Ability/Disability Representation Homework!

1. What stereotypes are being represented?
Are they positive or negative? how do you know this?
- The stereotype being represented are a burns victim, and its negative. We see this as he has very bad burns down one half of his face, he is also very angry with everyone and himself, we also see this as everyone is treating him differently
2.Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of disability using the following:
• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise-en-scene

There are many close ups of his face in the sequence, for example when he is asking if he can have his job back. This lets the audience see his face up close and show his burns, which we immediately know is different. In the sequence there is a lot of hand-held camerawork, this could represent the burn victims vulnerability and his anger towards himself and the way others treat him. Theres lso alot of over-shoulder shots, this is because we then get to see the other persons face and reaction to what the burn victim is saying, we also see in the other peoples face a lot of sympathy from over the burn victims shoulder.

In the sequence there is a lot of diagetic sound which is ambient for example people working in the background, shouting, bags rustling and footsteps, this is to create realism in the clip and show it is reality. Non-Diagetic sound is also used in the clip, a drum soundtrack plays in the background as the burn victim walks down the street. The music is parelell to whats happening on-screen as it is quite tense which we see on the mans face, he is angry and is noticing people staring at him which also build anger.

The sequence is quite basic in editing as mostly cuts are used. We see in the 'Army Recrutment center' the burn victim sitting in the chair talking to the sergent, we see one side of his face then it cuts to other side which is covered in burns. This shows the audience the 2 different sides of him. The shot duration at the beginning is quite long as there is no need to build tension, this helps with the narrative also. But as the clip goes on the shot duration gets shorter, which could show his anger towards himself and the others who treat him differently.

The mise-en-scene is used to creat the realism of the clip as costume is very ordinary. Makeup is used to obviously show the burns on the mans face. It is quite graphic special fx makeup and is probably used to shock the audience. The sequence is set in 3 different locations the building site, outside the womens house and in the Army Recrutment Center, this again creates realism and keeps the reality of it. There is no major use of props except for the womens shopping which the man tries to help with, this could show the audience that he is still a helpful person but people think he is incapable. The lighting in the scene is mostly ambient as they are outside for most of the clip but in the Army Center the man is covered in the shadows of the blinds but the "normal" side of his face is a higher light than the burnt side of his face, which obviously shows the