(A2) Representation of gender and age in 'Never Forget' (sarah)

http://moodle.centralsussex.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=42651

Director: Jayaraman
Year: 2013

camera, mes, sound, editing

Opening
Never Forget opens with an ECU slow pan down of a hand unzipping a hire suit. From this we can assume the character is male however it is un-clarified for restricted narration. The body language of the way the hand is carefully unzipping connotes older age as it suggests care and being gentle. Along with the diegetic sound of the zip, there is a diegetic piano sound which gives the suggestion that this character is older and more sophisticated. There is a slight sepia tone in this shot which also gives the effect of an older generation.


We are then taken into a straight cut of a woman in an ECU with a pan up from the legs. Showing thin legs with tights on is a representation of femininity. The use of the pan up leaves the end of the shot showing the back of the woman's head , this combined with the use of low key lighting creates suspense and suspicion as it does not give away her identity however we get a 'bad vibe' about her. Her costume of a classy coat gives the impression she is in her late 20's.

These two close ups use parallel editing to compare age and gender. The low key lighting in the close up of the woman in the car represents the night so she is seen as more of a young party girl. Fixing her hair and makeup is obviously very feminine, whereas the content in the shot of the man is of him fixing up his suit and trying to look presentable which is more masculine, this costume also represents his age as he has older looking hands so they close up makes this the main feature in the shot. The high key lighting used her may represent his character as he is seen as very innocent and has done nothing wrong whereas the low key lighting in the car represents how dark the woman is and how she has cheated. The diegetic sound in the CU of the man uses old fashioned piano music which is related to the elder generation, whereas the diegetic hussle of the street and dog barks show she is much younger and living life in the city.




There is then use of another two parallel medium shots. The man is positioned on a balcony over looking the city to represent how much more wealthy and classy he is, also metaphorically it could represent that he is higher than her on a moral level as he's been faithful to her. There is a faint diegetic sound of the piano sound track in the background combined with the diegetic faint sound of the city which she hears too. This links the characters and shows a connection. We see the mans face for the first time and judging by his grey hair the audience can assume he is much older than her. He is also looking down which gives an indication of his disappointed feelings towards her. The ELS-MS shot of the woman walking towards the camera uses a diegetic sound of high heeled footsteps, this is a stereotype of femininity and also shows her youth as an older woman may not be wearing shoes so high.



The heavy beat of the diegetic music over this ECU of shot glasses represents a night club and youth. The low key lighting with a single light above the shots is to highlight their important and draws the attention to them and conveys to the audience where the character is and also that alcohol was involved.



The music soundtrack continues to convey the characters are in the same setting. The jump cut of the woman and unknown man dancing could represent the amount of time she spent with him. There is a slight blue filter to represent club lights and night life, also indicates the woman's youth. Blue also has connotations of loyalty and trust so it plays against that by using it as a contrast.

This LS of the husband standing by the bar uses a focus pull to use dramatic irony as the unrestricted narration shows the audience know more than the wife does. The music continues with a non-diegetic sound bridge of phone call to convey what's happening in the frame is a memory.His dropped facial expression puts the audience in a position of pity and sadness for the character. The way he is positioned in the frame to the right at the end of the bar makes him look slightly out of place which could indicate he's maybe too old to be there.

This ECU of the man on the phone shows in detail the features of his face and the wrinkles connote old age. The audience can also see the character has watery eyes which positions them to feel pity for him again especially as he is male as there is a stereotype men are less likely to cry as often as women. Shallow depth of field is used to highlight the details even more. There is a blue back light which again represents connotations of loyalty which are used to frame the character as the protagonist.

 

The diegetic sound effect of the beep of the phone call ending here gives us an indication of what is about to happen. However there is then a complete silence here before the diegetic thud of the man hitting the ground builds up suspense and makes the audience jump when they hear the loud scream of the woman. The darkness that covers the screen briefly shown in this screenshot represents the body falling. The parallel cutting ends here as both characters finally end up in the same setting.