Representation of Gender Primeval

Mise En Scene: Near the start of the clip, Abby Maitland is seen driving a digger to help with the teams excavation of what is seen as remains. The fact that we see Abby driving a digger is unusual because she is a woman and usually, driving JCBs or heavy lifting machinery is typically doe by a man, so to see Abby in this place shows that Nick and Connor see her as an equal part of the team. This is reinforced by the fact that Abby has short hair and manly clothes on; leather jacket and denim jeans. What also shows she is seen equally is when Nick is being chased by the sabre tooth, at 2:33 we see Abby firing some sort of rifle, and saving Nicks life. However, at 4:41 in the clip Abby is still trusted with a powerful handgun but she is still behind the men and she is smaller. That may be due to where she is placed and how far the camera is away from her, but she is smaller than the men and behind them, even though she has a better weapon than Connor, who has a spade. There is a binary opposite for the 2 women between 4:32 and 4:57. Where Abby is more manly and brave, the other lady is the damsel in distress and its significant that rather than 3 men saving her, its 2 men and a woman. Editing: Compared to other programmes, Primeval has considerably more editing that is less subtle. The sabre tooth tiger that jumps over Nick at 2:32 is just one piece of editing that would have been put in after filming this episode. And we know this is clearly edited because the animal looks digitally put in. Also, between 4:28 and 4:32 the tempo of the clip is slowed to show more drama and put the audience into suspense as to whether he will shoot or not. But the suspense is taken away quickly by the sudden arrival of Captain Becker, Abby and Connor. Sound: Again, editing the episode would be putting music into places like 2:18 to 2:39. The music between those 2 times suits what is happening, because its a soundtrack, its made for the episode, and it heightens the tension because its a primeval sound. Its also fast paced and loud, so it gives an indication of how tense and dangerous this part of the clip is. It then fades away as the danger (sabre tooth) runs off and Nick is safe again. There is also a music soundtrack which shows tension 4:28 and 4:32, where the tension and danger is very sudden so they used a sound that is in your face, loud and high-pitched, but it goes away as fast as it came.