Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin.

Discuss the way social status is represented in this extract from Merlin.

The extract begins with a long shot of Merlin (our protagonist), establishing his location in which he is in a building consisting of tall white pillars and stain glass windows. These are examples of the way the mise-en-scene is used to connote wealth in this section of the extract. This symbolic sign of wealth within the setting juxtaposes Merlin's presence, as his Merlin's raggedy bland brown clothing he where's is also a symbolic sign connoting his wealth. This juxtaposition signifies that Merlin is somewhere that he shouldn't be. This is idea is supported as the shot cuts to him entering an office within the building, at this point, a non-diegetic score begins. The ear-y use of strings as he enters, coupled with the SRS of an panning establishing shot of the room, also coupled jump cuts of Merlin looking back over his shoulder at the door signifies to the audience that he is In an environment he shouldn't be.

As Merlin starts to snoop around the office, close up shots of items on the desk such as unmarked books and a doll creates a sense of mystery with in the setting. This is supported as the non-diegetic score then begins transition in to a piano that calms the pace of the scene; the calm before the storm. Once again, an SRS shot of Merlin looking back at the door is a connotation of him being out of place. As the score then starts to increase in intensity, the shot cuts back to the out side of the office with a medium shot of woman approaching the door. She wears a purple dress with her hair up. The colour purple is known to be a symbolic sign of wealth, this connotes that she is more likely to be an inhabitant of the building the scene is shot in, well at least more than the poorly dressed, intruding Merlin. The diegetic sound of a clanking lock is an indexical sign that someone has opened a door, Merlin notices and causes the editing to immediately increases in pace with a fast SRS between merlin hiding the book he had picked up off the desk and the door where the woman enters.

As the woman enters the non-diegetic score comes to a halt and the camera switches to an over the shoulder shot of Merlin. As the woman starts to speak, we can see an eye line match between the two characters, this can be connoted that they are equal in respect for each other and in social status, though the scenes mise-en-scene use of clothing suggests otherwise. As they converse, jump cuts between over the shoulder mid shots give the audience an understanding of the characters POV. This seems to suggest that Merlin and the woman are equal in this conversation as if in this moment in time class is irrelevant, although the use of the editing's quick cuts and SRS's, coupled with Merlin's stuttering of diegetic dialogue and nervous movements connote that he feels as his social status does not warrant him to be in this location. As Merlin reaches to give the woman the package he is delivering a SRS with a stab of non-diegetic music occurs as we see a quick shot of the woman in the mirror appearing as some sort of skeleton or monster. This appearance of some type of curse or magic forebodes Merlin's eventual use of magic in the extract later on. The music then fades back into the score that was playing before hand as we see a close up shot of the woman's face, showing her facial expressions as Merlin exists behind her.

Merlin exists the castle and continues to walk into a street market where a eye line panning shot following Merlin, as well as showing his movement, establish his location. We can see here now that the location of the street markets completely juxtapose that of the castle. The colours are dull and unexciting as are the people. The supporting cast extras are all dressed similarly to Merlin, connoting that Merlin is among his fellow lower class people. No non-diegetic audio is used In any part of this shot, only the diegetic noises of animals, blacksmiths and extras talking is present in the scene. This could be a suggestion that the every day working lives of the lower class people is boring; life without music would be terrible. This shot then ends and cuts to a medium shot and a new characters the extract, Arthur (Our antagonist) and his cronies. This medium shot of Merlin and these new characters transitions into a close up of Merlin as he walks towards the camera and stops due to diegetic dialogue by Arthur, thus showing Merlin's facial expressions and emotion towards Arthur's comments.

This then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Arthur which from this point there are inter cutting SRS's between Arthur and Merlin. Arthur’s status becomes very apparent in these quick cuts, Arthur is dressed in metal armour along with his back up crew. Armour is a symbolic and indexical sign that Arthur is a warrior, a soldier. Someone is part of the upper class, a class that Merlin is not apart of. To support this his friends are carrying weapons which are a symbol of power and strength. Although they are dressed similarly, we can tell that Arthur's friends are still lower than Arthur in the social pyramid. There positioning on the screen, them standing behind Arthur, to the sides of the shot in a soft focus, connotes that Arthur is more powerful than them and possibly they have to abide to Arthur. Through this conversation between Merlin and Arthur, there is in eye line match which could suggest that in this particular encounter they are equals, although this is juxtaposed by there appearances (Relating to social status). Merlin's cockiness and confidence that he could beat Arthur in a fight causes Arthur to challenge him, which is signified with Arthur tossing a chained mace at Arthur. In his attempt to catch it, diegetic Foley of a chain clunking is a sign that this encounter between the protagonist and antagonist is going to lead to a fight, which is foreboded earlier in the scene by Merlin's smug-ness.

The shot then cuts back to inter cutting between the two conversing where diegetic dialogue has Arthur say 'You can't address me like that'. This is Arthur denoting that as he is of a higher social status than Merlin, that Merlin has to address him with a title (Such as 'My lord). This piece of dialogue shows that social status is an essential part of Arthur, he is used to people addressing him In such a way that when someone doesn’t, he feels uncomfortable or even offended. This is what causes Merlin to bow down in front of Merlin, thus breaking the eye line level that they were talking at and cause the camera to tilt down at him, signifying his lack of status. This response from Merlin cause's Arthur to take the first swing of his mace, the battle has begun.

High tempo non-diegetic music begins which immediately increases the intensity during the scene. The shot then cuts to a high angle establishing extreme long shot looking down upon the action. This shot further establishes the location of a low class market place, somewhere where Arthur looks out of place where as Merlin does not. The following few seconds after the cutaway from this long shot is packed with fast editing of multiple shots between Arthur wielding is weapon, signifying power and aggression and Merlin backing away and trying to avoid Arthur, connoting fear and vulnerability. Audio in these quick edits consists of non-diegetic period music used to increase the intensity and force upon a feeling of adrenaline, diegetic cry s and shouts from towns people and taunts from Arthur, implying that he is confident in beating Merlin due to his status and training as a warrior (which is connoted by his clothing).

As Merlin is backed into a corner, Arthur takes a swing at him where the shot cuts to a close up to piece which he ends up smashing. This shot is used to show the audience that this not just a little tiff; this is a fight with weapons that are potentially extremely lethal. The real explosion of the fruit also shows Arthur's strength in battle, this is something that he has done before and the jump cut to Merlin's terrified facial expressions suggests this. As Merlin falls to the ground, the power in the scene is really clear.

A low angle shot looking up at Arthur's is a connotation of his power and strong presence within the scene. An over the shoulder shot of Arthur shows a soft focus of metal hooks on the wall, which then sharply become in focus. This piece of editing is used to suggest that Merlin has seen and identified this object. A quick cut then reveals an extreme close up of his eye changing colour, which in the scene is very significant. His eye transitions from being blue to being red. Blue is the colour of the sky and sea. It is often associated with being calm and not aggressive where as red is a juxtaposition of this. Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, danger, strength, power and passion. This change of colour represents a shift of power with in the scene and the first hint of magic using magic. The metal hooks behind Arthur move and catches his mace, allowing Merlin to stand and once again fight. The shot then cuts to a eye level establishing long shot, showing Merlin's positioning in the scene and frame, in which merlin is in the foreground with Arthur being in the background dressed in shadows. This then starts a frantic piece of editing where rapid switching between a close up of merlin's face and medium shots of Arthur swinging is freed mace. This shot shows that although Merlin has recovered, Arthur is still the stronger and powerful of the too. The non-diegetic music does juxtapose this though. The minor chords and low intense score ha switched to a more high pitched exciting one, connoting the start of a comeback for Merlin.

Another use of the close up of Merlin's face revealing the changing of eye colour is then cut to a high angle looking down POV shot at a box moving and stunting Arthur's attack. As before, Arthur misses a swing of his mace, this time hitting eggs. Once again signifying that this is no little disagreement, it is a dangerous and lethal battle. For a third time we see a shot of a moving object, a rope, tightening and forcing Arthur to fall. This is accompanied by diegetic audio of the accompanying crowd cheering and clapping. They support Merlin and this is probably down to the fact that they are of a similar social status, they feel the same way as Merlin does towards higher classed people such as Arthur and they want Merlin to beat him to show that though they are lower class, they are not weak.

The power at this point in the scene shifts from Arthur to Merlin as Merlin wields Arthurs weapon an starts to swing it. This image of him swinging his weapon is a symbolic sign connoting his strength and power, which up to this point Arthur possessed the majority. Along with the non-diegetic score playing, the shot cuts from a close up of Merlin to an eye line medium shot of Arthur and he sputters the words 'Give up to you?!'. This is Arthur connoting his higher social status commands him not to give up to anyone 'lesser' than him. He is insulted that Merlin believes he has won and that he is giving him the chance to spare him. This example of Arthurs attitude towards his and Merlin's social status is most like the reason the surrounding crowds want him to lose. As Arthur falls to the ground and the high angle shot looking down towards him connotes defeat for Arthur in the battle, it shows him as being smaller and weaker than the upstanding Merlin. As it cuts to a close up of Merlin his facial expression of happiness and triumph switches to one of worry. This is explained as the shot cuts to a medium shot of the crowd with his mentor standing in the background. We know that he is important as he is in the centre of the shot and there is a soft focus on the crowd in the foreground. He wears similar clothes to Merlin and the crowds, suggesting that he is of an equal social status, although in Merlin's world he is an authoritative figure which is established later in the extract.

As the shot cuts back to a close up of Merlin, Arthur rises and the shot cuts to a long shot of behind Merlin where Arthur strikes him with a broom. This with it brings a great use of foley sound editing and score combination. As Merlin is struck with the broom 3 times, each hit is accompanied with a piece of diegetic foley. Its apparent that it is foley as a broom does not make this sound when hit o anything, this creates a low verisimilitude in the shot. At the same time, stabs of no-diegetic musical score are heard during these hits, this gives a real sense of a finale as this is the end of the fight and also the last piece of non-diegetic score for the scene. This then sparks the pace of editing to slow down and decrease in intensity, the fight is over an the pace of editing becomes calmer and more like before the fight. As Merlin is then raised to his feet by Arthur's cronies, again begins the over the shoulder intercutting SRS shots similar to the beginning of the scene. This is a sign of a respect between the two characters, Arthur lets Merlin free whilst commending his spirit and bravery suggesting that even though his social status may be of different standards, at this point they consider them selves as equals.

The scene the cuts to a tracking medium shot of Merlin entering his teachers room with his teacher following close behind him with diegetic dialogue coming from him. This then cuts to an over the shoulder eye line shot of Merlin's teacher speaking to merlin. This is the start of a series of intercutting eye line SRS shots between the two characters. There is no non-diegetic audio or music in this scene which gives the conversation they are having with each other seem more significant as well as being a calmer and more tranquil one; juxtaposing the conversation between Merlin and Arthur during there fight. This constitutes to there being a sense of respect and equality between them. Neither of them feel as if they are better than the other. This is supported in the mise-en-scene, they both are wearing similar dull, raggedy clothing and they are in a location in which they do not look out of place, like Merlin did and the beginning of the extract. During these intercutting shots, the shots that land on Merlin are interesting. He is positioned on the screen on the darker side of the frame, facing inwards towards light that appears to come through an window. This could be a indexical sign that in Merlin's eyes he is in a dark place with in his life and h wants to transition from the dark to the light, which is actually supported by his dialogue within the scene. The end of this conversation leads to Merlin exiting the shot and the extract coming to an end.