Notes on North and South

In class we were given an essay question to answer, and these are the notes I made during the clip of North and South. The notes helped me to write my essay, the essay question is: 'Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of gender in an extract from Episode 1 of North and South.'

• Camera shots, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

Ellipses is used while Margaret is waiting in Thornton's office and this shot shows Margaret was waiting for about an hour. Clock to her shows the passage of time, and the close up of her face shows her expression which engages the audience into the mise-en-scene and its more personal also shows the important of her character. The shot engages us into Margaret's impatience.

Gender is constructed by the close up of Margaret where she dominantes 2/3 of the mise-en-scene. Her stance is haughty (attitude) and her gaze is firm, her chin up which suggests she is assertive. Margaret is out and about on her which also shows her independence. Margaret is very wide-eyed, with no hunched shoulders. She also doesn't rely on clothes to show the audience how wealthy she is because her costume doesn't show 'wealthy'.

When she is in the mill and walking she dominates the mise-en-scene again and her walk is very determined in what she wants. Non-ambient lighting, and an optimistic soundtrack. When Margaret coughs in the mill this shows an unhealthy enviroment. When walking into the cotton room its like 'the children entering Narnia' the shot shows that the mill world is foreign to her and her expression is full of wonder.

The shot of Thornton's masculine image is constructed by a low-angle shot which makes him seem dominant. There is something quite 'predatory' about him like he is looking for something wrong. There's something dark and dangerous about him and the stony face indicates a harsh man. Margaret looks at him because he is different and she hasn't ever seen a man like this before and she is 'taken' with him.

A shot of a weak man with 7 kids is shown because he is putting the whole mill in danger by smoking a pipe. Thornton yells, 'I SAW YA' which puts Thornton in a lower rank because of his common accent but he still has more power than the workers. Gender is constructed in the 'fight' scene by power, and Margaret just watching. Thornton is physically dominant by using violence. Mrgaret interferre's which is unlike a woman by yelling, 'STOP'. This tells us again that Margaret is assertive, brave and doesn't fit into the ordinary female role. Thornton responds, 'Who're you? What you doing here?' Margaret has never been spoken to like this before because she is of higher class. Margaret gives her full name which shows she is confident about her identity and wealth. 'Get her out of here' Thornton yells at a worker, suggests he is ashamed of what he is done or he doesn't want her to see this side of him. Also suggests his contempt for Margaret, and he doesn't talk directly to her anymore.

There is a shot of women and children looking shocked because it shows they rely on Thornton for employment and if they do something wrong they will be fired. The fact they are doing nothing to stop the violence shows that the way Thornton treats his workers is not uncommon and its a quite 'natural' way of dealing with them. The audience at home are shocked because we don't treat anybody that way now. The close up of the woman at the mill shows she admires Margaret for standing up to Thornton, also there is a comparison between the two women. The woman who works at the mill is not doing anything to stop the violence which is how women should respond, while Margaret steps in and inteferres which is uncommon.

Social Class Notes

• Low angle shot of Thornton which shows he is dominant and his masculine image is constructed by a low angle shot.
• Thornton 's clothes are sharp and smart which shows he is higher class than his workers, but Thornton is still considered to be 'working class' compared to Margaret.
• When Thornton asks who Margaret is she gives him her full name which shows she is confident about her identity.
• When walking around the mill, Margaret walks powerfully with her shoulders back and her chin up. She walks around on her own, and she doesn't wait in the office like Thornton's worker asks. This could mean that Margaret is confident person all the time, or she thinks she is better than the people in the mill so she does as she pleases.
• Margaret doesn't dress like she is from a wealthy background, but she dresses differently from people who are from the mill. She has a hat, full-skirted dress but the materials on the dress are very bland, and dull so she isn't flaunting her wealth.
• When Thornton is beating up the workers there is a high angle shot of the worker which shows he is vulnerable, and that Thornton has all the power.

story boards and shot list of preliminary task

This is a story board for the preliminary task we were set. The shot opens as a close up of a girl's feet then slowly moves out to a long shot of her. Then an over the shoulder shot as she goes around the corner, then a long shot which turns into an extreme long shot as she walks across the balcony then she vanishes completely when she goes around the corner. Close up as her feet as she comes down the stairs and then a mid shot of the character. A close up of the character's hand as they open the door and then a long shot of the character walking to a table where the second character is sitting. Then a reverse shot of the two characters having a conversation about a missing phone. Then a long shot of the character walking out the way they came.

The Opening Narrative Shots and Title Lengths of Thrillers

Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese, 1976
Camera frame, movement and angle: There's an extreme close up of the characters eyes and then shots of the city and there is a lot of smoke when the camera shows shots of the city there is a lot of smoke.
Sound: At the opening credits romantic and soft music plays when the camera is on the man's eyes but when the shot is of the city its tense and deep, loud music. You can hear the diegetic sound of the phone ringing when the man enters the office.
Mise-en-scene: During the opening credits you see the man's eyes a lot, and shot's of the city. Then it cuts to two men in an office with the phone ringing.

10 shots altogether.

Heat, Michael Mann, 1995
Camera frame, movement and angle: There is a long shot of the train coming into the station. Then a close up of a man walking and close ups of his face to show his expression which is quite stern. Then an over the shoulder shot as he goes down the escalator. Then a tracking shot when the character enters the hospital, and long jumpcuts to the different patients being treated and a lot of doctors bustling about.
Sound: As the scene opens there is quite soft music but then the train breaks through it so you hear the diegetic sound of the train coming into the station. When the character goes to the hospital there is diegetic sound of heart monitors, patient's voices and the doctors shuffling about.
Mise-en-scene: A train coming into the station and crowds of people who are 'quite business like.' Then a shot of the man in the hospital, heart monitors, patients, doctors.

Identity, James Mangold, 2003
Camera frame, movement and angle: A lot of jump cuts in the beginning of different files.
Sound: Sound of the thunder and lightning outside the window. Sound of a man asking another man questions which are on a tape and sound like an interview.
Mise-en-scene: The jumpcuts show a lot of files and drawings which look like children's drawings. Then from the innocent drawings the camera jumpcuts to violent images of murdered people. The mise-en-scene also shows a man working, and the lightning outside is also shown outside the window.
Opening credits: The opening credits is like 'typed font', font you would find on an important document, and its quite small, capital, simple and formal. The font is in the corners of the screen as the jumpcuts happen.

40-42 shots because of all the jumpcuts at the beginning.

Red Road, Andrea Arnold, 2006
Camera frame, movement and angle: Quite a lot of close up's of the female character's face which gives us a clearer image of her expression. Mid shots of her head, and shoulders. Camera shots of security cameras' and the quality of these shots are blurred and bad quality.
Sound: Diegetic sound of her pushing buttons and the sound of her breathing and laughing softly.
Mise-en-scene: The mise-en-scene is of the woman working and the images on the screen that she is watching. The woman is sitting in darkness, and the glow from the screens lights up her face and there is also a non-ambient lighting on her face.
Opening credits: Blurred camera moving around with small informal font.

Cosmetics Perfume Advert Analysis

My target audience is young adults so within the age range of 16-23 because the girl in my advert is very young. The background I chose is of a girl very happy and laughing and I think this makes the perfume seem fun and appeals to teenagers who are of a similar age to the person in the advert. The advert shows that females are very happy and gives them a 'positive' image. The background image is very normal because the girl is sitting in a place that loads of teenagers will hang out at with their friends so this makes them want to buy the perfume more because they can relate to the advert. When you look at the advert it seems like anyone can buy it, but because of the young girl in the advert you see that the perfume is aimed at young adults.
I gave the perfume an 'summery' feel because the photo was taken outside surrounded by a lot of grass so by using a paint brush on paintshop elements 2.0 I added a large rose/flower in bewteen the font and the perfume bottle and because the advert is in black and white I made the flower a bright pink so it stood out and made the advert a little more eye catching. I also used another paintbrush and put little black and white leaves across the advert. My advert could also be seen as very 'naturey' because of the setting of the background image, and the paintbrush rose and leaves.
I took the picture with a digital slr and I think this helped get a high quality image, and captured the lighting really well on the girl's face. The lighting along her face shows sunshine which you can link to happiness and the 'summery' feel I was going for. I used paintshop elements to copy and paste the font onto the image, but I used a different programme at home called PhotoFiltre to put the background image into black and white. I made the advert black and white because it seemed more sophiscated slightly, and I thought leaving it in colour seemed quite overwhelming and the bright pink of the flower is more effective and the sunlight on the girl's face is shown more when the image is in black and white. I used http://www.dafont.com/ to get the font for my advert then copy and pasted that font from the website onto my advert. I picked the font I did because its quite informal, and not too fancy and its extremely feminine. I used http://www.google.com/ to get the image of the perfume bottle and I really like the image I chose because its very girly and fancy which brings a hint of sophiscation to the advert.
I think my target audience would be girls who don't rely on appearance so thats why I made the advert seem very 'natural'. The girls wouldn't wear a lot of make-up, and they wouldn't be high status but students who want to smell nice, and not to over the top.