Shameless - Representation of Class

This clip from shameless depicts a very poor family, who are living on a council estate in Manchester. We can straight away tell they are from a lower class background as their accents are heavily regional. They also speak in a very informal tone, and they use slang and swearwords, which are stereotypical signs of poorer families, as they imply lack of eduction due to a lack of money. The general mood of the conversation is argumentative, which conforms to the stereotype of lower class families constantly arguing with each other. When the father gets angry, his voice becomes gruff and animalistic suggesting he can't express his anger in a creative way, as he is not well educated due to being from a poor upbringing.

We can also deduce the class of the family based on mise en scene. On their kitchen side and tables there are lots of different things scattered around in a disorganised manner. This suggests they have no been educated well on how to organise themselves. Their furniture appears very cheap and  their actual room appears very small, especially for the amount of people that live there. This could indicate that they don't have enough money to buy a house big enough for all of them. Their appearance also shows their class; the father is wearing a dirty t shirt and his hair appears to be very greasy. A few of the other family members are wearing tracksuits, which are stereotypical clothing of the lower classes.

When the father is talking, the camera will be facing him close up, so that you can see the expressions on his face. This has been done because he is the centre of attention in the scene. Most of the shots of people talking are close up shots and they often zoom in to the shot. There are a serious of canted shots when he talking about greed, which help create an atmosphere of anger. The fact that the camera isn't mounted on a dolly means the camera is slightly shaky. This could represent their rough lifestyle and unpredictable behaviour.

There has been some editing techniques used to help represent class. The colours appear very dull in the clip. This is because they have been muted through an editing software to emphasise the deprived situation and area they are living in. There are also very fast cuts between shots when he is saying "greed" which helps create a sense of anger and aggression.