In this essay I am going to establish the representation of gender through camera angles, sound, mis-en-scene and editing. The representation of gender is the state of being masculine or feminine.
The first camera shot I identified is a medium close up this camera shot represents masculinity this is because the shot shows the villain in terms of syntactic levels as the dominant element on the screen. His facial expression is very strong and his eyes are glaring straight down at the character coming in the room. The camera angle is eye level and the colours of the camera shot are very sharp to make his strong and dominant facial expression which shows masculinity stand out. This camera shot also is depth of field as the background is not focused to give a surreal affect. Also this effect makes the character coming in very small and weak compared to him. This shows that the producer has represented masculinity being a higher status.
The next camera angle that represents gender is a medium long shot. The camera has been positioned behind the female at a low angle this is to show her body language and head looking up to the male villain. This camera shot shows how masculinity is represented again to be a higher status and someone who everyone looks up to. Whereas the female shows how this camera shot represents being feminine because she is being controlled and is weaker than the male who is controlling her.
Following this is a close up of the clock decreasing by time. The framing of this shot is very tight and has all its focus on the clock to emphasise the danger that is about to happen. The diegetic sound of the clock ticking creates an intense atmosphere.
After this camera shot is a close up shot of the female character on her knees gulping this shows the representation of being feminine because she is showing her weakness and low status by her action of gulping showing her fear of what's about to happen. This shows a negative representation of being feminine as it shows her powerless.
However even though this female character is showing the representation of being feminine the high angle camera shot of the Doctor who is a male also shows a representation of being feminine this is because by having the camera at high angle represents being feminine to be weak and intimidated by dominant characters. The Doctor's facial expression is very scared and sad which shows a negative representation of being feminine. The high angle shot also exaggerates how the Doctor is isolated and cant escape which shows that the producer has represented being feminine to be lonely. This challenged the stereotype because people with a high profession referred to as Dr. doesn't get associated with these stereotypes.
The establishing shot establishes where the action is taking place and it also establishes the genre of sci-fi this is because the camera shot shows the mise-en-scene through the location and furniture which contains science gadgets and blue's and silver colours of the furniture. The producer has used this setting because it shows the conventions of the sci-fi genre and also appealing towards the audience who are people that consume the program Doctor Who.
The last camera angle I identified was an extreme close up which represents being feminine because of the content of the camera shot shows the female struggling in the strong wind and weather. This camera shot shows very cold colours to emphasise the weakness of the women.
The sound also helps represent masculinity and being feminine this is because the non-diegetic asynchronous background music is a parallel sound as it matches the action. This is because when the camera shots are showing the dominance of the villain being very powerful and high status the music is very low pitched and deep to show the representation of the strength of being masculine. However when the female laughs which shows a synchronous diegetic sound the background music changes to a positive representation of being masculine as the female has rose and found her strength to overcome the villain. The parallel music to match this changes to very loud volume and high pitched to put more impact on her overpowering the villain.
The representations are also being constructed by the costume and makeup this is because the producer as represented the villain to show masculinity through his costume as its a suit. The suit represents how the male gender are the ones with a career and bring in the money for there family it also shows power and wealth. Further more the women standing next to the villain represents how the producer is representing being feminine in costume and make up this is because she is wearing a tight red dress this shows her being a sexual figure as well the colour red having connation's of danger which is clue of what's about to happen. Her makeup is very girly and her hair is the stereotypical blonde. This representation is evidence that the media focus on the body of females as a project and that having the perfect appearance is something they should focus on. However the female who is in the centre of the room is wearing baggy, untidy dark navy clothing this represents being masculine as it shows her in working clothing and not caring about her appearance which could be through laziness.
The way the villain speaks is very bold and loud to emphasis the producer representing being masculine to be very controlling. He appears to be standing on a higher level than everyone else to also shown is high status and power. Whereas the female who walks in's voice is not as loud and everything she says makes her body language look up to him as she is on a lower level therefore representing being feminine as a lower status. When the villain says 'Now kneel' is very controlling and is demanding her through the imperative speech which also emphasises feminine being represented as easily controlled.
Lastly the lighting is soft which contrasts with the danger of the action and context of the dialogue however the genre is sci-fi not horror therefore the convention of the lighting is very natural to make the science gadgets and space furniture stand out.
The last category that establishes the representations of gender is editing. In this clip there are a lot of eye line shots. One in particular is when the villain looks down at the weak feminine women and she looks up at him in different camera shots. This establishes there relationship as it shows the status of the villain being higher than the female. As well as them directly giving eye contact with each other as a sign that they aren't afraid to look away. This clip also uses straight cuts to keep the shots flowing so that the target audience of people who enjoy watching sci-fi films keep an understanding of the action.
Key words needed to be included:
Realism
Synchronous/ asynchronous
Diegetic/ non-diegetic
Camera shots
stereotype
Connotation
Denotation
parallel sound
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