Today in my media lesson we looked at how gender was shown in a clip from Primeval a sci-fi drama from 2011. We used the acronym CLAMPS to analyse the clip, here are my notes.
Costumes
The protagonist Abby is shown wearing a pair of combat trousers and a leather jacket which portrays her as not being the stereotypical girl but instead shows her as having courage and nerve to stand up for herself. Abby as well has short hair which could suggest a tom-boy aspect behind her character. The second women shown in the clip is shown being heavily made up with a rather low cut dress which could suggest that she is using her sexuality in her favour against the farmer.
The male who is the main focus of the scene is Nick who is shown wearing a pair of combat trousers and a mud stained top, the fact that he almost has the same costume as Abby implies to the viewer that he is also one of the main characters. Another male character the viewer meets is a man dressed in a pink top, fingerless gloves, a waistcoat and trilby hat. The fact that his outfit is different to the characters could imply to the viewer that he has quite a quirky and humorous personality.
Lighting
The scene is mostly filmed in daylight which makes it more believable for the viewer as it not shot on a film set but instead in an everyday place. The clip does however get darker when it is just the girl with the farmer, this is to perhaps create tension as to whether the farmer will shoot or not.
Actors
Nick shows expressions of a worried/scared manner when the tiger is clawing at him, which makes it believable for the viewer as he looks genuinely scared of what could happen. In the same scene, Abby demonstrates expressions of panic, this creates tension for the viewer because it means that we know that she needs to create a plan quickly to help Nick. During the scene with the farmer and the lady, she shows extreme signs of shock when the farmer pulls out the gun, this tells the viewer that she definitely did not think the farmer would go to such an extent.
Movement
In one of the first scenes the man in the pink top is shown placing a piece of meat on top of a pile of leaves delicately, the fact that he places the meat so carefully shows that everything must be perfect for their task. This as well shows that the team are well organised because they thought everything down to the final detail, putting the meat in the right place being one of those. The movement of Nick ducking from the animal implies that he was so scared that he had no other choice other than ducking which is natural instinct for humans to duck away for things trying to harm them.
Props
Abby uses a yellow digger during the clip which shows that she has high status inside the group because she is doing a main part of the work. The yellow contrasts with the woods as it is much brighter, this foreshadows the fact that she saves Nick because she is much brighter than anything else. The two almost guard looking dogs in the farmer's barn make the viewer sense that the situation isn't all as it seems and something dangerous could happen.
Setting
The setting of the woods creates a feeling of mystery because the woods are a very isolated place and hard to escape from.
Here's the link to the video: https://vimeo.com/14838962
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