Downton Abbey: Class & Status

Camera

Tracking shot is used throughout the majority of the screens for example: with the bike at the start of the scene which also links to the establishing scene. It just showed a girl on bike just as something to start the scene on. The another part of the scene which in involved a tracking shot was when Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley) was going down the stairs into the other rooms. It stared off with a Steadicam shot following him down the stairs until a clear shot was shown from the bottom of the stairs when he has arrived with his dog. This links in with cross-cutting because he is shown in one place from two different cameras and angles. The type of shots used links with the stereotypes of class and status in many ways some of which include everyone being dressed nice and shows this with the shots used in the scene. Robert Crawley is seen as superior in the scene because everyone seems to be doing everything to please him for example when their daughter asked about why the news papers are being ironed and the reply back was "We don't want his hands being as black as yours". We can clearly tell from what we have just seen in a short clip that they live in high end properties and other factors which relate to this are that he as many people working for him for example in the kitchen and waiters. From all this visual/camera ways we immediately know that he is rich and considered as upper class compared to other people. However he does show sympathy towards the poor after one of his waiters made a comment stating "Most of the women managed to get out" he then replied: "only the first class women that is". Shallow focus is also used when everyone arrived to the dinning room as they did everyone else was blurred out in the background this created effect on the audience  to represent each character in the scene in a unique way.

Hotel Babylon

How is ethnicity represented in the clip from Hotel Babylon?

Ethnicity is represented in a number of different ways in Hotel Babylon one of which being from the start when the immigration officers came looking for immigrants working in the hotel. Another one would be that a black person is a doctor, currently working as a cleaner in the hotel, this is stereotypical thing to assume because of his skin colour. This is why she were surprised when she saw him treat her the diabetic women who fainted.

The director uses different types of editing to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. Continuity editing was used when the alert went out that immigration was here and everyone rushed knowing where they should be. Fast paced editing also links in with this because when they all went in the room to hide a head count was conducted and one person was missing which is Ibrahim so everyone was worried and wanted to know where he is so the camera showed all their facial expressions which adds effect on the audience so they seem like they are part of what is currently going on. A shot reverse shot was also used to switch between each one of the actors. It was mainly used in the same scene from when they were all in the room hiding. A zoom was also used when they knocked on the door to let her know that they took Ibrahim. This adds tension on the audience and makes them more engaged within what is currently happening.

The director uses camera work to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. A hand-hand camera is used through the main part of the scene when they got alerted that immigration was here and she is running around the hotel gathering people together so the cinematographer just holds the camera and runs around behind her. This also links with a steady cam because at the same time it achieves a smooth shot even through the camera man is running around behind her while she gathers everything together. The focus of the camera mainly focuses on the representation of ethnicity, the shots and angles all link to one thing which is making the audience feel like they are with them and experiencing the same thing. It reinforces the role of representation thought-out the scene because it always links back to the topic of ethnicity and how it's represented. 

The director uses mise-en-scene to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. The hotel in general had white people showcased especially on the front desk and there was only one black person who was employed in a formal job. All the immigrants were wearing informal clothing and working in the kitchen showing that they are not worthy enough to work anywhere else even though they all had high profile skills but couldn't apply them because they are immigrants and need to hide. An example of this would be when the girl who is diabetic collapsed and one of the kitchen workers was a doctor, and he knew exactly what to do in that particular situation. When he asked if he knew what he was doing he said "I wasn't always a cleaner you know" which proves to the audience that black people have heavily been stereotyped and that he was a doctor before he migrated. It is shown that the police have more status than the immigrant workers. Status is also differentiated by the type of clothing, the workers wear rough clothing even so some of them have high class qualifications and the other hotel workers are wearing suits. It also shows a clear sigh of Antagonists and Protagonist. The law officials would be called as the antagonists and the immigrants are the protagonist. 

The director uses sound to construct a representation of ethnicity in Hotel Babylon. Diegetic sound on screen was used for example the running across the hotel you could hear the footprints of Jackie when she was running towards the kitchen. You could also hear the doors closing and opening quick as the tension builds up. At the same time there was also non-diegetic sound because thought the whole scene there was tension building music to engage the audience even more. Without the music it would still engage the audience but with it there’s more action to be seen on another perspective. Synchronous sound also links with Diegetic sound because it the sound that is expected with what is viewed and the diegetic sound is what is expected so they link together. The sound bridge also works well with the scene because the background music continues playing throughout the whole clip.