Half - Term: Gender Analysis

After watching this clip for the first time my initial thoughts were that in the relationship there isn't really a huge masculine role played by either of them. They both seem to be portrayed as feminine and masculine in different parts of the clip. However I would say that from watching it once that the women in the relationship has more control over the man, therefore making her the more masculine character.

Camera shots:

The fist shot used is a medium long shot on the couple in the taxi, during this shot you see the man kiss his partners hand over and over again. This is showing his affection and love fir her which is a feminine thing to do because a masculine man wouldn't normally be all loving and soppy.

Another shot used is the close up on the man to show his reaction to the women saying sorry about a past mistake. From this shot you learn that he is more upset than angry. This also shows him to be quite feminine because masculine men are never emotional they are just aggressive.

Throughout the conversation there is shot reverse shot used to keep the conversation flowing. During these shots you can see that the women is having to look up to the man and he is having to look down on her, this shows that he is the masculine one because he has more power over her.  Over the shoulder shots are also used during the conversation to show the reaction of what the other character has just said.

A high angle shot is used on the women and the doctor when in the office type room. This is to show where they are and you can see all the action happening in the room.

There is also a tilt shot used, following with a close up on the women to show her reaction to what the doctor has said. In this shot you see that the women is crying, because we do not know what she is crying about either happy or sad tears, it makes the women seem very emotional and weak. therefore she must be a feminine women.

while the man is sitting, waiting outside for his partner there is a medium close up used and then a pan shot to show what he is looking at.  There is also a extreme close up used while he is sitting down, this shot shows him playing with his ring, this shows his love for his new wife because he smiles after. this shows that he has a feminine side.

Once the car has hit the women there is a high angle shot used on her body when laying on the floor and  long shot of the mans view looking at her on the floor.

Finally there are a number of close ups and over the shoulder shots used when there is a short conversation with the couple while the women says her last words and there is a final close up showing the women closing her eyes.

Editing:

The editing used in this clip was the straight cuts from different shots. This allows you to see all the important parts of the clip in different scenes that you need to see without dragging the scenes and making you watch all the things that are not important or relevant.

There is also a number of eye-line matches while the couple are having a conversation. During the first part of the clip when they are in the taxi, the women is looking up to the man when speaking to him and the man is looking down on the women. This makes the man seem to be the masculine one and the women to be feminine because he has more power.

Also when you see the reaction of the man when his partner is hit by the car there is a type of slow motion used. This makes everything seem to have come to a stop and all you see is the man running towards his partner.

Sounds:

The sounds used in this clip were either diegetic, non-diegetic, synchronous and asynchronous.
There is music through out the clip that is quite calm and gentle, how you would imagine feminine music to be. This then changes when the atmosphere gets more tense when the women is hit by the car.

Other sounds you hear towards the end is the car crashing when it hits against the women and the sounds of the car screeching trying to stop, there is also cars beeping in the traffic. These sounds are used to create the atmosphere and draw your attention to the important moment.

Sound effects were also used during this clip, this was the mans heart beating when his partner is hit down by a car and then him breathing very heavy. The sound effects are over exaggerated so you are able to hear them to create a certain effect on the audience.

Mise-en-scene:

At the very start of the clip the couple are speaking about their past mistakes while in their relationship, from hearing what they have both done previously it seems that the relationship is a bit of a mess. Therefore I can suggest that there is no masculine role in this relationship because they would not allow the partner to cheat because they would be in control of what the partner does.

When the couple arrive at the hospital and get out of the taxi it shows the man to be confused about why he is there on his wedding day. The women is shown to be in control at this part of the clip because she doesn't tell him the full story about why they are there but he seems to be a push over and lets her get away with it and offers to go in with her but she shows another masculine role when she says she doesn't want him to come. This shows that she is brave and strong enough, just like you would think a masculine man would be, to do it on her own.

On the other hand, the women is wearing a dress. We can assume that this means she is a feminine women but it is her wedding day and she isn't wearing a stereotypical long wedding dress. Therefore this could also make her seem masculine because she isn't all dressed up like a feminine women would do on her wedding day. However you can see that the women is wearing make-up during the clip, this strongly supports her to be feminine because make-up is associated with feminine women.

The man in the relationship tends to do what every the women says. Therefore I can suggest that he is the feminine one and she is the masculine one because she holds all control over him and I can tell that he is very much in love with her, he is very soppy and day dreamy, this wouldn't be shown in a masculine characters role. Further on towards the end of the clip when the women is hit by the car you see that the man is crying, which we would expect but not from a big, strong masculine man, he would hold it all together, show that he is so strong.

Conclusion: 

Overall from watching this clip many of times I would say that the masculine role is played by the women in this relationship. This is because she just seems to have more power and control over the man and he listens to her and does as he's told.