Q2. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

AGE • The film defies the stereotype that teenagers are shown as being aggressive, moody and

criminals. Instead it turns the stereotype on its head and shows teenagers in a positive light; willing to work and active. There would be binary opposites throughout the rest of the film. For example, the main protagonist’s friendship group would defy the teenager stereotypes and the antagonist (The kidnapper, who is slightly older – age 19) would conform to the stereotype that teenagers are aggressive, angry etc.

• Leading on from the previous point, the main antagonist is not shown in my opening sequence (I have purposely done this to act as an enigma code, keeping the audience hooked) so the audience would not be able to deduce the age of this character. It is obvious they are being chased because of the POV shots and because of the stereotype that teenagers are ‘aggressive’ etc. the audience would assume that they are being chased by a teenager.

• Lilly, the second character, is very dependant on others whereas Marie is very independent. This is shown throughout the opening sequence because Marie urges Lilly to come with her right at the beginning because Lilly is reluctant to go with her, afraid they would be caught. This is stereotypical of teenagers being dependant on others. The film represents teenagers the same as a group E audience; still in education and learning low or minimum income.

• The two girls in my opening sequence are 15 years old and are shown as being scared and therefore very vulnerable.

GENDER• I tried to apply the theory of binary opposites to the two main protagonists in my opening

sequence as best I could despite the fact that they are both girls.

• I have also applied the binary opposites theory between the protagonists and main antagonist. I have done this through the types of camera shots I used. The shots showing the protagonists are very smooth, but the POV shots from the eyes of the antagonist are very shaky and chaotic, a very stereotypical view of a male character ‘villain’ character.

• Both of the main protagonists are female, and as I have said previously, they have been portrayed as being vulnerable and are shown as the ‘princess’ characters.

• The main antagonist, unbeknown to the audience is male. He is dominant because he is not seen in my opening sequence, and would back the view that the unknown is more terrifying than what is in shown in physical form. He represents a patriarchal (male dominant) society and is the ‘villain’ in the structure of the film. Stereotypically, in other psychological thrillers such as Flightplan, the male character is usually revealed to be the culprit. This is conventional in other genres of films to, such as in the Die Hard franchise where the villain is male in all four films.

ETHNIC GROUPS• I have not represented any social groups in my opening sequence. However, if I were to

make the whole film, I would shoot some scenes in and based around Shaftesbury School in Dorset. The school prides itself on promoting people other ethnic groups from around the world to join the school. I think this would be a good opportunity to explore the stereotypes related to ethnic groups (e.g. Asians = geeks) and to go against the negative stereotypes associated with particular ethnic minorities.

• If I did use this I would convey them just as equally to the other characters because we live in a modern world where ethnicity isn’t important and should not be used as an excuse to degrade particular social groups.

CAMERA SHOTS• Lilly asks Marie what to do half way through the sequence. The camera is eye level when

Lilly asks, and when Marie replies, the camera shot is at a slightly lower angle, connoting she is more dominant, responsible, confident and older than Lilly.

LILLY – EYE LEVEL MARIE – LOW ANGLE

ANOTHER EXAMPLE WHERE MARIE APPEARS HIGHER IN THE FRAME

CAMERA SHOTS CONTINUED• The POV shots of the antagonist makes the audience feel as though they are in the

digesis of the film. To begin with, the POV shots of the antagonist are smooth, connoting that he is calm and that he thinks everything is fine. When he realises Marie and Lilly are trying to escape and the chase sequence picks up towards the end of the opening sequence the POV shots are more evident . The POV shots here are very shaky and sometimes blurry as he runs to catch up so they connote that the antagonist is desperate to stop Marie and Lilly from escaping.

SMOOTH SHOTS AT THE BEGINNING SHAKYSHOTS AT THE END

COSTUME• The colours Lilly wears in the opening sequence are mainly light blue and white. Together

these colours connote pure and innocence. This challenges the stereotype that teenagers are moody and chaotic.

• Marie’s clothes are mainly very dark. They connote authority and trusting. The colour white is very dominant too, so she is pure and innocent, just like Lilly.

Neither of them are the stereotypical ‘girly girl’ and this is connoted through their clothes.

‘MARIE’• As I have mentioned, the Marie wears predominantly black and white clothes. It is not

very clear who Marie actually is so to add to the enigma code; for the title I used the eyedropper tool to select the colour of Marie’s dark hood. This should serve as an extra clue to the audience when they try to discover who Marie is. The title itself gives an insight into Marie’s personality. It is very bold and I believe the black reflects Marie’s bold, rebellious and risky personality. The white around the edge connotes that she is not a bad person, it makes her look young and innocent. The sharp serifs on the letters suggest that she could be quite aggressive and dangerous so should not be crossed or underestimated.