Holby City

How representations of gender are created using cinematography, editing, sound and mise-en-scene for Holby City?

The scene opens with an aerial shot that is tilted, indicating to the audience that something is about to go wrong. This negative first impression is backed up by the dark, sombre lighting. In the opening scene, the sound is completely diegetic, making the situation seem realistic and empty. It also means we concentrate fully on the dialogue instead of be distracted by catchy music.  The first scene turns the common representations of men upside-down. We are shown a surgeon dressed in pink, immediately indicating to the audience that he contains feminine qualities, due to the connotations of pink representing women. He says "you’re dumped, you were a huge mistake" and "I don't ever want to see you again”. Phrases typically associated with women breaking up with men.   He seems very well groomed, even more so than the woman, giving his character more feminine aesthetic qualities. The woman speaks much less than the man, turning the stereo type that women speak more than men upside down. She is quieter and being spoken down to, showing she has less status at this point. In the next scene, the same  lady is shown to be crying on the phone. An arial shot is used to make her seem small and insignificant. She is sobbing and asking for her "daddy", this is a very common representation of daughters, "daddy's girls".

 The second scene displays a much more stereo typical male as he introduces himself with a handshake then later goes on to swing a punch. He is dressed in black and blue, typically men’s colours. He is confident and dominating trying to appear to be the alpha male in the situation. He is shot in Low Angle to re-enforce the powerful, confident impression that he hopes to make. It is clear to the audience that this is all an act, as he is truly hopeless at this situation, for example he throws a punch and misses hopelessly. Reaction shot reaction is used between the man and the patient in the bed to build the enigma that he is trying desperately to attract her.  

The scene when the two men discuss broken bones is very interesting. The topic of conversation is highly typical of men, for they are trying to top stories over who has had the worst injury. However they are discussing this in a very intimate way. The camera uses lots of close-ups to try keep the scene intimate and to build the sexual tension. The sound continues to be completely diegetic, which builds the sexual tension almost making the scene seem awkward to the audience. After this completely different representation of gender, we are thrown back into viewing stereo types, as two glamorous girls walk down the corridor. Mise-en-scene is used to show their femininity as they are dressed in very girly outfits, and the lighting behind them appears to be a shade of pink. The sound of effect of them walking has been increased in volume, to show that they are wearing high heels.

 The next scene shows romance between a man and a woman. She is lying down showing she is off less status. The camera often begins as a mid shot then zooms into a close up as the lady begins to smile at the man. This symbolises her getting closer with the man. The lighting is pleasant and bright, showing a hopeful future.

The slightly feminine man at the beginning re enters however this time he appears to be much manlier. He is shown confronting his problems and taking responsibilities for them. A low angle shot is used showing him to one of dominance. Overall the clip both challenges and follows typical representations of gender.

Holby City

Male Representation

The lighting is soft and gentle, both common conventions of women.
Immediately common conventions of males are challanged as the man is wearing a pink shirt, which is traditionally a womans colour.
 He says "your dumped, you were a huge mistake" and "I don't ever want to see you again" . Phrases typically associated with women breaking up with men. 
He seems very well groomed, even more so than the woman, giving his character more femenine asthetic qulities.
The other man fits in much more with the common stereo type of men. He is wearing masculine colours as is more pyscial, doing things like resorting to pysical aggresion.


Female Representation
The first woman, speaks much less than the man, turning the reperesentation that women speak more than men upside down.
The second woman is lying down, showing she has less status than the man.

Editing: The editing is linear and mid paced, showing it takes a neutral position between both genders.

Iconography

A room from a council estate is shown, and iconography is used to show this is a rough area. We can see this from the graffiti in the background, on top of the moulded grey wall. We can also establish the bad character from his costume. He is wearing a tracksuit and gold chain necklace, which is associated with dangerous youths. Unlike the honest police officer, who is wearing his uniform smartly showing he is a person of authority. The mugger has a beard, showing a scruffy, hidden identity about him. The police officers top button is underdone and is wearing short sleeves, perhaps indicating he’s open with society without anything to hide, contrasting with the villain who is fully covered in clothing. 

Spooks

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following

• camera shots
• angles
• movement and composition
• editing 
• sound
• mise en scene

The clip opens with the terrorist leader pacing around the two hostages. The non diegetic music is sombre and dismal, setting the tone for the scene and also indicating the terrorist is a dark evil man. He has authority which is shown through the low angle shots of him. The authority of the ethic man, challenges common representations of foreigners, for he is calling the shots in this scene, not the British agents. The shaky camera movements build the tense atmosphere in the scene, and represent the nerves of the British agents. The editing is linear and in this moment reaction-shot-reaction is used which raises the tension in the scene. The  mise-en-scene also adds to the atmosphere as we can see, there is an empty room, with dark old furniture and gloomy decoration, this blends with the sound and editing to make the scene more intense. Thus making the terrorist and his ethnicity, seem intimidating and dangerous, however later on in the clip this seems to change. As the scene progresses, so does the tension as the level of danger increases. The Iraqi man produces a photo in which shatters' the agent's confidence as well as her chances of negotiation. This is shown through the loud bass effects and a flash of white. This makes the audience alert and scared, adding to their negative relationship with the terrorist. One of the terrorists is seen grabbing an agent. He is large and muscular, going against the typical stereotypes of middle easterns: thin and small. A mix of close-ups and mid-shots are used when filming the sidekick, making the audience grow in fear of him as he is shown on an intimate level. The sidekick terrorist is dressed completely in black, giving him connotations of evil and darkness. We see the agent reading a script in front of the camera. Again shot-reaction-shot is used along with many close ups to make the scene more personal and intense.

The sound continues to be seedy and negative, however the atmosphere changes. The terrorist man reveals more human qualities as he lists the damage that the British forces have done. His voice is trembling and he appears emotionally wounded. This goes against common conventions of terrorists as they are often seen as merciless killers. One of the British agents is black, he is shown to be sharp and intelligent being in an important job, going against typical representations of foreigners being in less important jobs. He is also dressed smartly and speaks properly. He is shown to be a leader as he stands up to the two terrorists; this challenges common representations of foreigners being in the background. The shaky camera still continues throughout the scene, reflection the both the fear of the agents and the stressed nature of the terrorist. However later on in the clip, the non-diegetic music instead of being powerful and villainous presents much more of a sad tone, revealing all the damage that has been done in the past between the two countries. This takes away some of the evil that the terrorist has, showing him to be hurt and venerable.

The room is extremely dark, with harsh bright lighting seeping through the windows. This could represent that the television show is shinning a light on stereotypical represented ethic groups, showing a much more realistic account. Although the terrorist and his companion go against many typical representations of their ethnic race, the most common one still stands. That is that they are from Iraq and they are terrorist. Being from the Middle East comes with common prejudice of being a terrorist.