Textual Analysis – ‘Lawn Dogs’
The first thing we notice in the beginning of the film is that it is dawn, and it is set in the suburbs. We are introduced to a small, middle class village, where there are large houses with huge lawns being watered with sprinklers. The lawns are neatly cut, to add emphasis to the middle class neighbourhood and that the people living there are quite wealthy, there is even a sense that the neighbours are in competition with each other and are constantly trying to out-do eachother. After a few minutes of the introduction to the neighbourhood and the main characters, the audience is shown a gate and a long country road leading out of the village. This eventually leads to a bridge, which has a lake underneath it, in which the water is quite dirty.
As it is dawn when the audience gets there first look into the village, the lighting slowly becomes more high key, to give the true effect of dawn. The sound adds to the effect because there is slow beat country music in the background, to emphasise the fact that it is only just morning, this non-diagetic music gradually becomes more up beat as the scene becomes busier. There are also diagetic sounds to add to the effect of dawn, these are nature sounds, such as birds singing. Eventually the music stops when we are introduced to Devon and the camera focuses on her and what she is doing. Devon is dressed in a ‘Young Rangers’ uniform, which is neatly ironed and she goes out into the village to sell her cookies that she has made. Devon also has a well-spoken tone of voice, this shows that she has been brought up correctly and has learnt to speak in the correct manner. This uniform and her tone of voice emphasises her middle class background and when compared with the other main character (Trent) it is significantly different to his. Trent is wearing a cap with jeans and a sleeveless shirt, which is covered in sweat, even without knowing his occupation we can see that he is in a lower class to the people in the village. He has a southern American accent, which is generally associated with working class people.
