hunger games

The Hunger Games from robertclackmedia

Hunger games catching fire

Hunger Games: Catching Fire Case Study from KShahMMAS

Hotel babylon ethnicity

In the extract from ‘Hotel Babylon’ techniques are used to portray different ethnic stereotypes. It highlights the stark contrast between black and whites asserting them each to a certain role.

The begins with a mid-shot of a white man seemingly dressed up in suit attire, this straight away begins the extract as assuring the whites place in society and giving him authority and power. Then we see an Eyeline match as the man looks over to the policemen in a mid-2 shot, this immediately connotes dominance and law and the fact there is two of them suggests a unity. The policeman says “we are here to stop anybody getting out” suggests they are going to assert their power over the people of the hotel. However this scene uses natural light which suggests a happy atmosphere. There is a use of shot reverse shot here which allows the audience to see the worried look on the man’s face which suggests a crime may have been carried out in the hotel. The camera then cuts to a hotel reception desk, this is a much darker scene suggesting the hotel has concealed dark secrets. The camera zooms in on the young white lady working behind the desk, she is wearing all white which connotes purity and innocence implying she is trying to come across as innocent to all those who see her such as the immigration squad who she wants to make a guiltlessness impression on. At this time there is non-diagetic music playing in the background which establishes the hotel, this music is then heightened when the 3 white men enter from the immigration service. These white men are highlighted in a negative light because at first he is shown from a medium long shot marching in suggesting his arrogance and carelessness to the guests of the hotel. The man centred in the middle asserts his dominance by showing a unity with 2 other men and by wearing a suit which shows his power and shows the formality of the group. By showing up with other people he outnumbers the audience and creates a divide between the outside and the inside creating a sense of feeling trapped.

The camera follows this man which could put the audience themselves behind him emphasizing his power further. This immigration squad are all dressed very darkly, wearing blacks and greys which suggests a good organisation of the squad but also how they are dealing with a serious situation. Also the police are standing outside of the building creating a sense of illegal activities and impending danger for the hotel. When the immigration squad reach the reception desk we get an over the shoulder shot suggesting he has the power and it clearly shows the woman’s nervous face and voice. Then we get a mid-shot of him where his serious facial expression is emphasized allowing the audience to feel threatened by this man he also gets out his identification which he does to reinforce his dominant character role.  This immediately sets of a code from the woman to a young black man sitting on the couch she asks him to collect some papers and he straight away leaves, this makes the music build up to a climax creating a sense of worry. The camera then quickly cuts to the black man rushing around the hotel to alert people that the immigration squad have arrived at the hotel, this creates a sense of immediacy in the extract and the fast pace of the editing suggests the immigrants must run and get out of the hotel before they get caught this creates a juxtaposition from the earlier calm scene in the hotel lobby. A young woman named Jackie is first shown in a small compacted officer the room is bleakly lit by a small lamp which shows the actions she is doing may be illegal. She runs to the kitchen in which the immigrants are dressed in chef’s clothes and working class uniforms this shows their low status. Jackie speaks in a foreign language to them so they understand the urgency of the situation and it emphasizes these immigrants are working illegally. The immigrants are both black and white suggesting different nationalities but they seem to be mixed showing a sense of unity between the workers. The immigrants then begin to run away in a panic suggesting if they are caught bad things will happen, this creates pity from the audience because they were doing working class jobs and serving everyone without causing harm.

The camera is behind the immigrants for a period of time allowing the audience to be on the side of them and feel the panic they do. The camera is behind some bars looking in on the immigrants clumped together this could imply they are trapped with no escape. It also creates an almost prison like scene making the immigrants appear vunerable. There is then a close up of the woman’s hand locking the door behind them with all the immigrants compacted in a small room; hidden away. This represents the negative way in which we treat immigrants in that we push them to limits such as these making them fear everyone. In this scene we get several close up shots of different immigrants whispering to each other and shaking, this shows the utter panic they are in, from this we can infer that they are asylum seekers seeking refuge from home, as by their facial expressions we can see a lot of fear of being taken. The Non diagetic music begins again in the background when Jackie counts the immigrants and she realises one is missing, the previous relief is now gone and the suspense builds back up again this music sounds like a clock ticking which could portray the hotel is going to get caught out and they are running out of time, the speed of this increases to a pulsing sound which reinforces the tension of this moment. Then we see a use of cross cutting when the camera cuts to another scene happening at the same time of a black immigrant hovering in a corridor with headphones on and seemingly oblivious to his surroundings. It then cuts back to the small room where Jackie attempts to reassure the immigrants by saying “he will be alright” however she isn’t very convincing due to her facial expression suggesting he is in danger. A woman faints in the room and one of the immigrants asserts his education over the British woman by saying “I wasn’t always a cleaner” this is a challenge to typical stereotypes of foreign people.  It then cuts back to the scene of the hovering immigrant and the music then builds up louder and faster in pace as we see the Black man struggling to escape from the white immigration officers. The immigrant then trips over and this allows the immigrant officers to tower over him showing them as dominant and him as helpless, also there is 3 of them and 1 of him showing him to be outnumbered.

There is then a knock at the door of the small cramped room, the camera zooms into Jackie who is in control of the situation and we see she is scared it may be the immigration officers, this shows her sympathetic side towards the immigrants and that she has come to care for them all. A white man from the hotel informs her the black man hovering has been caught. The camera then cuts to the black man struggling as they escort him out of the building, we see the people of the hotel are confused and wondering what is going on. The music completely cuts off here which shows the serious situation matter, the woman Jackie begs for him to be set free saying his “brother and father were both killed” which shows the audience the immigrant himself may face this future himself. The officer then says “we got him, rules of the game” suggesting how satisfied he is with the situation, he is the only one in the frame at this point showing how he has won and consolidated his power further. This shows him as harsh and careless to the audience who sympathise with the immigrant workers. The camera then shows Jackie in the frame looking distraught by the events and upset that she couldn’t protect him. The camera then cuts to a locker room where sad non diagetic music is playing in the background as she removes his belongings and it seems like one of their family members have been taken away showing the unity between them all.

On balance through the majority of this scene ethnicity seems to be challenged in the fact they characters appear to be united as a team. However there is a direct contrast between the white immigration officers who are viewed negatively by the audience and the immigrants who are scared by the actions they may take. Overall, this extract displays challenges and support for the stereotypes of different ethnicities

Working examples

conglomerates (giant companies which own smaller companies):
Time warner owns AOL, Time inc, Warner Bros, HBO, CNN

Media consumption or media diet is the sum of information and entertainment media taken in by an individual or group. It includes activities such as interacting with new media; reading books and magazines; watching television and film; listening to radio; and so on. In the film industry it is paying at the cinema, renting or buying the DVD, downloading, purchasing merchandise.

technological convergence: Convergence is the process by which a range of media platforms are integrated within a single piece of media technology. For example the new X Box 360 is a games console, a DVD player, an internet modem. The iphone is a phone, a camera, a video camera, an mp3 player, an FM radio, a games console, a web browser, a palmtop computer. This demonstrates ‘convergence’ of a wide range of technologies.

cross media convergence: The combining of two or more mediums.  Different mediums are TV / film / computer graphics / radio/ website etc.  Media convergence in the film industry can happen in production, distribution or exhibition.  It happens when the music industry comes together with the film industry when Adele releases the new single for Skyfall.

Case studies

22 jump street case study from bethanywarner

About time film case study from bethanywarner

Fingersmith

how is sexuality represented?

set in the Victorian era (period drama)
at this time homosexuality was a very taboo topic or in some cases illegal
woman repressing her desires of homosexuality (the repressed gay)
reinforces stereotypes that homosexuality Is a hidden topic in the media

Shameless Season One Episode 1

Representation of class
 
In this extract from shameless, the technical features combine to construct a representation of the lower class that reinforces the stereotypes.  

In this extract camerawork is very important to follow the stereotypes of the lower class as it emphasizes their lack of money and education.  At the start of the extract we see a low angle on frank this is done too show he has the power in the house, however later on this authority is taken away from him when they go outside. The clip uses  quick, 1 second shots of the estate, including barbed wire, graffiti, and  caravans which are all associated with the lower class due to their lack of values and bad upbringing. By including shots, such as these, it creates an instant impression of ‘lower class’, which is what the TV program is about. Zoom cuts are also used in this scene as a way of showing the change in facial expressions. A lot of the time in this scene the camera angle is eye level this is very neutral and makes the audience more involved with the class. However sometimes in the extract they use a high angle which allows the viewers to look down on the lower class reinforcing their typical views. To further portray this sense of realism, the birds eye view once the family are out of the house gives the feeling of a CCTV camera spying on the family. This implies their is a higher authority looking down on them ( the audience), Making them inferior and weak which follows stereotypes.
 
The use of Mise-en-scene is very important in this extract. The setting in particular lets the viewers make expectations of the lower class. They characters live in an unclean and untidy flat which creates a parallel between it and the characters who are also unwashed and messy. The setting immediately puts across the impression that the family doesn't have a lot of money and could be possibly living off benefits. The clothing of the kids in this scene are tracksuits or ripped and dirty clothing these all connate the under class representation showing their lack of money and living on the poverty line.  although they live on the poverty line they come across as greedy and as scroungers this is shown by all the empty alcohol bottles left on the table and the food that the children and eating. Near the end of the extract a man comes to see Frank about selling his caravan he is dressed in an all black suit this could connate seriousness and that he is of a higher class than the others. This is done to create a stark juxtaposition between frank and the business man which further emphasizes that he is of a lower class. The props in Shameless are very basic, and would be cheap to buy. This is so that the audience can relate to the characters more, because the objects on Shameless are not out of reach for an ordinary viewer. The lower class often have only the bare essentials because they are unemployed and uneducated. This represents the stereotypical lower or under class family, the basic and untidy house implies that the family  are barely scraping by and are having to live off the bare minimum they can afford. The use of alchohol in this scene falls under the sterotype of the under class as they are often alcoholics or drug addicts to fix their troubled and messed up lifestyle. Another way the sterotypes of the lower classes is reinforced is due to the size of the family and the single parent this suggests the mother has either left or their has been a conflict which is associated a lot with this class. we also see the eldest daughter feeding a baby which could imply a teenage pregnancy also associated typically with the under class due to their loose morals.

Sound helps to reinforce the under class sterotypes in this extract. This is highlighted when the daughter says ''You had 6 E's last night' this diegetic sound is a slang term for the drug Ecstasy. The fact that the children talk about the drugs so easily shows the bad upbringing they've had surrounded by drink and alchohol. The father in the scene seems to increase his volume in his voice to assert his authority over the children. He tries to use a wide range of vocabulary to try and make him self feel more intelligent however he uses some of the words in the wrong context which just further emphasizes his lack of education. In this short extract their is a lot of shouting and swearing this is typically associated with the under class and the children have no manners or values. However there is a countertype in this extract as the family seem to want to be together and help each other face their problems as when the young boy says "we mean you" this makes the viewer think he aspires to have a normal family. This shows that the family relies on each other which wouldn't usually be associated with the under class.

there are a series of jump cuts in this extract when the father is repeating the word "greed" this puts emphasis on the greed of the under class who live on benefits and of the children who are asking the father for more and more things. Jump cuts make the scene look like its a mistake which gives the extract a weird and slightly crazy effect which implies the father may have mental issues himself which can be associated with the under class due to their drug use.

in conclusion although there are some countertypes in this extract it mainly falls under what is typically associated with the under class. All of technical features reinforce the stereotypes of the under class and shows the viewer the perception we have of that particular class.