Secondly, the jeans can be read as a symbol of her rebellion against her traditional values, and the restrictions they place upon her as a female. They are symbolic of true problems, faced by many people. The use of costumes in the opening scenes quickly establishes ‘Yasmin’ as a gritty TV drama; indeed, Yasmin’s cheap and ill-fitting jeans are a far cry from the glamorous designer outfits modelled by A-list celebrities in ‘glossy,’ over-produced Hollywood productions. Instead, ‘Yasmin’ attempts to accurately portray problems faced by people who are torn between cultures whilst avoiding patronising or offending these people by being true to life.
Apart from costume, lighting also plays a significant-role in the opening scene. The use of bright daytime light along with the grey and white clouds casts shadows around Yasmin, and can be seen clearly in the birds eye view shot that looks down on Yasmin as she drives down the road out of the countryside. The shadows could be seen to represent her emotions; her guilt and the demons she faces, and are created through a realistic use of light. The bird’s eye view shot also allows the audience to see the tranquillity of the setting in that there are no other cars or people in the scene. This is realistic in the fact that it becomes clear to the audience why Yasmin chooses to take cover there as it is tranquil, and she can be alone with her thoughts to consider what she is doing, the consequences, but also why she is betraying her family and traditions, or whether if she wasn’t changing her persona through her clothes she would be betraying her true cravings to truly integrate and conform to British customs. Also illustrated in the car, and the fact that it is a sports car shows her want to escape, and the fact that it is old is realistic as it shows how Yasmin is young and in real life wouldn’t be able to afford much else. To create a naturalistic setting, this scene is shot in daylight to create a muted colour to further emphasise the fact that ‘Yasmin’ is a gritty TV drama, which contrasts the vibrant and melodramatic styles generated by Technicolor, as used in Hollywood productions.
Whilst putting on her jeans, the character of Yasmin is framed irregularly on the left of the shot, and to her right are plants and trees. This could be seen as the director’s representation of how Yasmin is only in her youth and is still young and naïve, and has not yet grown in to a ‘tree.’ A portrayal of Yasmin being young and wanting to have fun and escape and shackles that she is faced with is realistic, believable ethic that I believe the Director is trying to represent. The sound in this section is often scarce, or dim at best. Birds twittering, wind blowing, are the distant digetic sounds that can be dimly heard by the audience. The silence in this section could be seen as a conscious decision made by the director to show Yasmin’s isolation and how she is lost amongst her own thoughts and own problems, and not by any specific pressures that are being enforced upon her by other outside influences, it can be read as being representative of her situation making her an introvert. They are realistic sounds that are in context to the setting, and add to the effect of the peaceful tranquil atmosphere that I feel Yasmin’s character seeks in the country. As Yasmin drives away, some traditional Asian music plays, a non-digetic sound, into a point of view shot showing Yasmin looking at the road ahead, that could represent the path Yasmin will take, and in combination these two mediums create a question for the audience, what path will Yasmin take, a realistic problem someone in her scenario would ask themselves, am I British or am I what my father has made me, Muslim?
The second part of the opening scene I have chosen to look at is the portion in which Yasmin’s elderly father, who maintains the local Mosque, and Yasmin’s brother, go to mosque to begin the morning’s call to prayer. Like the scene with Yasmin, the director immediately outlines what the coming storyline will focus upon, however unlike Yasmin’s section of the opening scene, the father is faced with problems that aren’t as personal issues, but issues the local Muslim community are facing as a whole. As the father and brother walk around to the mosque, along littered streets with broken bollards, continuing to install realism into the setting, there is a long shot down one of the streets that is extremely powerful in creating a realistic setting in context with the financial state of the community and geographical setting as it is filmed on real streets, not a film set. There is a long shot of a row of houses, poorly maintained, shabby, poor looking with cars of a similar stature. This is typical of the northern England industrial areas, where houses were built quickly, all looking the same, and with it being set in northern England, this is typically a poorer area with the decline for manual labourers in the industrial sector, less jobs are available to people living there causing a higher rate of unemployment. Also, on nearly every house there is a satellite television receiver dish, which is a very strong symbol of a stereotypical average home in modern Britain, everyone sitting around watching their televisions all day. As if a neighbour looking out on the characters, there is also a high angle shot that creates a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ effect for the audience, creating realism. In contrast to the other section of the opening scene, this scene doesn’t have any non-digetic sound, and is filled with digetic sound that create realism, people talking, cars driving past, footsteps, children shouting on their way to school, typical sounds of people going about their daily routines.
The scene then cuts to the father and brother approaching the shutter that covers the entrance door to find graffiti spelling out a racist comment. “Go Home Paki” is in big letters across the shutter. This is hard hitting and very strong in showing realism in a number of ways. Firstly, it is powerful in the fact the racist term ‘Paki’ is seen as a taboo and highly unacceptable, and shocks the audience, and provides a hook setting the atmosphere for rest of the story. Secondly, the language used is the type of comment a racist person would use, and would be specifically used to upset the victim by using racist derogatory language, but by also suggesting that the Muslim people don’t belong in England, and raises a similar issue faced by Yasmin in the other section of the opening scene for the father, where is my home? Although his body language and facial expressions obviously express that he feels pain from the comments on the shutter, the father’s reaction is quite off hand suggesting that this is a regular occurrence, making the audience empathise with the situation and allowing the audience to familiarise themselves with the trials and tribulations the family are facing.
A high angle- long shot, of the inside of the mosque, rich red carpets with ornate motifs typical of Asian design follows. It is a clever use of mise-en-scene to create an authentic and accurate setting inside the mosque. The carpet, with the high angle shot makes the father and brother look very small, almost engulfed by their traditions and culture, represented in the vibrant colours of the ornate carpet. The next shot is a low angle close-up shot upon the shoes of the two characters as the take them off. There is a great contrast in the style of footwear with the father wearing traditional smart black shoes, whilst the teenage son wears trainers. This is a contrast seen amongst many people from different generations, and is also realistic in the sense it shows that the Asian families are a little more relaxed in the boys mixing with the western culture a little more, whereas the girls are expected to stay traditional as if they were following Islam in Asia, and the use of the close-up shot emphasises this. The décor in the mosque is old woodchip paper, beginning to peel from the walls, again symbolic and accurate to the people of the area and their financial status.
Finally, the last major point that shows realism in this section of the opening scene, is the final shot where the father is cleaning the graffiti off of the shutter. The digetic sound of the son calling people to prayer over the loudspeaker is sustained in the background, realistic in it’s continuity, and as the father begins to clean the paint, he firstly begins to clean the word ‘home.’ I found this slightly surprising as I would have believed that he would have erased the racist term, ‘Paki,’ yet upon reflection I came to believe that this was a way the director represented to his audience what troubled the father, like Yasmin, the most, is that he doesn’t know where home is anymore, he is torn between two cultures. His home, with his traditions and beliefs, or the culture he believed would bring him prosperity, but in the face of adversity he has grown accustom to. As I outlined when discussing this point before, this is a strong use of realism as it is a real and sensitive approach to real problems and issues faced by Asian communities living in areas of Britain.
Through camera angles and framing, using non-digetic and digetic sounds, mise-en-scene entwined within the narrative, ‘Yasmin’ creates a powerful, accurate and audience sensitive depiction of problems and prejudices faced by British Asians within families, cultures and society, outlined by use of historical context in the form of events from September the Eleventh. I believe that the filmmaker and writers were trying to show how hard it is to find what ‘normal’ is when you are trying to find a common ground seen as acceptable between two very different cultures built on different traditions and values. Speaking to an universal audience, and in my opinion acting as a voice for Asian people in particular, the Director is trying to emphasise the unfairness of the problems faced by minorities in our society post- September the Eleventh. ‘Yasmin’ shows that minority communities should be strong and have dignity and pride in all of what they are, but it also provides a message for White British people, and racists, asking them to understand how hard life is for British Asian people.
