Rosie - Social Class

SOCIAL CLASS - PREP WORK

Firstly i created various different colleges in order to show representation of the 4 different social classes. I then looked into the different social class and found out how they use different techniques to show off the particular stereotype. 

After watching the videos given to me and looking into a few different clips myself i found out that upper class people are shown as powerful and dominate by using low angle shots, smooth, calm tracking can also be used in order to show that the upper class character is in control and mature. The costumes and locations would be expensive and posh when looking at upper class people, the location would give off a high class profile, on some occasions the location would be set int he country side. The costumes of the upper class men would be suits or other smart clothing, for women they would usually be wearing long classy dresses. Sound for upper class people would be portrayed in there voices, the educated class would be well spoken and maybe even have a posh accent. Edits for this particular class would be smooth and controlled to show sophistication within the social group. 

Working class people would be shown in a busy location, weather it be a office, building site or another working environment. The costume of these particular working class people would be plain and simple,  and in some cases maybe even a work uniform to enhance the 'working' status. The camera would vary depending on the situation, however if you was showing the working class next to lower or underclass people they would have a low angle, if a upper class character came into shot the working class would then be shown as submissive and be shown to have less power by a high angle shot. The editing could contain fast pace cuts, in order to show the busy working day or a working character. 

Middle class people are in-between the upper class and working class stereotype, therefore they could be portrayed in many different ways. depending on the situation the point of view, angles and prominence would vary.

Underclass people are shown as submissive by using high angles. the way that they are portrayed by their costumes also give them the lower class feel, the costumes always look 'chavy' and inexpensive. Some may see the underclass people are vulgar this is because of the location that they are placed in, dirty background and filthy clothes are to make them seen unclean and not as healthy and important as other classes. 

SOCIAL CLASS - MOCK EXAM ESSAY

This is my essay plan; 

The first stereotype that I found when watching the Merlin clip was ‘underclass’. Through out the clip the underclass stereotype was shown to be submissive, weak and powerless. The clothing the character was wearing were dirty, ragged and cheap looking this reinforces the underclass name he was labelled with, the location is also very important, when the underclass boy, Merlin, was shown in the large expensive building he looked extremely out of place and unwanted, then when he stepped into the market scene he become much more fitted in and relaxed this backs up the underclass stereotype as a market is seen as a busy, dirty cheap place to be. The first piece of dialogue we hear Merlin have is shown in a darkened room, Merlin stutters and is unconfident when he speaks this insinuates that he is uneducated or he fears the upper-class lady that he is speaking with, both of these fit in with the underclass stereotyped characteristics. When Merlin is speaking to the upper-class lady he has less prominence than her showing he is less important and has less power than her. Merlin is also portrayed as being meek and unconfident, to start with Merlin does not have his own weapon this shows that he is uneducated in fighting, this is also backed up when he is thrown the weapon and we hear a loud clang as he drops it on the floor. During the fight scene it is extremely fast pace this shows confusion and that Merlin is out of control, he doesn’t know what he is doing and therefore is shown to be lost and weak, lastly he is shown through a high angle when he loses the fight this portrays him as being powerless and submissive to the upper-class boy who wins the fight.

There are two different upper-class characters in the short clip of Merlin. Firstly there is a young lady, who is wearing a long expensive gown this makes her seem important and powerful which are traits of the upper-class stereotype; the lady is also placed in a large, grandee looking building to enforce her power status. When the upper-class lady speaks her voice is soft yet assertive, she is also well spoken which leads you to think she is well educated, these traits are all there to suggest that the lady is upper-class. When speaking to Merlin in the room of the large building, the upper-class lady is given more prominence, which means she holds all the power over the underclass boy. The second character that is shown to be upper-class is the young lad who has a fight with Merlin, he is educated in fighting and is also well spoken, the young boy has power over Merlin (who is in the underclass region), the upper-class boy laughs and mocks Merlin which shows that he doesn’t not fear him and in fact he holds all the power and is dominate. The upper class boy pulls out a weapon and starts waving it around, the clanging of weapons shows that the upper-class boy knows what he is doing and also holds power over anyone he wants not just Merlin. Throughout the different scenes the upper-class boy has prominence to reinforce the fact he is more powerful than everyone else, even during the convocation between himself and Merlin the upper-class boy has more screen time during the shot reverse shot cuts. During one of the last scenes of the fight, a over the shoulder shot is used in order to look down on the underclass boy Merlin, again showing that upper-class characters has much more dominance and power.

Working class people are shown for a split second, during the Merlin clip. Firstly the short screen time they are given shows that they are not important and not cared about, the working class are shown as failures but hardworking. As Merlin changes scene the atmosphere noise changes completely, there are people shouting, boxes banging and animals clucking; all of the different Foley sounds that have been placed over the clip of the working class people enforce the hard working, stereotype of the working class. The characters shown to be the working class are dressed in dirty, ragged clothes they are placed in a busy location surrounded by market stalls, baskets and animals this again makes the working class stereotype stick. The camera sweeps past the market stalls at a fast pace showing that they are not worth much prominence and this shows that they do not have not much power.

After looking at the different stereotypes portrayed in the Merlin clip I can see that the power is all within the upper-class region and they have much more dominate than any other social class, this creates conflict as the upper-class characters do not like to be challenged or robbed of their authority. In this clip we can see that the upper class are very protected of their power and they do not like to be made a joke of are stripped of their power.  Overall the stereotypes that are portrayed in this clip are reinforcing the general expectations of social class however during the fight scene the stereotypes are challenged slightly when Merlin brings magic into the situation, during the time Merlin is cheating with magic there are a few high angle shots on the upper class lad to show him as being submissive, as soon as Merlin stops using magic the power is restored within the upper class and the stereotypes are being reinforced.

IMPROVEMENTS;

My taget from my last essay was to get straight to the point and not babble on, so to improve my analyses and to improve on terminology in all areas. 

After reading trough my essay i believe that my first target is massively improved and my essay is all important information i have not waffled on. I think that my terminology has improved as well, compared to my pervious essay this is a great improvement however i think if i practise more and keep on revising i could improve it even more before my final exam comes.