Tuesday, 30 September 2014

Doctor Who - Representation of Gender



The scene opens with a close-up of The Master, but with Martha visible in the background, with two male soldiers. From this one shot alone, we can see The Master is wearing a formal suit, to show his superiority, and he also looks very neat and clean. The soldiers in the background are wearing typical soldier uniforms, holding guns, and Martha also appears to be in soldier-like uniform, but is not holding a gun. Also, all of the soldiers in the room appear to be male, which can be linked to the typical gender roles of society, that being a soldier is a male occupation. The Master then turns around.

In the immediate next shot, (which could be described as an establishing shot due to the large amount of setting shown) he is now revealed to be on the same level as his wife, who is dressed in evocative clothing, clearly for his own entertainment, as if she is there personally to entertain him. This is the first major representation of gender in this clip, for we can see what his and her clothing is used for and what it is supposed to represent.

The Master's wife also appears to always be holding onto the rails, as if she is unable to keep herself supported on her own. The center of the room is practically empty, so as to make Martha look totally independent and on her own in this situation. Also, the colours used in the setting of the clip are blue and pink, which could be linked to the stereotypical colours of men and women.



Music is already playing with a slight western-feel to it, to indicate a stand off. The fact that this type of music is playing allows us to be reminded that The Master is very much evidently the one in power here, whereas Martha is very vulnerable here, which can be linked to the gender stereotype of how men are in more power than women.

When Martha is asked to give over her teleportation device, she reaches down in her pocket to get it, and the camera follows her using the tilt movement (panning up and down).

 As for how the speech is used in this clip, The Master is generally much louder than Martha throughout, until she tells him about her plan. This is when she begins to speak much louder than she had been before, and the music also begins to turn more triumphant instead of having quite a tense-feel towards it.



The camera angles used between Martha and The Master are also very noticeable. The Master, as the higher male, is shown from a low angle to show how much authority he has over the people (specifically the women) below him.

Whenever Martha is shown, the camera angle is either equal to, or above her in a high angle shot, so it is evident that the editors tried to make it look as if Martha was having to constantly look up at The Master to show her obeying. The camera also pans down as she kneels down, so as to show that we're on the same level as her, which is below that of The Master. Also, the Doctor, even though he is old in this scene, is shown from a low or equal camera angle, perhaps indicating that even at this stage of his life, he is higher up in importance in comparison to Martha.


When the Master's screwdriver is thrown from his grip, an extreme close up shot of it sliding across the floor far away from him is shown. This is to show how helpless The Master is now that The Doctor is back to his usual self. 

To conclude, the difference between men and women in this clip is evident, even with Martha standing up to The Master, due to the types of camera angles, costumes, setting, lighting, speech and music used. It has been done specifically in this way to portray what kind of a character The Master is, and how he treats those who he believes to be below him (women).

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Greek Yoghurt Advert Analysis



This advert is able to construct the representation of regional identity through the use of music, lighting, language, and historical context. In this post I will be talking about each of these, and how they contributed towards the overall idea of the advert to trick the audience.

To begin, the music in the advert is very old-fashioned and greek-style, already (so we think) giving us a hint as to where and when the advert is set. That, the use of a slightly grain-like screen created during the editing of this advert, and the way in which the boy is dressed all contribute towards what the advert could be trying to portray.



The lighting and scenery is also immediately shown within the first few shots, which informs us that the advertisement is not taking place in urban surroundings. Also, quite a dull grey day is shown before the boy sees a cow, and gets the idea to let it out, in order to return it and receive an award. We can see that he is happy with the idea because the day brightens as he runs through the town.



Much of the scenery is made to look quite old fashioned, which the audience believes up until the final moment of the advert, where the mother of the boy answers her mobile phone. This twist in the advert is surprising to most people that watch it because of the lighting, language, scenery and music being very old fashioned, so in my opinion, the production and editing of the advertisement was very successful in it's overall aim.


The slogan of the advert 'Unchanged Since 1926' was then revealed, allowing the audience to understand what the purpose of the advert was, and what message it was trying to convey. Also, the yoghurt is shown in a pot, which is another contrast involved, for the mother allegedly made the yoghurt from the cow's milk.