast. The second thing is the props. Throughout the whole of the sequence the woman is the one holding the weapons. During the first bit, she is using a knife and in the second section she pulls out a gun. This is a non-conventional stereotype of a woman because women are seen to be more weak and sensitive. Usually when weapons are used in film, they would be handled by the man. The majority of the mise-en-scene in our sequence is against the typical stereotypes of gender. The lighting and costume, however, shows different. The lighting first, shows the woman in a lit space. The white light represents purity and innocence, this is intentional because we want our audience to think of the woman as a normal, innocent housewife to start off with rather than an assassin. When the friend arrives, there is a very dark light which represents death and evil. This foreshadows the events that are about to unravel and shows the man as dangerous. For the costume, the woman is wearing a white dressing gown, she has her hair tied back. The two men are wearing suits. This represents the woman and men in a conventional stereotypical. The dark coloured suits represent power and work which the role of the male conventionally includes. The white dressing gown infers that she is a stereotypical ‘house wife’.
The camera angles used our sequence do reflect the gender, mostly in a non conventional way. There are three main shots which that use camera angles to reflect gender. The first shot of a sequence is a shot of Adam (male lead) asleep. The camera is placed right above him, showing the audience a high camera angle. The audience is therefore looking down on Adam and this already establishes a submissive role from the first shot. This is also emphasised by him sleeping and in a vulnerable state. The male is always usually shown from a low angle as it establishes dominance and power. Next few scenes are using eye line level shots as it is a conversation and we want to make the audience feel as though they are right in the middle of it. The next camera angle is of the door when the doorbell rings, this is shot from a very low camera angle to show power when Dave (friend) arrives. The camera is level with the floor, making Dave look very large and powerful, which his character is supposed to portray. This is the polar opposite of what Adam is portrayed as at the very beginning and it is the archetype of what a man is in a film. Very tough, dark, mysterious, emotionless. This creates good contrast between the male characters. The third shot is of Clare, which is a low angle as well. In the shot before Clare kills Adam, there is a low angle shot of her. The low angles make the audience feel smaller and the character on the screen appear higher than we are. It gives the character power and authority. This is a subversion of a stereotype as the woman isn't supposed to have authority or power. It also foreshadows how Clare is going to kill Adam as the camera angle deduces that authority.
The editing, again, shows the woman in a more powerful position. When the main focus of the shot is Adam, the pace of the cutting is rather slow. As the focus falls on Clare the pace becomes slightly faster and eventually gets really quick. An example of this is when she stabs the knife in the chopping board, that cut is really quick, it shows that she is powerful and serious, a non conventional representation of a woman.
The diegetic sound in our sequence represents the woman in a non-convectional manner. We made the sound that the weapons make pleonastic, meaning every time she used a weapon the sound of the weapon would be louder than it would be heard in the natural world. The first time this happens is the sound of the knife against the board. We increased the gain on the audio tracks so it has a larger impact on the audience. Also the non-diegetic sound that builds up to that clip which helps build anticipation. This also happens with the gun shot, the sound of the gun is really loud which shocks the audience. All of these sounds are produced by Clare, the lead female character. This is against the stereotype because women are supposed to be quiet, polite and sweet, not loud and aggressive which is exactly what the sound does. In addition to this, Adam and Dave are quite calm and not very aggressive in their tone of voice. This is very subverting against the stereotypical representations of men and women.
Overall, the majority of the sequence is challenging the stereotypical representations of the genders. It’s good to have this because it makes the film less cliche. We also intended to have a powerful female lead because we thought that it would make the the film more interesting. Traditionally, in mainstream media, we don't see much subversion of stereotypes which is why we decided to do it.
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