Representation Of Gender

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scène

Camera Shots, Angles, Movements and Composition

The extract of Alice & Luther is constructed through multiple camera shots. The scene starts off with an establishing shot, which is interpreted as a close up of Alice, out in the streets, facing the side of the camera. This emphasizes that the female is going to be the main attention within the scene, as she is the first character to appear. Stereotypically, you wouldn't usually see this happen, as the male character 'normally' obtains the main attention within a TV drama.

The scene then transitions into another close up/birds eye view, this time emphasizing Alice's bag, which contains her dog's ashes. This is still keeping the attention on the female character, as the scene now focuses on her possession, rather than skipping onto the male character of the scene who she is talking to. Again, stereotypically, you wouldn't usually see this happen within TV dramas, as there has been no attention on the male character at all in the scene yet, when 'normally' he would have the main attention for a majority of the time that the scene is taking place. 

Perhaps the idea of a possession being shown before the male suggests that the female is more important than the male in this scene, and they want to exaggerate that idea, by keeping the male character a mystery for the first 5 seconds. This is questioning the true stereotypical sense of male and female characters and their dominance as different genders, as their roles have been reversed from what we would know to be 'expected' within a TV drama clip (this being the male as the more dominant, with the female being more of a side character). 

The scene then transitions into a close up, this time of the male character. The movement of the camera seems pretty still during this transition, whereas with the woman and her bag, the movement seems to be pretty slick and smooth. Perhaps this could hint at both the man and the woman's attitudes/personalities, as the woman comes across as sly through her facial reactions (and this is emphasized by smooth camera movements, that could hint that her methods are smooth as well, as she needs to keep her plans hidden from the male), and the man seems to come across as dull and straight to the point through his facial reactions (and this is emphasized by a straight forward camera transition, as he needs to get on with his task, without messing around wasting time). This part of the clip blends in with the stereotypical traits of a male character within a TV drama unlike the part before, as he is now starting to get a lot of attention within the scene, just like a male character would be expected to get.

The next part of the scene then transitions into a mixture of long shot/two shots of the characters and then back to close ups. This is revealing a bit more about their location outside on the streets, by presenting the location from a wide angle, before then transitioning into another close up, this time in a brand new location which would appear to be Alice's house, presented with a high angle shot at first. Their is more emphasis on the dog's ashes in the second location with this high angle shot, again showing that the male is the lesser important character within this scene, as it is still focusing around the female and her possessions. Alice is then emphasized even more as a sly character, with more smooth camera transitions, whilst Luther continues to maintain within shots that just get straight to the focal point. Bare in mind how Alice is the antagonist and Luther is the protagonist, and that these sorts of camera shots/angles would be common for the villain and the hero.

Later on within the scene, an over the shoulder shot is used to show the conversation deepening between Alice and Luther within Alice's home. This show's us the perspective of the room that Luther sees, as it is his shoulder we see everything from. However, even though it is from his perspective, we could still see this as the female being the more important character within the scene, as the focus is all on her through what we are seeing within the shot. 

These shots continue to occur throughout the rest of the scene, mixing and matching to show different aspects of the room, and each character's own individual plans for being there. The close ups tend to focus more on the character's facial expressions, whilst the mid shots/long shots tend to focus more on the surroundings of the room, potentially for any clues that could be given away. 

Editing

Within this extract, there is a lot of editing that occurs. A majority of the shots that occur tend to be edited into short takes, to potentially show that there is a bit of mystery about what is going on between the two characters. These short takes tend to happen through the camera focusing just on one character by being emphasized with a close up, and then go straight onto the next character with another emphasized close up. The use of these short takes could suggest, that both characters are very important and powerful, as they both get a lot of camera time, focusing on only themselves within certain shots. 

However, this could also be showing the representation of males to come across potentially weaker than usual within a TV Drama extract, as the male is struggling to maintain the lead role within this scene, and within the conversation as a whole, making the woman appear stronger.

A lot of shot reverse shots are used as well, to show that each character is constantly looking at each other through the scene, potentially in a battle for dominance between each other in the conversation. This again gives both genders a bit of control and power within this extract. 

Once the scene changes from outside and into Alice's house, the focus begins to zoom in more on Alice herself, as she is being questioned a lot by Luther. The shots start to become slightly longer, emphasizing every single movement of the characters within the house. 

The editing within this extract overall is very back and forth, a lot of the time focusing around just one character, with the odd exception where both characters are featured for a dominant battle, breaking away from the stereotypical traits of men and women within TV Drama's, as the females within scenes would usually be considered as the "weaker" gender, therefore usually not getting as much attention as the men would do. 

Sound

The scene starts off with non-diegetic sound, as the first few seconds of the extract projects some music as Alice's face is revealed to the camera and the audience. The music appears to be very dark and dramatic, and this could perhaps emphasize Alice's character and personality within this extract. 

The scene then quickly changes into diegetic sound, as you can hear the two characters making conversation, alongside some background noise from cars and other street noise. When the characters talk about more serious topics, the background noise increases, almost mimicking them.

The scene then quickly changes into Alice's apartment, and at first absolutely nothing can be heard. There is no noise until the two begin to talk again, producing only diegetic noise once again. The scene carries on like this for a good 20 seconds, until Alice's words "black hole" are emphasized with more dramatic dark sounding music. The rest of the scene then projects both non-diegetic and diegetic sound, by focusing in on the two characters talking, with the dark music still playing over the top. 

As the scene reaches closer to the end, the music begins to project in sound level, mimicking the idea that their conversation will be left at a cliff hanger for the audience by Alice's words, again making her suspicious ways seem more powerful on camera in comparison to the man, ending the scene by saying "not if I get you first".

Mise En Scene

The clothing within this scene is seen to be very formal with both characters. Alice is seen wearing a purple coat and black trousers, whilst Luther is seen wearing a grey business suit. The fact that both characters are wearing very formal outfits, could suggest that both characters have a lot of power within the scene and within the TV Drama as a whole, as they are both dressed in expensive looking outfits, showing that they both could be very wealthy. 

This is again breaking the stereotypical traits when it comes to gender, as the female would usually be in something slightly less expensive than the male, as he would be seen as the more dominant/successful character within the TV Drama.  

Alice is seen to be wearing very natural coloured makeup, on her eyes and lips. Perhaps she has done this to mimic the idea that as she is the villain, she doesn't want everyone searching for her, and so she wears minimal makeup, because it causes less attraction. This could also suggest that the show is more represented for a male audience, as the female character isn't being focused on entirely in a presentation sense, as normally through the male gaze, females would be wearing a lot of makeup for the man's pleasure.

The scene seems to be taking place in a very run down location outside, on a bridge by some skyscrapers, over the top of a very busy road. Alice is seen to be carrying a bag with her, but nothing else is seen within this location. The fact that there is only one prop between two characters emphasizes again the idea of everything being very run down, as things would seem very suspicious if they were carrying around a lot of items of high value in a lower class area.

The scene progresses into Alice's house, where more props are seen within the shot. The location is now very more upper class in terms of possession, as Alice seems very well off with all of the items visible.The emphasis of a lot of books laid out on the table behind Alice, also suggests that she is a very intelligent character, as she is most likely to have read a lot within her past, making her a stronger character mentally. Also, the fact that Luther blends in very well with the scenery inside Alice's house could suggest that he isn't as important a character again as Alice, as he doesn't stand out as much as Alice does, based on the colours of his clothing.

Throughout the entire extract, the lighting appears to be very bright, as we can clearly see it is set in the daytime. The only time the lighting changes to a darker tone, is when the camera emphasizes the fact that there are ashes present. The setting doesn't go completely dark, but perhaps the slight change in light could mimic the idea of Alice being considered a dark character as she is the antagonist, however that's not discovered straight the way, as she is hiding in the light.