How is gender represented in the clip from Primeval?

By Eleanor Davies

CinematographyThe woman is seen in this shot to be driving and using the digger, which is usually considered a male job, so her character is challenging the convention of what jobs certain genders should do. This makes her appear strong and powerful because she is inn charge of the vehicle, whilst the male character is seen to be on the ground, reversing gender roles. We can tell she is female because the camera cuts to a medium close up shot allowing us to see her, we can also tell she is female because her character still follows some conventions of women, such as wearing make up. This makes the audience feel as if the women is powerful, strong and in control.

Cinematography In this screenshot the male character is looking frightened and weak and like he is trying to protect him self, by jumping into the hole. Male characters are not usually made to look or seem weak, so for this character to do this they challenge the convention of male characters being strong and scared of nothing. The camera is filming from a high angel making the man seem even weaker and smaller to the audience.

Sound 00:46 – 00:50.The sound here changes from a loud crashing to a long, eerie sound of suspense. This happens when the male character discovers the hand in the dirt, this eerie sound adds to the characters surprise, making his character seem stereotypical, by putting him in a place of danger and curiosity. The music helps the audience understand that something has happened and that something is about to happen.

Sound 00:57 – 01:03.Here the sound gets higher and louder, putting emphasis on the fact that something is going to happen, to help the surprised look on the male characters face, before he sees the sabretooth tiger. Here the man looks surprised and scared, this challenges society's conventions once again because men are usually not portrayed as weak and scared.

Editing

Here the women fights a CGI created sabretooth tiger, the tiger is made huge to show that it would be hard to fight of and to show that the women is strong and powerful because she is able to fight, another thing which is conventional as a men's job. This reminds the audience that she is strong and powerful.

Editing

Here the man is portrayed as at first being weak and scared, because he climbs up the pole to escape the sabretooth but then as powerful an resourceful , when he uses his belt to go down the zip wire. The sabretooth is edited so it looks like it is lower down so that the man looks like he is higher up making him look braver and more powerful.

Mise-en-sceneThe women is shown to be wearing a leather jacket and having short hair, these are not conventional seen as female things to do, so for her to do this it makes her look more stereotypically masculine and adds to the feeling of power. She also carries a gun which makes her more powerful and in control.

Mise-en-sceneThis man is dressed as a stereotypical hunter/game keeper, but his actions/ character to begin with make him seem less stereotypically masculine because he is easily pushed about by the women, but later on he is holds a gun to the women, making him seem more powerful, but also cowardly and weak because he is treating someone