Representation

Representation of sexuality:

In this clip of an episode of glee, there is a lot of stereotype towards Kurt, because he is very feminine, and although he has not come out yet, people still think he is gay because he is very feminine. The fact that he is trying out for a football team, shows that it is breaking the stereotype of gay people, but at the same time it's still keeping it in because of the way he auditions for the part of quarterback. The way he starts off is by dancing to a Beyoncé song, this makes it really obvious that he is very feminine and is represented as a stereotypical gay person, after he dances along, he kicks the ball through the hoop and scores, breaking the stereotype once more. As this is the beginning of the tv show, they stereotype most characters, making the cheerleaders mean and the preppy talented girl snobby but as the show progresses, they start to break down barriers, such as having another gay character - Blaine, at first we don't know he is gay because he's not seen as a stereotypical gay man, because he is a leader of a group. Another queer representation in the show is, Santana who is a lesbian but we don't know because she is not butch and has short hair like they are stereotypically represented, instead she is a cheerleader and she is very feminine yet is a lesbian.

The mise en scene tells us about the characters, Kurt wears more feminine clothes, whereas Finn wears normal stereotypical straight clothes. The fact that later Kurt wears the same attire as Finn shows that they are breaking the stereotypical barrier.

Representation of class:

In this clip, it starts off with someone waking up and a newspaper delivery boy riding his bike outside, and it cuts to the lady that was waking up, ringing a bell. Then it cuts to workers downstairs knowing that they have to do their work now because the ones higher in power have woken up, the person receiving the newspaper was in higher power than the delivery boy, therefore he was quite snobbish and annoyed for him being late, he was quite rude the boy in lower power, after the man with even higher power than him was quite rude to him and he was intimidated, this shows how stereotypical people with higher power are, that they are mostly intimidating as they can just do anything they want as they have the permission because they are in a higher power as them. But it breaks the stereotypes as it climbs up the ladder of power, as it reaches the man with all the power, that understands their struggle and appreciates what the workers and employees do for him and in a way he is a good person because he understands that he is the higher power in all of this.

There is obviously a lot of mise en scene in this clip of this tv show, which helps the audience understand the differences between two classes, and also the representation of the characters and how they both act, the fact that you can see their differences in costume and accents show the audience how they both have different classes.

Representation of disability:

In this tv show the idea of disability is portrayed as quite negative, as his brother wants to in fact kill him, this shows that the media sees disabled people as a negative thing and they are a minority. The opening scene is shot from above, showing their two different rooms, this is so we can see who the protagonist is talking about, as we can see a bed with no colour, and a bed with a lot of colours and toys, this is to show that he needs special needs. The main character is talking about wanting to kill his brother, as much as he may be joking, the show carries on showing the audience how much disabled people are not needed and how they are too needy and he doesn't like that, and that shows how negative the media sees special needs people. Towards the end the main character leaves his brother for a party, he was supposed to bring him home because he is disabled but he lets him go by himself, therefore on the way home he got bullied on the bus, this is shown so the audience can have sympathy towards the character and that he has special needs and is important just like the rest of any other human, and it's there to show how the media doesn't like showing or representing them because of all the negative feedback the give with that, this is shown as bad representation because that shows that they can't do anything and that they are not loved, whereas its not how it is in real life.

Ideas:

-Short about sexuality

-Disability awareness video

-Day in a life of a homeless person

-Ethnicity stereotypes

-Social experiment

-A side by side comparison of lower and upper class

Shots:

1.grab the kettle

2.put water in it

3.grab a mug

4.grab tea

5.put sugar

6.sweep the floor

7.dust the house

8.do the laundry

9.put water in jug

10.water plants

11.eating breakfast

12.on computer

13.put perfume on

14.looking at jewelry

15. put on jewelry

16. looked at watch

Synopsis:

A comparison of 2 classes, working and middle class, shows their daily life and how it differs from one another.

home

//

bus

wide shot

close up

ots

close up

medium shot

ex close up

medium shot

close up

medium shot

5s

10s

5s

10s

30s

20s

5s

20s

10s

20s

n/a

grab the kettle

put water in it

grab a mug

grab tea/ put sugar in

sweeping the floor

all having breakfast

do the laundry

put water in jug

water plants

eating breakfast

on computer/phone

putting perfume on

looking at jewellery

putting on jewellery

looking at watch

on the bus

camera and tripod

shouting and classical music

classical music

//

n/a

medium shot

uber app on phone

kids look well dressed

messy looking

view outside the bus

home

//

10s

medium shot

classical music

//

Voiceover:

I also thought it would be best to do a voiceover to really show the difference.

Character 1:

My breakfast is usually something quick to make, and tea or coffee is the first thing I like to make in the morning. Chores is next step of my daily routine, i mop the floor, do laundry, dust the house, water plants, anything I can before going off to work

Character 2:

After getting ready in the morning, which takes some time as it takes long to pick out the right clothes and jewelry, after I have breakfast, I need energy for the day, After I do some work on my laptop.

Primary research:

As primary research I decided to ask people which idea they would prefer and why. The results I got was quite mixed, 2 idea tied, a social experiment and a side by side comparison of upper and lower class.

Editing:

After putting together all the footage and editing so it would make sense and look smooth and polished I decided to add a title 'upper and lower class representation'. After that I also put in an ending title to top it all off 'this is how different their everyday lives are'. After the footage all looked fine, I thought it would be nice to add a little tune to go with the footage so it wouldn't all be silence. After I added the music I thought it was ready for the voiceover, therefore I added it in and edited where each word best suited which scene and frame.

After I decided I didn't need a voiceover so I just added more text so it would give information about both the classes that I'm trying to represent.

I made it so that the voiceover which is not in text was said by the different people who were in the video.

Final piece:

For my final piece I thought it could've been better, overall with the time I was given the piece is quite understandable. The piece is about representation, I chose the representation of lower and upper class, as I thought it was in interesting and not very recognized problem as much as the others. At the beginning I didn't have anyone to film, but after putting ideas together I realized I didn't need that many actors. So I got the 2 ideas and put them together to show what it would be like from both sides of the spectrum. I also made sure to add text instead of a voiceover as I didn't have enough time and together with the scenes it still looked readable and understandable. I could've made it better with a voiceover and another actor. I could've showed them interact in the end to show the differences. Another thing I could've added is better music as I could've made something that would be more suitable for this specific time of video.

Helena DPM Creative Media