Sound- Ethnicity

Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representation of ethnicity using the following:

• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en scene

Sound

Through out the clip there is a wide use of different sound and different sound techniques which are used to emphasise characters ethnicity stereotypes. At the start non diegetic sound is playing. The music is being used to create atmosphere and curiosity and then peaks towards the point of which the man and women engage in conversation. When the man and women engage in conversation we can clearly see this to be diegetic sound. The white women speaks, the black man reply and the white women continues to talk which the black man ignores. In this scene in the office the white women is meeting the ethnicity stereotype of being pitied and the black man can be seen as dangerous as he ignores the women and quickly storms out of the room. This is also used to rerpresnent The black mans power over the white women due to his position in his profession. When the scene is cut to the house and the man is getting out of his car on the drive non geigetic sound of music starts to build up. This helps to build tension and forces the audience to speculate about what the build up is going to lead to.By the music building up to the black mans arrival and entrance is conforms to the ethnic stereotype of being dangerous.The door bell then rings which is expected which is synchronous sound. diegetic sound is seen between the black man and a new white women which is introduce which shows there participation in conversation. The diegetic sound continues to grow and tension builds in the mans voice. To support the growth of tension in the back mans voice non diegetic music starts to play which slowly deepens. With both the voice and music playing it again helps to meet the ethnic stereotype of the black man being dangerous. As the aggressive non diegetic sound music build up this makes the audience feel sympathy and conforms to the white female steroytpe of being pitied. When the scene turns to the car diegetic sound of conversation, the cars running engine and motion and also the outside. Non- diegetic sound begins to play when the white women says 'your wife will know about us'. This non diegetic music is purposely used to punctuate emotion and show the black mans love for his family. In this scene the stereotypical roles and binary opposites are reversed and it is the white women that has all the power as she is manipulating the black man and being presented as emotionally and psychologically dangerous. With the use of both diegetic and non-deigetic sound the man conforms to the ethic stereotype of being pitied.