42/50 – exemplar paper June 2009

The extract I am analysing is a clip from Primeval, a TV drama. I will be discussing how the extract constructs the representation of gender, using media theory.

The establishing shot is a medium shot of the back of a male and female actor’s head and a field setting. Gender is shown straight away in that the female is shown leaving because she is scared and the man staying, representing him as the tougher gender.

The mise-en-scene of the extract then challenges the conservative stereotypical ideology of women when the next female character is introduced. The blonde girl is firstly shown on a digger, digging up earth in a forest. The man is shown in a hole which supposedly the blonde girl has dug. The camera then changes to another male character who is putting out a piece of meat which the audience later realises is to attract the lion.

Through the blonde girl we can see Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze in action, especially in that she is pretty, slim and is wearing leather.

The man in the hole then discovers a skeleton hand in the mud, there is a shot-reverse-shot from the hand to the man showing the audience that he is shocked about the discovery. This is where the lion is firstly heard. A synchronous roaring sound is heard and then a point of view shot is shown as the lion heads towards the male and female actors. The lion first heads for the male and tries to attack him. Gender is then challenged as the blonde girl calls the lion over to her so as to protect the male.

The lion is then lured away as the man climbs a tree and slides down a rope to get rid of him. This showed the male gender as Propp’s hero until the blonde girl comes back on the scene and shoots the lion, finishing the job for the pair. This demonstrates a juxtaposition of gender and ideologies in that neither the male nor the female was the weaker candidate.

The final piece of mise-en-scene are two new actors shown in a warehouse in the forest. Stereotypical ideology is restored again in that the man is wearing dirty working clothes and breeding dogs to fight, representing males as being unhygienic and violent whereas the female is represented as being image conscious and posh.

Camer shots include angles, movement and composition. There are close-up shots of different parts of the differ and showing concentration on the blonde girl’s face. When the hand in the mud is first discovered there is an eyeline match showing the shock on the male actor’s face. There is a low angle shot and also a subjective point of view shot when the lion is shown trying to attack the male actor from above and then zooming into a close-up of the lion’s teeth showing the audience how scary and dangerous the animal is. When the five actors are brought together ther is a tracking shot to show the first man, then the second, the third and finally the girl. This is a medium long shot and compositionally, the rule of thirds is used.

Gender is represented very differently in the rule of thirds shot due to costume. For example, one of the males is dressed very fashionably, showing he cares about his appearance, the second is wearing casual clothes and the final male is wearing a suit. The blonde girl is wearing a leather jacket and

may appear to a male audience as a sex icon. A panning shot shows them having a conversation which is used for fluidity and to make it easier for the audience to follow what is being said.

Continuity techniques are used throughout the sequence to speed up the action. Jump cuts are used when the male actor is tying his belt onto the rope. Mr West and the posh female are in the warehouse shot reverse shots are used for suspense and some shots have been slowed down for the purposes of impact.

The sountrack throughout has a quick pace which suggests a build-up of action. The volume increases as the action speeds up. This is non-diegetic and asynchronous to the clip. Asynchronous, diegetic sound of trees rustling and birds tweeting adds realism to the sequence.

In conclusion, all gender is juxtaposed in the sequence. The blonde girl is shown more macho but in a sexy way whereas the mode of address and image of the last female represents a conservative stereotypical ideology. The enigma for the sequence is at the end when Mr West says “sabertooth”. It leaves the audience wanting to know more about what this ‘sabertooth’ is. At the end the soundtrack is sinister as the final image fades to black.