THE SEVEN AREAS OF REPRESENTATION (COMMON STEREOTYPES)

REPRESENTATIONS – COMMON STEREOTYPES

SOUND - RATCATCHER CLIP 10

In this task we watched clip 10 from the film 'Ratcatcher'. At the start of this clip we are shown a young child wrapping himself around a curtain numerous times. This is an abstract image. The sounds we hear in the background are what seem to be other children in a big group playing around laughing and joking. Because the child is wrapping himself up we believe that he is trying to hide from something or someone and is upset. The atmosphere at the start of this clip is quite strange because you would think the child would be outside playing with all the other kids. We soon realise this child is in fact a young boy called Ryan when his mum slapped him to stop messing with the curtains. When Ryan gets out of the curtain the non-diegetic sound stops and we are then introduced to the real world sounds. This could show us that Ryan has been woken up from his dream.

Ryan and his mum are sitting down in a room and his mum makes him tuck his trousers into his wellington boots. They walk down the street and Ryan sneakily turns around and runs away from his mum. This shows us that Ryan is a bit of a naughty boy and doesn’t respect his mum that much. We are then shown Ryan taking his trouser back out his wellingtons disobeying his mum. When this happens we are introduced to some slow music which could show us that something bad is going to happen.

He runs outside to his friend James who is playing by the river. They start playing and messing around in the water. At this time we also have his mum who is shoes shopping who we assume the shoes are for Ryan. We have two scenes where they have the same sounds this is called parallel sound. The boys start to get out of hand and there is no adult there to stop this. James pushes Ryan a little too hard into the water and Ryan goes under. We then see James running off and a shot of bubble floating to the surface where Ryan was. We instantly assume that he is going to drown as the music change and it becomes tense and serious.

SOUND - SUNSHINE CLIP 12

In this task we watched clip 12 from the film ‘Sunshine’. At the start of the clip we see strange pieces of what it is like in space, with a man falling through space. Also in this clip we see a man running out of a pit room in the spaceship all out of breath and looking angry, this man looks fairly untidy with long hair and stubbly beard. We see a bloody handprint on the wall which could show us that something bad has happened and why the man is acting like this.

 The sounds we hear at the start of the clip are quite strange for example we have short snippets of whale sounds which don’t really link in with what we see. This could show that no one knows what is actually going on up there in space.

Throughout the clip we have very loud, overwhelming, powerful, fast music playing which can add to the atmosphere and keeps the audience interested and connected. This type of music also ups the tempo of the clip to go with what we see.

EXAMPLES OF SOUND

This is a clip from the popular TV series and movie 'The Inbetweeners'. This clip shows Diegetic sound as the audience and characters can hear the sound. In this clip from the film 'Mission Impossible' we have the character Ethan Hunt climbing up a rock face. The sound in the background is non-diegetic as the audience can here it but the character can't. This is a clip from a very popular film called 'Taken' which they have recently just released the 2nd film. In this clip we have synchronous sound because the actor talking lips are in time with the speaking we hear. Asynchronous sound is just the opposite where the person talking lips are out of time with the words we hear.

GLOSSARY OF SOUND TERMS

Glossary Of Sound Terms For Tv Drama from raybloggs

SKINS ANALYSIS

In this tasks were watched the first 5 minutes of the first ever serious of the TV show ‘Skins’. In this short clip we are introduced to four characters Tony, Effie, Mum and Dad. Tony is the main character who we focus on. First thing I’m going to point out is the theme tune/opening tune. This programme is aimed at teenagers and is made by teenagers. You would think that they would just pick a well known chart song for the theme tune but they haven’t. They have made there own theme tune which is unique and catchy. People will here this theme tune and automatically think of skins rather than having a popular chart song which wouldn’t stand out. The theme tuned picked is very upbeat and catchy it suits teenagers perfectly.

The start of the clip we are shown Tony (teenage boy) lying in bed. The way he is laying in the bed in-between a naked man and naked women printed on his duvet cover could show that he is confused about his sexuality. Also the duvet cover is immaculately tidy like as if no one is even in the bed. This may link to his age as many young teenagers are confused on there sexuality. Then we are shown his alarm going of and a montage of Tony doing his daily morning work out with some electronic music typically known as teenage music. This would attract the teenage audience to watch the episode and represents the age of the audience. Once Tony has finished his workout he tenses up his muscles in the mirror and smiles. People may suggest that he thinks he is full of himself which stereotypes most teenaged boys to do them sort of think after a work out, which then represents age. Now we are showed Tony pulling various pranks on his Dad who seems like he is a very short temper and angry person. Teenagers are typically stereotype to be annoying towards the older generation of people which also represents the age of Tony and his Dad. Another representation of age on Tony is quite the opposite of his age. His rug is very old fashioned which we wouldn’t expect a teenager of his age to have. Also his clothes and style is the opposite to what teenagers are stereotyped to wear. He wears baggy chinos, V-necked plain t-shirts and a plain sweater which aren’t what you would expect him to wear. How his clothes and room is laid out is so perfect like it’s a shop which also teenagers aren’t expected to be like this. The represents the old age.

We are now introduced to Tony’s younger sister Effie. We are shown a long shot of her walking towards the house. Effie is wear a mini shirt and a short top, here make up is all smudged and her hair is very messy. We assume that she has been out all night partying like what a typical teenager is stereotyped to do. This is a representation of a teenager. Tony has helped Effie to sneak into the house without the parents knowing. When she is in the house she quickly gets changed into her school uniform and cleans herself up.  When Effie comes downstairs she looks a lot younger than when she entered the house. This can show us that she has a split personality, also she can be seen as being very sneaky and manipulative towards her parents as they don’t have a clue where she has been all night.

Just at the end of the clip we are shown Tony and his Dad. Tony plays lots of tricks on his Dad which makes him get frustrated. Dad is very foul mouthed which attracts the teenage audience as it is very humorous. Throughout the scene we are shown a representation of the Dad not acting his own age.

SOUND - HUNGER CLIP 9

Activity 1 - The first task for us was to listen to the sounds that you hear in the clip and write about them. The sounds in the clip were very harsh and loud. Here are the sounds that I heard in the clip: Birds, breathing, doors opening and closing, foot steps, singing on bus, chairs moving, keys jangling, children laughing, silence and metallic (scraping, banging). All these sounds make us think about how strange the clip is and quite deep and confusing. There is barely any if any speaking in the clip which makes it extremely hard for us to connect to the clip and find it interesting.

Activity 2 – Now we are asked to write about the silence in the clip. When there is silence we are generally shown close up shots of the Bobby Sands dying. This is very disrupting and hard to watch. I think the reason why the camera focuses on the dying man when it is silence is to show us about his life and just before he is going to die he is in a heavenly place. We are told that this man has starved himself in prison to prove a point. This makes us think about the character and his emotions. The man is so weak he is unable to stand up. We are also shown in this clip the man blinking and you can hear him blinking which adds to the strange, weird, disturbing effect on the clip.

Activity 3 – In this activity we are asked to show how the main two keys sounds birds and breathing relate to the story. Firstly the heavy breathing of Bobby shows us that he is really struggle with life and his painful death. The breathing gives us a stronger feeling about him dying and makes us feel that Bobby is in pain. At the end of the clip we are shown Bobby as a child running through the woods. It starts to get dark and Bobby turns around, looks back and then carries on running. This is foreshadowing what is happening in his last few days of life. He has realised his life is up and he is not backing out, he is going to dye but he just has to get on with it and carry on like carrying on running instead of turning back. As Bobby carries on running we are shown lots of birds fly out of the trees and up into the sky. This could show that he has had a good life and now is going up to heaven. When he is running through the woods his breathing is also very loud and heavy which links in with him now breathing heavily, struggling before he dies.

Activity 4 – This activity we are asked to study the flashback at the end of the clip when music is introduced. The music played seems to be really disturbing and loud. As I listen to it more closely it could be resembled as funeral type, depressing, and sad music. It sounds as if it played by a horn or pipes which links to him dying and having funeral type music played.

Conclusion – The filmmaker using silence very well, it makes us concentrate more on what is filmed which is Bobby Sand’s dying. When something is died it is completely silent and peaceful this is why the filmmaker has used silence and breathing to really emphasis the death. The Loud, harsh sounds that the filmmaker used would show the pain and struggle Bobby has been through in his life but now he is put to rest is peace.