Sound is used in an interesting way in order to represent gender. From the beginning, music is used in the background to make the male, villain character seem more powerful. Music is used to set the scene and create a certain atmosphere in that particular scene. While he is talking there is a mysterious, low pitched music with drums and this makes the male seem more dominant as he has this strong music in the background to support him. This is linked back to men being more powerful than women.
The villain and the music are quieter and selective sound is used. This is used in the bomb ticking; this makes it more noticeable and dramatic.
The villain is still speaking in the background though even though we can hear the ticking suggesting that he is in control of this loud powerful thing still- adding to his power. Everyone is also quiet while he’s speaking to show the male has more superiority whilst the woman is bowing down to him.
A sound bridge is used throughout the scene to make it look more smooth and efficient, showing no disruption to the action- but more importantly the speech the man is making. This again shows that men shouldn’t be interrupted.
Direct sound hasn’t been used that much however, studio sound has. We can tell this because whilst the villain is talking- even though it’s direct we cannot hear any background sound, making it sound more professional with just the music in the background. This goes back to representations of gender showing that the male is supposed to be more sophisticated and that he should always look his best and be listened to and respected.
Also, the lady in the red dress and the maids hardly use any dialogue. This might show that they’re not worthy enough to speak as women are often looked down upon in the media. This links back to gender as the lack of dialogue often means lack of importance, and even thought the lady in the red dress looks as if she might be higher in power, she still is only limited to speech, limiting women to power. However in contrast, conventions are broken when the main woman decides to have a speech and the music starts to gradually crescendo, getting louder and more powerful. This is often to show a climax coming or something important and powerful. This is an unusual choice of sound for a woman, because women are often not seen as that important. This could perhaps portray that women don’t have to be weak and they can be powerful too. This is effective because it gives the female audience something to relate too, as some women don’t want to be overlooked.
To make this clip seem even more real they included sound effects of lasers. This adds to the point that this show is unrealistic, which if taken into account in an oppositional reading way. It could mean that women saving the day and not being outspoken could not be realistic either. These could be subtle message that most people don’t realise, however they are feeding into it as most of the audience (preferred readers) see it as women in power and control- however it could not mean that sincerely.
A lot of off-screen sound is used while the camera pans the location and hardly any time is spent on the protagonist woman. The audience see her from time to time when she is giving her speech however; it’s mainly focused on the man’s facial expressions. This could link back to men’s opinions and reactions being more important than women, once again going with the typical stereotype. These are quite subtle and could be perceive as just showing the shock on a character’s face however they could have deeper meanings hidden within these small edits of different types of sound.
