RepresentationOF ETHNICITY IN HOTEL BABYLON

Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

In the first scene where the two black men are talking the camera uses a shot-reverse-shot technique which allows you to see the facial expressions of the other person when someone says something. In this case you can see that the man in the suit doesn’t really want to be there and when the other person mentions having a party he seems unsure but he agrees because he doesn’t want to disappoint him. As he tries to leave by walking around the other person the camera follows him round which creates the illusion that the camera is also preventing him from leaving as well as the other person. He points to where he is going before he leaves which shows he is apprehensive to get out of the situation because he clearly doesn’t want to be talking to him even though it is apparent that they used to be friends.

When the two cleaners go into the man’s room to strip for him there is a very specific sequence, first there is a long shot on the two girls then a close up on the money which shows you why they’re there. Then there is a close up on the more confident girl’s face which leads to a close up of the other girl’s face which shows us that the first girl is more confident while the second girl is a bit apprehensive. This is followed by a close up of the remote control then the stereo as the man turns it on. When the girls start to take their clothes off the camera focusses on each of the faces in turn coming back to the man twice.

In the kitchen scene the Italian chef is trying to put on a good façade so he is nice to the English chef but while the English chef is still facing away you can tell by his face that he isn’t happy. After the two people leave they start arguing and the camera uses the rule of thirds which allows you to see everything that is going on in the scene as they are having a bit of a stand off. The camera also uses a close up shot of the chef’s face right after the Italian chef calls him an ‘ugly English cretin.’

Sound

In the first scene with the two young men talking you can hear background music playing. It has a relaxed yet apprehensive feel to it which suggests that the man in the suit doesn’t want to be there. This music is carried on into the scene with the two young maids going into the older man’s room. You can tell that one of the maids doesn’t want to go in so, again, the music reflects her hesitation.

In the kitchen you can hear lots of diegetic sounds. For example you can hear the business by the continuous sound of voices. There are also chopping and whisking sounds etc which makes the kitchen scene seem more immersing. Also when the two chefs start arguing you can hear the Italian chef’s knife scraping against the surface which suggests that it is sharp and could do a lot of damage to the other chef. Another example of diegetic sounds being used is in the first scene in the swimming pool as the room is very echoey which makes it more convincing, for example if there were, in reality, in a small studio made to look like a swimming pool their voices would sound more muffled so it would be less convincing.

Editing

Fast paced editing is used In the scene with the maids when the extract is showing the sequence of the stereo and the money etc. This ties in with the apprehensive feeling of the less confident maid.

In the kitchen you see the white chef’s face before he turns around so we see that although they are pretending to be friends, they aren’t. The editing also shifts between them while they are arguing, purposely showing his face after he gets called an “ugly English cretin”

Mise-en-Scene

The two maids are providing a service which is suggested that they shouldn’t be by the manager who is spying on her as she exits the man’s room. The both appear to be of Asian ethnicity and are obviously lower down in the scale of power and aren’t earning much money. This is why they are willing to provide this service. The two people with the most power also happen to be white.

In this extract it seems that the women who are wearing high heels have more power/ confidence than those who do not. For example when the male and female are walking down the corridor you can hear her high heels clicking and she is obviously higher ranking than the kitchen staff and you see her arguing with the white men. Also when the two women are in the man’s room the more confident one is wearing heels. Also, people wearing suits also have more power, e.g. the hotel managers and the young black man at the start. While the black man might not necessarily have any power, as we aren’t shown that he does, it is still made quite clear that he has done well for himself. This is made apparent when he is talking about having a party to his old friend who says ‘that’s the old..’