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

By Olivia Jackson

SOCIAL GROUPSWhat is a social group?A social group is a collection of people who interact with each other and share similar characteristics and possibly a sense of unity. An example of a social group is:• Friends• Siblings• Families• Co-workers

REPRESENTING SOCIAL GROUPS IN OUR OPENING

In our media opening, we included 3 social groups which we represented through Max and Keira, Max and Rosie and Jennifer and the security guard. Those groups were:• Friends• Siblings• Government employees.

FRIENDSIn our thriller opening, our two main characters Max and Keira are friends that have broken into the government facility together in search of an antidote to a virus that has caused wide-spread panic and killed many people. Their close bond as friends allows them to work more productively in order to find the antidote.

Our characters friendship was inspired by Katniss and Gale from The Hunger Games: Their close friendship with each other allows them to trust one another which is particularly important in the film when they trespass into areas where they are not supposed to be and need to look out for each other so as not to get caught by the authorities.

FRIENDS: MISE-EN-SCENEAgain, we took inspiration for Keira’s make-up and hair from The Hunger Games because the female lead in that film is bare-faced and wears minimalist clothing when trespassing into places in the beginning of the film to avoid being noticed or caught. Max’s clothing and make-up was inspired by Jason Bourne's in the Bourne Identity; this is because he is wearing dark clothing, however the clothing isn’t high quality or made specifically for a spy showing that they have tried to be conspicuous while braking-in but have little connection to the government. In addition, Max and Keira both have bruises on their face, similar to Jason Bourne's cuts, showing the audience that there must have been difficulty involved whilst braking into the building prior to where the opening of the thriller begins.

FRIENDS: MISE-EN-SCENEWe used low-key lighting in the majority of the opening for shots involving Max and Keira because we thought that this would create a more tense and sombre atmosphere. We took inspiration for this lighting from the opening of Casino Royale because in this film, the low-key lighting provides the scene with tension and suspense when the character of Bond has broken into the office. Also, the two main characters are searching through papers in the opening, making the scene appear chaotic, we did this because we were trying to represent what the virus has done to society outside of the headquarters.

SIBLINGSWe have featured a brother-sister relationship between Max and his dying sister Rosie. We have done this to show the audience what his motivation is for stealing the antidote and to provide the audience with some background information for the character of Max in the form of a flashback.

We were inspired to incorporate siblings into our thriller opening by films such as The Fifth Wave; this film is based around an older sibling fighting to find and protect her younger brother. We found that this particular story line provided The Fifth Wave with emotion as it gave the older sibling an important purpose in the film which an audience could relate to. Casey, the older sibling, is brave and very protective of her brother and we wanted Max to have the same characteristics and love for his sister in our thriller opening.

SIBLINGS: MISE-EN-SCENEMax’s character is dressed formally which shows that he is a replacement of the parental figure, raising questions from the audience such as where the parents have gone and why he is the only person looking after his terminally ill sister.

We dressed Rosie in pyjamas to make her feel younger and more vulnerable. We were inspired to do this by Prim in the Hunger Games, in the opening of that film, she has a nightmare and is dressed in pyjamas, making her feel younger and more vulnerable to the audience and we wanted to replicate this in our opening.

SIBLINGS: MISE-EN-SCENEWe were inspired to make the flash back scene black and white by Casino Royale, in the flashback scenes in that film, the black and white effect makes the scene look like a memory. We also decided to use low key lighting in the flashback because it makes the scene appear more sad and emotion, adding to the content of the scene; we were inspired to do this by the opening of Kill Bill as the opening is filmed with little light, this fills the scene with the emotion that the Bride has, being fear.

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEESIn our opening, the characters Jennifer and the bodyguard are both government employees who work in the headquarters that Max and Keira have broken into. Jennifer's character is very sly, deceiving and intelligent; she is the person who invented the virus and the antidote that Max and Keira are intending to steal. The body guard is a strong, devious person who protects Jennifer and the contents of the headquarters.

We have taken inspiration from ending of ‘The Maze Runner’ for the character of Jennifer. In the ending of that film, a government agent is introduced called Ava Paige, she is our main inspiration for Jennifer because the two are both scientists and believe they are doing what's right for the world.

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: MISE-EN-SCENE

We used very low-key lighting in the shot with Jennifer in as this hid her face and identity and gave the scene a very secretive and mysterious feeling to it. We were inspired to do this by classic thrillers, for example in Spectre, the villains identity and face is hidden until Bond eventually meets him.

We gave Jennifer's character glasses to show she is an intelligent person and decided to use a high-tech computer to put the security footage on in order to make the headquarters appear more technologically advanced in order to show that this opening is set a few years into the future.

GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES: MISE-EN-SCENE

We decided to dress the security guard in a formal suit to make him appear more professional and intelligent, showing that he isn’t a simple thug who is strong. We had this idea after seeing the villains in Casino Royale as they are all dressed very formally which makes them appear rich and intelligent, giving them the ability to match the protagonist's intelligence.

CONCLUSIONWe have chosen to present these different social groups in various ways for various reasons however, we have found that we have chosen to present these groups in ways that will bring more emotion to the audience while watching our thriller opening in order for them to enjoy our thriller opening more.