Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of gender using the following:
· Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
· Editing
· Sound
· Mise-en-scene
Gender can be represented in many different ways in television dramas through how the image is shot and put together, as well as how its edited, what sound is used and what mise-en-scene there is. Television dramas often use stereotypes to make it quicker and easier for the view to establish a characters role within the drama.
Firstly the use of various camera shots, movement and composition can help represent gender, So instantly in the opening credits we see many establishing long shots including one of a village which is zoomed in on before focusing on a field where a male ploughing with a tractor up hill. This instantly shows you the male dominance within agricultural work by most of the farmers being male. It then focuses even more on the plough with a close up birds eye shot as it begins tracking it up the field before tilting upwards and having a medium long shot of a woodland area. In the woodland we see a younger boy and an older girl, it shows a very stereotypical younger brother and older sister situation because she is winding him up but as soon as she detects danger she becomes very protective. You can see this by certain shots that are used such as medium close up of her talking as she looks down to him. We can also tell that the boy believes his sister as his fear grows as she mentions the tall trees we get a point of view shot as the bot looks up to them waving in the wind. The camera continues to track the two children using a variety of medium close ups and close ups. Then its cuts to a close up of a hand wearing a black glove picking flowers. Then when the voices are heard we see a medium close up of the person picking flowers dressed completely in black run away. But the audience still has no idea of the sex of this person this allows the plot to thicken and so nobody knows who the main suspect is initially. This is key to the story due to the nature of the story being crime fiction. The big sister then notices a leg so she creeps over telling the boy to stay back showing her protective role as we get a point of view shot from the girl as she creeps up and then peers over the body with a close up birds eye shot followed by an medium close up shot of the girl as we see the boy creeping up in the background disobeying his sister. Before they hear a dog coming and run off. Then we move to a court room with an opening shot of a male judge giving his verdict on a case. It pans round to show the rest of the courtroom using a high angle shot to show that he is looking down on them due to his position of power in the room. It then looks back up at the male judge using a low angle shot to again emphasise his power and dominance. Then a woman poses an argument which is instantly shot down as he uses his power over her, then we go to a medium long shot outside where to males break out and its broken up by a male policeman, again males only seen in certain roles, farmer, judge, police officer, estate owner and few women are see in these important positions.
The editing of the drama at first in the opening sequence when zooming in on the village it fades into shot when zooming in and all editing is very seamless, however the editing skips to black before going to the court scene this suggests to the audience that its not just something else close by like the children and the flower picker and it is of great importance. Sound is also used as there are diegetic sound in the opening credits as they are birds, a tractor ploughing and then it moves on to hearing the big sister telling a story, then in the courtroom the judges voice is quite louder to again suggest power. There is classical music played at the start but no music in the courtroom to show it is a serious matter being taken care of. Mise-en-scene includes the leaves on the forest floor and woodland area, the hammer in the courtroom, the birds and the dead body. None of which really impact the representation of drama within the television drama. But this does also include costume, which has a massive impact as the farmer at the beginning has a flat cap instantly showing a stereotypical male farmer. The person picking flowers was in complete black clothing so nobody could tell the gender meaning no assumptions could be made about them.
So to conclude the main ways in gender can be represented are camera shots, sound and mise-en-scene and more specifically costume all of these can suggest where power lies in gender, what job roles men and women have in society and can have both positive and negative effects.
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