Representation of sexuality hw

Shots

The very first shot was a two shot of both women, this immediately suggests a relationship between the two, however as it is at the very beginning of the clip the audience cant decode a particular relationship just yet, however according to the mise-en-scene of this shot their distance is rather intimate, therefore this represents a physical involvement with one another, which moments later it is revealed that one woman loves the other.

There is a medium close up shot of which one woman has her hands placed on another woman's shoulders so loosely, almost lingering afraid to let go. This shot represents her longing for the other which represents her sexuality as a lesbians, also in addition to this the intimate distance has became even closer, enforcing a more obvious way than before, her physical involvement with the woman standing in front of her.  (00:15)

A steadicam shot is used which creates a smooth movement as the camera moves around the woman who the audience has decoded as a lesbian. This creates continuity and displays the area in which this woman is, showing the library she sits in and also her facial expressions as the voice over reads like a mind track.  

There is a master shot in which one woman is reaching over for the other this represents her to be longing for the other woman once again as the other woman is sleeping, its as if she knows what she is doing is considered wrong (especially in the time that this clip seems set), which represents her sexuality is one which isn't accepted by the general public at this time, this enforcing the idea that she is gay. (00:54)

A zoom is used, which highlights how significant the action of her pretending to run her hand over the other woman's body is. This shot represents that she is in fact lesbian as it shows us exactly what she wants, even more so prior to this shot when we can see her eyes tightly screwed shut which tells us makes it look as if she is imagining what would really happen, like imagining if she was touching her. (1:13)

The hand is also put in focus as opposed to her face or anything else surrounding the image, this represents to the audience that this is all she thinks about (touching the woman) and that possibly it is all that makes sense to her as it is the only thing within the shot that is clear.

A master shot is used which shows the 3 main characters, and signals to the audience that this is a significant area and something dramatic is about to happen, also through this shot we can see the placement of the characters, the man seems to be standing in between the two women as the lesbian stares at her, this represents that he is going to be a disruption and get between these two women.

A tracking shot is used when the man walks over to the lesbian, this highlights his importance at this moment in time, the sound that accompanies this shot suggests that he is negative within this clip as the music only changed when he became influenced in this clip.

Another medium close up shot is used when the boy is holding up the lesbians chin after she has agreed to marry him, despite the fact he seems knowledgeable to the fact that she is a homosexual. This shot represents the boys sexuality to be straight as he seems to want to kiss the woman even though he knows that she is not into him, this then leads on to the audience decoding that he doesn't particularly care for her feelings (despite their new call to get married), but he is in fact more interested in the kissing rather than who he is kissing, this is enforced more so when he threatens to tell the sleeping woman about the lesbians love for her if she doesn't marry him. (3:51)

A medium close up shot shows the man licking the lesbians hand and when it shifts to a medium close up shot of her face, you can see she is uncomfortable. However due to the initial shot which I have mentioned this represents him to have a sexual desire for this woman, and due to it being a woman and him a man, he is represented to be heterosexual. (4:19)

Sound

At the very beginning the lesbian narrates the moment saying 'she looked so beautiful', this shows that she is thinking this and hasn't said it aloud, which represents that she is scared to spread her feelings. The genre of this clip seems to be period drama, from this it is learnt that homosexuality wasn't accepted in that era, which gives the audience understand for why this was only thought, but because the audience was meant to hear this we can connote that she is in fact gay.

There is non diegetic sound which is mood music, it is soft orchestra music which is used whilst she is narrating her love for the other woman and when she is running her hand over the aura of her body, this represents her lesbian nature to not just be of lust despite her action but of sweet, innocent love. The music forces the audience to feel sympathetic for her because she cant say how she feels.

There is synchronous sound of the mans panting as he undoes the lesbians glove before he is about to lick her hand which illustrates his need and represents him to be straight as he seems he is quite desperate to feel her. There is no other sound apart from when he is smoothing down her clothes, the lack of other sound emphasizes what is happening at this very time which is a straight man knowingly coming onto a gay woman, which represents his sexuality to be quite forceful an desperate despite the evident which he knows.

Editing

This clip uses a lot of fades which produces continuity but also represents the fastness of time that she feels, which revealed later is leading to her marriage, these fades represent how everything is going so quickly and before she knows it this secret life she leads of longing for another woman will be taken away from her.

There are also cuts used when the lesbian is looking at the sleeping woman, this editing simply portrays what the lesbian is looking at, however this enforces the sexuality of being gay, showing that she focused on her, the constant cuts show that she is always looking at her. Another example of this is when the woman is undressing and then it cuts to the lesbian and you can see her looking in that direction, the audience then decodes that she is watching her, again longing for her.

Mise-en-scene

It could be suggested that the sexual orientation of both women is in fact lesbian as they sleep in the same bed together and at the end of the slip the woman is undressing in the same room as the definite lesbian, the only reason the audience is denied of this suggestion is because the lesbians speech is in narration as she explains her feelings for her which suggests her feelings are a secret and also the lesbian only pretends to touch when she is sleeping, or looks at her in a longing manner whilst she is sleeping, thus so it isn't obvious. On top of this the man warns to tell the sleeping woman of the lesbian undeniable feelings which enforces the idea that she doesn't know, so the audience decodes the idea that the other woman is represented to be straight.

Initially, the audience doesn't see that the lesbian hasn't been painting the woman but because of the way that she is staring at her the audience is lead to decode the idea that the lesbian is painting the woman (even though this isn't the case). This represents the lesbian to admire her beauty so much that she wants to capture it, this represents another longing and more so a physical attraction to the woman that sleeps in front of her.

There is no differing costume between the two women which suggests there is no difference between the two women and due to the other woman being openly straight and the lesbian keeping her sexuality hidden, this represents the lesbian to be ashamed of her feelings and doesn't want to draw attention to herself and have people finding out about her sexuality as a result. Her costume defies the stereotypes paired with her homosexuality however it must be taken into consideration that this is a period drama and in those times there wasn't many people who were openly gay so the stereotypes weren't as strong.