Representation of Age and Gender in 'Never Forget'

Never Forget.mov

• older man with diegetic classical music in the flat - MCU shows a traditional representation, sophisticated. Costume shows he is distinguished and is possibly quite wealthy; bow tie, cufflinks etc
 

• younger woman with the loud pop music in the club - modern representation, youthful, confident. Similarly to the man, she is wearing expensive-looking clothes, hints a connection

• parallel editing - sound bridge of phone ringing also establishes connection between characters. Lock screen on the phone confirms the connection (picture of man and the woman) indicating a romantic relationship. When the woman holds up her mirror, the camera focuses on her ring, indicating that the two characters are married

• when she's on the phone, the camera and editing show flashbacks to the previous night where the woman explains that she 'stayed in' , whereas the audience can see that she is lying (the coloured lighting of the club and the muffled diegetic music gives an effect of a fantasy moment - a memory). This creates unrestricted narration and puts the audience in a position of dramatic irony because they know more than the man does. This positions the audience to have a negative view towards the woman and as they see her flirting with another man, it shows that she is unfaithful 

• when it cuts to a BCU, her facial expression shows worry and guilt - she has to lie on her feet over the phone and she is nervous that he'll find out. Her body language shows she's restless and uneasy about the situation 

• jump cuts during flashbacks - shows that it's a fragmented memory, it happened very rapidly and shows time passing

• focus pull on man when he sees the woman leave the club - his facial expression shows that he is distraught knowing that his wife cheated on him. This changes the overall perception and changes the audience's position now they know that he knows what the woman did, so they feel empathy for the man

 

• the camera cuts to a CU of the man's heartbroken face - this signals some kind of change or that something is about to happen

• when the man says 'this is all your fault', the ambient noise is lowered to give his voice and the words more emphasis, as this is the climax of the film. He says them with a harsh tone, a contrast from the calm tone previously spoken throughout the film. The camera focuses on his mouth through an ECU, giving his words even more emphasis

• the man falls from building past the camera - the sound as he hits the ground is off-screen, to give the situation more of a shock effect. The shock from the audience is reflected in the woman's facial expression seen at a low angle which could give her status. This shows that the man was at his lowest and the woman could be seen as being above him, because the turn of events were more in her favour (feels she was able to cheat on her husband without him knowing, whilst the man is helpless). As a result, the traditional stereotype of the male being the dominant gender is challenged, because he feels powerless in this situation

Key:

• Blue = mise en scene
• Red = sound
• Orange = editing
• Green = camerawork
• Purple = representation