A222 SESSION

SBLE 3133 ENGLISH FOR SMALL GROUP

COMMUNICATION GROUP AD

ASSESSMENT: MOVIE SCENE ANALYSIS

(GROUP 2)

NAME MATRIC NUMBER

MUHAMMAD AMIRUL HAZIQ BIN AZMAN 277087

TEE ZHI QI 277543
HNG YEONG WEY 278147
WONG KAR WEI 280003
CHEAH WEI TAI 285314
 Synopsis of the scene and characteristics

The scene was taken from the movie called “Little” published in 2019. Jordan (Regina Hall)
has a meeting with her employees and behaves like a tyrant. She demands her employees to come
out with a new idea for the gaming app as her client wants to. The scene starts when Jordan walks
into the meeting and she catches one of her staff, Scott, who is trying to eat an apple during the
meeting. Then she proceeded with the meeting asking her staff to give opinions. When Scott, one of
her staff started to point out some ideas she rejected it and the same thing went on and on. At the
end of the scene she felt disappointed by how unproductive her staff were, so she dismissed the
meeting by telling them to get out of the meeting.

Characters & characteristics

Jordan - Central negative, self-centered and aggressor
April - social emotional
Preston - playing the clown

Environmental Dimension

1. Space and territory

Space and territory often exert significant influence on the communication of discussion. While
having a discussion, it is concerned with the seating arrangements, who sits next to whom, and the
design of the conference tables. At the very outset of the scene, from 0:01 to 0:02, we can see that all
of the employees have seated in a round shape to have a meeting with the boss. The boss Jordan
Sanders came and joined the meeting. The employee sits in a round shape like an informal meeting
dissucion to come up with a new idea for the gaming app.

2. Artifact and object

Artifacts and objects are the things that appear in the discussion. In the movie analysis scene,
the artifacts and objects include the mineral water, pens, notebook, tablet, dashboard, and the furniture
such as lamp, table and chairs. When these things are offered, it typically indicates that the parties are
engaged in a formal meeting. The things are essential for the meeting to go successfully and are
required for the meeting to function. From 0:40 to 0:42, we can see that April is using the tablet to find
some information. From 0:00 to 3:15, the mineral water and coffee have shown that the meeting has
been a long duration. Additionaly, at 0:46 to 3:15, there is a dashboard beside the meeting indicating
that the room is intended for a formal setting rather than a casual one, where bright or vibrant pictures
would be employed to decorate the space.

3. Time

Time has an impact on the group disscusion. From 1:10 to 1:50, in a meeting scene, Jordan
initiates a discussion about a new gaming app idea. The employee presents a poorly-received
suggestion, resulting in a scolding from Jordan. This sequence exemplifies the time environment
dimension by capturing the duration and pacing of the meeting, as well as showcasing the power
dynamics and emotional impact of the interaction within a specific time frame.

In addition, the passage of time may reveal a more accurate assessment of the group’s position and
organizational structure. Jordan, for example, arrived significantly later than the others in the meeting
area. However, at 0:04, we can see that the meeting was only properly started when Jordan arrived.
Despite the fact that the room was already full of employees and executives, no one began the talk
before the boss arrived. As a result, Jordan is the leader, and he has dominated the discussion by
screaming forth questions and thoughts throughout the conference.

Personal Dimension

1. Kinesics

Kinesics is the study of nonverbal communication through body language, which includes
postures, face expressions, hand, arm, and entire body movement. Postures reveal information about
one’s personality, interpersonal relationships, social standing, and present emotional states. At 2:50-
3:00, Jordan points to Melissa and asks her to stop quivering her lips and weeping. It demonstrated
Jordan’s annoyance and dissatisfaction with Melissa, causing her to become even more enraged.

Besides, facial expressions can convey an individual’s emotions. Participants in a group

conversation display common emotions such as happiness, sadness, rage, disagreement, agreement,
and frustration. Expressions let us better understand how a member feels about the group. When
Jordan licked Scott’s apple and let him eat it at scene 0:20-0:39, Scott made an unfavorable facial
expression. Scott appeared to be disgusted, and Jordan forced him to eat it; he displayed a mixed
sensation where he had to eat or not eat. At 2:44-2:48, Jordan pushes her employee’s chair, causing
her to fall, and April displays a worried expression. It demonstrates April’s concern that her
colleague may be injured because of the fall.

Furthermore, hand, arm, gesture, and entire body movement frequently convey a person’s
passion and enthusiasm for the issue under discussion. Gestures are another effective approach to
communicate without using words. April’s male coworker lightly touched her, asking her to pitch an
idea to Jordan. At the same moment, April shakes her head, indicating that she does not want to give
Jordan an idea.

2. Gaze

Gaze or known as eye contact plays an important role in communication. It is a strong

nonverbal signal that concerns the act, the duration, and the manner of looking. It involves the
visual connection made between two people, by which one viewer gazes into the eyes of the
other. According to Givens (1999), a gaze arouses strong emotions, so people really gaze at each
other for longer than three seconds before either one or both viewers experience a powerful urge
to glance away. Eye contact or the lack of it can tell us much about a person’s feelings. The eyes
can show whether we are attentive and interested in the discussion or feel bored with it. Besides,
emotions like anger, confidence, fear, and so on can be read from someone’s eyes.

A persistent gaze is when someone maintains eye contact with another person for an
extended period of time. This can be a sign of interest, attraction, or aggression. The scene taken
from 1:26 to 1:29 displayed the persistent gaze. After Scott finishes his ideas, Jordan says her
thoughts and looks straight at Scott. From the way she looks at Scott, what we feel is she is not
satisfied with the idea provided by Scott. Also, we can see in the scene from 3:26 to 3:30 when April
is trying to talk with Jordan that she has an idea for the new app. April is directly making gaze or eye
contact with Jordan and we feel that she is very confident and excited when she says with her big
eyes.

An evasive gaze is when someone avoids eye contact with another person. This can be a
sign of discomfort, dishonesty, or lack of interest during the conversation. It is shown in the scene
from 3:00 to 3:04. When Jordan turns around and watches April. April just turns her head to another
side. This indicates that she has no idea about the app and is afraid to make eye contact with Jordan.
Another reason can be that she feels uncomfortable when she looks at Jordan.

3. Paralanguage

Paralanguage refers to the sound that is connected with the person’s verbal
communications, which includes intonation, pitch, loudness of volume, speech rate and fluency. The
sounds that a person makes can have an effect on how another person understands the verbal
message that the person is trying to convey. Furthermore, sounds may be used to infer an individual’s
mood.

From 1:08 to 1:22, when Scott is sharing his opinion to everyone, he has made the ‘um’
sound three times. The noise he produces makes it difficult for him to speak fluently, which shows
that he is tense or anxious and lacks confidence in what he is saying. When a person is tense or
anxious, he will make hesitation noises to try to fill the voids.

After that, at 1:31, Jordan says the word “Next” at a very high pitch, indicating that she
exerts dominance to her employee to bring her more ideas about the new gaming app. The same
scene happened at 3:14 where Jordan dismisses her staff from the meeting by yelling ‘Go’ at a loud
volume. It is obvious that she is becoming irate and is using her anger to dominate her staff in her
company. Besides, in the movie scene from 1:42 to 1:52, we can see that Jordan’s voice becomes
louder and her pitch rises when she is talking to Melissa. Her raising voice indicates that she is angry
and strongly disagrees with the opinion given by Melissa.