Practice Exam Qs - Doctor Who.

This extract represents Gender in a few certain ways. The immediate contrast in gender presented in the extract is that of Martha, the doctor's sidekick and the Master, a villain. The master appears smug and dominant over Martha as if asserting his superiority. The way that he makes her kneel shows that maybe he wants to make sure that she feels weak in his presence, you could view his way of making sure that she is embarrassed and humiliated as quite misogynistic and sadistic. He is also clearly asserting his dominance over the women in the room by having them stand around and watch him humiliate her, the woman in red to his right, stands on the spot wearing a rather lavish red dress and as soon as he begins to lose, she prays for the Doctor. As a whole he seems to be, possibly quite sexist and he likes to see others suffer. Rather stereotypically for a man, he is very confident and also very over-confident, he chooses to be a little arrogant with his countdown timer and he chooses amusement over practicality.

On the other hand, Martha as a character is a great heroine in this episode because she is strong, she does not fit with the sort of damsel-in-distress stereotype of a woman, she is wearing quite militaristic and usually masculine clothing. She is young and confident. In this extract we get the impression that she is the main protagonist, the cuts to the flashbacks of her traveling the continents are quite vivid and filtered in strong colours of blueish and orange tones tones, they also in the one of her crossing the cold wastelands, the camera appears to shiver with her.

What this extract seems to quite clearly show is a 'battle of the sexes', with the master judging Martha before he knows what her plans are. The level at which the shot is taken really affects the shot in question, the shots showing the master gloating over her are all shot from below, as if to suggest that he is the victor. She is shot entirely from above. However what I think is quite interesting is the way that the two characters are centered on the screen, whilst Martha gives her speech she is the total focus of the camera, unwaveringly looking directly into the camera, whilst the Master appears to be uncomfortable in the way that he strolls around the shot.

At the eventual arrival of the Doctor later in the extract, he dominates all the shots and everything is reversed so the Master is shot entirely from above, to show the doctor literally hovering over him. Interestingly, in my opinion it is quite odd that despite the fact that Martha and the human race are meant to be the stars of the Extract but they appear to be useless without the assistance of the doctor. I believe that essentially this extract if anything, gives the impression that men are over-confident and that women are the real heroes.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I have learnt many new skills and techniques since doing the preliminary task. We learnt how to use lighting more effectively, for example different colours and playing with shadows/silhouettes. For example, in the first shot, we positioned the light outside the house, so we could get some nice shadows on the wall. My preliminary task was very dark, so you couldn’t see much, so we tried to retain a sense of the same level of darkness, but to also allow the viewer to see precisely what we needed them to. Contrasting to the preliminary tasks which were rushed and not considered fully, we tried to focus on making this film quite serious and real, rather than comedic. We thought about the script for a long time, editing and polishing it, until we were completely happy. As apposed to our preliminary tasks, we also tried to focus on every tiny detail; the actress’s costume was that of a stylish businesswoman’s, as well as remaining reserved – because of her being a mother. Props, there were pictures surrounding the house, of her, her husband, children. Dialogue, we tried to make it as real as possible and took inspiration from our own homes. These were all considered in order to get the right Mise en scene. We asked the actress to bring in photos of her, which would suit her role in the film. Because we couldn’t find the dolly, we had to create our own using a skateboard and two planks of wood, so we have learnt how to replicate certain equipment in order to get the right effect. We have also learnt how to use music and sound effects more effectively, concentrating on the build up of sound to create tension and melodic music to accompany the action on screen. We made some sound effects by slowing down various violin sounds to 10% of their original speed. We also did this with various horns and pipes. We also decided to reverse the dramatic Beethoven music, because it sounded more sinister and disconcerting and wasn’t as obvious or overly dramatic as the original, in the end however, we didn’t use it, and instead used a fuzzy noise that sounded like the end of a tape of film, to go with the main title.

Editing the piece was probably the lengthiest part of the project. This is because we found it difficult to fit the film into two minutes. It was most difficult with the end, and after many different drafts we decided that the end didn’t work, (originally screams from the actress than a shot of the door closing.) It seemed too melodramatic and possibly almost comedic, and we didn’t want that at all. So instead we cut for the title as soon as the actress turns the light on. This left the audience on a cliff-hanger and it was very eerie with distant screams from the actress in the background, we tried to leave the audience wanting to know what would happen next.

Evaluation - What have you learnt about new technologies from the process of constructing this product?

I had used final cut before, so I had some idea of the things you can do, and the technology, but I had never used it to make something that was final and finished, so it was interesting polishing it to make it as good as my technical abilities could let me. I learnt to be selective with filters and effects in mind of how the film should look. We learnt how to use the camera effectively in getting the right result on the Audience. For example, to scare them we would use a tracking shot and slowly ease in towards the actress from behind, reminiscent of a murderer sneaking up on his victim. We also learnt how to build up sound in an effective manner in order to create suspense.

Evaluation - How did you attract/address your audience?

Because of the use of an American actress, we’re hoping it will attract an American audience. This fits in with the traditional tarns-Atlantic audience of Working Title films. The actress is around late 20’s and she will appeal to people of a similar age. Because of the location and film, a large number of British people will be attracted to the film. So we aim to attract quite a large multicultural audience irrespective of gender or age within the boundaries of the film’s classification. The other characters will be of similar age, perhaps even older. This could also attract an older generation, interested in conflicts between people of their age.

Evaluation - Why an 18 Certificate

We chose to use the 18 certificate because in the eyes of horror movie fans, the higher certificate is likely to attract a larger core horror audience. The other reason it is a 18 is because the content of the movie is not suitable for people under the age of 18 and thus we have to comply with British censorship laws

Evaluation - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Well, that is probably one of the reasons that we think the movie we have created is an appealing choice, is the fact it is accessible to a wide audience. The horror market has become one of the most successful and it is a genre that many of the greatest film-makers of all-time have tapped into; Hitchcock, Kubrick, Spielberg and Coppola, and many other great film-makers have used techniques from horror to make their films great. The horror film allows the film-maker to appeal to a main audience of 'thrill-seeking' under 30s and at the same time, show their talents for directing, the horror film is a film that allows the writer and director to truly be creative. I think as well as the younger audience who come to be scared, older audiences will come for the intriguing plot and what we hope to be an interesting film, as well as this, we intend to appeal to other audiences by having an emotionally complex '3-dimensional' heroine. Pre-release, we showed the opening scene to several people in order to determine whether our target audience would be enthralled by the film, the entire audience really enjoyed it.

Evaluation - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? + 2 other qs

Working Title.
We chose Working Title because the Company specialize in similar films to ours: A British film, financed by an Anglo-American company. Working Title has, in the past, made films that are transatlantic with British-American crew and casts, much like our film. Working Title also tend to provide money for more independent and low-budget features, again similar to the conceptual style that we are going for. A Working Title feature often also portrays the ideas of British culture to American viewers and our film is shot in London, the capital of England, with an American actress. We intend to make a thriller that has something that reflects Britain.

Evaluation - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The social groups our media product represents are; single parents – There are some divorce letters on the side table, at the beginning of the film, (these would have been explained later in the film) and a great sense that she is alone. The middle class – The house or flat is very modern and big, there are some antiques, paintings, a good stereo system etc. A businesswomen – she is wearing smart clothes and her desk is very organised with books a printer and computer etc. Family’s – there are pictures of her and her family all over the house, some on a table, more on the fridge, the place is tidy but slightly cluttered with usual family household objects. She also represents an outsider, coming from a foreign country to England and not feeling entirely at home all the time, this also makes her more vulnerable. Used the stereotype of the single woman – isolated and in danger, typical in horror/thrillers.

Evaluation - Commentary

Ethnic Representation in Life on Mars.

In the extract, the different ethnicities are presented largely through sound and dialogue. The way in which the Irish is played very much in contrast to the English character of Gene Hunt. The obvious thing that signifies that the man is Irish is his accent and his Irish name. His dialogue conveys his discontent with the treatment of the Irish in England. The extract refers quite a lot to the problem of the IRA in the 70s and 80s, when Patrick says 'All our kind is good for is shovelling shit and making bombs and I'm tired of shovelling shit', I think that this is an effective way of showing that the Irish are persecuted and aren't going to take it any more. We get the impression that the English are inhospitable to foreigners who have come here to become successful, signified by the shout of 'where you going with that?' by Gene Hunt at a young Asian man moving in to his new house, this appears to be a reference to the replacement of the Irish as those who are persecuted and driven to fighting back in the 80s to the topical issues of young Muslim men nowadays.

In the next section we are provided with more insight into the White British ethnicity, as shown in the method that they drive the car onto the pavement, knocking over the bin, they are brash and loud, knocking over the bin. In the second scene they are loud and in the pub. The pub also has a Black Caribbean barman who represents the 4th ethnicity in this extract, he seems to represent the next part of the chain in the lives of immigrants in the UK, he appears to be content with a probably badly paid job, and despite the fact he is working for the White British people in his pub, he is not treated in the same way as the Irish or Asian people in the other section of the extract, it, in a way, shows the progress through stages for immigrants in the UK.

As well as this, the main character acted by John Simm, presents us with a view from Modern day that teaches us that these views are outdated and incorrect. What the extract in the end does is show us that the views held by Gene Hunt are quite ignorant and in a way it tells us that these views are responsible for terrorism and discontent of Immigrant Communities