Hotel Babylon Clip Analysis
In the TV programme Hotel Babylon the director displays ethnicity through the use of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. The use of these technical areas helps the audience gain an insight into the panic and fear of an illegal immigrant when they are being “hunted” for. The use of these technical areas helps the audience sympathise with the immigrants and banish the idea of a stereotypical immigrant.
In the second scene we see everybody being rushed around because of the raid and this is enhanced by the music speeding up and getting louder. We see the immigrants being rounded up together to hide them away. The immigrants are wearing red to show signs of danger to foreshadow future events. The editing in the scene helps build up speed and tension even more as there are lots of fast cuts. This corresponds to the general mood of the hotel staff, scared and anxious, which inturn makes the audience feel sorry for them and sympathize with with them.As they are running about we see a camera shot from behind some bars implying that this is already like prison for them. Another reason for this shot to be taken is that it is reminicent of there past lives when they were being hidden away or locked away in prison. The idea of the prison is then enhanced by the focus of the key and letting the immigrants all in to the tiny cramped room.
The director displays ethnicity by using these technical areas but also to make you feel sorry for the immigrants. He also expresses his own view on the immigrants as he makes the audience sympathize with them.
Eastenders Scene Analysis
My Video Analysis
Camera shots
This picture is used to take up the full frame, or at least as much as comfortably possible
Shows some part of the subject in more detail
The subject is visible (barely), but the emphasis is still on placing him in his environment
Shows some part of the subject in more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject.
The ECU gets right in and shows extreme detail
A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot
In this essay I will be analysing the clip “cutting it”. The clip doesn't have a main representation but still incorporates the 4 technical features: camera, editing, sound and Mise-en-scene. I will look at how the director uses them and where they are used in the clip.
The camerawork in the clip is used to great effect as it shows love and fear on the characters faces. This is important as both these things play a big part in clip. We first see an establishing shot where the two characters are travelling in a taxi. We see traffic in the back windscreen which tells us that the scene is going to be set in the city. The camera then shows a dialogue and a lack of an establishing shot to tell us that we are in the middle of the episode. The dialogue is followed up by medium close up shots of both characters to emphasise the seriousness of the conversation and that this signifies an important part of the scene. The next section shows cuts between the man and the women as one is in a café while the other is seeing her consultant representing parallel action. When the women is hit by the car, the camera plays a huge part in setting the tension and emotion in the clip as we see a mid-shot from behind him cuts immediately to a hand held PoV shot emphasising his panic as he runs across the road towards her. There is a close-up angle-shot, framed by his hand on her face, emphasising diagonal with a matching shot from top left to top right of the screen; this shot is counterpointed with a matching shot from top left to bottom right, and followed by an over-the-shoulder shot from his PoV as they speak. As she dies, cut to previous low-angle close-up of his agonised face, then to a slow zoom from a higher angle shot of him embracing her.
The director uses editing to set the pace of the scene. In the first scene the editing is slow, which helps establish the strong bond the couple have and the love they have for each other. The style and pace of the editing becomes more urgent and emotive. From the apparent ‘real time’ of the taxi conversation, the parallel-editing compresses the time scale, highlighted by the extra-diagetic music track; with the contrast of the indoor/outdoor, dark/daylight lighting this heightens dramatic tension as we await the result of the mysterious consultation. Framing her face and the focus on her ambivalent expression smiling through tears prolongs anticipation. The careful graphic matching of high and low angled PoV shots position the viewer at the centre of the drama; the women prompts the final dialogue, and seems, even now, to be in control, while he falls to pieces over her corpse in the final aerial shot.
The use of sound helps build tension and emotion in the scene. Naturalistic soundscape creates sense of realism during the first part of the sequence, with the diagetic engine noise of the cab, and the heightened street noise outside the hospital. There is no extra-diagetic music heard, to focus on the dialogue which reveals the couple’s relationship. We then see the women enter the hospital; there is a change in tone created by low-strains of synthesised music, followed by rhythmic percussion; lush echo and child like female voice of the song with yearning lyrics. The music becomes more electronic as it fades, replaced by amplified street noises leading up to a crash, signalled by a single brief sound-effect of squeaky brakes, followed by the reverberating sound of shattering glass. After the accident, sound scape becomes symbolic of the man’s reaction: echoing ambient silence, muffled heartbeat covering his PoV shot. This is interrupted by a change in pace from slow motion to fast motion which is signalled by the blaring car as he is nearly hit as well. As she is dying the camera zooms out and we hear angelic music which could indicate that she is going up to heaven.
Mise-en-scene is used all over the clip. The taxi suggests both affluence of characters and a sense of purpose. She pays the driver which indicates she is in control. The traffic through the taxi back window indicate that they are in an urban area and that they can afford the city lifestyle. The couple are well-groomed and stylishly dressed which can indicate status and class. There is a repeated focus on the gold wedding rings which indicate they have been married recently. At the end of the scene there is a scattering of flowers which indicate a disruption in there life.
The use of the four technical areas really enforces love, commitment and emotion throughout the scene. The director helps the audience understand the emotion in the scene by using certain shot and sound and tries to make the audience feel sympathy towards the charecters.
Moving image analysis of Doctor who
Doctor Who appeals to a wide audience and achieves around 8 million viewers on a weekly basis. It was first broadcast in 1963 and taken off the air in 1989 due to low ratings and viewers. It was then introduced in 2005 with a new image and new characters. The episode of Doctor Who I will be analysing will be Tooth and Claw from series 2. This has significance as it is only the third episode where we meet David Tennant (the second incarnation of the doctor since its return) and the audience are still trying to getting to grips with his character and discover what this actor brings to the character. I will be analysing sound, editing, camera and Mise-en-scene. In the 5 minute clip all these technical devices are used to give the characters and the scene a more realistic feel. The director also uses them to make the audience feel part of the scene. In particular I will be focusing on the representational issue of gender which is highlighted throughout my analysis.
In the first section of the clip we see the Doctor and Rose pushing a wheel to move the telescope to save the day. In the background we here the diagetic sound of the Werewolf, the main antagonist, trying to break into the room the protagonists are in. This enhances the subject of limited time but also builds the tension for the audience. The director uses the camera to show the intensity and effort the characters are putting in by showing close ups of their faces. This helps give the audience an idea of the importance of what the characters are doing. We then hear the Doctor shout out “come on” which reiterates the importance of what he is doing and how much time they have to save the day. We then see the use of editing by the camera cutting quickly to the telescope and then quickly to both the Doctor’s and Rose’s face which shows relief on both of their faces. We then cut to the light shooting down the telescope. Which shows the scientific aspect of the show as it is a bright white light and is quite mystical and alien. We also hear the diagetic sound of the telescope powering up showing that the Doctor has succeeded. We then see a cut to show the telescope all powered up and Rose looking up at it. This connotes the power and size of the telescope but also again the importance of it in the story. We finish the section with the Werewolf barging through the door just after the telescope is fully powered up. The camera cuts to show both the Doctor and rose looking at the door.
The second section begins at with a brief short close up of Queen Victoria’s face. Her face shows three emotions fear, shock and wonder. Fear because the Werewolf would easily overpower her and kill her. Shock because her mouth is wide open and wonder as she has never seen the beast close up and that it is alien to her. The monster moves towards her and the director uses the camera to show the creature towering over her. This gives the audience an idea of the danger the creature poses but also the immense power it possesses. In the same shot we see Queen Victoria shaking beneath it. This shows irony as historically Queen Victoria was a strong and fearless queen so to show her shaking means that this is something she can’t even hide her fear from and stands there unable to move. Another cut is used to the doctor who knows he has to save the Queen. We then see a low shot of the doctor diving to deflect the light onto the Werewolf. We then see the Werewolf get hit by the light seconds before he strikes the Queen. This releases the tension as the audience know the Doctor has saved the day again. Again the camera cuts to the Doctor and Rose looking up at the Werewolf, who is suspended in the air, we see Rose breathing heavily as she catches her breath indicating that the turmoil is over. The Doctor on the other hand looks up at the monster in fascination. The camera again cuts to the Werewolf changing into a human being again which is when the Director uses religious connotations as the Werewolf is in a cross position like Jesus. This may be an indication that the man who was the Werewolf was actually good and will go to heaven. This idea is reinforced as he appears in a white light which is a link to purity. The camera then cuts to Rose to show her shying away as she is not sure what is happening. This is further indicated by her facial expression. The camera pans across to the Doctor who is fixated on the transformation but does not shy away from it. We then see a camera shot from below Queen Victoria which gives the audience a view of what she can see from her angle. It then shows the Queen’s face as she looks in awe at the transformation, reinforcing the idea of alien. Her hand which was previously raised is lowered. This is showing the audience that the danger is over. The creature in human form then asks the Doctor to let him go. This means he wants the Doctor to kill him. There is a cut to the Doctor who looks down sadly as he knows what he has to do. As the Man/Werewolf dies we see one last howl from the Werewolf as he dies.
In the third and final section we see the Doctor and Rose being knighted by Queen Victoria. The time of day has changed as there is now sunlight in comparison to when most of the episode took place which was at night. We also see guards standing around the Queen which indicates she is now protected by her own people and not the Doctor. Another cut to the queen’s face shows her happy face turn into a frown and seriousness. This indicates that there is one more twist in the story. This turns out to be the Doctor being banished from the empire. We see his displeasure and surprise by a close up of his face. The queen moves in closer and we see a shot of Queen Victoria between the Doctor and Rose’s shoulders. This shows privacy between them and that the other people in the room don’t know who they are. She then stands back and we see a shot of the Queen and the other two main characters. The camera goes up close to the Queen as she tells the Doctor and Rose never to return “to her world” which shows her asserting her dominance and strength over everyone else in the room. This also shows the audience that she has gone back to the strong leader history remembers and not the frail old lady that was underneath the Werewolf.
The Director uses the Technical devices to show the emotions of the characters. This is none more highlighted as when we see the three characters at the climax of the episode. The doctor still stays strong making a link with the stereotype the audience have come to expect from the character, which is never scared and always strong. The women on the other hand are weak and afraid which makes a link to the stereotypical women.
Waterloo Road Drugs
Waterloo Road clip analysis
The scene is from waterloo road and involves three girls in the scene who talk about drugs. These girls are portrayed as young teens and following the trend waterloo road sets, which is a bad school with violence and teacher-student “relationships”, which will be familiar to the audience it regularly attracts on a weekly basis. The director uses the technical areas of camera, editing, Mise-en-scene and sound to portray the representational issue of drugs and youth culture. Each technical area is used to highlight the issue and portray each character in a different light. We see that one of the girls who possess the drug is peer pressuring her friend into doing some “grass”. Halfway through the clip third character enters. She acts as a conscience to the girl who is being peer pressured into taking drugs.
The first shot we see is a panning shot to show us the setting of the scene, which is the toilets, this tells the audience that something dirty, is happening or something bad is going on in the toilets. When we here the first character speak, fans of the show will immediately identify who it is and associate her with bad or naughty activities. We then see a bird’s eye view shot of the two girls standing behind a closed cubicle door peering into a plastic bag full of substance. The non-diagetic music is fast paced and can be identified with youths and mischief. We then get a close up of the two girls in the tightly packed cubicles. We notice the concern look on the first girls face making the audience realise that she is not sure about drugs and has never experienced them before. We pan across to the other girl who is confident about taking the drugs and doesn’t realise the possible dangers of taking them maybe indicating and referencing naivety in the youth of today. We then cut to see a wide shot of the two girls together. The first girl peering at the drugs while the other smiling with smugness and cockiness. Another cut to a close up of both girls faces, similar to the first close up, we see the first girls insecurity with drugs and the other girls all knowing about drugs even though she has never tried it before. We then see another bird’s eye shot but also a POV shot as we are seeing it from the third characters view. We here the third characters voice in the foreground and we can identify it’s a girl voice. We can also identify that she will play the protagonist in the clip because she is shocked at what she sees. We can highlight that there is some previous history between the smug girl and the protagonist as she gives her an evil look as she speaks to her. We then see a close up of the mysterious girls face; it pictures her looking down on them, as what they are doing is illegal and wrong.
The second half of the scene concentrates on the conflict over the drugs between the protagonist and the two girls’. The director uses a shot to identify who will be in the scene and that the three are alone in the toilet. This highlights a lack of security in the school and that it is badly run by the staff. We see the protagonist standing on her own and the other two stand together displaying right and wrong. The girl who is being peer pressured into taking the drugs, stands in the middle, while the smug girl stands opposing the protagonist. This shows she still hasn’t made her mind up whether to take the drugs or not. We then see an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist telling them how she is going to deal with the situation. This again reaffirms her with the audience as the protagonist and the girl who is in the right. We then see a close up of the antagonist’s face, who again makes a sarcastic comment towards the protagonist. The protagonist then states that she is trying to protect her friend from taking the drugs which is met with another smug comment by the antagonist. We then see a wide shot of the three girls again, reminding the audience where they are, it then cuts to another close up of the protagonists face that she has given up hope and has a look of disgust on her face and then leaves the toilets. The non-diagetic music picks up again when she leaves indicating to the audience that evil has triumphant over good on this occasion.
In conclusion we see that each area is used to great effect to show the representational issue of drugs and youth. The camera is used to portray the characters in different lights. The antagonist’s shots are always quick and when she speaks something bad happens or she indicates something bad will happen. The protagonist is shown looking down on the two girls showing that she is better and higher up than them. While the other girl is shown with an aura of uncertainty surrounding her.
Representation of gender in Primeval
In the TV programme Primeval, the director displays gender through the use of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene. The use of these technical areas helps the audience gain an insight into the director’s way of thinking and how the two women are portrayed. We see the first woman, Abby being portrayed as brave and strong with quite masculine clothing e.g. leather jacket, while we see the other woman who gets held at gunpoint as weak and more stereotypical of how women are portrayed in television.
We first see Abby driving a tractor; this immediately identifies Abby with the audience as strong and independent as the tractor would usually be driven by a man. We then see a cut to one of the men laying some meat on the ground, we see the man being very cautious and careful where he lays it. This tells the audience that what they are doing is possibly dangerous. There is non-diagetic music which builds the tension. He lays it on the ground in the style of Indiana Jones and the music helps enhance this reference. We then see the camera move in and we get a close up of the piece of meat which is quite large. This shows the audience the significance and importance of the meat in their plan but also that as the meat is large they are trying to attract a large carnivore. We then see Abby again in the digger working it with ease. We see two close ups of the dirt she is digging up. This is most likely a reference to Abby not being afraid of doing hard labour. The camera then moves to a different man who is watching Abby but is digging at the same time. He spots a hand while he is digging. The camera shows a close up of the man who isn’t shocked and surprised but intrigued. This tells the audience he has seen dead bodies before and is not fazed by them. The music helps build the suspense and surprise as we hear high violin notes like in famous thriller films like psycho. The man tells Abby to stop which can signify that he is the leader and has control of her actions. We then see another close up of the man who looks up. The audience and characters then here the diagetic sound of a roar. This makes reference with the audience the meat they saw earlier was bait to attract this creature they now hear. We then see a pov shot from the man’s perspective as he looks around frantically to spot the beast. The director cuts to Abby who is starting up the digger again in anticipation. We see an over the shoulder shot of the beast, which is a sabre tooth tiger, running at the man. We see a quick cut of Abby in control of the digger again. We then go back to the over the shoulder shot which shows him jumping into the hole. We see the man becoming a damsel in distress as he is defenceless against the sabre tooth tiger. This is a twist as stereotypically it should be the woman who is defenceless. In another ironic twist Abby saves the day using the digger as a distraction for the sabre tooth who treats it like a yarn of wool. We see the man climb out of the hole and call the cat to chase after him. We see a long shot of the man who starts running subsequently followed by the sabre tooth tiger. The director uses the same long shot for the man running and the tiger running because it shows the size of a human being compared to the large animal. This helps build a sense of danger. The man runs to a rope ladder and starts climbing up the tree. The tiger follows him up the tree and we see a close up of the tiger’s teeth which are razor sharp. The music is now fast paced to build tension and suspense. The man looks ahead to reveal a long rope slide he pulls off his belt and slides down to freedom. Unfortunately the sabre tooth follows him while he is sliding and has he lands leaps to attack him. As he is about to be attacked the scene briefly goes into slow motion giving the audience a sense of desperation. Luckily Abby saves him again by shooting it and the sabre tooth jumps out of the shot. This shows Abby as the heroine again and the man is the damsel in distress.
We then see a cut to another more glamorous woman in a barn this tells us that she is doing her work as she would not usually be associated with a barn or dirt in comparison to Abby. We see two over the shoulder shots firstly one of the man who is speaking to the woman and then a shot from the shoulder of the women revealing that she speaks with a very posh and sophisticated accent. When she is speaking to the man she speaks down to the man. This tells the audience she is ruthless but also strong and brave. The camera follows the man as he goes to pick up a shotgun. He turns around and points it at the women. The non-diagetic music gets louder and faster paced as the woman is in danger. The camera shows a close up of the woman’s face that shows shock and fear. The power has shifted from the woman to the man. The man forces the woman to the floor with ease revealing he is forceful and violent. This signifies that the man may kill her due to him being violent towards the woman. Slow-mo is used again to show time running out for the woman. She is then saved by a man and Abby who are pointing their guns at the man holding the shotgun. A close up of the man shows him disappointed and he knows he has been caught. He stops pointing the gun at the woman and hands it over. Abby asks the woman if she “is ok?” and she replies whilst breathing heavily that she “is fine”. She then tells the violent man that he has ruined her best coat. This shows the audience that the woman is very feminine compared to Abby. The woman walks out of the barn angrily while Abby asks if the sabre tooth is in the area revealing that it isn’t dead. There is a slow close-up on the man’s face revealing the surprise on his face as he hears what appears to be the first time about the sabre tooth.
The director uses the two women to portray two different types of female. Abby represent the independent, brave, strong and fearless women who isn’t afraid of doing hard labour whilst the women who is attacked is independent but weak and is not fearless like Abby.
Monarch of the Glen essay
In Monarch of the Glen the director uses the technical areas of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene to get across the representational issue of age. In the clip we see through different generations portrayed, these are the young, middle and the old generation. Each play a part in the girls scenario and predicament as they find out she has run away from school. The director uses the girl as a way of portraying the youth of the time which is rebellious. He uses the protagonist, paul, to portray the middle and responsible generation, bridging the gap between the older and the younger generation. The director uses the old lady and the headmaster to portray the older generation, caring but serious.
In the opening scene we see a shot of a lake signifying that the scene is in the country. The establishing shot can also tell us that the people in the scene will be working on a farm due to the green setting around the lake. We then see a cut to the work place and people performing manual labour showing that they are working class. This is to show where we are and introduces the audience to Paul. We can see in the first 30 seconds of seeing Paul that he is a hardworking individual and takes himself seriously due to the expression on his face. The director uses non-diegetic sound of dreary music which could suggest that they have been doing this job for a long time. This is backed by the old man talking about how the job will be done. The director then cuts too the two members of the younger generation. The boy who is sweeping suggests he is trying to be like paul and also wants to work on the farm. The girl who appears shortly after is quite fresh faced and doesn’t fit in with the whole farm scene. This backed up by the jeans and yellow top she wears which shows she is not dressed for manual labour. There is an akward confrontation between the two suggesting a bit of past history which regular viewers will understand. The girl is then asked to drive to go and pick something up from the town. The director uses the camera to show surprise on her face indicating that she has never driven before or only on a couple of occasions. The fact she lies triggers the future events to come in the next scenes. As she drives off we see close-ups of the boys face who looks concerned for a moment but then carry’s on loading the truck. After a couple of seconds we hear a the diegetic sound of the car crashing. At the car crash scene we see a long shot to signify to the audience that she has hit a another car. The camera then does a quick cut to show a close up of both people getting out of their cars. The old man who gets out speaks with an aggressive tone towards the girl which suggests he knows her. This is helped by him knowing her name immediately. The old man isn’t hurt or injured which can represent how strong the old generation are today. Also we see smoke covering the man which can signify his identity being shrouded in mystery.
The next scene takes place in a house which looks old but grand suggesting it belongs to an older women or man due to the design. The camera shows the old man Paul having a conversation. The old man has a brandy which connotes old but powerful but also importance. The man states about the girl’s education showing he cares about her. We then see a cut to Paul walking out and grabbing the girl by the shoulder showing he is angry. This shows the conflict between the two generations. The camera then slowly zooms into the old woman’s face to reveal anxiety. Once the conflict has finished the two leave with angry, loud footsteps which connotes them leaving each other and not seeing each other again.
The next scene shows everybody working. This signifies that time has moved forward and everybody including Paul is working together. We see a the director use a close up of the old man from the beginning of the story working hard. This signifies that the older generation are useful and knowledge. There is non-diagetic being played in the background. The music is happy and jolly suggesting everybody is getting along. We then cut to the girl who is packing up her things to go back to school. She takes one last look at herself and the pictures on her mirror. This could suggest that the audience won’t see her for a while. Another quick cut shows the old lady walking into the room to find the girl has disappeared suggesting she has runaway. This shows the naivity of the youth today. The director uses the girl as a moral of teens running away from there problems. The close up of the old woman shows her concern for the girl. Another cut again shows Paul feeling happy. This is ironic as bad news will be given to him soon. The old lady runs up to Paul, out of breath, and tells him the bad news. The close up of Pauls face reveals he does care about the girl and shows his concern.
In conclusion we can see that the director wants to get a message across to the audience. The message is that the youth today are naïve and they need to be helped. The uses of camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene do this
Hustle
In the clip of Hustle the director uses camera, editing, sound and mise-en-scene to convey the representational issue of gender. The director uses these technical areas for the audience to gain an insight into the different stereotypes of men and women portrayed by the con-artists and why they are being used in the con itself.
We first see the shop owner walk up the stairs. We can see by his posture that he thinks very highly of himself. He walks over to an older woman who is looking for a dress. We see a close up of the woman and we can assume that she is from a middle class background. It is then revealed through the dialog between the shop assistant and the older woman that the shop assistant is only in it for the money and is greedy, making him the antagonist. The director then uses an over the shoulder shot of the older woman to show the height difference and the audience can see that the shop assistant dominates the older woman in height and stature. The younger woman is glaring over at the two indicating she is hurt by the man’s actions. The shop owner dismisses the older woman with a sarcastic smile. There is a close up of the younger woman giving the man flirtatious and enticing looks to attract his attention. He approaches her swiftly and the camera shows that they are on terms with each other and doesn’t show the man dominating the woman. This is to show that the woman is stronger and more significant to the shop assistant than the older lady. We then see different shots while the two characters exchange dialog ending with the man skipping away with delight to go get a dress. There is a cut as the screen briefly fades to black only to open with the younger woman twirling in a black dress. The woman is lauding the man with compliments while she is twirling in the dress and looking in the mirror.
The screen then cuts to an older man talking to a younger man in a gentlemen’s club. The setting is very upper class with oak walls and leather chairs. It seems like the natural setting for the older man but the younger man, by looking at his clothes we can see that he does not fit into this setting as well as the older man does. The younger man also seems distant while the older man is talking to him signifying that he doesn’t belong in the club. The camera angle is at first from the older man’s perspective while the younger man does not respond but the angle changes when the character responds to one of the questions. They are both drinking the same drink which looks like a whiskey. This drink is stereotypically an older man’s drink. This could tell us that the younger man is being bought the drink by the older man which could signify that the older man is trying to ‘sweeten him up’. We hear the soft but slowly building sound of frantic music which can prepare us for the next scene
There is a fast cut, with a sound effect to go with it, back to the shop assistant and the woman who suddenly goes into a frenzied panic. The music being played is frantic to go with the woman’s highly strung emotions. The camera follows her all over the shop as she pulls clothes down looking for her ring and nearly bursting into tears. The man stops her and subsequently the music when he says “can I make a suggestion”. The woman agrees with his suggestion and tells him he will give who ever finds it a lot of money. There is then a close up of the shop assistants face as she says the large amount of money reminding the audience that he is greedy. The camera again shows the two in the same shot at the same level. The woman then breaks the fourth wall when she addresses the audience and reveals that it is all a big con.
The scene then cuts to a man on the phone. We can hear both ends of the conversation revealing that both parties are important in this scene. Due to the way the voice on the other end of the line speaks we can assume he is the leader of this ‘crew’. The man working on the alarm says he has to go and simultaneously the alarm goes off with it. The director uses a close up of the man to show his distress as he covers the alarm up with a coat.
The camera cuts back to the shop and we hear non-diegetic music being played which is the sought of music heard in a casino e.g. high stakes. The shop assistant is on his hands and knees scrambling for the ring. We then see the camera cut to a man’s feet and move up to his face. We then see an over the shoulder shot of the man looking down on the shop assistant which is ironic as only a couple of minutes earlier we saw him looking down on the old woman. This can tell us that the man is stronger than the shop assistant and that the audience should side with him. The next scene then scrolls onto the screen.
This depicts a long range shot of the older and younger man laughing together and having a joke telling the audience that both men are getting along and the scenario has changed from earlier. The older man makes silly noises suggesting that they are a bit drunk.
A fast cut back to the shop reveals the man pulling out a ring from his sleeve revealing he is part of the con. The camera follows the man’s hand as he pretends to find the ring. The camera continues to follow his hand till it reaches his face to “examine” the ring. The director uses a medium close up shot of the shop assistant to show the surprise on his face and then continues to follow the shop assistant as he follows the man round the shop. There is a shot of the two men standing arm’s length apart. There is an over the shoulder shot of the shop assistants face as he is shocked at the man not giving the ring to him. There is then a reverse shot of the man with a grin on his face as he reveals he intends to keep the ring. The man looks confident which intimidates the shop owner. The power shifts from the shop assistant to the man. The man then asks about a reward which the women mentioned earlier. This is a trigger word and sets the shop assistant into panic and he lies about the reward revealing his greed and deceitfulness. The over the shoulder shots repeat themselves as the two characters exchange dialog with the shop assistant each time becoming more panicky. There is another medium shot of the two men in the scene revealing the different postures of the men, one is laid back and relaxed while the other is stiff and uptight. There is then a close up of the shop assistant as he shows a look of desperation. The music starts up again as the scene is about to end. It is a confident suave tune and tells the audience to side with the man. There is another close up of the shop assistant who gives a weak and shocked stare as the man walks confidently past him. The man walks towards the camera confidently counting down and when the man responds “wait” he looks at the camera and smiles. This tells the audience that he is the protagonist and we should side with him.
There is another cut which is a fast forward motion to the man walking into a café with a smug grin on his face. The director then uses the camera to show the woman in the shop without her wig on revealing that they were working together to con the shop keeper. The same voice on the phone is heard talking to the woman linking the man who was working with the alarm and the woman together as a team. We see the man walk in from the woman’s point of view and he sits down pleased with himself. He then pulls out an amount of money revealing they have hustled the shopkeeper. The last shot is a close up of the woman approving of what the man has done.
The director uses the four technical areas to portray the woman, while playing the blonde lady, as weak and highly strung. This is a stereotype of women. Then when we see her in the café she is confident and strong revealing that the stereotype of women is sometimes wrong and all is not what it seems. The man who is in the shop is portrayed as strong, confident and overpowering. The shop keeper is portrayed as greedy to make himself the antagonist. The old man and the young man are portrayed as typical men as they get drunk and start joking. The director wants to get the message across of not judging someone straight away like the shop keeper does.
