QUESTION 2: HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

OVERVIEWPsychological crime thrillers are usually aimed at people above the age of 18 due to their possibly disturbing nature with violence and fear inducing scenes but also a possible gore element. Also the complexity of the story line means that for younger audiences it may be confusing and un-relatable. However I would say the estimated target audience would be from around 20-40. This is because I think that it has an exciting story with some action that young people could follow however the depth in characters and story line mean that older more patient viewers will also enjoy the story too.This then determines what sort of class of characters would be most appropriate to exhibit to the audience in terms of relatability and also realism in terms of relatability to the narrative. From this I would determine logically that my class representation of the 2 characters (played by Tom and Ed) would be in the D and E class as they are seen generally as the largest group that makes up society and responsible for the majority of violent crime in the U.K. However my main character will probably be in the B/A class band. The reason for this is to show that not all crime originates and grows from the lower classes, but sometimes it stems from the top and goes downward, this therefore challenges common conventions and perceptions of social classes as represented by the media institutions.

REPRESENTATION: CLASS AND STATUS- COSTUMES

In these freeze frames you can clearly see the costumes of the characters and the way that these costumes represent different class and status. Tom and Ed are both wearing casual clothes which may be seen as ordinary to society with both costumes quite relaxed, however, with the addition of the masks, these seemingly innocent people are now categorised as evil and bad as their identities are concealed using animalistic masks. The reason I picked the pig masks specifically was to play on this animalistic concept and the snobbery that the upper classes typically project onto people of the lower class bands, in my eyes this seems animalistic as it is nonsensical and seems like a retraction of civilisation, humanity and equality. This is then seen as sort of ironic as the higher class main character is presented without his mask in full black with a hoodie which naturally, stood alone, would usually represent a lower class person if we were to fully conform with stereotypes. However I decided to dress him in this manner simply to show that clothing doesn’t define status and sometimes people wear different items of clothing for practicality, rather than status representation. So to the most extent my film challenges stereotypes of most social groups, however does still conform in different ways other than costumes as there is still a need for the audience to be able to relate to the class differences.

REPRESENTATION: AGE In terms of age, my film represents youthful characters which are usually seen as the cause of most trouble and crime by society and in my film I do represent them in this way. Many films also do so as it is relatable for the larger target audience as better represents my characters as those connected with crime. An example of the youth being presented as bad in a the film would be ‘attack the block’, where hooded youths try to track down a creature and kill it being a general disturbance and anti social. We can see from the pictures below that the characters are young wearing, hoodies, masks and generally presented as aggressive and criminals. This combination and association between the young and hoodies immediately being linked to crime is a common interpretation especially within the media and my film conforms to this.

REPRESENTATION: GENDERIn terms of gender I decided to use an all male cast, this is due to the common conception that men are generally more angry, aggressive and physically powerful than women. This is supported by nearly all Hollywood films with men most often representing the evil characters especially in action films. Not only this but men are also usually seen as the main protagonist. However this isn't always the case as many films challenge this concept, films such as ‘Kill Bill’ which has a female protagonist. However not only this but psychological thrillers are more common to attract a male audience so I decided to use a male cast to make it more relatable. Psychological thrillers with a male casting the main good or bad roles include: ‘Shutter island’ ‘Memento’ ‘Se7en’ and ‘The machinist’ however there are many more. This shows the Hollywood trend of which I conform to with my product.

REPRESENTATION: ACCENTIn my product the accent of the main character isn't revealed as in the opening scene he has no dialogue, this is intentional as I don’t want him to be limited by interpretation of accent this early on in the film. However other characters such as the one Tom plays have a weak youth London accent, this is seen by many social groups as slightly intimidating and hard, this is to show that even a tough man is scared of the main character. This emphasises the power of the main antagonist and represents the group as bad and provocateurs in the narrative. Films such as ‘Lock stock and two smoking barrels’ use this idea except with a much stronger more obvious accent. I didn’t want it to be too obvious as I didn’t want class division to be too heavily involved in my film.

REPRESENTATION: MOVEMENT As we can see by the way the main character moves, heavy footed yet cautious, usually society and media institutions would see him as suspicious and tough. This would therefore represent him yet again as bad and possibly in a lower class band to what he actually is, band C2 possibly. However as I have explained he is actually of an upper class background but it is hinted that he is not. This is to challenge conventions and also present him as variable and unpredictable as his appearance is deceiving in terms of his actually character and reactions at different times in different events.

END OF QUESTION 2.