This is from a period drama called Cranford. This clip is set in village, the accents of the characters tell me the village is in the north of England. A medium long shot, shows a boy, his costume consists of dirty looking rags, his costume does not consist of shows. From the dirty poor clothes, I can see he comes from a family whom do not earn a lot. Because there is a lot of space around him, he must be working or looking for supplies, period drama's do not usually have an under class, because if you didn't work you would die. So he is most probably working class. The soundtrack following the footage, is classical but a slow pace, following the slow paced motion of the young boy walking. The soundtrack is sympathetic to the boy, making the audience feel sorry for him having to support his family.
A panning shot, across the boy as he walks home, showing the smoke from a chimney afar. This panning shot also shows the boy holding potatoes, in a closeup shot while panning. He is carrying potatoes, he is only a boy so it is showing he isn't lazy challenging the lazy stereotype of the working class. He could have farmed the potatoes, but he could have stolen them, which reinforces the stereotype than working class people are criminals.
The audience now see the clip cut from the forest location, to his house with his family in. The forest location is not a common place to live, because it is a cold and deserted place to live. It shows me that, the boy and his family, cannot afford a nice area to live in. Reinforcing the stereotype of the working class, not earning much money. His house is small, and low key lighting caused to a lack of lighting (only one candle), as well as the family costume being dull and unclean, and the lack of space and props. This shows the lack of wealth the family have, reinforcing that they are working class.
The boy is greeted with dialogue a cheer, showing their family is close, and challenging the stereotype that the working class aren't as happy as higher classes. Shot reverse shot with the one hundred and eighty degree rule, showing the father thanking the by for helping support his family. The farther gives the boy a gift, dialogue is said in a strong northern accent, ''A mans job'' this ideal in society in this era, of a man being in charge is a moral of the working class, reinforcing again that they a working class family.
The prop of leather boots, is what a middle class and upper class men wear, and is a wealthy part of a costume. The boy reads words, from a prop, a newspaper, making it an important part of the clip, causing conflict with his father. Reinforcing the stereotype that the working class are uneducated.
It is now night time, a medium shot shows the boy walking through the forest, the low key lighting and non diegetic foley of animal noises creates suspense and a sense of uncertainty. The soundtrack is not louder than before, after his father didn't accept his excitement for knowledge,reinforcing the stereotype that the working class are not educated and do not want to be. An establishing shot shows a big manor house, the juxtaposition between these two locations, shocks the boy. This reinforces the stereotype that the working class, live in small cheaper houses. This house is white rather than the boys house which is dull. The light colour, makes this building look cleaner and more expensive. Showing that an upper class family live here. A closeup shows the boy look around, he is shocked at this huge house. The soundtrack is at a slow pace, a flute is playing, it is quite exotic sounding, showing the higher classes wealth.
In the morning, shown by high key lighting, a new character is introduced. He wears leather boots,clean clothes and a tailored jacket. The clean and tailored costume, shows me he is a higher class than the boy. The man has an aggressive approach to the working class boy, by pulling him by his ear, he may have thought he was stealing. The costume lets the man know he comes from a lower class, and reinforces the stereotype that the working class are criminals.
He takes the boy new another location, his office. This shows me he does not live at this manor house, but works there. He is not a laborer because his costume looks expensive and clean, he could be an assistant of the manor, seems to be lower middle class or middle class, he is also well spoken and pronounces words, but remains to have some accent but not as much as the boy, this is because he would have been educated. The man takes a liking to the boy after some dialogue, about him liking all of the words in the office. Perhaps the man was from a working class family, who did well for himself. A pull focus, shows the bread in focus and then the boy. This is showing the audience the importance of the props of the bread and jug. The juxtaposition f the working class boy and the middle class man, reinforces the stereotype that the middle class have more wealth than the working class.
After the man offers the boy a job to do, the clip cuts to another location the land outside of the manor. A low angle shows the lady of the manor, the low angle shows her power and she has a title showing she has power. A long shot is used to show the lady of the manor, to show her costume and the space around her. The space shows her wealth. She is in front of the assistant man,showing she has more power than him. Also her costume is white and she wears a white dress, this means it is clean and expensive. All of these points means she is upper class, therefor lives in the manor. She does not work, shown by the costume and amount of time she has, reinforcing that she is upper class. She has not got an accent, which shows she is educated, also reinforcing that she is upper class.
She is over looking the marque being built, she has an event planned. Reinforcing the stereotype that the upper class have extreme wealth and power. The men building the marque have a similar costume to the boy, and because they are working they are working class. These laborers, are shown through closeups shows them and extreme closeups showing the hammers they are using to hit the pegs of the marque in. A fast paced soundtrack is played along with the fast paced footage, shows the men working, the jolly music reinforces that upper class people have more fun than people who are laborers and are a lower class than them. The diegetic foley of the hammers, also reinforces that the more physical work you do the lower class you are. The assistant of the manor man asks for ''five dozen chairs to be put out'', this means that a lot of people will be attending, reinforcing that the upper class have a lot of friends, who are upper class as well.
This last location is a piece of land, a medium shot shows a man is helping woman also wearing white costumes, onto horse and carriages. This reinforces the upper classes wealth. Throughout this whole clip, a handheld camera is used when the working class are in shot, but a tripod is used to the shot is steady when the upper class are in shot. This is showing that the upper class and stable and the working class are shaky and not as put together. Reinforcing that the upper class have the most power.
This clip reinforces all class stereotypes, but creates sympathy for certain characters. The boy has the most prominence on screen, but he has the least power because of his age and class, but this allows the audience to feel sympathy for him. The clip represents class in a negative way, showing that you cannot have class without education or wealth. The mis en scene used in this clip gives a visual categorisation into a class, in the views of the upper class. The sound creates sympathy for those who are working class, specifically the boy. Editing also creates sympathy for the boy. The camera work also pin points certain stereotypes of each class. The middle class make tv dramas, so they slightly bias to the middle class, in terms of the way they look and act. They have made the working class look unhygienic and uneducated, and the upper class snobby and not thankful for what they have. Yet they have made the middle class characters, look clean and humble.
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