Our piece is centered around an unemployed, lower class white male living in the 1980's. In this time period, England was rife with unemployment and racial conflict, and so we took advantage of this, combining our previous stereotypes into a singular character.
One of the most important things we were trying to stress right from the beginning of our film is the representation of the characters lower class status. Firstly, we carefully selected a location with a mise-en-scene that we thought would immediately give the right kind of connotations about the character to the audience. The mise-en-scene of the house that we used was ideal for this representation, as it came across as small, cramped and cluttered. Everything from the crowded bookshelves to the aged fabric of the chairs gave the instant impression of an abode belonging to a character lower down in the social hierarchy.
Additionally, the location of where the character is seen to sleep supports the representation of his social status. He sleeps on a shabby old sofa, and only had a blanket to cover himself with - he doesn't have a bed or any of the luxuries that perhaps people of a higher status may take for granted. This is further enforced through the way that the character is not seen to live a very hygienic lifestyle - he sleeps almost fully dressed, he doesn't wash or brush his teeth before leaving the house, nor does he eat and he drinks straight from the tap. Individually, these may not seem to appear all that important or suggestive, but when combined they create a much bigger picture, insinuating his state of unemployment and emphasising his lower class.
The costume we used further aids this depiction, as it is overall fairly simplistic and plain, suggesting he cannot afford a more fashionable style of clothing. It gives an impression of shabbiness and decrepitude, as the ensemble looks hastily throw together. Additionally, the more gaudy print of the hat accentuates this, as it is perhaps a type of print that would be looked down upon by those in a higher class.
Furthermore, the character is shown to be a smoker, which is a conventional representation of the working class, both in that time period as well as the present day - people of a higher class are often portrayed as being too elegant, or else they are show to smoke cigars and other more elaborate tobacco products. This representation was again highlighted by the mise-en-scene, as the characters ash tray is shown to be a large, filthy pot full of discarded cigarette ends. The associations of filth and grime immediately connote a status of lower class.
We tried to keep the lighting of the interior scenes as dim as we could, as we felt the darkness would aid the implication of a lower social rank - by casting him in shadow and making some of the action quite unclear, it implied his level of social importance, or lack thereof. Contrastingly, the lighting outside was relatively harsh and bright, blocking out most of the characters face in the shot, which would again further suggest this. If the characters social status were reversed, we would have perhaps focused on him more, and allowed him to be seen much clearer, as that would have stressed his importance to the audience.
We also had a representation of the upper class in our sequence, when our character walks past more upper class, modern housing. These locations were more modern day housing, which at first we considered scrapping, but then decided to keep due to the way it suggests an advance in society of the upper class. The locations he passes contradict highly with the characters class, and the obvious juxtaposition of him in front of them emphasise his lower status to the audience.
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