Media essay

23:44
In this clip of hotel Babylon the audience is presented with the representational issue of immigrants. How should the audience react to them? The moral route where they are seen as people or the medias representation of them being like animals, and that they don't deserve the right to be treated fairly.

In the first scene where Charlie a hotel employee is confronted by uniformed police the audience hears a sound motif, this is the sound heard when the locker is closed, it helps to set the scene for the audience as the sound if played before a establishing shot is show. The transition into the establishing shot is a close up tracking shot that uses a pan to follow the character, close ups are usually used to give emotion or to subconsciously tell the audience who they should side in , through the use of this shot the director has put the audiences backing behind charlie rather than the police, this can also be seen through the mise en scene, Charlie is like the underdog he is on his own whereas the police is a pair, shown with a two shot also sound is a big factor here to do with the placement of the audience, once the police come into shot some non-diegetic sound is used, it is fast paced and makes the audience think "the game is on". Hotel Babylon like most other British tv drama uses continuity editing, this is seen where the over the shoulder shot of Charlie from the police then cuts to a over the shoulder shot of the police from charlies perspective however it is on a dolly and tracks them.

The next scene the sound bridges the cut, it starts with a graceful push dolly shot gliding into the lady behind the counter, ambient sound is present in the form background speech. This is then cut to the immigration officer opening the door, making the shot of the lady at the counter seem to be a short take as the cut takes the audience by surprise. Looking back at the perfect glide that camera operator used to frame the lady the audience is give the complete opposite with this officer. The non-diegetic music gets louder, the camera looks like it is hand held and the camera is pulled back giving the impression that the man is aggressive. While the conversation is taking place shot/reverse shot is used to show the characters faces, the director has deliberately made the camera hand held, this gives it a more tense feel possibly portraying the lady's nerves. The uniform in which the lady is dressed in is a white suit, the man a black suit. This lack of standardized uniform portrays there importance possibly a clash of authority whereas she has power in the hotel the man has the law. This lack of uniform is re enforced when we are shown Ben he is dressed in a black suit with a name badge showing his lower authority.

The new few takes we see are very clever, the director has mixed both Charlie and Ben running with a action  match, the camera is held in a fixed position only panning to follow them, even in this fixed position it is still hand held giving it a small sway. The camera is then positioned in a office looking down on Jackie. When she enters the kitchen the audience can see something isn't quite right. She is going against the media's representation of illegal immigrants, shes helping them. This can be seen through the shot used, it isnt like a normal shot as it has items that are blocking the line of sight of the camera usually nothing gets between the camera and main focus. Also the camera is hand held, when it is moved its dragged and rotated a tiny amount however this gives it a great effect making it feel like its a rush. The camera is positioned behind some form of bars, possibly foretelling the future of one of the immigrants. Once in this small room the audiences view on illegal immigrants starts to get molded into what the director wants them to think, through the use of extreme close ups and close ups the audience is forced to face the reality that illegal immigrants are people. In this room there is a constant sound, possibly non-diegetic its like a rumble constantly  however it is only noticed when a cutaway is used to show one of the illegal immigrants. It is used to keep a sense of tension. When she realizes that this man is missing the camera is pushed up into her face and she shows what seems to be a facial expression associated with worry. The illegal immigrants clothes are very standard. Whereas the legal workers appear to have there own individuality the illegal's are all wearing a standard uniform, this follows the media's representation of them just being workers not a human being. Adam is a great character  to juxtapose the media's representation, he even says "I wasn't always a cleaner" this makes the audience fully back the illegal immigrants.

The director has now made the audience change their view of illegal immigrants now he throws a spanner in the works by using this Jaws like shot of the illegal immigrant being caught. It starts with a close up of his face and the lift in the background then the focal point changed from his face to the lift. We then have a change in shot this show is a hand held push, it gives the impression of the perspective of the immigration officers. However the facial expression of the illegal immigrant is used to remind the audience that they should be sided with him. The next scene is in the hotel lobby, the illegal immigrant is pushed into the frame in a rough mannor possibly to sujest to the actors that play the public in this scene that they are dangerous. Jackie follows the officer only to back down once he confronts her.