Enemy of the State, Tony Scott, 1998
The point of this sequence is to not only build tension to the audience but also to keep us in suspense. Tension is created through the editing of this video by using a lot of close ups and by cross-cutting between the men inside and the ones outside who are going to be causing trouble.
This image represents a close up which I believe shows the significance of this being put into the machine. It is clearly an important part, otherwise there would be no need for the audience to see it. They are primarily used here to put an emphasis on the importance of each close-up and draw our attention to them. This adds to the tension being created as we start to think about the story behind it and begin to wonder if the people outside are after what this man is placing in the machine.
They then cross-cut from one scene to another to show the audience that something is going on and by the look of the men, it's not a good thing. It appears that they are after what they have. The editing that was done for this video was very well done because their speech ties in with the edit. The man says "It's a brave new world out there, at least it better be" then the camera changes shot from a close-up of a family picture to a long shot of the men to show they are distant but they are on their way.
The first shot from 1:03 of the video was a close-up of one man handing over a device with some sort of memory card in it to the other guy. Then it has the same close-up of him removing this card from the device. This helps the audience to understand that there is some importance of this as they clearly wanted it to be seen. It then cuts to a mid-shot of the two men whilst he turns in his chair to place the card into a machine. The significance here is still that card which must be the main focus in the storyline. This reassures the audience that it is important that they have noticed it and must see what they are doing with it.
They then cut it to an individual close-up on each of them one at a time depending on who is speaking to signify that they are not only the main characters of that scene but also to understand their emotion behind what they are doing. It shows this close-up so that you really hear everything they are saying as that is just as important as the memory card. As the man removes the card from the machine, the close-up is back on his hand to symbolise that they have finished doing what they needed to and they now have all the information for the computer system.
Lastly, they take a mid-shot of both the men whilst he swivels back to the desk and places the card into a machine linked to the computer. This is done using a close-up again. This backwards and forwards of editing between close-ups and mid-shots guarantees that the audience wont miss anything and that they can see what the important parts are. This builds the tension for the audience because they will wonder why that card is so significant.
The editing of this sequence really fits in well with the theme of a thriller because the editing and camera shots has created a lot of suspense and tension for the audience and that makes it very fascinating to watch because you want to know what will happen next. The men outside make it a little bit creepy which also relates to a thriller theme as it keeps you engaged in the storyline.
The use of cross-cutting really creates tension because we have seen so many close-ups of the characters already which means we have more empathy for them. This makes us want them to be safe as we have seen how closed in they are in the room.
Representations of Gender: Dr Who (Gender)
In this clip, the representation of me and women are very different however, they clearly represent the stereotypical male and female roles that have existed for years.
Clearly in this extract, the man has the power which is very common in the media as men are more dominant, active and stronger than women so they are usually represented as having complete control. In this case, there has definitely been a connection here.
Women on the other hand are represented entirely differently. They are seen as being submissive, soft and passive. They prefer to talk things through rather than take action which is also shown in this clip. Women are also usually seen to be in love or have a relationship which in this video is shown when she says 'I love him'. The woman is always shown to have the feelings as they are said to be more sensitive.
The use of camera angles in this scene are very clear in representing the man as dominant by using a low angle which makes him appear inferior to the other characters and it's obvious he has the power.
Also, the use of a high angle on the girl makes her feel belittled. The use of close-ups makes us empathise with the girl because we really gather an idea of her emotions by her facial expressions which are mostly captured in those close-ups.
There is a use of reversal in this extract to track the conversation between the man and woman. He starts off at the top of the stairs to show he's in power and inferiority towards the girl. The man always has the woman in the red dress behind him which represents feminism due to her beauty and her physique.
They also used close-ups and long shots to build up tension and create suspense.
The mise-en-scene in this clip is quite intriguing. The costumes really develop our understanding of the characters roles for example, the woman in the red dress and the man being in a suit clearly indicates a sense that they have the control and are of higher authority than the lady in jeans and a casual jacket. Also, the guns that were used as props build up tension as the audience begin to worry if someone will get injured. The countdown clock used as part of the set was another tension builder as we could feel something bad was going to happen when it got to zero. They regularly showed the image of the clock to keep the audience in suspense.
The scenes were edited and put together as it starts off in a big open space but they use flashbacks to separate the reality and what she had previously experienced. They did this using a straight cut.
