Representation of Social Class and Status of Power in "Upstairs Downstairs".

I have chosen a clip from the old series of the television programme "Upstairs Downstairs" to represent social class and status of power.

Within the programme, the servants of the house live downstairs in cramped, fairly poor living conditions whilst the owners of the house (who are extremely well off) live a life of luxury upstairs.

The mise en scene within this extract clearly portrays the fact that the people living upstairs are of a much higher social class than the people living downstairs are. For example, the living/main room upstairs has a huge fireplace and lush leather couches, whereas the living quarter downstairs is very simple with hard wooden chairs and small square tables with no pictures on the walls. This is due to a lack of money. In addition to this, the whole extract begins with one of the servants cleaning and holding a duster in her hand. Cleaning is a job which requires little intelligence and not a very high level of education. Cleaners are stereotypically associated with being of a lower class, so this is what provides the idea that the servants are of a lower class. This is also shown due to the fact that the family living upstairs can wear anything they like but the servants have to wear a uniform to ensure that they are smartly presented and respectable-looking when they are around people with more authority than them.

The sound within this extract of the television programme consists of only dialogue, which is a type of diegetic sound because it comes from the characters within the scene. The dialogue still gives the audience an idea of the different levels of social class though, because the owners of the house are very well spoken and sound fairly posh, which suggests they have had an excellent education and have good elocution. On the other hand, the servants have a slightly cockney accent and are no where near as well spoken as the house owners because they are not very likely to have been corrected by parents for not speaking in the correct manner, and they probably didn't have much of an education.

The camera angles and shots within the servants' quarters are fairly simple, perhaps to reflect the layout of the room or possibly even the intelligence and personality of the lower class servants. A lot of mid shots and two shots are used, which clearly show the surroundings and each of the characters. Although, the majority of shots within this scene are not very exciting or interesting, there is a point of view shot from the 2 servant girls and the butler over to where Mrs Bridge (the cook) is standing. Mrs Bridge is a woman who is a lot older than the rest of the servants and has probably been working at the house for longer and so they are likely to have more respect for her, which is why a point of view shot has been used - they perhaps all look to her for advice and help because she is the most superior servant. Of course, she is still not on a level anywhere near as authoritative a one as the house owners are, but she has a higher status of power than the young servant girls do. In the scene upstairs with the rich house owners, an over the shoulder shot has been employed over the shoulder of Mrs Bellamy towards the guest, Miss Hamilton. This helps to show that Miss Hamilton may be from a well-off family background, but she is still inferior to Mrs Bellamy. This is shown by how far away Miss Hamilton is from the actual camera lens, causing her to look smaller and less significant.

Parallel editing has been used within the extract. This happens when the scene in the servant's quarters suddenly cuts to the scene upstairs when Mrs Bellamy meets Miss Hamilton. This sudden cut is trying to show that both halves of the house are experiencing totally different things at the same time, but neither of the halves are aware of what the other is doing. Another editing technique used is an eyeline match between the servants when they are in their living quarters. The match cuts between the 2 young servant girls, the butler and the butler. It allows the audience to view the close proximity in which the servants live, and it also shows how they have nothing very interesting to look at due to them being fairly poor and lower class.

Overall, the difference in social class and status of power is most obviously shown through the use of mise en scene. The camera angles and editing have to be studied much more closely to find the reasons for them being used to represent the opposite classes accurately.

Role play representing age at a bus stop

My video won't upload! So I will just have to write the commentary without it :(


Within this task, our group wanted to concentrate on the stereotypical way in which the older generation perceive the younger generation, as well as showing the difference between the two.
We were given two props to aid our task: a walking stick and a hat; both of which were used for the character of the old lady. Typically, a walking stick represents the elderly, and the hat we were given was definately much more suited to the old lady ("Nan") than the character of the teenage boy ("Jeremy"). The use of mise en scene is also shown in the scene on the bus where we set up some chairs to try and make the scene look like the inside of a bus. A bus is stereotypically a means of transport for the elderly, but a lot of teenagers use it too, because they are yet to learn to drive. Bus transport almost misses out the entire middle aged generation and focuses on the two opposite ends of the population (old and young), who are completely different to each other. This is probably why they have such harsh opinions of each other.
Within our mini-film, the very first camera angle we decided to use was a low angle looking up towards Jeremy and Nan as they walked down the stairs towards the bus stop. We wanted to employ this type of angle to show that Jeremy and Nan are important and that they are the main characters, and so they are on a higher level to the audience. A close up shot is used on Nan's face to show her anger and disapproval of the "thugs" when they have taken her normal seat on the bus. The close up allows the audience to really focus on the features that make her look angry such as her pursed lips and frowning eyes. This facial expression portrays an older person's stereotypical opinion of a younger person. Whilst Jeremy and Nan are on the bus, point of view shots are used to show the close proximity between them. This makes it seem more realistic and the audience would feel as if they are on the bus with the characters. This type of shot also lets the audience see the difference between the way the two characters move, talk and behave within a few short frames of the film.
An editing technique we decided to use in our short film is the repetition of the close up of Nan's face. We edited this in at different points during the film to remind the audience of Nan's total disapproval and possibly even hatred for the younger generation. Another editing technique we employed several times throughout the extract was a fade out and then fade in between scenes. We did this because each scene didn't necessarily link with the other and so we needed a way to make the film run smoothly without the jerkiness and confusion of the constant swapping between scenes. The fade out/fade in allowed the transition to be much more fluid, making it easier for the audience to grasp and watch.
The use of diegetic sound is used throughout the film by the use of dialogue. In addition to this, we added a few simple sound effects such as the "ping!" when Nan presses the "STOP" button on the bus. This just made the bus scene a bit more realistic because these sounds would usually be heard on a bus, and the audience would probably be wondering what was going on if no sound at all had been made. Non-diegetic sound is used during the close up of Nan's face - we added in some incidental music that suggests suspense and tension. Nan's facial expression is supposed to be quite scary anyway, so the music directly correlates with this.
In conclusion to this commentary, we have used mise-en-scene, camera shots/angles, editing and sound to represent how the younger generation find the elderly fussy and boring, and how the older generation view all young people to be insensitive, careless thugs.

My Ultimate Christmas Film

My ultimate Christmas film - although it is a bit cliche and a typical girly film - is The Holiday. The reason being: it's a classic rom-com with a happy ending. Cheesy, i know, but it's the kind of film I like.
The holiday has 4 main characters in it:
- Amanda (the super rich American beauty, played by Cameron Diaz)
- Iris (the awkward English woman, played by Kate Winslet)
- Miles (the not-so-good-looking male who is also super rich, but very modest about it, played by Jack Black)
- Graham (the bumbling British gentleman, played by Jude Law)

As love stories generally go, the four main characters are all linked in some way with either family or work ties, and so the two couples that finally get together (Amanda and Graham; Iris and Miles) all become great friends at the end.
I like The Holiday because it generally has a feel-good factor to it, especially at the end when everything turns out just fine, despite it being a total mess throughout the rest of the film. It's one of those films where you know that there will be a happy ending, but it's hard to remember that fact when you become emotionally involved in the events which occur throughout.
It's the type of film that would definately appeal to females because both of the female characters in the film end up with charming men who they are desperately in love with. This is how almost every woman wants their life to end up.
Overall, I think The Holiday is the ultimate Christmas film because you just feel so happy when it's over. Not because you don't have to watch anymore of it, but because it makes you think that maybe you could be, or already are as elated in the characters in the film are. You come out of the cinema or finish watching the DVD and think, "Oh, what a lovely film." Like I said, it's got the feel good factor! :)