SOUND

In class on Thursday, I learnt the difference between digetic and non-digetic sound. Digetic is like sounds that the video could actually present in the scene/film. Like dialogue, footsteps etc. And Non-Digetic is sound that can't be made in the video, such as voice overs etc.

I also learnt that there are categories of sound and they include:

Doctor Who - Animatic Clip/Analysis/Comparison

In mine and Georgina's Doctor Who animatic clip, we made the characters Rory and Amy stay quite close together in proximity - even though the Tardis door was in the way - to show how strong their relationship is. We also made them mirror each other a lot to signify their marriage and love towards each other, such as when they both rest their palms on the Tardis door as if they can almost touch each other - they're that close. We've kept the Doctor and Rory a little way apart, just to show that their disagreement is still at large but that the Doctor understands Rory needs some time and space to deal with the issue at hand.

For a lot of the scene, Passed-Out-Amy is in the background or very often not even in the frame to show that this scene is all about Outside Amy and Rory's struggle. When Rory is struggling with his decision whether to let Amy in or leave her outside, we used a high angle shot looking down on the character t show how vulnerable and weak he is at that specific time.

We used a lot of close-ups; on Amy and Rory's faces when she is pleading with him to capture the raw emotions both characters would be feeling. When Rory locks up the door, we chose to show the action as a close-up to symbolize the fact of what Rory is doing - saying goodbye to his wife - and also because it is a penultimate part of the scene.

At the start of the piece, we made the movement of the camera quick paced to show the urgency the characters would be feeling in the situations they are in. But as the scene goes on, the shots are edited at a slower and softer pace to give the audience an idea of how delicate the current scene is. This also helps to show how emotional the scene is too.

I think in this scene, Rory is the most important character because he's the one who has to make all the decisions and he's the most humane of the three principal characters in the show - this also means the audience can and will associate themselves better and more easily with him. To put this point across, we used various shots such as high angles, close-ups etc to really let the audience know how the character of Rory is feeling.

Over the last few weeks...

...in class we've been looking at difference and power in TV dramas between males and females.

The first thing we looked at was...

^Drawn by me

Then we looked at Modern Masculinity - Fight Club is a good example of how modern masculinity is portrayed in media and particularly film. In an early scene with the two main characters, they talk of how they've never been in a 'real fight' and debate how manly that makes them, before they proceed to have a fist fight.

And finally we looked at Post Feminism:

^Drawn by me

So, in many modern tv dramas, women are more and more likely to be represented as complete equals to men and often in recent dramas, women are the ones who save the day. In Doctor Who for example, all of the Doctor's companions are presented as strong, independant and courageous women.

MISFITS - Looking at Gender & Sexuality.

This clip trailer for an episode of the new season of Misfits is perfect to show both gender and sexuality in the media of tv drama. In this episode, Curtis' new power is to change genders at any time he desires. As he changes throughout the episode to get closer to new character Emma, the audience sees how the surrounding peoples' attitudes differ from when he is male to when he is female and Mel.

When the character is Curtis, he's treated as just one of the guys and doesn't have much luck with getting intimate with Emma, but when he is Mel, many of the male characters turn their attention onto him and are much more provocative. Also when he is Mel, he is closer to Emma and eventually gets with her in the form of a woman. This represents the idea of sexuality with a twist as even fellow character Simon asks Curtis confusedly "Are you a lesbian?". This whole episode subverses the idea of gender within popular tv culture, especially in Britain. And gives a fresh spin to how each gender is perceived and also how sexuality and alternative sexuality is viewed.

How are women represented in the Inbetweeners Movie trailer? Well...

In one of the first shots that the audience sees, the character Jay's mum and sister are doing the food shopping. Most things to do with food are do to with cooking which is seen as a typical woman's role within the family. Also, Neil doesn't call the woman by a name, he says "All right Jay's mum" as if subliminally, her name's not really important.

When Carly stops kissing Simon and tells him they need to talk, he replies with "oh, not talking" showing the character adores the girl and doesn't want to stop - this looks at the stereotype of like 'sex-starved teenage boys' and 'drugstore Romeos'.

When Carly breaks up with him, he subverses the typical idea of a 'hard' man and cries, something which you don't really expect teenage boys to do. This shows a much more feminine side to the character.

In this quick shot, we can see that the character Will holds a pink suitcase - pink being a typically 'girly' colour. This subverses the stereotype held against many young men/boys.

The girls in this clip and also throughout the film are considered more to be objects than anything else. Most of them dress provocatively, which you'd actually expect in this sort of film - one where boys are trying to score as many girls as they can.

Jay says "I better not get stuck with the fat one" showing that he only cares about the girl's looks and image rather than their personality. This is a typical stereotype that many teenage boys fall under where they're shallow when it comes to the opposite sex.

In this frame, Jay and Neil see the three girls by the pool and say "look cool" before being completely embarrassed and laughed at by the girls. This shows the males being in contorted and 'foolish' positions that are usually so reserved for females. The girls, in this scene at least, appear very dominant over the boys.

Throughout the entire trailer, the music is upbeat and club music to set the scene and location for the entire film. The boys are out in Malaga so the party scene music fits perfectly well in supporting the story.

TV DRAMAS - Moodboard

Traditional Masculinity - A look at Rome.

There are different stereotypes that are used in TV dramas and also films to represent traditional masculinity, these include:

The guy that jokes around a lot and is popular with his friends because of it.

The jock type of guy who is strong and leads the team. He's liked by his friends and also the girls.

The strong silent type who is quieter and not as lairy as the two previous guys but who still gets a fair amount of attention, usually for being strong and clever.

There are others such as the stupid guy, who nobody really takes seriously or thinks of much, but is there as part of the group.

In this clip from Rome, I think it is evident which characters fall into which of the stereotyped groups.

This character is obviously the leader and fits into the action hero/jock type of group. He's a man who asserts his authority and gets results, and we can see this as he leads the soldiers into war and takes command over them.

 

In this clip above, even though the man is in an awful situation, you can still tell he is probably the joker of the pack/the strong silent type. Throughout his torture he doesn't make a sound (this shows he doesn't want to be seen as weak, particularly in front of the other men - a classic sign of stereotyped 'alpha' males) until they are finished, to which he says "Is that it? I was just beginning to enjoy myself" which still shows his personality, even through the trauma.