This clip from the BBC TV series Hotel Babylon shows a large sum of different ethnic groups, for example when all the immigrants are in the laundry room the audience can see one man who seems to be from Africa and an office woman who's Asian. In this extract we see ethnicity as being represented as a bad thing or a criminal act, the viewers can see this when all the immigrants are running away from the authorities. This shows that people of a different ethnic group have to achieve lower then their original career expectations, we are shown this when the African man hints at being a doctor earlier on in his life. In this clip there is a few examples of common stereotypes. Firstly, the receptionist at the start of the scene is seen to have blonde hair, blue eyes and the audience assumes she thrives on her appearance. At first look the viewers would see this character as a stereotype as they would assume she's ditzy and is a receptionist due to her looks and not her brain. This stereotype relates to people thinking blondes are dumb due to their hair colour. However the audience is shown this is not true when she makes the 'secret' code to her co-worker and warns the immigrants about the authorities walking in.
In this clip there are a lot of different camera shots. One camera shot that is used is a hand-held zoom. This is used at the start of the clip when the camera is focusing on the receptionist, the camera then zooms into the character when the authorities walk into the hotel. By using this camera shot the audience is able to recognise the tense atmosphere as by zooming it the viewers are able to see that a bad thing is about to happen and so the camera is gauging the receptionists' expression. This also adds suspension to the atmosphere which makes the TV series seem more exciting and doesn't bore the audience. Another camera shot that is used is a point of view/over the shoulder shot. The shot is placed at a high angle as it makes things look more threatening e.g. the authorities walking into the hotel. This shot is used when the authorities walk in and the camera is placed over the shoulder of the receptionist so the audience can see from her point of view. When using this camera shot it makes the audience more aware of what is happening and understand more of the storyline, this makes them feel more involved with the series and bond with the characters so they are easily recognised. This makes the atmosphere more tense as the audience is aware of something that some of the characters are not e.g. the viewers know the hotel contains a large amount of immigrants whereas the authorities suspect but are not 100% sure.
This scene from the TV series Hotel Babylon contains a lot of editing techniques. The first type of editing is the fast-paced editing that is used throughout this clip. This is when all the scenes are edited together and contains lots of different shots, this creates an effect that time is happening quickly and makes it look like everything is going on all at once at different places. By doing this it helps produce a bigger tension for the audience and builds suspense letting the audience wonder what may happen. Another editing technique that is used is shot reverse shot. This is when the camera is on one character looking at another (off screen) and then the camera moves to the next character looking back at them. When this is used it's normally to show a conversation between two characters. However in this clip it is used when the receptionist is talking to the other staff member telling him the secret code to hide the immigrants that are inside the hotel. This shot is used to show the audience the interaction between them so that they can easily understand what is going on and why they have to warn everyone in the building. Also by using this shot it adds to the already tense atmosphere.
In this clip there is diegetic sound that has been used. When the audience see the characters running, walking, talking, shouting they hear the sounds to go with it e.g. footsteps, voices. This is used to help the audience understand what is happening and follow with the story, when the noises are not corresponding with what is on screen it makes it hard for the viewers to listen and pay attention to the show. The dialogue used in this clip makes the series more realistic which makes it more relatable for the audience. Another technique used is non diegetic sound. This has been shown when they use music over certain moments in a clip. In this scene the music has been played over the tense parts e.g. when all the immigrants are running into the cupboard. As this happens the music speeds up and the bass becomes deeper, this has been done as this adds suspense which makes it more realistic for the audience as they are able to feel what the characters may be feeling at this certain time. By using non diegetic sound the viewers are able to be caught up in the story and makes sure they do not get bored or don't understand what is happening. This makes the TV series become more popular due to people liking the tense scenes.
The lighting used in this scene is very bright and ambient, this is used to show that at this moment in the clip it is daylight. However the light is slightly darker to show that the characters are indoor and not outside, the bright light contrasts against the hotel being mysterious and aloof. There are a few props used in this scene such as the hoovers that the cleaner uses just before he gets taken away by the authorities. This is to show the audience this characters position in the show and what his job entails, this makes it much more realistic and understandable. The setting of this show is of a hotel featuring the lobby, laundry room and hallways. This has been used to make it again more realistic and for the audience to believe the characters are real. Costumes used are to make it clear to the audience who works at the hotel and who is the immigrants. To separate these characters they dressed the immigrants in all the same outfits - this makes sure they all look the same and all have the same value. This shows the audience they are not important compared to the staff at the hotel making it clearer who is who.
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