Cranford Essay- Representation of Class + Status

Within this extract of the TV Drama ‘Cranford’ class is presented, we see the difference between each character is the mise-en-scene, and the way the characters are dressed. The first character we see is Harry, who appears to be of the lower class, as he is wearing scruffy clothes, no shoes, along with his family who also appear to be in the same type of clothing. Another pointer is that (as it is Harry’s birthday) Harry receives a gift of an old pair of boots. In the next scene we see a low angle shot looking up at Mr Carter (which slowly pans up his body), a wealthy man who lives in the Manor. We are first introduced to this character by looking at his boots, which are much cleaner and expensive than Harry’s pair. We instantly can see the differences in the two-shot that Mr Carter is rich and higher authority out of the two characters, and is wearing expensive clothes which show he is of a higher class; he is wearing expensive boots and a cane which portrays that he has more money to spend on necessities such as canes. However, the Lady of the manor is of a higher class than the two, because of her poise and extravagant, expensive dress. This is also shown by using a low angle shot, of her standing on the steps, whilst making Harry look weak and vulnerable.  
With the low key lighting focusing on Harry in the beginning shot, it shows his emotions more clearly, with him being slightly unhappy, and miserable. However the low key lighting also reflects on the era in which the TV drama was set in showing that the family have no electricity in the run down shack, but only lit by a single candle. In addition to this the contrast between the shack and the manor house, is that the shack itself is not really focused on, whereas Mr Carter’s office is, showing a type of establishing shot of the whole room in order to emphasise the wealth of the man.

The sound used is mainly diegetic sound, such as; the birds and rustling of branches as Harry is trying to run home with the sack of potatoes to feed his family, mainly to create the ambience of the scene. Accents and dialects are usually associated with the type of class and status that you have, in this case Harry’s father says, ‘’Appy birthday, ‘Arry’, this suggests that the family have not been well educated and ‘learning isn’t for everyone’, this also portrays that he has a negative outlook on life and doesn’t appreciate the cleverness that Harry has shown. This juxtaposes with the Lady of the manor, as she has perfect diction, which shows she has been to elocution lessons. Non-diegetic sound is also used, such as heavy, depressing music to reflect mood and emotion. In this case sudden music was used when the father stood up in the shack; this indicates power and shows who is in charge. When Harry enters the greenhouse the music becomes dreamy and almost a fantasy, it is almost tropical, happy music to indicate the happy emotion of Harry, showing the other class, which is almost trying to portray that it is the better class to be in.

The type of camera angles used in this shot are cleverly used to show the higher class. Some examples of this are; the shaky footage of the Manor house covered the shot by leaves, which suggests that Harry is intruding and is not meant to be there. Various types of mid shots and long shots are used in order to show the cramped room in the shack, with frequent slow zooms on Harry’s face to show his gratefulness of the boots. When Harry and Mr Carter are in the office of the Manor house, the office is shown in a wide-angle shot; therefore all of the office is in view. Which is the opposite to the shack, as it is mainly focused on the family/characters. I also noticed that when Mr Carter was getting some bread for Harry a selective focus was used, it focuses on Harry’s face, then onto the bread behind him, then focuses back to Harry’s face. This shows the audience all of the events that are going on in the scene.

There are not many factors on editing as it is shown over a short period of time, but some of the things I did notice was the use of continuity editing, to create a sense of realism. The biggest section of editing is the jump cut from Harry sleeping in the greenhouse to the next morning when he is interrupted by Mr Carter. This shows that time has moved on in only a short period of time, this saves time and viewing time.

Cranford Essay

mise en scene

Harry
scruffy clothes
dark small house
bare feet
low key lighting

Mr Carter
expensive boots
cane
nice office


Lady of manor
white extravagent dress

ladies in carriages
curled hair, expensive dresses

man on horse top hat


The mise-en-scene in this clip reveals a contrast between rich and poor people. The poor people are seen to be living in the forest and wear dark, scruffy clothes. In contrast to this, the rich are dressed in higher class clothing. Focusing on Harry and the older man, he is shown to be a lower-class boy with little knowledge and no formal schooling. The dark, dingy lighting contrasts with the older man, who has clean and sophisticated clothes. The older man, Mr Carter, pays the boy and as the boy eats the bread in the office, he is seen to be sympathetic towards Harry.

sound
birds and rustling in the woods
poor family live out of the way
dialogue 'Appy birthday 'Arry' indicates non Rp speech

door squeaks = run down cottage
horses and well spoken Lady of the manor indicate wealth

heavy depressing music
music when dad rises indicated he hold the power
when no dialogue, indicates depressing
music when boy giddy= emotional
music upbeat when work commences on marquee


When we are first introduced to Harry, the music, non-diegetic sound is heavy and depressing, this represents the class of the boy, showing that he does not have a happy or fulfilling life at this young age. The door squeaking when he arrives home indicates that his family do not have wealth.
When the boy enters the greenhouse, the music is of a higher pitch which could indicate the higher status of the owners of the greenhouse.
The viewer is then introduced to the sound of heavy footsteps giving us the impression that someone of higher status is approaching and this creates tension.


camera
can't see the house in full view, hidden by trees shows Harry shouln't be there
camera moves with and focuses on Harry, shows he's important,
 over the shoulder shot of father telling Harry off
camera shos Harry looking up to all charcters
mid/long shot of cramped room
zooms in on boots, showing how grateful he is for them
mid shot of Harry alone in dark
house is surrounded by leaves and shot through the window shows he is an outsider
Mr Carter's boots juxtapose with Harry shoes
two shot shows the differences between the two
high angle of Mr Carter shows his status
Lady on steps = status
master shot of doctor on horse implies he is important

In this clip, the camera angles show class and status in a variety of ways. The juxtaposition of the shack and the manor is shown through the master shots; the shack covered with foliage versus the manor surrounded by  by space to show its size. The interrior of the shack is abre and the dialohgue is the focus, not the interrior. In the office, the master shot empasizes its status. A two shot of the pair shows the clear differences in class and status.  The camera follows the work of the outdoor workers to show manual labour compared to the lords and ladies in the carriages who are doing nothing to prepare,

editing
The editing in this clip is continuitiy editing to  create a sense of realism. The conversation between Harry and his father is carried out using shot reverse shots which illustrates the father's harsh reaction to his son wanting to learn.
The cutting between the shack, the greehouse and the manor activities reveals how the class of the charcters is closely connected to the locations where they live or work. Many uses of eyeline match and point of view shots are used when the focus in on Harry, indicating that he likes the boots and longs for the bunch of grapes but restrains himself; he is accustomed at the young age of ten to accept disappointment

Representation of age within ‘Monarch of the Glen’

Age is widely presented in TV dramas, as it defines each character showing authority and power of a certain character. In ‘Monarch of the glen’, the extract focuses on the character Amy, who we first see as quite young, wearing scruffy, average looking clothing. The other characters shown in this scene are wearing drab colours, which are fit for the work that they are doing, Amy is standing out as she is wearing brighter, younger clothes, which makes the characters more identifiable with age. With the non-diegetic sound of upbeat ‘hillbilly’ music, this associated with farming; hence there are workers on the farm. The camera follows Amy around, panning to her, having more screen time than any other characters within this extract.

By including the scene of the range rover, we assume she is over 17, along with the panning around the car, with a slow zoom, and her nervous facial expressions and body language shows that she is quite nervous, which questions the audience of her actual age. At this point the noise level increases with the diegetic sound of bashing and clanging of tools and the non-diegetic sound of the music slowly building in pace. As the range rover leaves the farm, the camera follows the car, which almost builds up tension; therefore the audience knows something will happen. However the crash is not filmed, the other characters who are working are being focused on which anticipates the viewers. Therefore we will see the reaction on the characters faces when the sound of the crash happens. This makes it more effective in my opinion, as the audience and the characters don’t know how serious the crash is.

At this point the representation of age becomes more vivid and clear, the middle aged characters immediately rush to the incident. Amy instantly hides away into them making her look weak and vulnerable, all of which are taller than her, making her look younger than she already is. The camera angle is disjointed and keeps reverting back to two shots and long shots.

We are introduced to another character, is the head teacher at Amy’s school, which she has not been attending. The head teacher is well dressed, and is very traditional, by wearing a tie and blazer, speaking with Standard English. Another representation that could be brought forward is the use of regional identity; Amy has a strong Scottish accent, whereas the other characters have English accents. With more analysis this could be a type of discrimination, making her an outcast to the group.

There is then a jump cut from the crash to the room with the head teacher. The head teacher asks for a Brandy, which shows, that he is stressed on Amy’s behalf, which shows that he likes to drink and is a representation of a stereotypical elderly person.
Another elderly lady presented in this extract is well dressed, and smart looking, although she never says anything and we don’t know whether or not she is related to Amy, but the worried expression on her face shows Grandma-like qualities, showing sympathy towards her.
Overall camera angles and clever techniques of editing have a huge impact of the way age is represented, such as; the use of high angle shots revealing her age and her place within society, this gives the older generation higher authority, making them seem superior to the young adult.

Working Title Facts

• Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983
• Over the past 16 years, Working Title has made Britain’s biggest-ever movies including Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Bean.
• The company headed by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner is responsible for 96 films grossing $4.8 billion worldwide, 60% of which came from Universal’s 46 Working Title releases.
• Its movies have won six Oscars, 26 Baftas and prizes at Cannes and Berlin.
• Working Title has fed Universal and/or Focus Features a lot of relatively inexpensive movies that have been consistently – and in some cases hugely – profitable.
• It's one of the largest British production companies and is based in London.

  Title	Release Date
  Green Zone	March 12, 2010
  Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang	August 20, 2010
  Paul	March 18, 2011
  Senna	August 12, 2011
  Johnny English Reborn	October 21, 2011
  Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy	December 9, 2011
  Contraband	January 13, 2012
  Big Miracle	February 3, 2012
  Anna Karenina	November 16, 2012
  Les Misérables	December 25, 2012

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

Ford (AS) Media: Film 4-Facts

Ford (AS) Media: Film 4-Facts: Film4 was originally known as Film four when established in 1998 as channel 4’s second channel but was for subscription only. Channel ...

“Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices”. To what extent would you agree with this statement, within the media area you have studied?


I would agree the statement, that media depends upon marketing and distribution as it is the most important factor to consider within the filming industry. We can really see the differences between a film which has had major marketing and distribution and see how it can influence the film’s success. Although, both factors are extremely important within media, in order to create a popular film.

20^th Century fox is a huge film company which has been around since 1935, and from then has produced many famous and successful films, such as, home alone, alien and avatar. By having such popular and well made films the success of the company has overshadowed others making it one of the biggest film companies. Therefore the company can connect with other distribution networks, and television companies to ensure more money is brought forward and to create bigger and popular filming productions. For example the film ‘Prometheus’ was certainly going to be successful as it was with the company of 20^th Century Fox so already had a good reputation, so they didn’t need any media convergence as Fox is already such a big name. However I would question how the film could become anymore successful if it were to converge with another company. The film had an extremely good marketing technique, such as; TED Talks (included a video featuring Guy Pierce as fictional Weyland Industries head Peter Weyland, giving a TED talk in 2023. The piece was first screened at the real TED conference in February. According to the LA Times TED organizers helped to make the film look like what they envision a TED talk will really be like in the future), websites, TV spots, trailers, twitter (#areyouseeingthis). The Prometheus twitter account received 15 million followers. By having most of the vertical marketing used with technology and media, it appeals to a wider audience such as young adults and adults who use technology everyday as it is easy to get hold of information and trailers of the film and keep them updated on the films latest updates of trailers and gossip from the film.

 

Another example of a successful film is Kick Ass with quite a high budget of thirty million dollars. The budget had to be quite high in order to overcome from the special effects used within the film. With an amazing use of production companies such as Plan B entertainment, Lions Gate entertainment, and Marv Films, the film was already going to be a success because of the convergence of the three companies, as well as, Brad Pitt co-producing the film. The viral marketing was another strong point, as I mentioned in Prometheus’s success, this film had; numerous trailers, TV spots, blogs and websites. Kick Ass the comic book and the film were actually written at exactly the same time 'so it was a very sort of collaborative, organic process'. There were many magazine features including the comic, with references to the video game, of the film which was released after the film’s success but proved to cause some controversy from the quality of the game. However the slight disappointment of a famous cast ruined the film slightly, as there was Aaron Johnson who was best known for playing Robbie in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, may have pushed viewers away, instead of attract them to towards the film. If there were to be a list of big names it would attract any audience to see the film as they are all known for their previous roles in other successful films. Although, bar all of the negative points I have made about the film, the total income was over ninety million dollars.

 

The Kings Speech however was a much smaller production with Momentum Pictures, with a budget of £8,000,000. The film mainly relied on the marketing and distribution of the film, otherwise it would not have received the critical reception that it did. It did so well with awards, by winning an Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
The film had received 12 Oscar nominations, more than any other film in that year. Besides the four categories it won, the film received nominations for Best Cinematography and two for the supporting actors, as well as two for its mise-en-scène: Art Direction and Costumes.

As ‘The Kings Speech’ was not able to have a huge budget, it had to be made recognizable. With the budget of £8 million it didn’t have the potential to compete with some of the other major blockbusters out at the time. By making the film recognized, viral marketing was used. ‘The film was made just in time to enter it into several film festivals in the hope that national newspaper journalists will enjoy it’. The reception of the film was good, before the film was released into cinemas people were excited for it, and whether not it will be any good. Many different posters were released along with some trailers. The posters have a simple image of characters with some positive quotes from critics. This way the audience feel implied to go and see. The posters are very cleverly made as they don’t give anything away about the film, therefore remains a mystery. The trailer is also extremely important as it is promoting the films and showing the best bits without giving away the ending. In the UK and Ireland, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend; it took in £3.5 million from 395 cinemas. The Guardian said that it was one of the biggest takes in recent memory, compared to Slumdog Millionaire (2008), which, for example, two years earlier earned £1.5 million less. Convergence and synergy are extremely important factor to make a successful film. Bedlam and SeeSaw converged together to create The King’s Speech. They form different platforms such as posters, soundtracks and trailers.

In conclusion to this I feel that with the research and the knowledge on these films the most important part of successful media is to depend on marketing and distribution, as viral marketing and posters and TV spots are what sell the film. If there were to be no marketing the film would not be recognised. In my opinion it doesn’t matter how good the quality a film is, it is the distribution and marketing which declares the decisions of the audience and critics. However I still believe that it is very reliant on vertical distribution if a high budget was used.

Sexuality

Is the sexuality of the characters easily identifiable?
Yes the characters are easily identifiable as there is a first shot of the two young ladies, one of which is trying on a dress. We see that they are quite close friends, but it is questionable. One of the girls is the narrator, and she says the line ‘She looked so beautiful’, immediately after this is said, the friendship barrier has been broken, and we see the admiration towards the ‘lady’. In the next scene we see the two women in bed together, the non-diegetic sound increases in pace to reflect passion and the secretive nature of one of the woman’s sexuality. The woman holds back, and seems to be rather nervous to ‘touch’ the woman, scared for the other to find out her feelings towards her friend. Whilst the homosexual woman is fully awake the other woman is fast asleep, portraying that she doesn’t know her friends feelings towards her and seems quite naïve towards the unknown situation.
 
Is the sexuality represented as being important in their life?
Yes it appears to be a big part in the homosexual’s life, although homosexuality is shunned in this era, she has to keep her sexual feeling aback, and not show them. Within the next scene the homosexual woman is painting in the garden with the other woman painting her young, naïve and vulnerable body. With slightly paced shots of the woman’s body parts shows she is trying hard to hold back but is almost impossible. Going back to my point on sexuality being shunned upon, the man we see recognises the sexual feelings the woman has and attempts to change her mind about the sexuality.
 
Are particular sexualities seen as more powerful, better, and normal? If so, how?
In my opinion the main sexuality which stands out is the heterosexuality, as within the era that was the tradition, it was the unwritten rule, and there is no other way. This was portrayed with the heterosexual man shown with more authority with high angle shots making the woman look vulnerable and an outcast to society because of her sexuality.
 
What message is the clip aiming to portray about sexuality?

The clip is trying to show how the history of sexuality has changed throughout the years and what torture homosexuals went through. One thing I have noticed is that there were no stereotypical views on sexuality within this clip. Nowadays lesbians would be stereotypically seen as dressed in a more ‘manish’ matter, and in a modern day society would have spotted the fact that this woman was a lesbian due to what she was wearing. Whereas in this era it is hard to identify the feelings and the look of a ‘homosexual’ person. It is presented with emotion rather than the aesthetic features. The woman is seen as emotional and never happy with herself because of the major secret which rules her life.

Sexuality in EastEnders

In this scene we see Syed reveal his secret to his wife. Syed's wife does not take the news very well and attempts to try and change his mind, but with Christian in the room this makes it difficult for her to accept that he is gay, which portrays that she is still in love with Syed as Christian makes sly comments such as 'we share the same bed', he is almost casting revenge towards Syed's wife, because of the strong jealousy towards her. This clip is extremely emotional and traumatising.

In this scene we see the families reaction towards the 'coming out' of Syed. As we can see the family do not take it well. As the family are so religious, they also find it hard to accept the concept of the sexuality of Syed. Syed and Christian are now seen as outsiders and do not belong in the community they were originally in.