Doc Martin exam question:

Discuss the ways the extract constructs representations

of regional identity.
Consider:
Camerawork/angles/movement
Sound
Editing
Mise-en-scene
I am going to analyse the Doc Martin clip provided on miss'
blog. The question is relevant to the regional identity in the clip
and the way it is portrayed throughout. The extract is set
in cornball. The stereotypes associated with this place are often
shown as being backwards, living in rural areas, and working
on farms. etc.
The clip begins with an establishing shot of the pipe burst
scene. The costume variation in this beginning part of
the extract is massive. You can clearly tell who is the outsider,
this being Doc Martin. As the remaining characters are wearing
overalls and practical clothing which is an action code for them
working in manual labour. This code was divided by Barthes
and is included in his "narrative codes". This code suggests a
lack of intelligence from the workers to the Doc as he is
wearing a suit and they are wearing overalls. The general
colour scheme of this scene is very dark and bland. Commonly
using a Khaki colour and also Beige. Also the lighting
encourages the power of the outsider as his costume and
also as the majority of the light in directed at him to again
make him the focal point in the scene and outlines the gap of
intelligence in the group. Overall the lighting in this establishing
scene of the extract is very dull, this paired with the cutting
speed starts the extract off very slowly, boring and maybe even
pedantic. This is a stereotype of Cornish people as they are
often portrayed as lacking intelligence and being bit
deluded/ditsy also maybe a bit pedantic and out of the ordinary.
The camera angle in this scene shows him (Doc) as being
above the workers as of to say he is looking down upon them,
this is maybe used by the director to reflect the social status of
the characters. The overall camera angle is used as an action
code to show us the pipe bursting as it would be quite difficult
to see underneath the sink using a usual camera angle. During

the dialogue before the sink bursts they are arguing and one of
the workers is identified as another workers son. This is a
stereotypical media practice when representing the Cornish as
they are often portrayed as trapped within a family business
and there are a lot of father son jobs going about. The son then
goes on to show his intelligence and his dad calls him mad,
again relaying the idea that he is trapped around idiots in his
hometown. Doc tells the workers dad to "treat himself to a
noun" again highlighting his poor vocabulary. When the pipe
bursts the editing speed drastically increases as when the pipe
bursts all manner of things begin to go wrong for the
characters. A stray dog enters as well as another character, this
time female, and also the phone rings. This is a reflection on
how everything always goes wrong for these characters due to
their mental incapacities. Another stereotype used by the
director. Also the only character that takes control of the
depreciating situation as he tells the woman to clean up the
water, he shows the worker how to do his own job, and tells the
more intelligent worker (whom lacks direction) to get off the
phone and help clear up, also he takes the dog away. This
shows that Cornish characters are incapable of solving any
of life problems without help from the outside, this again is a
common themed stereotype. During the interchange into the
next scene of him walking the dog to the police station a
backing track is sound bridged, this often used by the director
of a TV drama to create fluency in the extract. The soundtrack
is also non-diegetic meaning the characters cannot hear it only
the audience gains pleasure from it. The soundtrack is mocking
the predicament of the outsider as he is often shown with egg
on his face. Also it reflects the stupidity of his surroundings.
Also over this you can hear seagulls as he is walking. This being
another action code to it being a coastal village. As he is
walking to the police station with the dog a handheld camera is
used, this maybe to reflect the erratic and angered nature of
the character as his patience may be cut short by his
surroundings. A common stereotype used when filming in
Cornish and other coastal areas such as sunset is that the nonlocal is very abrupt almost as if they have already given up on
everybody around him, this stereotype is shown perfectly in
this part of the extract. As Doc enters the police station the
police officer is shown to be alone and also doing abit of
hovering. This again is used by the director to highlight a

stupidity as there is probably only a few officers and they are

pre occupied with cleaning the station rather than dealing with
crime. It also makes the audience think that there must be very
low crime rates in the area as not a lot of officers occupy the
station. This is a common stereotype that coastal towns and
villages are crime free. Hovering is not stereotypically a job of
the police officer, again showing that he is backward to society
as in the big cities e.g. London they would employ cleaners.
After this scene he meets another outsider who demonstrates
her intelligence through her dialogue, referencing a doctors
oath. She is also shown to be tied down as she makes reference
to a husband that maybe the only reason she finds herself in
her surroundings again highlighting the idea of outsiders, per
say, being trapped within this village full of idiots. She also
says to the Doc "your exactly what this town needs" maybe to
show that she is tired of dealing with the locals. Again referring
to her, maybe being trapped. During the end of the extract,
around the three and a half minute mark, Doc encounters a
woman and the soundtrack changes to connote that there
might be something going on between the two characters to
the audience. This part is interrupted by a woman shouting
Martin come give me a hand. This elder female character is
shown to be doing labour work and unloading a van full of
vegetables. This fits hand in hand with the stereotype that
everyone who works in these areas are all farmers and all work
hard. No matter of age.