Half term - Regional Identity

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representations of regional identity.

What is regional identity?
Regional identity refers to the location that someone/something is from. There are two main types of locations that are commonly looked at/explored. These two types are rural and urban. Rural refers to the countryside and a calm type of atmosphere and urban refers to the city in which the atmosphere is slightly more busy/hectic. 


Initial thoughts:
When initially looking at this clip for the first time, I instantly associated the scene with the rural location due to appearance and surroundings. It was clear to me that the lifestyle that these people are living was not linked in any way to the urban life because they do not appear to be business people. I'm going to evaluate the regional identity to come to a conclusion whether I think it's urban or rural by looking at the camera shots, editing, sounds and mise-en-scene.



Camera shots:

Within the first couple seconds, there is a over the shoulder shot taken during the conversation because the two characters on screen. By doing this shot, the audience also get a closer look at her clothing. By looking at what she is wearing, you are able to tell that her clothes have the properties of a rural women. This is because she is wearing an old-fashioned head piece that wouldn't be seen on a women who is from the urban setting.

A medium close-up is taken of the man during the conversation he is having with the main women in this scene. This shot that has been taken, allows us to analyse his clothing to see whether he is urban or rural. The clothing he is wearing indicate more of a rural theme due to the colours and type of outfit. 

A tilt can be seen as the camera tilts down vertically in an alley. This has been done to show the surroundings of the scene and to indicate whether the environment they're in is either rural or urban. By looking at the different factors in this shot, you can clearly see that the surroundings are both rural and urban. The closely packed walls can indicate the urban setting because the environment is compacted. Alternatively, the hanging outside of the clothes indicate a more rural setting because urban settings would have technology to dry their clothes - so therefore would not need to put their clothes outside.

A pan shot is taken of the women as she is walking down the stairs. This setting indicates that the surroundings she is in, is a urban setting. This is due to the large amount of buildings seen either side. Also the large amount of stairs that the women is seen walking down would more likely be seen in a urban setting rather than a rural one.



Editing:

A shot reverse shot is taken at the beginning of the first scene. This shot has been specifically taken to show the audience the woman's reaction to what the man is saying. This shot can also show the outfit of both the man and the woman. Therefore indicating that they're both wearing old-fashioned clothes typically related to that of the rural area.

Cuts have been used to link the next scene to the current one. This is a common effect to use because it doesn't join the different scenes together but instead just links them by making them go to the next one.

An eye line match can be seen during the conversation. This shows that they're being polite by using eye contact while talking to one another. Although both urban and rural people use eye contact, it is more commonly seen in rural settings because urban setting people can be slightly more rude.

Sound:

The footsteps and mumbles of the men and women as they come down the stairs indicate a urban surrounding because that part of the scene is busy and noisy much like a typical urban setting where there are a lot of people and a lot of shoving and bumping into one another. 

 The speech from the woman at the beginning of the clip indicates that the surroundings that they're in is more urban than rural because she is complaining about the change from the rural setting to a industrial urban setting.

When the woman is walking up the steps and a narration is taking place, she refers to the 'town' and it being 'modern'. This association of these words with the surroundings indicate that it is urban. The word town refers to an area that has a lot of buildings and is occupied with people and not much space like in a rural setting. The word modern links in with urban too because most people who live in urban settings are 'up-to-date' with the latest things (technology, cars, gadgets etc). This could mean that the surrounding they're in is becoming more of an urban scene rather than rural. 


Mise-en-scene:

The clothes worn by the men and women in this clip show more of an old-fashioned rural theme because they're typically wearing aprons, headgea

r aprons, scarves as ties and clothing that is of a dark nature. These types of clothing would not been seen worn by a businessman/woman in a urban setting. Due to the old-fashioned nature of the clothing, it's fair to say it is linked to rural settings. 

When the woman is walking down the stairs and is then interrupted by a bunch of men who come down the stairs, the whole chaotic and busyness of this scene indicates a urban nature. In urban settings, they're commonly a lot of people and they're rushing into each other and bumping into one another. This scene therefore demonstrates behaviour linked to the urban surrounding. 

The washing basins that the women are seen using indicate that they're linked more with rural than urban because they're doing the washing/cleaning rather than going out and earning money. The big basin and hanging up of the washing show a kind of 'old-fashioned' way of doing the washing which can be related to rural life.



Conclusion

Overall, this clip uses both urban and rural associations through regional identity. The buildings and surroundings show a more urban theme compared to that of the people/clothing which give of a rural theme. These two types of regional identity are found within this clip.