1. Sonia Ward – 12S6
Greysom Returns
The clip ‘Greysom Returns’ highlights the issues between power and gender roles –
these are represented through the camera, editing, mise-en-scene, and the sound.
The clip begins with the two male characters opening the door to Greysom and
another male character – here an over the shoulder shot is used to represent the amount of
power the two male characters have over Greysom; however, this is ironic as at the
moment Greysom is seen as the more powerful character – as a close up on the two male
characters facial expression evidently illustrate their fearful expressions towards the arrival
of Greysom. Next there is a low angle shot which signifies that infact Greysom is the one
with most power as he is of higher level – the woman in the frame is at the lowest level as
she is sitting down – this signifies gender roles as this demonstrates how the women is of a
lower level in society and is the least powerful character in the room. The idea of the
women having the least power is reinforced when there is a close up of her face as this is
the first time the audience see the female’s reaction to Greysom’s arrival – in this case the
female character is crying as she evidently feels overpowered by the character Greysom.
Greysom’s aggressive character becomes more evident when a mid shot is used; this
allows the audience to see Greysom’s negative but powerful body language as he stands
strong while pointing the gun at the other characters. The consequences of Greysom’s
powerful presence is presented in another mid shot where the audience are enabled to see
where one of the male characters have been shot – this is so the audience can then
sympathise with the wounded character. The mid shot is then followed with a close up of
the wounded character on the floor which signifies that he is now of lower level to everyone
else therefore, he has less power and is weaker and more vulnerable compared to the other
characters in the room – as a result this also signifies that the female character is no longer
the weakest character. Another low angle shot is used when the female character is
comforting the wounded character while Greysom is watching over them – this again
signifies that Greysom has the most power in the scene.
Currently throughout the clip Greysom is the one with the most power, however this
changes when the female is character is given the gun. Here an over the shoulder shot is
used to signify that she is now the most powerful character, addition to this a zoom in on
the guns trigger reinforces the power she has gained – on the other hand this in contrast to
society as generally males are seen as more powerful than females but in this case the
female character is the most powerful in the room. The last scene is a long shot of Greysom
isolated on the field, the isolation signifies how his power is gone and he has lost the battle.
Right at the beginning of the clip the colour red is used on the room’s walls - the
colour red is quite a masculine colour as it represents power and anger therefore, linking to
the subject of the scene - it also foreshadows the dangerous events to come. The hierarchy
of power is also apparent at the beginning; the character who gets shot later into the clip
wears a pale blue shirt which signifies his lack in power as the pale blue colour is very weak,
as a result also foreshadowing the negative events to come (this is then evident once the
character gets shot as the contrast between the dark red blood and the pale blue shirt
represents how his lack of power resulted in him being shot). On the other hand there is
also a lot of irony as the most powerful character Greysom is wearing a pink shirt (similar to
the female character) – this signifies femininity and therefore is ironic as in fact Greysom is a
masculine character however, the pink shirt reduces his power. Once Greysom has gathered

2. the rest of the characters in the kitchen the female character is seen sitting down – this
signifies the minimal power she has as she is of lower level to the rest of the characters.
Greysom then points the gun across the room again signifying the amount of power he has
as the weapon he possesses could potentially end someone’s life. On the other hand the
weapon in the scene is the object that gives the characters the power, as once the female
character is handed the gun the power switches as she went from the character with the
least power to the one with most. While the female character points the gun at Greysom,
Greysom’s body language becomes weak, in contrast to his much stronger body language
before – this simply reinforces that he no longer has the power and the roles are reversed.
A lot of cuts are used in the clip to allow the audience to see the reactions of all the
characters e.g. while Greysom is holding the gun there are cuts to the victims in the room,
one of which is a female - this links to the issues of gender as Greysom feels he is powerful
enough to threaten women. Addition to this a lot of fast pace cuts have been used to build
tension and impact for the audience and to create a sense of danger, an examples of this is
when there are fast cuts between Greysom and the two other male characters – this shows
how the conversation is very quick and how the anger between the characters is building
up. Finally at the end of the clip there are cuts between Greysom and the police officers
with a long pan of a police car entering the grounds this brings the clip to its climax – the
cuts between the police officers and Greysom signifies his inevitable punishment, the slow
pan represent how he has ‘slowly’ lost the battle of power.
Lastly diegetic sound has been used throughout the clip when all the characters are
shouting over one another – the overload of all the characters shouting at once represent
how they are all trying to be the most powerful in the room. You can tell a lot about a
character through the use of their voice e.g. Greysom generally speaks in a higher volume
but with a lower pitch overall to represent his dominance in the room – this is in contrast to
the female character who speaks on a lower volume to the rest of the characters however,
this changes once she is given the gun as here it’s evident that her voice changes to a more
powerful tone. Addition to this, more diegetic sound is also present at the end of the scene
which is the sound of the police dog with the additional sound of the police siren, this
represents how they are closing in on Greysom (therefore isolating him) which signifies all
his power is lost – the police are now the ones with the most power.