Construction of gender within a extract from hollyoaks.

Write about the construction of gender in an extract from a British television drama.

I chose to write about Hollyoaks for this piece of writing, I watched and took notes from a five minute clip of Hollyoaks which was aired on channel 4 on the twelfth of March 2010.

In an extract from an episode of Hollyoaks, the mise-en-scene is vastly used to construct the representation of gender. Within the mise-en-scene, the costumes are very representative of gender as the majority of males are wearing dark clothing connoting; mystery and hidden identity, however the majority of the female characters are wearing brightly coloured clothing mainly of a pink colour tone this represent females as being; girly and represents them in a very stereotypical fashion, however there are three female characters who challenge this particular convention used within this episode, by wearing dark clothing which have connotations of; mystery and represents them as being different and an individual within the frame.

The three female characters who challenge this representation commonly used towards females within society are; Cindy; a women who is in her mid thirties and is being featured in the main storyline in Hollyoaks at present, which involves her on-screen daughter, Holly going missing after she feels that her mother, Cindy is neglecting her because of her current business convention; her vintage clothing shop in the Hollyoaks village. Cindy is wearing a black long coat with a fur trim, black trousers and black boots, this connotes sadness, death and funerals; because of the use of an entire costume using the black colour palette, which is associated with the dress code of a funeral. Although her costume holds these particular connotations, the fur trim around her black coat represent the glamorous side to Cindy, which is better known to the residents of Hollyoaks, than her current state of mind. Sasha, a nineteen year old girl, who runs her own club within the village of Hollyoaks, is wearing dark clothing, connoting mystery, however in a subtle way her outfit shows glamour and youth, which is reinforced by her large brightly coloured earrings. Her dark clothing represents the way in which she hides herself from her past involving drugs. Amy, a young unemployed mother of two, who is also 19 and is best friends with Sasha is also wearing dark clothing, however they are baggy and casual as opposed to the subtle glamour of Cindy and Sasha outfits. Amy’s laid back clothing, reinforces her current mood of feeling upset, depressed and lonely which stems from her lifestyle of being a young mum with two young children, being unemployed, dropping out of school with qualifications, her costume also represents her as being very different to a typical nineteen year old and wanting to merge into the background. All of Cindy, Sasha and Amy’s outfits represent their moods and feeling of the present and their hidden pasts.

The lighting is mainly ambient throughout the clip; however in some of the scenes that are inside, mainly within the pub they are non-ambient, however this is only a small degree. The use of ambient lighting makes it more realistic and less staged, which enables the audience to feel more involved and connected with the storyline and characters. Within the extract there are not many props that are used, although of course the characters own individual props which are part of their costume and objects within their homes, however newspaper are a very prominent prop within the extract, which shows the emphasis on the villages current story’s which are; the disappearance of Cindy’s daughter Holly and the looming court hearing of Josh, a 19 year old university student whose parents own the pub in the village. He was faced with a court hearing after his older brother Rees, spiked his non-alcoholic drink, which resulted in him crashing his car on the way home and one of his passengers ended up being hospitalized with serious injuries.

The camera shots within the extract from Hollyoaks consist of mainly close up shots; however there are also shot reverse shot, panning shot, two person shot, long shot and a group shot within the five minute clip of Hollyoaks. Within the opening shots of the extract, flash backs are used to give the audience an idea of what has been happening over the past episode and giving a very brief overview, in the form of a video with flashbacks and a well known piece of music as the soundtrack, it is used at the beginning of every hollyoaks episode and lasts around one minute, this then fades into the actual episode. Close up shots are used to show the characters emotions for example; a close up shot is used to show Cindy holding a paper looking at a mothers day advert within the newspaper; which shows her anxiety and worry towards her daughter, Holly’s disappearance. A close up shot is also used to show Steph, looking at a mother’s day card that her late husbands younger brother gave her, it shows her thoughts towards what is happening with Cindy and Holly, as Steph can relate to this as Tom, her late husbands brother is the same age and she has brought him up. The use of these close up shots, represents women as being caring, vulnerable and emotional. Close up shots are also used to show the various article on the newspaper; the story of Holly going missing and the story of Josh’s car crash, because of his brother, Rees spiking his drink during a night out, this then pans out into a shot of Rees face.

Although a vast number of close up shots are used, a shot reverse shot is used to show a conversation between Steph and her brother Darren in Mobbs, stephs smoothie business in the village. The use of this shot type, show the differences and diversity between the two characters and their different thoughts and feelings toward the subjects of their conversation. The use of panning shots within the extract are in order to help the audience to establish where they are, it also helps the audience to get an understanding of the surroundings, location and the demographics of the residents.

Within the episode, not a vast amount of visible editing is used, the editing that has taken place is fairly subtle, however in the title sequence, the word hollyoaks appear on the screen and the O`s, zoom out to overlap with one another and then has a fast cut to the episode. Within the title both O`s, have the male and female symbols on them, showing that men and women are equal and when both the O`s come together to reveal the frame it represents unity. The credits are shown over the shots at the beginning of the episode; however this only states the crew members and the cast credits are at the end of the episode. The cuts between each frame are fast, which creates a very fast paced storyline and more evolvement for the audience. The soundtrack that is put over the shots at the beginning of the episode is always a well known music soundtrack, which is therefore non-diegetic.

The fact that Hollyoaks is a soap opera, there is a vast amount of diegetic sounds that are heard throughout the episode, however a non diegetic soundtrack is played during the first minute of the episode, this fades out as the episode starts. Within this particular extract the diegetic sounds were; crying, opening of a newspaper, dialogue, people walking, birds, movement of people and things, air horn, ringing of a phone, rustling of paper especially newspapers within this episode. Diegetic sound is used to make the episode seem more realistic and give the audience a focus and it helps them to relate the storyline to their daily lives, because there is not a constant soundtrack over the dialogue and shots.