BY REBECCA FALLIS

How does your media product represent particular social

groups.

Representing Women/Girls: Violet

Our film represents women/girls in a lot of ways. The stereotypical woman in a film would normally be known to die at the end or struggle to survive. Our film portrays women in two different ways. First we have the character of Violet that is psychologically mental, and she is the killer of her friends. We portray the way she is by showing different shots of her for example we used a shot of Violet crawling along the floor and sped it up to make it have a sort of abnormal feel to it. Also the shot is quite blurry which tricks the mind into thinking that something isn’t right.

We also used a lot of close ups of Violet to portray her face and how much of in a bad state it was for example the cuts, bruises and blood. We also used the close ups to show how much of a mental state she actually was, and how her reactions were to the voicemails from her friends. Also the close ups of Violet are shown when she isn’t in the light, she is in the dark so this could have the feel of Violet hiding away from people and not showing who she truly is in the light. Violet isn’t the stereotypical woman that would die first because in this film she is seen as the mental person who doesn’t die, everyone else suffers from her actions. So our film goes against stereotypes.

Representing Women/Girls: Charlotte and Amy.

The characters of Charlotte and Amy match in with the stereotypes of women in films. Shots are shown of Charlotte and Amy to make them feel victimised and alone. We did a tracking shot of Charlotte and Amy running in the woods to make them feel isolated and as if someone is following them. This shows that they don’t have the power and they are not in control. We decided to have Violets friends be the victims and show Lucas as not as much of a victim because we feel that if a woman is a victim, more sympathy is shown towards her.

Also we showed a shot of Amy dead, and Charlotte coping with the death. We did this shot with the camera against the floor, to show that they have hit rock bottom, they are not in power any more. Throughout the film, they do not have the power, so when this shot is shown, it is the concluded shot to show that they have lost everything and each other.

Representing Men/Boys: Lucas

Men are normally stereotyped to be the masculine hero of the film. But we decided to go against stereotypes again by not adding many shots of Lucas in the film to show that he is not the one that can save the situation as that is not what the film is all about. Also we showed an over the shoulder shot between Violet and Lucas in conversation, and this shows that Lucas could be victimised, so this challenges the stereotype because you do not know if Lucas is either a victim or in on it with Violet as well.

A tracking shot of Lucas is also shown running in the woods to show that he is also isolated, he is no different to his friends and is in exactly the same position.

Representing Age: Costume In our film, age is represented in the

most significant way. Our film just has teenagers in, so straight away it is representing teenagers. Also from the type of clothing that the characters wear, for example Lucas, the plain denim shirt and burgundy chinos are basic clothing of what normal teenage boys wear. We see the girls Amy and Charlotte in stereotypical girls clothing for example jeans and a summery top, paired with a leather jacket or coat. Violet is a little different but she would wear something that girls from the gothic genre would wear, so she still represents young teenage girls.

We also represent age from a parents view as we show Violets father shouting her that her tea is ready. That is the stereotypical thing that a parent would say, because all he is trying to do is look after her.

Representing Power: Violet

We decided to represent power by the use of Violet, the other characters are the victims so there is no way that they have the power. Violets costume is the most bold and stand out costume compared to the other characters as it is fully black, and from it being different makes her stand out. It makes the audience wonder straight away why the characters are dressed ‘normal’ and she isn’t.

As she is the main character she is also represented in many shots, such as close ups, tracking shots, long shots etc. We decided to add her to many shots because the title is about her, the audience needs to grasp that something is not right with her. Also Violets emotions need to be portrayed in different ways, she is shows as emotional in her close ups with her smudgy mascara and bruises, she is shown as abnormal when she is running around in the woods and playing in the leaves, and she is also shown as being a killer when she is isolating Amy with a knife in her hand. As we show this character in three different lights, it draws the audiences attention closer to her.

Challenging stereotypes

I feel that we challenge stereotypes a lot in our film, and that is what makes it so unique. We don’t have the woman being the one who dies first, we have her as the strong killer. We don’t have the man as being a masculine hero, we have him being one of the victims. I feel that if we didn’t challenge stereotypes, then this film wouldn’t have worked because it wouldn’t have fitted right with the storyline. Also having a girl as the main killer is similar to films such as Orphan, The Grudge, The Ring, this is what makes the films so scary because you don’t expect the woman to be the killer, you see her as more of a saint, but with Violets costume and actions, then you can see straight away that she isn’t a saint, she is the one causing everything to go a mess.