Cutting it

In this clip the audience is presented with the dilemma of gender, we see a complete role reversal in which the female is the more dominant character and the male is submissive however the audience is given little reminders to the stereotypes by emotional interactions in the cab. Camera The director has used the positioning of the camera, shot type and movement to help transfer his portraying of the genders to the audience in a efficient way, the first shot we see is a mid-shot, showing both the male and the female in the cab, however it is filmed from an angle that makes the male character look larger and the female smaller , this could possibly be where the director wants to remind the audience of the stereotype of males being more powerful and important than females, this is furthermore demonstrated by the extreme close up of her hand and his, there is a huge comparison in there hand size. Also we see that she shows the affection first which is yet again demonstrating the stereotypical portray of women, that they are more emotional showing mental weakness. But from here on the audiences view on women is dramatically changed. The female hardly never leaves the shot, in the close ups of the male pretty much all of them have the side profile of the females head and all but one shot of the woman doesn’t contain the man. This is starting to show her importance and that something isn’t right. The next scene is set with a tracking shot that pans to follow an ambulance, Once they get out of the cab the audience is hit with a real dilemma, the lady pays, this isn’t considered the gentlemanly thing to do. She is now being the more dominant person in this scene. This is also proven in the way the camera is maneuverer to track the movement of her, she is always kept as the main target even though she only moves a few centimetres the camera movement is over reacted to help make her importance obvious. Now the audience has been informed of her importance they are shown multiple shots in which the camera is at eye level with her and looking up at the man, this looking up could be seen as authority however in this context I think it is more hinting towards the male being seen as bad. When she is in the office there never is a shot which starts on her face, they all seem to pan or are pulled on a dolly this is used to create a sense of anticipation as each time it cuts back to the man the shots become more personal eg the first shot with the lady the camera is pointing at her notes, this shows her insignificance as at that point she is just a number and a name on some paper, then it pans up to her face, a very personal thing also the tears help to add emotion making the whole shot more breathe taking. The man is seen with a longshot and he isn’t that easy to distinguish from the rest of the pedestrians, next we see his fingers playing with his engagement ring, this helps the audience to develop deeper sympathy towards him. Editing Cutting it like most British dramas used continuity editing, this is where the clips are edited in a order that makes sense rather than jumping from time and plot, it also used invisible editing, this is where the cuts seem to be flawless and they are supposed to not be noticed so there is no fade outs. Due to the nature of this clip and the amount of dialogue there is lots of shot reverse shot between the male and the female during their conversation. Crosscutting is used to compare how the man is coping with the stress to the woman in the office. The audience is shown what could be called a reverse eyeline match, this is where we see an object then a pan up to the character showing them looking off, it is used to show a person’s emotions towards that object, we also see a eyeline match where the man stands up to look across the road, from seeing him look of into the distance the viewers are then shown a show of the female walking back to him. During the collision time appears to be slowed down, this creates suspense and it combined with a heartbeat to make it more effective. Sound The first scene the audience hears diegetic sound and ambient sound, tis helps to set the scene and helps the audience begin to build up a mental image of the location, all of the sound in this clip is synchronous meaning that is synchronised with the object emitting it. The tone used by the actors ios also important, the lady never seems to become angry whereas the male when he hears that she is going to see her consultant gets angry and raises the volume of his voice slightly, this is an attempt to state his dominants over her. at around 2:13 a non digetic sound is introduced in this clip it is music, the music starts out quiet and builds up. The song has a strong beat and is quite slow, the vocals are calming, when the scene is changed to the lady in the office the song calms nearly to silence with just the beat, this is give it a sad connotation and to build suspense., its used as a sound bridge as it switches between scenes. Some sound effects are added to help the audience to mentally visualise the impact between he lady and the car, the volume of these sound effects are substantially higher than the surrounding to give them maximum impact on the audience. Mise en scene At the start of the clip as I stated earlier she is presented in a stereotypical way, this is shown through her body posture, she is lent on his shoulder showing she is showing him affection. In the cab most of the males close up shows the female’s side profile in some way, this is hinting on her importance that she has to be in all of the shots. Once the shot changed to a different scene the audience automatically knows where they are, the way the ambulance is going so slowly it can be guessed that they are at a hospital with even seeing the sign. The consultants room is crying out with massive connotations, the way the desk seems to be arranged with almost military precision suggesting that the man is very professional about his job, the dark shadow around the desk could be interpreted as an otherworldly experience where someone is judged before being sent to heaven or hell, her very upright and strong posture with her legs together and her hand on her lap, could be seen as her child hood in the head masters office. The closing of her folder and the tears are very good at building tension as we don’t know if they are tears of happiness or sadness. During the crash the director has deliberately blocked the crash from sight with a bus, this with the sound effects forces the audience to imagine making the scene more memorable. Next to her body there are 3 pots of white flowers across the floor, signifying the death and remaining the audience of their marriage proposal. Here we also see the man break down into tears breaking the mentally strong stereotype yet again.