Thursday 26 June 2014

A2: 'Never Forget' Analysis of Representation (Gender) - Ettie Greenwood

  • The first scene denotes parallel cuts of two people getting ready to go out. A non-diegetic soundtrack accompanies this (a piano instrumental piece) which gives a romantic feel to the piece. Both characters are stereotypical of their gender: the women is wearing a dress and heels, and the man is wearing a formal suit. The are then seen to be traveling, then when the man picks up his phone to call the women the audience can immediately tell that they are a couple. This is because the mans' 'lock screen' picture (shown through a CU) is an image of both of them together. This sets up the expectation for the reader that it will be a positive and loving night. 

  • When the women gets questioned about what she did the previous night she seems uneasy and it is obvious to the audience that she is lying. This is confirmed when flashbacks are shown of the night before where she had gone out and the audience then assume that she slept with a guy even though she was married (she is shown taking off her ring discretely). As she talk on the phone about her night the camera tilts down slightly to form a low angle shot. This connotes that she has more power than the man at this time as she has lied to him and cheated on their relationship. This is shown with CU's of the man to emphasize his grief and emotions towards her actions (this is because he saw her going off with the new man).

  • When the man ends the phone call after saying: "I want you to remember for the rest of your life, this is all your fault.." this could foreshadow bad events. This turns out to happen as moments later the man jumps of the building that he was in before and lands just in front of the women who was walking to the building. This part of the film is very shocking but could also be argued that it is a little over-exaggerated. However this may suggest that the man had very strong reactions and emotions towards the event as his reaction was fairly extreme. But it may also suggest that he is not your typical male character as the assumed reaction to this event would be anger with the women and not death. However the audience do not see the man cry, which means he holds with the stereotypical view that 'men don't cry'. 
  • Femininity is shown in the clip when the girl screams: her scream is high pitched and long which denotes a stereotypical female scream. It is also very piercing and shocking which connotes that the event was unexpected for the women. In this shot, a low angle is also denoted which suggests power to the women (maybe unwanted power) as she has just caused the death, but it also allows the audience to see her facial expressions as she looks down at the dead man- it could also be argued as a slight POV shot- Also, be angling the camera up, this could foreshadow the event as the man jumps from the building.

1 comment:

  1. There is proficient analysis here Ettie. I'd like to see more terms to pin point techniques used (media language). Can you add some images now too?

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