Waterloo Road Age Textual Analysis

In the clip from Waterloo Road age is represented in contrasting ways to show a difference in power from each character of a different age. They are shown in contrasting ways by the way that the Director portrays them. The teachers are very patronising, uncool and are very unpopular by the teenagers. The teachers are there as an authority figure. The Director positions the audience to relate to their relevant age group, offering a variety of Narrative plots and characterisation.


In the opening scene, the first character that is introduced is made very clear to the audience through the pace of the footsteps and the close up shot of the feet between the chair legs. Shallow Focus was also used in this shot to portray the importance of these footsteps and warn the boys to be cautious of what is about to happen. The slow movement of the feet would tell the audience that this is a teacher approaching as the slow pace builds up tension which any pupil would feel as they hear these footsteps. It also helps the audience to understand that the boys have done something wrong. Cuts are also used to move forward and back from each shot of the feet and the boys and this would create more suspense.

Cuts were the first technique to be used and this was done between each shot. It was done mostly when the teacher has to rush out of the room to deal with the girl that is starting a fight with another school boy. Cuts were used by the Director to show how rapid events can start in schools and quickly they have to be dealt with to prevent them from happening again. An Ellipsis was used a lot when the girl was fighting the school boy. This was done by not including the scene when she pushes him into the room that she then goes into intimidate him in. As an audience, we would know that she has done this through the way that she pushes him out of the corridor. This was done to speed the action up and to create an ambiguous effect. Continuity Editing begins the scene as it is clear that there was a storyline behind the camera incident and why the teacher and pupil don't get on. This was done purely to carry on the storyline from the series and to enhance the relationships between characters. Shot-reverse-shot was also used a lot between characters as they were talking to different people. It was used the most In the first conversation with the teacher and pupils. It switches between the characters a lot which shows confusion as the pupils are acting as though they don't know what is going on. This fits the stereotype of teenagers hating school and being resilient to certain events. This was done to add a realistic approach to a pupils school life but to exaggerate how teachers and pupils can get on by showing 2 sides of the spectrum. Fast Paced Editing was used during the intimidation scene as all the shots were placed together very quickly to show how fast her anger was building up. The Director would have done it to add to the rush and intensity from both characters. As one character got angrier, one character got more nervous.
Non-Diegetic Sound was done through the music that was played in the background. This worked well with the intimidation scene as the music sounded like a heartbeat which could represent the school boy's heart beating faster and faster as his asthma attack begins to start. Diegetic Sound is also used when the dialogue starts, this relates onto Synchronous Sound as there were many sounds such as: constant chatter in the corridors of the school, slow foot pace from teachers and patronising tones from teachers. The main time in the clip that this happens would be with the distress in the young school boys voice as the girl begins shouting at him and intimidating him. The distress in his voice highlights exactly how scared he is and how uncomfortable he is around this girl. This would have been the directors intention as he wants the girl to look stronger and have power over him. 
All of these points were done by the Director, yet again to show realism, but also to add extra impact and drama to the scene. It was done to enhance the schools environment and show that, although this shot is based on one character, there are still people having their own conversations and school problems behind the scenes. Patronising voices were done by the middle aged teacher as he feels as though he has authority and is better than the children. He is portraying his dominance over them. He also does this by clicking at the boys to pass over the camera to him. This is a very important gesture to make to show authority and dominance. The language that the pupils use is also influenced by the people around them. The girl says "about my mum being a big hoe bag" This would be suggested that she has caught this on through her peers and this matches reality as teenagers are seen as being influenced greatly by their peers and following what they do. The language throughout this clip evidently shows this.
The younger teacher also seems very patronising and judgemental about the kids by the way that she speaks about them as she says "What do kids know about fashion." This also fits the stereotype.
An establishing shot was used when the pupils were walking down the corridor to establish the scene and to show that it was a school environment. It would have been done to set the scene and show how normal this school is and how standard its appliances and resources are. Medium Shots were also used quite a lot as people had conversations with each other. It was used mostly when the girls were talking in the corridor.
This would have been done to establish a character after the scene has been set. It could have been done in this instant, to introduce us, as an audience, to her uniform and could make us gain an opinion on her as a character by the way she holds herself and the way that she dresses. This also then relates onto the use of Canted Angles. This was used when the girl, as previously mentioned, drags the boy into the other room and begins intimidating him. It is used when she is towering over him to suggest that she has authority over him and he is weak and scared of her.Before the fights begins, a hand-held camera is used as the teacher rushes out of the classroom and eventually enters the room where the fight is taking place. This was done to show the rush that he was in and how urgently he was needed at the scene to help the boy. This was effective to helping the audience understand that school children place themselves on a ranked list and some teenagers are feared by others. This is the case in this situation and the Director would have done it to show that some teenagers are timid and some can be aggressive. A low angle is also used here to make her seem supremely powerful over him. An Insert Shot was used right at the beginning when the camera is slotted into the boys pocket to hide it from the teacher. This would have been done to show that they boys have done something bad and therefore need to cover up their mistake. Its a sneaky move via the boys so therefore required a discrete shot which would have been selectively chosen by the Director to portray this thought of the boys.
At then end of the clip, the teachers outfit is very uncool and he seems to be trying extra hard to gain popularity and attention from his pupils. This fits the stereotype of adults being unaware of popular culture. He is wearing his jeans really low which is where teenagers fell it is cool to wear them and he is wearing baggy clothes which is most associated with teenagers.  The teenagers also have their own sense of style as the girls have their shirts very low with their ties matching so that they are showing off their cleavage and one of the boys wears a scruffy jacket and comes across as a lazy character. He also has his tie really far down. This portrays the girls as wanting to flaunt themselves and caring for other peoples opinions a lot and the boys don't seem to care and just want to be themselves. The maintenance man also has a pen behind his ear and is wearing scruffy clothes which is typical of someone form this area of job. This was done so that he would stand out as the Maintenance man and wouldn't be mistaken as a teacher. Finally, there were a lot of educational posters placed around the school, not just in the classrooms, but in the corridors as well. This would be exactly like a school in real life as almost all schools are covered with educational posters and information around their schools. This would be done to yet again show realism and the scene becomes more believable when there are educational resources placed around the set.

Our Girl Gender and Ethnicity Stereotypes

Gender and Ethnicity

Our girl is a drama based on BBC1. Our Girl is about a White British female who is a Medic in the British Army. She's over in Kenya because the Military need a Medic and her Boss claims that she is the best and just what they need. This Drama is a Mainstream Drama which means that everyone is able to watch this drama and most people are able to understand this drama. This is why they have Michelle Keegan as a main character because she used to be a main character In a TV Soap so she is well-known and well-loved so people are able to connect to her more.

Gender Stereotypes

The stereotype for gender is shown numerous times in this episode of Our Girl. The first way that she is stereotyped by is how every man shows genuine concern and worry that Georgie has been taken. This shows that because she is a Woman, she is very important and feels as though she may not have it in her to survive so they need to support her as much as they can so that she is able to survive. This shows a typical stereotype. On the other hand, Georgie does show a counter stereotype when she doesn't show herself as vulnerable later on in the episode and fights back when they are try to kill both her and Kiki. The terrorists feel as though they are too weak to fight back but she fights this and protests against them killing her. The usual stereotype would be that she would just take it because she is too weak to fight them, but within this episode she proves that wrong so therefore it is a counter stereotype.
At some parts in the episode though she does show typical female traits such as breathing extremely heavily in panic and when someone finally helps her to breathe again, she shows her vulnerability by showing pure distraught in her face and worry about what lies ahead. This is stereotypical because men are usually seen as the stronger gender so by her acting this was and portraying her emotions like this, it matches with the stereotype and shows her weakness.
Furthermore, when the men are finding her, they show no favourability towards her because she is female, which can sometimes happen in society and they remain the name "Primary" attached to her. Finally, the terrorists feel no shame or care for her when they throw her into the back of their van and throw her around as though she is an animal instead of a woman. Women are usually seen with dignity and respect so for this to happen it would not be seen as usual or a normal act to carry out.

Ethnicity Stereotypes

There are many traits of ethnic stereotypes including the fact that Elvis is an Asian British yet he is on the British Military and not fighting the Muslims. Another fact is the at the start, one of the terrorists compares Georgie, one white woman, to a thousand black children by explaining that the British government would never let anything happen to any of their soldiers, especially a female, yet it is okay for their military to kill 1000 black children and families just because it has 'moral meaning.' Abu (also one of the terrorists) is a white British converted Muslim. He has used religion to claim that he is fighting for what is right. He is a counter stereotype but is now gradually becoming a stereotype. He also refers to his terrorist group as "us" so he feels like he is part of that group and his loyalties never lied with the British even though he was born and raised there and has not long converted.

Sound

During the opening scene of episode 2 gender stereotypes are shown a lot through Georgie showing her vulnerability through the sounds that she makes and the way she is represented. There are a lot of diegetic sounds such as the shooting of gun and the screams that Georgie lets out to show that she is scared and is in despair. This shows her vulnerability and also shows what is happening in the scene through sound. This also can be classed as sychronous sound because it is what would be expected with the action that is taking place within the scene.Non-diegetic sound is also used as there is tension building music in the background and does not have a source on the screen. The music builds up tension and eventually leads to a climax which would show that the action is only just beginning. The music can also show movement as when the music is at a faster speed, the van is moving at a much quicker speed as well which would show a correlation between the two things. Furthermore, the screech of tyres is a way of building climax because the pitch increases showing a crescendo. Finally, a sound bridge is followed through two scenes when the increasing pitch music is carried on.

Mise-en-scene

The series is set in Kenya and this is easily noticeable by the broken down buildings that surround the area in most of the scenes and would indicate a warzone. Another way that a warzone is represented is how Georgie is dressed in scrubs and still has her gloves on throughout the kidnap showing that she was mid way through helping someone when an awful event occurred. Blood splatters on the windscreen could also make the scene become more alive and feel more realistic as it was splattered in random places like blood would after being shot. They are shown as dead when they are slumped down in their chairs which is a stereotypical way of showing that you are dead or acting as though you are. Furthermore, the main leader of the terrorist group is in black which could also be related to being scared or death as black is seen as a sinister colour and one that should be avoided. Using black could also be a representation of ISIS as their main colour is black and the way that they wear their headscarf's is the same. So they are showing a stereotypical view on what a terrorist looks and dresses like. 

Camera

There are many camera angles that are used to show representations such as an establishing shot which was used at the start of episode two when the van is just coming into the cameras view from a long distance away. This would show the build up to the kidnap scene and also show to an audience that something is about to happen. Also, during the attack, before the kidnap, the people are very much out of focus in the camera and the focus is around the special effects such as the blood smears and the dust on the vans windscreen. This is called shallow focus and also happen when Georgie arrives at the camp and the camera is focused in at each terrorist one by one as a way of introducing them to the audience through camera techniques. Other camera techniques that were used are hand-held camera and this was used when we were following Georgie and being dragged with her. The camera was placed at a lower angle to show the feet moving forward. Georgie's feet were dragging along as though she couldn't walk and the terrorists were walking fine which shows authority. Georgie has no authority because she is being dragged behind. Another focus was on Georgie's experience so a point-of-view shot is used so that we can see the experience from Georgie's perspective and the canted angle shows that there is tension and something is happening to someone that we should support so this use of technique shows that our priorities should lie with Georgie. Finally, there is a aerial shot which shows distance so could be incorporated as Georgie being taken far away so that nobody can find her in such a remote area.

Editing

Fast-paced editing is used throughout this episode as there are many scenes, during the action, that would need to have been previously filmed and carefully placed together afterwards. An example of this would be when there are three bullet holes in the windscreen of the van one after the other. Therefore, these would have had to have been done to  build tension. Also, continuity editing was used when the second episode has started as it repeated the end of the first episode so that we could remember the action that had previously taken place and as it was a replica of the episode before, it was continuity editing. Finally, at the end of the travelling scene, once Georgie had been kidnapped there was a cut which is an abrupt transition and maintains the continuity. It was done to show that the action had ended and the new ordeal for Georgie was just beginning.