How is gender represented in the Primeval extract?

Gender is represented in the primeval extract through the mis-en-scene with the extract mostly set in the forest, connoting masculinity, danger and adventure-an establishing shot is used to show this.

A female character wearing an all-black leather outfit with short blonde hair is seen working around the forest and using the digger, this gives an indication that she is skilful and knows how to work a machine that would normally be used by men. This represents women as being equal to men, especially due to her hair being short it goes against the idea of women’s hair as part of a security blanket as this female character seems to have it short. The sound used when she is first introduced in the scene is through the sound of the digger and it is powerful and takes over the background music which could also show how the power of the woman is being controlled by the digger because if the digger is turned off, the woman would be left with nothing else. A male character (our hero) is then introduced into the scene by using a high angle shot he is wearing a blue shirt and brown trousers this goes against the representation of men usually being in a higher position than women because the shot indicates that the audience is above him.

As the blue shirt male character discovers a hand, a point of view shot is used to show the audience what he has found. He gives orders to the leather clothed woman in the digger to stop the engine and what she’s doing, making the camera shot and angle contradict to his gender representation as it seems that he has authority over everyone especially the leather clothed woman. With the engine of the digger turned off, there is silence in the forest which creates a vibe of something bad happening next as with the quote ‘the calm before the storm’ as the distant roar of the tiger coming towards them is heard as it becomes louder and louder, this makes the hero’s body language and facial features look scared and frozen as it shows him not knowing what to do for a second. A low angle close up shot is used on the tiger clearly showing its facial features- normally a close up shot would indicate the vulnerability of the character but in this case it showed his power over humans. With the close up shot used on the tiger it made the audience fear the tiger and sympathise for our hero (blue shirt guy) and heroine (leather clothed woman).

The heroine uses the digger to lure the tiger making her the brave person in this part of the scene creating a representation of women who are able to take care of themselves and not need the help of men as she is the one doing the saving in this scene. However, the editing and camera shots would contradict this by using a wide mid-shot and the editing mainly focusing on the digger rather than the woman who is controlling it. This creates a representation of how the digger is her protection from the tiger and that she would also be left vulnerable without it reinforcing the stereotype of women who are weak.

An action match-up is used when the hero is climbing on the tree to help represent time in the scene, especially as you can see the pace quickening as the action progresses showing how quick everything is happening in real time. A high angle shot is used on the tiger as he is trying to climb the tree and chase after the hero, this shows the change in positions in the way that now the person with the highest power is our hero. A prop is used to help the hero save himself and this prop is very masculine and reinforces the representation of gender into the scene as the prop is a belt which is normally worn by men and in this case helps to save the hero’s life as he uses it to glide down a rope and get himself away from the tiger. This creates the idea that a woman, if put into this situation would find it harder to survive or get out of due to her missing a prop like this. This scene shows diegetic sound with the birds sounding like they are flying away showing the danger of the situation.

A panning shot is used to show the whole group one by one, in this scene you are able to see the representation of gender and class as the conversation between the characters show a two shot even when only one of them is speaking, showing how much stronger they are in twos rather than being alone. There are only two people who are in a single shot and that is the hero and a man in a black suit, this presents the idea of men being more independent than women as the other female characters had to be left in a two shot representing them as someone in a lower position due to their gender and the idea of class where someone in a suit is shown to have the most authority over everyone else.

A new scene is introduced with a fade editing technique used to show the change from the forest to the barn. From the mis-en-scene we identify a woman who reinforces the stereotype of this gender by wearing red lipstick, elegant feminine clothing, frilly cardigan and a black silky dress. The black silky dress and red lipstick presents her as someone who is seductive especially with the use of silk and the colour black connoting mystery and seduction at the same time. This is a gender representation where the woman is presented more of a sexual object rather than an actual person, especially as the over the shoulder shot of her makes her cleavage easily noticeable. In this scene however, you are clearly able to see how she has authority over the farmer not through physical power but through her class as the farmer is in a lower class than her, making it easier for her to threaten him through her words. This is also evident in the camera shots used with high angles for the woman and low angle shot used for the farmer. 

As the farmer points a gun at her and pushes her onto the ground, we see a common representation of helpless women clearly not able to defend themselves and this is shown through a wide mid-shot. There are slow motion editing used to show the audience how fast the event is happening and also for the audience to clearly see the details of what is happening in this scene. A handheld camera is also used as the camera movement shakes, this gives the audience an idea of what the situation is like and to help the audience put themselves into the characters shoes. The use of diegetic sound in this scene with the dogs barking helps to make the scene more intense for the viewer and makes it much harder for the woman to get out of this situation as the sound closely links to the characters power and now the one with the most power is the man. After the hero arrives and saves the woman from being killed by the farmer, we hear her say ‘this was my favourite coat’ reinforcing a dumb blonde stereotype on the character because of the fact that she was just about to die but all she cared about was her coat getting dirty. A close up shot is used on the farmer when he is questioned about the tiger’s disappearance, we are able to see a vulnerable image in this close up shot along with the faint mellow music in the background.

Doctor Who Analysis

Mis-en-scene

Denotation	Connotation
Lighting: Chiaroscuro Lighting/High Key Lighting,  windows with natural light flowing through	High key lighting is presented in this scene as a scene with extreme lighting and lots of shadowing and bright parts to make it more dramatic and unusual. This could be because of the target audience for this TV drama are young viewers where a low key lighting scene would make it too gruesome for the viewers and high key lit scene would make it more appropriate for the viewer’s yet dramatic at the same time.
Setting/Location: Silver, black and white objects	Masculine style location, showing a man owns the place it represents his gender as being very dominant. The colours black, white and silver indicates that he is a bachelor as he seems to be up to date with technology and sleekness of the setting makes it look futuristic showing that it may be inside a spaceship.
Colour: Neutral
Costume: The blonde woman is wearing a bright red, silky dress with her hair down and curled.  The villain is wearing a black and white suit tie, with a black tie presented messily. The main female character is dressed in an all-black outfit, her jacket is military styled with the buttons and you can see her hair has been pulled all the way back.	The blonde woman’s costume represents the stereotype of women being a sexual object rather than a person, her dressed in a red, silky dress highlights her curves and figure making her attractive to men especially as the colour used is red which is usually seductive and sexy. Her blonde hair reinforces the stereotype of blonde women being dumb like Barbie dolls especially as she seems to be following the villain around not knowing that he is about to take over the world. The villain in a suit shows him in power and in control however the way his tie is placed shows his characteristic of being a bit messy and rougher, the way his costume is constructed somehow foreshadows the way his character would end. A harsh and messy death, you can see in the scene that the less power he has the more his tie becomes ruffled.   The main woman’s costume represents her as a strong and independent woman which contradicts the usual representation of women in TV.  The military style clothing goes against the representation of women who are mostly presented as feminine and weak and you can see from her costume that this is usually clothing that men would normally wear. This indicates that she is a strong, versatile character that equals in strength and power to men. Black is a very strong colour most commonly worn in funerals and formal occasions, but it is also worn in undercover, secret missions. The idea of the female character wearing all black could represent her death coming as the beginning of the scene shows her as a hostage ready to be killed any minute soon, however black is also very mysterious and secretive-always hiding something which is exactly what our character is. After she reveals her big secret or hidden weapon we see that she is able to defeat the villain straight away.
Props: Silver globe, timer, sonic screwdriver	The use of props such as the globe shows the characters interest in the world and would hint on the idea of him wanting to own or take over this world. The use of a timer helped to make the scene more dramatic and intense as we could see the time getting less and going down further. This makes the audience more fixed onto the show as they would want to know whether the characters would be able to make it and save the day or will the villain finally take over and rule.
Performance:

Camera Shots/Angles

Shots/Angle/Movement	Explain how the camera work constructs representations of gender?
Long shot at a low angle	This shows that the villain is in a higher position than the main female character due to the low camera angle it makes the villain more inferior towards the audience and the main female character as well. This is constructed to show the representation of women as it shows that men are in a higher position than women reinforcing the stereotype of men having power over women.
Medium Close up Soft Focus	The medium close up shot of the alien/the doctor shows a vulnerability towards his image especially as they clearly use the rule of thirds making the audience focus on the character more than the background. There is a use of soft focus in this scene and the use of the prop (cage) in the shot creates an impact that the audience is able to sympathise with the character as you can see his features up close, especially through the eyes you are able to see his helplessness and vulnerability, making the audience sympathise with him.
Establishing Shot: They have used an establishing shot to show the alien spaceships ready to take over earth; this shot helps to show the audience how big the scale is in terms of world domination. It creates a dramatic effect as the larger the scale, the greater the impact.
Medium Close up: Medium close up shot is used on the main female character to show her facial features and make the audience see her facial expressions of worry and fear for what is about to happen next. As the shot gets closer the more vulnerable the effect it creates towards the audience, this makes it easier for the audience to sympathise with a character when a close up shot is used.

Sound

Soundtrack music Non-diegetic sound Dialogue (villain) Rhythm (humming)	It emphasises on the emotion of the character, like it is D-day and everything that has happened all leads up to this. It is non-diegetic sound as the characters in the scene would not be able to hear the soundtrack music in the background playing as the female character walks into the room. You are able to see from the tone of the villain that they are in control over everything. His tone is deeper and louder making him the most dominant over everyone in the room. There is humming in the background while the villain is speaking, this shows the fall of good and the rise of evil as the music is very solemn and sad almost.
Sound effect( countdown) Synchronous sound
Dialogue(laugh)	The main female character gives a laugh while the villain is dominantly speaking in a loud tone in front of everyone. This is constructed to show how she takes over the power as her laugh shows her mocking and belittling the villain especially as she interrupts him through this. This sound is constructed to be a turning point in the scene where the representation of gender is changed especially with the woman as the beginning of the scene showed her as weak and helpless. The way the female character is speaking to the villain makes it sound as if she is speaking to a child; she is also very sarcastic when saying ‘a gun?’ Her tone becomes deeper and louder as the conversation between her and villain progresses, this hints at the fact that the female character is gaining power in this scene.
Dialogue(tone is louder-woman)	The voice over dialogue helps to link the situation between the past and the present, the echo in her dialogue while she’s speaking shows the importance of her speech and how it greatly affects the outcome of the scene.  This represents the female characters power as she is the person who tells the villain what is going on when the villain is supposed to know everything.
Dialogue Rhythm (climax scene)	As the scene reaches into a climax, the villain’s tone becomes more frustrated and almost sounds as if he is shouting at the character as he is in denial of everything that he has just heard. when the female character reveals more about her plan and that this was a part of it, the background music climaxes and reaches a high pitch when she eventually stands up after being told to kneel by the villain. You are able to hear from her tone that it is much louder and dominant in comparison to the villain now and the background music helps to emphasise this even more.
Dialogue (doctor)	The way the female character says doctor almost sounds as if it is a whisper with a hint of dominance and strength put on it. This represents the idea of women not needing to shout in order to get their voices heard. When the doctor is shifting back to his original body the sound represents it as a good sign and sort of ‘hallelujah’ moment for everyone except for the villain.
Orchestra background music Dialogue (doctor)	When every person in the room has a close up shot used on them while saying ‘doctor’ this is especially evident in the female character in the red dress that hasn’t a word throughout the extract-except for this moment. This represents her as a stereotypical gender representation of women who have no sense of independence and only tends to follow those around her. Especially as the person before her shown was a male figure saying doctor it shows her as someone who need to be dominated by a male figure. The continuous chorus of everyone around the world saying doctor signifies her female power and dominance. The tone is very loud and powerful especially because a whole group of people are saying it at the same time continuously, this show the grandness of the event and how strong they are now against a single villain.
Orchestra background music and dialogue at the same time	The orchestra is at its highest pitch. While this is happening, the doctor-David Tennant speaks on top of this music. In the scene there is no indication of the music getting lowered in terms of the volume indicating that even through the loud background music played, the strength and power of the hero-doctor cannot be underestimated and doubted just as how it was represented for the audience where they all thought it was the end for him and evil was going to win. This shows a representation of men being the most powerful and the most relied on, because it makes it seem as if the doctor saved the day as he was the one who gave instruction to his companion-the female character on what to do and how to handle the villain.

Editing

Action Match up	The villain is the first person to be seen showing his dominance in the scene.
Eye line match up	To show that they are all part of the same team. This puts us on the characters shoes as we are put in the characters position, making us empathise with the other characters especially the doctor where it takes the longest to show.
Action match up	When the villain is about to kill the female character, we see an action match up edit from a close up shot to a wide shot, making his voice echo across the room. This is represented to show the power of the villain as you can hear his voice echoing into the room, however the editing foreshadows the villains ending as the echo in the voice could also represent the emptiness of the room and the amount of people who truly supports him are not a lot compared to the female characters support.
Shot/ Reverse Shot	The cut between the villain and the female character having a conversation. This represents the battle of the sexes as the cinematography shows the villain being more in control and has more power. In this scene the editing contradicts that and we can see this as they are speaking towards each other they both have equal time between their cuts hinting that they may have equal power as the scene still cuts into the female character even when she is not speaking and it’s only the villain.
Fade Dissolve Jump cuts	A fade is used to show the flashback in the scene To make the scene blend into each other The cuts to the timer while the female character is speaking makes it more dramatic as it seems that time is running out. This also signifies the importance of the timer in the scene. This makes the audience think that Martha’s power is running out as the timer is counting down but it actually represents the villains power running out because the timer represents Martha’s power getting stronger.
Visual effects	When the doctor is transforming back into his original body. This signifies the return of the hero and the fall of the villain. The editing shows the change as something big and powerful and you could see that the villain is scared of this power
Pace of editing is quicker	Towards the end the editing pace becomes quicker making it more masculine as Martha gains more control and power.
Long take (doctor) Short take (villain) Parallel Action (cross-cutting)	A long take is used on the doctor to slow down the pace of the scene, this makes it more dramatic in a sense that the doctor is speaking at the same time while this is happening The short take on the villain somehow mirrors his situation as it seems that a minute ago he was in control and had everything in his hands and now he has hit rock bottom with no one at his side, even his wife. This is used to show everyone around the world saying doctor, various scenes are cut through with famous landmarks around the world shown. This is to show how everyone is uniting together at the same time.

Conclusion:  Does the extract seem to be reinforcing or challenging a stereotypical representation of gender?

The extract seems to reinforce the stereotype of gender as the beginning of the scene shows the female character in a situation where she has no control over things especially when we see that the villain-a man, is in a higher position than the female character and has the most power over everything. We are able to identify this by seeing that the supposed ‘hero’ of the situation-the doctor (also a man) is trapped and has no way out. He is not able to help or save the woman and the female character looks helpless and as the villain would say it a ‘useless companion’. This is also evident in the sound as it begins with solemn music played for the female character as she gets dragged and brought to her knees by the villain.

However, things turn around when we get further into the extract and immediately see that the extract challenges the representation of gender. This is due to the woman standing up against the villain on her accord and is able to save the day and the world from evil domination. As she stands up we see the shift in power positions between opposing genders where a while ago the woman had less power and control, this is easily recognisable in the changes of camera angles used on the characters as the villain changes from low angle shots to high angle shots. The sound also changes to orchestra styled music with indications of high pitch volume in order to intensify the event and to show the female characters way of saving everyone. The editing seems to contradict the cinematography as it may show the female character as weak and a stereotypical representation of women but the editing shows her as someone who is equal to the villain in terms of power.

Analysing the connotations of the mise en scene on images

Working Class

• The parents are lower than the kids, showing that the parents cannot control their children

• The household is dysfunctional

• Single dad-no nuclear family

• More than average amount of kids

• Wide shot showing how big the family is yet there is no sign of a mother

• Dad looks relaxed and not caring about them at all as he is sitting on a chair.

• Quite poor, doesn’t have enough clothing shows that there is no mother in the house with the way they are dressed. Very rough and messy looking

• Dark background with trees showing they are in the deep suburbs away from the city. Looks very dodgy and behind steps or concrete wall

• The representation of the social group reinforces the stereotype as it something that a working class background is most commonly known as being. The facial and body language of the characters show them as unhappy and they do not wish to be there showing that the family has no communication and is in a mess

Gender

• The woman is in a lower position than the man, showing that the man has more power and is more superior to the woman.
• The man is in a clean, neatly ironed suit compared to the woman wearing a simple black dress looking very flustered, busy and doesn’t have enough time for herself.
• The man is clearly the boss as he seems to be giving orders to her as she intently listens.
• The woman has a stethoscope around her neck while the man only has a folder in front of him. This shows that that the woman does most of the job while the man tells her what to do.
• It is set in a hospital, their jobs are doctors- clearly professional yet the man is in a higher position than the woman.
• Two shot
• This representation reinforces the stereotype of women and their role in the workplace. As she has a lower position in a highly acknowledged and professional job it represents women as being less capable than men.

Ethnic Minority

• The character in the middle is an ethnic minority, it shows that he is bigger than the rest and seems to stand out more

• He is wearing a full suit, dressed neatly and tidy-most likely in professional job e.g. detective and seems to be the person in charge as the people behind him are policemen.

• It is set in a park with trees in the background most likely due to him going to his job which is a detective. The policemen in the background seem to be looking around almost as if they are protecting the character in the middle.

• The representation of the social group subverts the stereotype that ethnic minorities usually take on lower skilled jobs and are more in the lower class of society, while the image shows the complete opposite as you can see that the character who is an ethnic minority is in the middle and seems to be the one in charge. 

Introduction

2 hour exam

Section A: British TV Drama

Section B: Film Industry

Each section worth 50 marks

Section A

Textual analysis of TV drama focusing on representation of:

Gender

Ethnicity

Disability

Regional Identity

Social Class

Sexuality

Age

Analysis

Mis-en-scene

Camerawork

Editing

Sound

Construction and representation

Media representation

The way in which people, events and places are portrayed in the media

What is ‘representation’?

However realistic media images seem, they never simply present the world as it is

Media images are always a construction or a re-presentation of people, places or events.

Issues raised

The media can re-present certain images or stories over and over again, making them seem ‘natural’ and familiar.

Self- fulfilling prophecy when you see the same thing over and over again, you start to believe it and start to behave how they see themselves behave in the media.

Stereotyping

Widely circulated ideas or assumptions about particular groups of people

Usually negative judgements made on a whole group of people based on a few characteristics