Primeval
The mise-en-scene in the clip from primeval constructs detailed and varied ideas about all the characters, particularly in terms of their gender and stereotypes.
In the digger scene, right at the beginning Abby is represented as being a strong independent women with high superiority. This can be seen through the use of physicality, costume and character role. It should also be noted that Abby is placed in the digger. This has the impact of making her seem in control and intelligent. By having Abby not Nick it implies that Abby has some what more responsibility in this mission and is perhaps more in-charge. This contrasts as Stereotypically, the man would play the ‘hero’ who saves everyone. However I think that in this scene Abby appears to have the most importance. Abby is often seen in a Medium shot in a symmetrical frame. By using the medium shot it takes us close enough to see her concentrating facial expressions, without being a close up shot, by far enough so we can see her body language. Her body language is quite key in this part of the Mise-en-scene as she appears to have a bold strong body structure. This depicts her to be courages and unafraid of anything that is happing around her. She is just presented as calm and collective however being fully in control of the situation. This distinction is very different from Nick as his body language and facial expressions seem to be very scared and unsure of what to do in the situation. The high angle shot of Nick also suggest that he is very vulnerable in the situation as we are looking down on him, whilst he is shrivelled his shoulders and has a terrified look on his face.
The young women Abby does steer away from the stereotypical image of a women as she is portrayed as a strong and feisty and fearless women . This is visible In the shots where she is operating the digger. There are many shots that are used for example, a wide shot which is used in our first image of her. This helps us to understand where we are in the scene and the location. When we see Abby in the digger it is clear to us that she is experienced also enhancing the idea of her being a tom boy not the stereotypical image of a women . We also see that she is wearing For example, If we focus on her characters costume she is wearing an all black leather outfit. By leather it instantly presents her character with high superiority from the rest of the group. Leather connotes a confident powerful inner human being suggesting that her character is wanting to be seen as fearless. To me leather also makes me think about strong men in the late 70s not women. She is also seen with a bob hair cut that is not a traditional hair style you might see on a women.
Throughout the extract, to some extent Nick plays the archetypical hero character. The one who is saving the day and deals with the beast. This is made clear by Nick trying to take control of the situation and handle the beast rather than Abby. On the contrary his physically portrays a different meaning. For example, we can clearly see this when Nick climbs into the whole in the ground that they have just dug up with the digger. His facial expressions suggest that he is frightened by the beast and unsure on what to do. The jumping into the whole shows that he is submissive and wants to escape from the situation that he has been placed in. His body language is closed in connoting that he is very frightened and almost even relying on Abby to sort the beats out. This is very stereotypically unusual for the male character to be seen In the eyes of the audience as scared. As the males are always met to save the girl, ‘the damsel in distress’.
In the digger scene Nick is always shown in a medium shot. This means that we can see his body language and fascial expressions helping the watcher to see how he is reacting to this high intensity scene. This allows us to see his vulnerability in the ditch in the ground.
After this we see Abby fight the beast saving Nicks life showing her aggression and skill of fighting . We also see a wide shot of Abby running to try and save nicks life again! This depicts again that the man who is stereotypically supposed to be the hero is in fact in need of help and saving and running away and that Abby is saving nick and running after him with a gun, not normally what a women is posted with, saving Nicks life.
There is then a shot straight after when Nick tries to grab the attention of the beast of a high angle shot of Nick running up a ladder. This enhances the vulnerability of Nick from the beast. he then runs up the ladder and we are met with him by a medium shot his face is symmetrical in the frame and the background behind it is blurred this draws the watch is attentions to next facial expressions which are of him thinking of an escape plan searching his surroundings trying to look for A way to escape. Again by doing a close-up in a medium shot it allows us to see his facial expression and how he is feeling but also shows us his body language which seems more confident and alert than before. It then does lots of different cuts of nick zooming down the zip wire showing us lots of different angles of the action creating a more dramatic look. The wide angle shots off the mans face which is angered creates a tension filled shot.
Thought the whole scene there is a non-diegetic sound that helps convey tension and dear and makes the scene a lot more interesting. A non-diegetic sound is a sound which the actors cannot hear and that is not realistic it is often back tracks.
The guy in the pink top and waist coat, Connor is wearing a colour that is normally classified as a girly colour. Therefore, I feel that he is not a ma no of the practical side or getting ruff guy instead perhaps connotes he is only used as the brains of the group. This is very different from the rest of the group as they wear more natural colours that camouflage with their surroundings, apart from the guy in there suit who’s name is Oliver. Where as he wears very feminine clothing making him not the tradition stereotypical man.
Later on in the clip there is an established shot of the barn making it clear where we are the location that we have now been taken to . The lady, Jenny, who talks to Mr West is very stereotypical a women wearing a long dress heals and a neatly out together hair style this is what we call the stereotypical image of a women very unlike Abby. We also see that she takes a lot of pride and care in her look as when she is thrown on the floor by the farmer she has a look of discussed on her face about her new coat. The fact that the coat is white possible symbolises purity.
Thought the farmers scene there are lots of over the shoulder shots when they are talking to each other. This allows us to see their facial expressions and see their reactions to what they are saying to each other. We later see that what Jenny is saying to Mr West distresses him and angers him eventually causing him to pull out a gun in-front of Jenny aiming it at her. Whilst this is happening we can hear the diegetic noise of the dogs in the barn barking also creating tension, hysteria, chaos.
So overall, this clip of the program coveys lots fo different ideas about stereotypes and gender that can be polysemic to different people.
Emily Bostock - Jones
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