Sound is one of the ways regional identity is constructed and presented to the audience in this clip. The audience gain a real insight into the character by the way in which they talk not only to each other but through compassion of the way they sound and what they say. Doc Martin can clearly be noted talking down to other characters within the clip. The audience can tell that Doc Martin does talks differently to other characters in the clip, this could be linked to where his character comes from, and he may have been brought up in an area in which proper English is preferred rather than regional dialect. Doc Martin can be noted talking down to people when he says ‘treat yourself to a noun’ expressing his annoyance that the character in question isn’t talking correctly. As well as saying ‘is that an endearing local term’ this shows the audience that there is a difference in the way in which people talk and that maybe Doc Martin in mocking the way in which they talk as the way he says ‘endearing local term’ sounds like a mockery. Another way in which regional identity is represented is when Doc Martin says ‘I’m not interested in your opinion’ this could portray the fact that as he isn’t from that area he sees the people there as being inferior to him and he doesn’t have the time for them. On the other hand the audience can also notice the regional identity of the people from the community, the old man at the beginning of the clip for example is difficult to understand due to his thick regional accent. In the clip the audience see that it’s down to the person sitting next to him to relay to Doc Martin what he is trying to say. The person sitting next to him does show how regional accents and regional identity may differ through generations. The younger man doesn’t seem to have as much of an accent which does make him appear more intelligent as the old man was portrayed as being unintelligent as you couldn’t understand what he was saying. The younger man says ‘ it could be a literally reference’ this does automatically give the audience the perspective that he knows what hes talking about as the other man just mumbled and didn’t make much sense.
Camera shots also help show the difference in the regional identity between the characters. In the scene in which Doc Martin is walking down the street there is an extreme long shot of him walking down the hill. The audience can notice from this clip that Doc Martin holds himself very well when walks this could be because he feels superior to the people in the community and shows this in the way he walks. In comparison at the beginning of the scene there is a high angled shot which shows all three men, the youngest of them doing manual work on the floor. The shot makes the youngest man seem inferior to Doc Martin as he is doing manual work and Doc Martin is shown to the audience as being above him. This could simply be because he is doing manual work which carries less status and esteem than a job as a doctor would, or it could show that not only is being a doctor better a profession, but Doc Martins regional identity is better than his. The later high angled shot looking down on Doc Martin shows that he is no longer in control of the situation as he is trying to fix the water leak, while the others in the scene are standing around. This may show the audience that ever though he may feel that hes above the people in the village because of where hes from, he is actually equal to or lower than them at the present point of time.
The mise en scene in the clip also creates representations on regional identity. The ways in which the characters dress differ. Doc Martin for example this dressed very traditionally and smartly, he is wearing a plain coloured suite and a beige trench coat. This could show that he is from a well brought up background, in an area in which people would dress well in comparison to a council estate for example, in which you wouldn’t expect the residents to be walking around in suites. The elderly woman at the end of the scene doesn’t dress in a way you’d expect a woman to do. She is shown doing manual work that you might expect a man to traditionally do. This could show that woman are treated differently in that particular area and are expected to do manual work. She isn’t dressed smartly which would show that selling vegetables in order to make money is more important than the way in which you’re portrayed to others. The older man in the clip also doesn’t dress very smartly as he is shown wearing dull, dirty look farm clothes, this may again show that it isn’t a community in which dressing smart would be appropriate as manual work may be the way in which they make money.
(I didn't know what to say about editing)
Great points made on three of the areas. How about for editing:
ReplyDeleteshot/reverse shot
eyeline match
long take of first scene, then speeds up as clip becomes chaotic
continuity editing used; we can understand the cut from the surgery to outside with the dog and that time has been shortened to move to this point.