How is Regional Identity represented in 'The Rotters Club'

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As we are introduced to the narrative the first shot is a close-up of a plate of food. The food is what you would describe as typical 'pub food'; steak and chips, a signifier that shows the characters are lower class.  We also see that two of the men are drinking beer from a tankard with their meal, again a symbol of their lower class, especially when we compare that the two Southerners are drinking glasses of wine, which is considered much more sophisticated. As the narrative progresses, we begin to understand that the men all work for the same company, with the North 'side' representing the workers, symbolic of the stereotype that the north are more working class.  As one of the managers announces each role there is a close up of what we could determine to be the most stereotypical of each region, so we are clear as to who is who. If we compare the way the managers and workers argue there point, we see a difference in their language and the way in which they put there point across. The first example we see is the manager, a representation of a southerner; he keeps his voice very controlled, with a calm manner and he uses the very formal phrase of 'paranoid mentality' to argue Roy's point. If we compare this to the northerner arguing a point, we see much more aggressive, 'brutish' attitude and colloquial language such as 'well bollocks to that' which reflects the stereotype of northerners being argumentative and the way they don't use 'proper' English. 
We see this colloquial language again as well another typical Northern male trait; being sexist and inappropriate towards women.  This is shown as we see the man speak to the waitress. Firstly, he calls her 'Bab' which is reflective of their slang words, but then he goes on to say ' Not that you're not saucy enough yourself' which could be seen as inappropriate and rude, yet none of the men, pass comment; showing how we have come to accept northerners to behave in this way; or alternatively it could reflect hoe un-argumentative Southerners are, as they dislike confrontations and like things to run smoothly. 
We see this towards the end of the narrative when one of the northern men explain that the southerners son is called 'Bent Rotter' instead of 'Benjamin Trotter' at school by his friends. Instead of re acting or defending his son from the insult, the man simply acknowledges that he was unaware of this and continues as he was, avoiding confrontation. 
We see another part of the Northern Stereotype that we previously saw in  the sketch about four Yorkshire men; the way they are proud to be worse off than others. This comes to light when one of the northern men find out that the other is sending his son the same school as the southern man. Describing the school the northerner calls it 'that poncy toff's academy' showing his resentment for any sort of academic achievements, and describing what most would class as a good thing in a negative light. 
We see the setting is a restaurant and judging from the decor it isn't a high class one, but more likely in the North. It is slightly dated looking, reflective of the stubborn ways of the North and there refusal to change. We can infer from this that although the managers are meeting with the workers to become equal, meeting them at a lower class place than what we assume they are used to suggests they could be embarrassed of their northern counterparts. 
We can also see that while the southerners are comfortable in their suits, the northerners have a more informal appearance; even though they are wearing suits, they don't fit quite right and we can infer that they aren't their usual attire. 
The sound is all diegetic to create a realistic atmosphere, possibly to symbolically represent that the North, South divide is real, if a bit exaggerated in this narrative. 

How is Disability represented in 'The Street'

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The narrative begins with a close up of barbed wire, which we associate with danger, or in fact keeping us away from danger, so this symbolic code helps us infer that we should be wary of what is behind the wire. Of course this is a more negative viewpoint, but we are made aware of the barbed wire and it's connotations from the close up.

We see a close up of a man looking into what you could class as a cage with a look of anxiety on his face. Then we see again through the cage effect that he is looking at a man walking up to a van. This is an action code, as it suggests something is about to happen between these men. From the camera angles and editing of this we can infer that this man is looking into the ‘cage’. As the narrative continues, we are introduced to the two characters previously seen by the van. We see the man outside the van has severe burns and scarring on the right side of his face, an enigma code as we want to know the story behind it. In the shot his face, or rather his disability, is framed in the front section of the vans window. Again this creates the feeling that he is in a sort of ‘cage’; which could be a symbolic code of how society separates those with a disability which coincides with the social model of disability of how it is society that puts him this box of disability, the burns don't disable him from doing a job which looks like it involves manual labour, however we deduce he can't simply because of the burns; he is disabled and therefore can't do it. When the topic of conversation turns to him being unable to get his old job back, the camera focuses in on the side of his face with scarring, yet before we predominantly see him from his non scarred face, the editing of the narrative reflects how the audience is seeing him; when we see as what we decide to be 'normal' we see the 'normal' side of his face, yet when we see him segregated because of his impairment, we see what we class as his disability in shot more. Throughout this scene there is diegetic sound which helps us realise the social realism being shown, they are trying to represent a realistic view of how people with disabilities cope in society. Again we see a close up of the barbed wire, however this time behind it is the man with the scars, this is possibly a symbolic code showing he feel like he is in a cage, and is restricted.

Next we see the man going to help a woman who has dropped her shopping. The pace of editing has picked up slightly from the previous scene, possibly reflecting his anger at being denied a job. We approach the woman from the mans point of view, which helps the audience relate to the character. But we also see how the woman sees the man and why it shocks her, the close-up camera angle and quick editing creates this effect to make it more shocking. The setting in this scene could also be seen as relevant to the representation of disability. It is uphill, and as the man is climbing up the hill he is below them so, which could show social inferiority, yet as he walks off he picks up speed; he is trying to run away from the woman and a situation where his disability was the focus.
The narrative continues to a shorter sequence with no dialogue and the first non diegetic sound. It is fast and angry to match the characters feelings. The use of drums with a beat, gives a tribal feeling which links into the idea that he could be seen like an animal in a cage, or alternatively it could be a symbolic code; we associate tribal music as something foreign to us, just like we see his disability, as something that sets him apart, like in the idea of differences.
A sound bridge takes us into the next part of narrative where we immediately see a darker room, with the blinds shut, suggesting this scene will have a more negative atmosphere, most likely due to the characters anger. The light falls through the blinds to create a bar effect on the mans face, which once again links back to the idea of being in a cage. For the angrier parts of the conversation between the man and what appears to be his commanding officer in the army, we see more focused shots on the side of his face with scarring; an animalistic representation, which links again to the idea that people with disabilities are different to everyday people. The switching of shots between between his scarred and non-scarred face shows the binary opposites of his personality; the 'normal' human being and the man with an impairment that separates him from everyone else.

Sexuality in Skins

The sequence opens with a close-up of the character's eyes, which immediately open as the asynchronous sound of church bells starts. This is a British cultural code, so we infer that it is Sunday morning simply because we know that in England there is a church service every Sunday where the bells sound at the start of service. His facial expression is blank and he doesn't look as if he has just woken up, which is an enigma code that leads the audience to question why a teenager is lying awake on a Sunday morning, when stereotypically they never get out of bed. As the camera slowly pans out, we again see a sign of him not having slept as the sun falls on his face; his curtains are open which suggests that he has not slept deliberately. However what is unusual is the shadows symmetrically fall on either side of his face, which could possibly be a symbolic code of showing he has two sides to him. As the camera pans out further we see his duvet is unusual; it has the body of a naked man and woman on it; an enigma code as it leads us to question what kind of character has this as his bedspread. He must have a lot of confidence in himself and be independent of his parents; either they are very understanding or don't care. The fact that there is both genders on there could symbolise the fact that this character is bisexual, and the fact that he is lying in between could support this, but it could also show that he is confused between the two. 
The bells continue to sound and grow evidently louder as more of the shot is revealed. Since the suggestion of bisexuality is introduced during this it could be a symbolic code to suggest the controversial nature of the character as the bells are linked with a religion in which it is frowned upon to be bisexual. 
Looking at the bed, the character doesn't appear to have moved which again suggests that he has deliberately not slept; and the audience could infer that there is something wrong or worrying him as a reason for the lack of sleep. 
We see that his room is unstereotypical of a teenagers, it is tidy and white with a sort of clinical feel about it. The fact that it is white could be a symbolic code of his sexuality as he doesn't yet know his identity, and he is unsure so at the minute his room is blank. The only stand out part is the bed cover, which links to sexuality and suggest that this is the main focus of this character. 
At the end of the clip his alarm goes off, which is again unusual of a teenager on a Sunday morning but is also an enigma code as the audience questions what the reason could be for him having an alarm to get up on a Sunday, and why he has set it if he has deliberately been lying awake regardless to the time. Throughout the clip the editing is a slow paced pan out, which synchronises with the slow relaxed pace of the church bells however as we finish the clip the editing switches quickly as his alarm goes off, again the sound matches the pace of the clip.

Sound

There are different types of sound during TV and film:


Diegetic: Natural sounds that are sourced within a scene, such as the people talking, or noise made by movements, doors opening and the radio or television in the background. The main types of TV pregrammes that use these are soaps such as Eastenders and Coronation Street or medical dramas such as Holby City, as they want the scenes to appear like everyday life and to make them more credible.


Non-Diegetic: Sound that is added to a scene to create an atmoshere, such as a soundtrack. A potential problem would be that it loses realism, but it does create a dramatic effect.


Sound Bridge: Sound which carries on over two different scenes which then literally creates a bridge between two events.


Incidental Music: Small, very brief snippets of sound which creates an emotion or feeling. This is normally more cultural, than for a character. 


Asynchronous Sound: A natural sound, which is out of place and without a source on the scene.
Contrapunctual Sound: Sounds which create opposite emotion to the one which is on screen.

Explain how ethnicity is represented in Hotel Babylon

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We watched a clip from Hotel Babylon that featured numerous different ethnicity's. Straight away we see a long shot of a stereotypical representation, as we see a black employee waiting on a white man, which immediately represents black people as a lower class. He is lowering himself to serve the man which symbolises him being lower status wise. Only adding to this is the characteristics of the white man; he is evidently wealthy and clearly relaxing, as he is dressed in a comfortable looking white dressing gown. With him wearing white and the employee wearing black; not only do we see their ethnicity represented by their clothes, but because the white man is wearing white there are connotations of goodness and innocence, whereas black suggests more negative aspects. The editing of this is quite slowly paced and with the lighting colours, it gives the scene a relaxed mood. Then we are introduced to another black character. He gets out of the pool to talk to Ben and so he arrives in the shot from below, straight away suggesting he is of lower importance, as if we look back at Ben’s encounter with a white man he lowered himself yet, this man is lifting himself to meet Ben’s level, showing how ethnicity affects status. The two black characters are binary opposites; we initially see this by their appearance.  Ben is dressed smartly in uniform, with everything neat and correct, but the other man has got his hair braided, is wearing a lot of jewellery or ‘bling’ and has several obvious tattoos. He is a stereotypical young black person, who we associate with hip hop music and rappers, as this is typically what they look like. Ben could be described as going against this stereotype as his appearance is more suggestive of a stereotypical white man. This stereotype and binary opposition is again seen in the way this man speaks. He uses colloquial ‘black’ language that we associate with his ethnicity such as ‘bro’ and ‘bredrins’ whereas Ben keeps his language very formal. The music throughout this scene could be described as having a kind of hip hop beat to it, which links into the black characters and their association with that genre.The editing of the characters interaction is a faster than the earlier shots and is also reverse shot reverse, which shows how Ben has gone from being calm to more anxious.

Next we are introduced to two European cleaners. The initial shot pans out slightly from the cleaning trolley she is pushing. The fact that this is the first thing we see in the shot immediately shows the stereotype of European women in Britain being quite poor and considered very low in society and how they stereotypically have low paid jobs, hence why there is a focus on it. This is of course a cultural code as this is how we in Britain view Europeans that live here. Their uniform is also a symbolic code of their ethical stereotype. It is grey and very basic which shows which shows their jobs to be dull and not well paid or ambitious. The fact that the two girls also look very similar with their hair and uniform suggests that they have no individuality or anything of value to offer and are of very little interest to society. There is an enigma code as the two women stand outside a room, leaving the audience to question what 'double' is. The music subsequently changes from the first scene and could be described more as sexy; which then prepares us for the next scene where we see the two women go into a man’s room and strip for money. The music they dance to is from the film ‘Moulin Rouge’ which centres on a French burlesque club; it adds to the stereotype of European women using their bodies for money, which we see in both Hotel Babylon and Moulin Rouge. This could be a cultural code as those who haven't seen or are unaware of the film Moulin Rouge would not understand the link. There is an extreme close up of a pile of money, which is a symbolic code of how the money is the main focus as to why they are doing this. Another ethnicity is brought in along with the European women. The man watching is old and Japanese, and old Japanese men are stereotypically perverse. His actions are stereotypical of this as he is paying cleaners to strip for him. He is dressed in a dressing gown similarly to the first man, this again shows wealth and that he can afford luxury.Although he is paying 'double' for the maid service his room is, as his stereotype would suggest, very neat and clean, but again this is a cultural code as it is a British stereotyping of the Japanese.

As we enter the kitchen, the music starts to become more rhythmical, just as we are introduced to an Italian chef; so we immediately see a mood set for this stereotype. Italian men are typical lothario’s which we already know to be true about this character due to the previous gossiping about him. He is also very affectionate to the female manager, again showing his typical Italian attitude. This is a cultural code as it is what we know to be an Italian stereotype. We again see how the colour of clothing affects the character. Italians can also be stereotypically seen as temperamental and with him wearing black, when usually chefs wear white, we assume him to be an evil character. Whereas the Englishman is in white and we see him as the person who has been wronged and therefore the good character.  We also see this in the way when the Italian man greets the Englishman; he pulls him down, suggesting he is of a lower morality and is pulling this man down with him. The fact that during the argument he grabs a cleaver shows his stereotypical temperament.

Overall, we see a range of ethnicities represented in different ways. Mostly the stereotypes are negative, or compare good and bad, but we can see how the makers of the show represent ethnicity to show clear character stereotypes straight away.

Stereotypical Representation of Regional Identity

We had to choose 1 character from a British TV drama and explain why they are a stereotypical representation of the area we studied in our Prezi presentations, so I had to look at Regional Identity.

The first programme that came to mind was Gavin and Stacey simply because a lot of the story is based on where they live and how they are very different. I chose to do Stacey.

Stacey is a typical Welsh girl. She is what you would describe as bubbly and very talkative. The Welsh typically have really strong accents which is very true in Stacey's case, she also speaks very quickly; which is again stereotypical of welsh girls, and this idea that they are quite loud and talkative. They are also known to be very patriotic and often family based, with a local community who all know each other. In Gavin and Stacey we see this with Stacey living on a street full of Terrace houses and knowing all her neighbours such as Dorris next door. She is also very proud of being Welsh. Apart from the city areas of Wales such as Cardiff, we tend to associate the Welsh with being a little old fashioned and a bit lower class. We see this from where Stacey lives and how the house isn't really newly decorated. But also from her bedroom which is still quite childish;which again shows the strong sense of family. The clothes Stacey wears also reflect this idea that Stacey isn't from a wealthy region. They aren't particularly fashionable and probably aren't majorly expensive; they are more casual and what you could describe as 'last season' so we see how she stereotypically doesn't hold fasion as a priority and also that she isnt really materialstic in reality, even though she does enjoy nice things. She also mentions on a few occasions certain 'bargains' she has picked up in shops. Another thing that is key to the Welsh stereotype is the language. Although Stacey doesn't speak Welsh she uses a lot of colloquial language which is associated with the Welsh and there are some references to the language throughout the programme which also shows the patriotic nature. 

We also see the sense of community and the lower class life from the transport Stacey uses around Barry. Instead of a car like most women on their late twenties, she takes the public bus everywhere which suggest that she possibly cant afford a car or that she simply doesnt need one as she rarely travels anywhere that the bus doesn't; she has no desire to travel out of Barry which suggests lack of career ambition and how she is content with where she is and how family and her life is her main priority in life and what she wants.

This video shows how everyone knows everyone in Wales and also shows the colloquial language Stacey uses:

Hello!

Hello my name is Becca. At school I'm taking art, media, maths and psychology. I like stuff like music, TV, films, shopping and loads of other stuff. My TV is pretty much constantly on E4 so I have probably seen every single friends and scrubs episode. I also love The Inbetweeners- I like Neil because of all the things he says-, Skins, Misfits, The Cleveland Show (although it's not as good as family guy). I also love Gavin and Stacey and have all the box sets for it, IT Crowd, Greys anatomy, Hustle, Top Gear, Come dine with me, Mock the week (but I watch it more on Dave now because I prefer it with Frankie Boyle) I also watch Jersey Shore religiously with my friend Emma because we find it hilarious, mainly because it's so rubbish and I also probably like a lot more that I can't remember.

This is one of my favourite parts of Gavin and Stacey

I watch loads of different films but I really like comedies like The Hangover, which has to be a favourite, mainly because of Alan. I also like Mean girls, Anchorman, Superbad, Forrest Gump and Stepbrothers. I have a few of these on DVD as well as tropic thunder, the devil wears Prada, an education, the notebook, Marley and me, Hot Fuzz, step up 1&2 and the first three Shrek films. I loved toy story 3 when it because I loved the first two as a kid like most people. I also like to watch lots of films on TV that I've never heard of.

I love music and I listen to it all the time. I've had one of the old iPod Nanos (not sure which one, but it's square) for ages even though it's about full. I'm a huge killers fan and particularly love the hot fuss album because of Mr Brightside and Jenny was a friend of mine although they haven't made a bad album yet. I also love Oasis (gutted they split) and their older album what’s the story (morning glory) which is by far the best one with all the classics on. And I really like the arctic monkeys especially there older stuff like the beneath the boardwalk album. I also like the courteeners, MGMT, especially time to pretend, The Pigeon Detectives, Pixie Lott who I'm going to see in November, red light company, Airborne toxic event, The Kooks, Mumford and Sons, We are Scientists, Temper Trap, Katy Perry, The Script, Scouting for girls, Florence and the Machine, The Verve, Marina and the Diamonds, Ellie Goulding, Kings of Leon (love their new song) , Vampire weekend, started listening to Biffy Clyro recently as well and Maroon 5 (Songs about Jane is brilliant). I also really like lots of unheard of songs that are in the background of films or TV programmes, or run on the credits, like the Gavin and Stacey song by Stephen Fretwell. Also, I'm a big fan of Motown, mainly because of my mum who loves it so I like the occasional bit of Smoky Robinson, Marvin Gaye and the Jackson 5. Plus I like Queen, Bon Jovi and a bit of  Bryan Adams.

 

That's about it I reckon.