2. CAMERA, ANGLE, SHOT MOVEMENT AND
POSITION
A high angle shot is used to look down
on Darren as he is very vulnerable
at this point and this high angle
empathises this. The lines in this
shot are also used is a very weird
way as they are all going different
ways. This links with the
psychological genre as everything
isn’t straight forward.
High angles are used again to
show Lucy as she is a
vulnerable position and is
completely defenceless. It also
fits with the stereotype of
women being vulnerable.
3. EDITING
The pace of our film starts very slow as we used slow smooth pans
which created a calm atmosphere. During the rising action, the
pace gradually got faster as we used various different shots after
each other which then picked up the pace.
The pace also links to Darren’s confusion and frustration as during
the rising action he has no idea what’s going on.
4. White is the colour of purity
and innocence and in
our film, Darren wears a
white shirt. This is done
ironically as in the film
Darren is accused of
murdering his wife;
which is the antithesis of
pure and innocence. The
house is also white and
has white furniture
which is ironic as a
murder happened there.
The handprint of Lucy’s
blood on the bath shows
that Lucy is vulnerable
and weak, which fits
with the stereotype of
women.
MISE-EN-SCENE
5. GENDER - FEMALES
Women are stereotyped in our film as we got a woman to play the
psychopath woman which is seen a lot in a psychological thriller, for
example, ‘Orphan’. We did this as it fits with the typical sort of genre. We
then used another woman to play the victim as they’re stereotyped to be
the weaker and more vulnerable sex. However, we also subverted this
stereotype as we got a woman to play a police officer when you would
normally expect a male to playing this role. Police officers also create a
sense of danger, so then we associate women with danger which isn’t a
stereotype. Being a police officers also gives you power so in our film, the
women have power over then men. Also at the beginning we also used a
woman police office to lead a male therefore again this shows that
women have the power.
6. GENDER - MALES
We use males in a sort of subverted stereotype way also as we don’t portray
them to be violent or have more power, we portray our male to also be
vulnerable in the whole plot as he is accused of committing a crime
when he is innocent.
The fact we only use one male and the rest is females also shows that in our
film the men don’t have any power over women which isn’t ubiquitous in
film.
Overall, we have used both stereotypes and subverted stereotypes in our
film. We used subverted stereotypes for both women and men. We carry
on to do this in the rest of the film as it turns out that the killer of the
woman was also a woman. This isn’t generally seen in this genre of film
as the killer is normally a male. The killer is also not shown in the first
two minutes which also adds confusion and mystery which links with
genre and how Darren is feeling.
7. YOUNG PEOPLE
Our film is made up of ages 16-18 playing adult
middle-aged characters. This may show that crime
and violence can only happen to adults and
younger people are stereotyped as innocent and
not capable of anything to do with murder and
crime. An example of this is done it the film
‘Orphan’ as the audience first think it’s a little girl
causing destruction but turns out to be an adult,
fitting the stereotype that adults are associated
with crime.
8. ICONOGRAPHY
The fact that a woman plays the psychopath in
the film is iconic in lots of other films of this
genre such as Orphan and Black Swan. The
fact that our killer isn’t shown in the film also
adds more mystery.
9. DO YOU CHALLENGE STEREOTYPES OR USE
THEM?
As a whole, we challenge stereotypes more than we use them as our
Females are challenged mostly throughout. Our females are all the
police officers and killers which give them a greater authority and power
over males which is a subverted stereotype. Our only stereotype of
women throughout is that the victim who is murdered is a woman,
supporting the stereotype of women being vulnerable. Our male in the
film is shown as vulnerable and scared which again challenges
stereotypes. The fact that there is also a ratio 4:1 of women to men
shows that men are over-ruled in this film.