Representation

Representation

The man at the beginning of the trailer is represented as a strong authority as within the mise-en-scene of his costume is a smart suit and the setting is of an office environment surrounded by others wearing suits. This can suggest he has a high class and status through wealth and professionalism being expressed through his costume which is a stereotype of the average man in which the male audience can relate to through culture of tertiary industry through office work, which is very common in USA. Overall this character is represented in a positive way through having high class and status, superiority and strong authority but this is counted through the performance of the other character clashing into him, him spilling coffee on his smart clothes, which shows lack of respect and this being supported by a long shot, making him look small and inferior.

The main female protagonist Alice (Mila Jovovich) is represented by having high class and status through the micro-element of Mise-en-scene of her costume which is a red dress with a black jacket which shows class and power through the colour red representing danger and power, which the colour red makes her stand out more than the rest of the characters, which creates dominance by her having the most attention from the audience, even though her frame duration on screen is small but she is shown numerous amount of times. Her costume shows more skin than most of the other characters which can suggest the theory of the male gaze which objectifies the character to keep the male audience engaged within the trailer which can create a negative representation through her being objectified and can be shown as inferior through some low angle shots (0.48 minutes) and her duration in scenes and frames. Although this representation could be counted by being positive by her being strong, dominant and have superiority as mentioned earlier, she may be shown in small duration but shown numerous times, the reason being is that the editors and directors want to keep the audience engaged within the visual text by showing small doses of this character at a time, making the male audience want to see more.  Close up shots of the protagonist, making her more dominant as the character is taking up the most of the frame, therefore having the most attention and her costume also supports this as the colour red stands out the most and symbolises danger, also her performance (Mise-en-scene) of her performing action stunts and combat making her seen as strong and engages the audience even more through seeing action on screen as it creates excitement for the audience.

The male protagonist One (Colin Salmon) is represented as strong, high class and status and superior through the micro-elements of camera and mise-en-scene, editing and sound. The camera shots of him are mostly close-up shots, his positioning on screen is within the centre of the frame, and some high angled shots can be identified, which these shots make him seen as strong and superior through the illusion of making him look bigger and have the most attention from the audience within the scenes he is in. For the micro-element sound, his sound of his dialogue is deep and bold which creates a strong sense of authority and dominance which is supported by the micro-element Mise-en-scene of performance as his facial expressions are strong, confident and gives eye contact towards characters and the camera which makes him look dominant as it shows that he takes all situations as seriously and shows no fear.

The protagonist carries a prop (mise-en-scene) which is a gun (0.56 minutes), which a gun symbolises power and danger which is in his hands. This protagonist is represented in positive way as he is represented as strong, high class and status (his authority) and dominant/superiority. Though his race representation of him being of African descent applies to Lenny Henry’s theory of “the lack of number of black, Asian and minority ethnic people working in the television industry ....” which this applies to the trailer has Colin salmon is the only ethnic minority within the trailer, but positively represents his race by being represented as strong, dominant and superior. 

This apocalyptic film subverts the usual conventions identified within this genre as the main protagonist is a female in which most apocalyptic films tend to be quite sexist where the main protagonist tends to be male whereas the female will not form a large influence within the narrative due to the common stereotypes associated with both genders,which is negative towards women.


Resident Evil (2002) trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8AQlUdTFxA


For my theatrical trailer, I will use similar conventions that are identified within the trailer of Resident Evil (2002) such as the main protagonist holding a weapon (prop) to reinforce the convention of survival as the target audience are tribe wired and love the outdoors and the concept of the theme of survival. The prop will represent the character for being more stronger at times when confronted by the antagonists which will make the audience feel more adrenalised and exhilarated as there is an equal match between the antagonist and the protagonist which any one can prevail.