representation of gender in the readings

Industry analysis Shari Anne Brill of Carat USA states, “For years, when men were behind the camera, women were really ditsy. Now you have female leads playing superheroes, or super business women”. The stereotypes of women as housewives or presented as sex symbols continued throughout the 1980s and arguably to a lesser extent in the 21st century.                                                                                .                                                              
While the depiction of women is confined to either the housewife or the ditsy bombshell, men are also depicted in unrealistic stereotypes - however, in general these stereotypes embody qualities--courage, stoicism, rationality--that society values.

In TV dramas, from the articles it shows that there are a lot less prominent female characters compared to males characters. During the 50s-70s women were portrayed with less depth and importance as male characters. Especially during children's television there are more male characters compared to female characters.

Prime time television since the 1950s has been aimed at and catered towards males. In 1952, 68% of characters in primetime dramas were male; in 1973, 74% of characters in these shows were male. In 1970 the National Organization for Women (NOW) took action. They formed a task force to study and change the “derogatory stereotypes of women on television.” In 1972 they challenged the licences of two network-owned stations on the basis of their sexist programming. 

In more recent research, NOW have found that:

• On primetime cable news programs, more than three-quarters of the hosts are white men and less than a quarter are white women. None of the hosts are people of color. The typical guest on these shows is white and male; overall, 67 percent of the guests are men and 84 percent are white.
• In children's television, male characters appear at about twice the rate of female characters.
• Animated programs in particular are more likely to portray male characters.
• Females are almost four times as likely to be presented in sexy attire and twice as likely to be shown with a diminutive waist.
• In a study of G-rated films from 1990-2005, only 28 percent of the speaking characters (both live and animated) were female. More than four out of five of the narrators were male. Eighty-five percent of the characters were white.

gender key terms

Gender - the state of being male or female

Archetype - a very typical example of a certain person or thing.

Stereotype - a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Hegemonic norms - The processes by which dominant culture maintains dominant position. E.g the use of institutions to formalize power.

Mediation -  is a process media companies such as newspaper companies go through to alter information that is within the Newspaper, News Report, Documentary etc. 

Male gaze theory - The male gaze is a concept coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual arts are structured around a masculine viewer. It describes the tendency in visual culture to depict the world and women from a masculine point of view and in terms of men's attitudes.

Gender in TV drama clip - wire in the blood - representation

I will be analysing gender on a clip from 'Wire in the Blood'. During the course of the clip there were more males shown while the only female shown appears to be a main character of the show. The two most prominent characters shown were one male and female.

At the start of the scene you can see the camera focused on the female character coming out of the house while the characters in front are faded out, which suggests how she is a main/ important character. The camera follows these characters then close-ups which cut to one perspective to another are shown. The characters appear to have some sort of bond as towards the end of the end of this segment, it doesn't take too much to convince him to help her out.

The woman shown isn't at all treated like a women in danger character but appears as a serious and independent woman who appears to take her job very seriously. She appears to be around her mid-to late thirty's and wears a grey coat with a dark sweater . This presents a certain tone to this character as someone who is serious about her job as later on during the scene her boy accidentally called his nan mum  which suggests she focuses on her work in the police more.

The scene then jump cuts to a short montage with music in the background of the Tony - the male main character, viewing the case files in which this scene jumps to one file to the next hastening his deduction on the files. There is a predominant use of shaky cam in this clip which suggests haste and as they appear to be on a case.

The non diegetic music is shown to emphasize the intensity as he checks the files in hopes of helping the female character. 

The mise en scene appears to be based around a urban/suburban setting. The use of colours don't look vibrant as it is also set during the autumn/winter months as they wear coats. The scenery appears dark and depressing suggesting the dark tone of the show due to lack of vibrancy and washed out. The characters themselves seem ordinary while they look middle class rather than lower or higher class.

Tony appears also around his mid to late thirty's while he seems a little more laid back compared to the more serious female lead as he is also very well liked by her son when he appears. His appearance is also quite similar as his wears dark colours as well which suggests this TV show's premise is quite serious since the colours appear sort of washed out and lack vibrancy. He appears to get along well with the woman's son as they appear to bond quite well while watching TV also it appears that the son has a somewhat more open relationship with Tony in comparison.

Another scene shown presents what appears to be thugs in a sort of crack den looking area. The scene begins with an establishing shot of the outside of the house while a car pulls in which closes up to another character introduced. 

The use of camera is always up close and doesn't go away too far from characters as they like to show the facial expressions of the characters and also the characters are more presented than the setting itself as the show possibly focuses on character expressions on different situations so that the audience can identify the characters more freely and what everyone is feeling.

The female portrayal shows a female lead who appears as someone who takes their job seriously while the male character shown alongside her appears more laid back compared to her which shows contrasting characters. The main bald thug shown appears violent and in control of the other criminals which shows almost  dominant masculinity features in this character.

casualty - essay focusing on cinematography.

essay on casualty clip - analysis on cinematography. 

at the begining of this extract when the main male character is looking at himself through the mirror , and over the shoulder shot is done over his brother to show that he has a companion with him. after this a panning show is the illusrated when the male character starts to move towards his brother. the camera pans from the mirror where he was standing at, and shows the entire shop and environment and then ending at him and his brother at the till getting ready to get advice on the jumper he is planning to buy. During the part when the 2 characters are leaving the shop, the camera produces a mid shot, in order to get both the subjects into the camera, and inanition to this with the mid shot they also managed to get the shop and the scenary behind them. 

in the next scene, a panning shot is mainly focus on one of the ambulance nurses who is taking care of the women and the baby. this shows the hieravhry as the camera i mainly focusing on the nurse and nothing else. During the commotion in this scene a point of view shot is used in the yes of the patient inside the ambulance. this demonstrates that his wife or lady companion is directly talking to the male character and no one else about his own safety and their family. When his wife leaves him to be taken away in the ambulance along. the camera does a close up shot on the sign which changes from engaged to vacant. this strongly illustrates that he is in lock and cannot chase after his wife. 

in the next scene, a mid shot is used to portray the environment around them. this gives the viewers a good description as to where they are and they type of help the brother needs. During this scene a reflection shot is used to show the emotions of the male character as hs brother tells him that the disease is winning. this is effective as it shows the emotions and depression of everyone in that room as he looks into the mirror. 

In the next scene, a extreme mid shot is used to portray the mise en scene and environment throughout this scene.  quick cuts are also used as there is many people getting into the shot and talking to the man whilst he is walking down the road. this portrays trouble and slight distress between the characters and the drunk people on the road. During this scene a rotating angle shot is used to show the characters emotions. As this shot continues, the man slowly faints and drops to the ground as the camera follows him and focuses on his head. After this occurs the camera shows the four girls laughing in a mid shot, to show that they don't care that he just fainted/passed out as they are not taking it seriously. a mid shot is used to try to capture everyones emotions, who was involved in the case where the subject had fainted and collapsed onto the floor.  During this is happening a low angle shot is used as the girls are messing about and not taking him seriously and playing with his hands trying to get him to stand up as they think he has drunk, when clearly the girls are and not him.  At the end of this scene a far shot is used to show that the girls are walking away still drunk and celebrating as they ditch and leave the body. 

In the next scene a bird eye view shot is used to show that the tempo of the story has turned from serious to happy as their is people cheering aat a cafe. the birds eye view shot includes the moving picture of two coffees being made to perfection. As the happy scene continues, as new 10 second scene is places in between to show that the character that and passed out earlier is one now but i then surrounded by robbers.  far shot is used to show that he is not alone and he cannot escape as he is in a slightly closed environment. a high angle shot is then used as the character is robbed and faints but also falls down the stairs.  A low angle shot is then shot from the stairs to show the robbers laughing as they then ride away on their cycles. 

In the next scene as the main character and his broth are leaving the cafe, the see the mn who has been constantly fainting. this is shown in a mid shows as he slowly gets closer. when th man faints for a third time but in front of a car, a close up shot is used to show the fear and emotions of the cafe worker as he is a friend of hers. 

After this scene occurs, the next scene is set in a hospital. a sideways panning shot is used and is focused on the stretcher with the man who was in the ambulance earlier. the panning shot shows that he is getting immediate help, and also hints out to the viewers that the story is going to be slightly focus on him and his problems . A close up panning shot is then used on one of the doctors when he is on the phone to another doctor. this indicates that something serious is happening as he has to let everyone know about the phone call. 

In the final scene, a close up shot is used on the individual who keeps on fainting. he slowly hands the present he was going to give the cafe worker. the camera demonstrates that he is ok as he smiles and starts to move as the scene slowly fades away. 

waterloo road essay on age.

analysis of the clip and representation of age.

in this extract of waterloo road we are presented with a huge variety of teens and adults in a school, all different ages, and they all act in a different way.

in the first scene in this extract they have a low angle shot, which is shot through the chairs to raise suspicion of what they are doing and who is slowly approaching behind them. Whilst the teacher is talking to the two students, there is a slow pan shot, to shot that they done something and wrong and are trying to move away from the situation. When the student told the first lie, the camera moved into a medium close up shot, to illustrate that he isn't telling the truth. In addition to this a medium close up pan shot is used when teacher finds that they have a broken camera in their hands which belong to the school. this is effective as it raises tension as to what is going to happen to them as they are now caught.  In this scene age is represented as the teacher is talking to the two students like children, with no respect for them what so ever. Due to this fact, it gives off the impression that those students art at the highest year of their school, so they ant treated like adults. they were spoken to like kids with a huge disrespect as a rude imitation of a young school kid was taken place by the teacher.  In this scene the camera represented the two teenagers as sneaky and mischievous but also brave , as they were confident nothing was going to happen, until they got caught.  Later on in this scene, as the main teacher comes into the screen a pan shot is made to show every footstep of where she is going. This shows her importance and hierarchy within the school. At the end of this scene, the teacher is disappointed as the camera is broken and cannot get it fixed. she then takes a finally glare at the camera. the misc en scene illustrates that this scene was shot in the main hall, in a private environment with no one around. this also gave away the impression that the students were doing something suspicious.

At the beginning of the new scene to introduce the new environment and new students a pan shot is shot from the wall, slowly working its way across the room and onto the student and teacher conference.  a medium close up shot is commenced but the same shot includes the teacher and the student.  This teacher is in denial that this student would actually do something good for the school and the community. This indicates that the teachers always look down on the students and believe that just because they are young, they aren't capable of great things.

In the next scene, it starts off with a far away shot, mostly to enable the audience/viewers to envision the misc en scene and everything that is taking place in that busy hallway in the school. after a female student attacks the male student, the scene instantly changes to a completely different shot, where the teacher is the informed that a mini fight is occurring between two students.