Lesson aim: To analyse a clip for how social class is represented

through micro-elements

Define social class in 10 words

SOCIAL CLASS

A group of people within a society that possess the same economic status, often determined by occupation, education, income, manners, etc.

The British Social Class System

The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:

the Upper Class

Often people with inherited wealth. Includes some of the oldest families, with many of them being titled aristocrats.

the Middle Class

The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business people and shop owners.

Lower or Working Class

People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers.

In pairs, discuss what a stereotypical person in your class would be like:How would they look?How would they sound?What would they wear?

Upper Class

Lower Class

How has their class been represented?

How is social class represented through editing?

1.Identify all the different editing techniques you can first2.Then link the ones you can to superior/inferior

USE PEE

Does it subvert or conform expectations?

Editing techniques• Choose at least 4 and define:

• A: Juxtaposition• B: Match on Action• B: Cross cutting (parallel editing)• B: Eyeline match• C: Pace

C: TakeB: 180 degree ruleC: Continuity editingB: Montage editingA: Graphic matchB: Jump cutC: Transition

Ext: How would you represent upper class through editing?

How can SOUND represent Social Class?

DIEGETIC DIALOGUE

• Plays a huge role in representing someone’s character

• What can someone’s voice tell us about them?

What would you expect these people to sound like?

Shameless

• How does the dialogue represent their social class?

• Does it subvert or conform expectations?

• Ext: What other sounds represent class?

P.E.A. Structure

• The diegetic dialogue is used to represent social class.

• The older female character swears repeatedly when she is angry showing her lack of expression.

• This conforms to a typical representation of working class people who are less educated.

POINT

EVIDENCE

ANALYSIS

Mid lesson Plenary

• Choose one of the classes: Upper, Middle, Lower

• Write 50 words on how they would be typically represented through all 4 micro elements

Discuss the ways in which the following extract represents social

class using the following:

• Mise en scene• Camera• Sound• Editing

View the clip 4 times, make notes, write for 45 minutes.

Camera work

• Medium shot used to show mum eating – poor quality food shows that this is a working class family.

• Lots of high angles shots to represent that they are poor and not important to society.

• Medium shot used to show family in their small home.

Camera work • Long shot also used to

show painter (working class person) outside small houses

• First shot in opening is an establishing shot of Road, which shows a working class environment.

• Point of view shot used at the being of young girl to show the environment and background she comes from.

Editing• Montage of dad working building site-

occupation shows working class.• Montage was fast pace to show the audience

quickly the other view of the man’s job so that the audience could establish his social class

Editing

• Scene the beginning uses zooming effect from outside of the house into the house. This shows the typical indoor and outdoor environment of a working class area

How mise en scene represents social class/status

The mise en scene in these shots show people dressed in casual clothing that looks like it has been worn a lot this connotes low class people, also the series of shots suggest that low class people who work mediocre jobs like building never have happy marriages and this leads to cheating.

This shot shows a man dressed in a suit and standing next to an expensive car which suggests that he is wealthy and well off, in a higher class that people.

The mise en scene in this shot shows a pretty low quality house with an outside clothes line and a woman and her children in from which suggests that they live in bad conditions

This picture suggest that low class people live in terraced and council housing which links in with where the factory workers who were poor used to live

A man dressed in a vest top watching football suggest that people who are low class do nothing and are lazy that all they do is sit around watch tv and drink

This shot shows that the daughter has been put on report this suggests that lower class people’s children are badly behaved and bad mannered causing them to get into trouble. It also suggests that they do not take education seriously and are also badly educated meaning they are stupid.

How sound represents social class• In this particular clip most of the sound that is heard is Diegetic sound as most of it can

be heard. The only pieces of Non-Diegetic sound are the song in the intro. The piano music when they are having the affair and the sound when the girl gets run over as that would be a sound effect. The sound in intro and when the affair is happening has a quite simple piano part but some beautiful violin sounds, this ties in with the two social classes as the violin part could represent the higher class and the simple piano part could represent the lower class.

• Diegetic Sound Non-Diegetic Sound- Shouting/Talking/Swearing - Introduction

Music- Background TV noise - Sound effect of girl getting

run over- Background Train Noises - Music when the affair is

taking place- Builders Work Noise- Airplane Noise- Car Noise when it brakes - Accents

Lesson 2

• Starter:• Write a PEARL on 3 aspects from yesterday’s

clip from The Street• P oint• E vidence• A nalysis• R esponse• L ink

Now swap your answers• Peer assessment:

• Have they used the PEARL structure?• Have they answered the question?• Have they used appropriate media terminology?

WWW Give them a mark out of 10, if 10 is an accurate, well written answer including many media terms using a PEARL for each point

EBI -Add a target for improvement e.g. – follow the PEE structure for EVERY point

Discuss the ways in which the following extract from CRANFORD represents social class using the

following:• Mise en scene• Camera• Sound• Editing

View the clip 4 times, make notes, write for 45 minutes.