My Evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Dear Readers,

My evaluation 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

This means to choose a particular character - such as my main character Lori Freeborn and relate her to a social group and other characters.

Here i have used voki.com to produce this: (script is below)

Script:
Representation is the process of making meaning in moving images and sound. In my film opening, this means to present/show young people. The processes I have used to make my actors stand for the characters they represent include careful use of camera shots, angles, movement and composition, sound, editing and mise en scene.

In my film opening, I wanted to represent a typical innocent young female babysitter to heighten the sympathy from the audience and conform to the conventions of my chosen thriller genre.

I held auditions for the ideal performers for the part. My chosen actress was a typical 18-year-old, with quite an innocent ‘look’ – long blonde hair, petite physique, well-spoken with quite a high-pitched, ‘girly’ voice. Her costume was equally plain and simple, a casual outfit to set the scene. Her characters is positioned to come across as important, but actually not the main protagonist, which is the reason she wears a long beige top with jeans. These colours are quite warm, which contributes to her caring character, the light colours also connoting innocence and youth.

This character is introduced with a wide shot which establishes her to the audiences as quite a stereotypical teenage babysitter in a big room, emphasising her vulnerability alone in the huge house, with large glass windows showing the threatening dark outside.

I also used sound to help introduce her naive character with her dialogue ‘Your mum’s going to kill me’, which foreshadows the fact that she is going to die as well as indicating her position as a babysitter.

I used a high angle shot as she puts the child to bed, showing how her power has shifted from the babysitter in charge to the lonely victim. As she descends the stairs the soundscape creates tension with several layers of different sounds such as drones and high-pitched, unnerving sounds.

The way I edited my film opening also highlights the youth and innocence of my character as she is threatened and in danger. The establishing shots at the beginning are held for several seconds to give the illusion of a calm environment, whereas the shots towards the end quicken as the tension builds. We also have a point of view shot from the killer standing outside the house watching the girl pick up a mysterious package. The editing there is match on action, so the audience are immersed in the action, moving with the girl and empathising with her. The change to the killer’s viewpoint again emphasises her vulnerability and gives the audience both sides of the story, instead of just following it from one perspective.

Towards the end of my film opening I have included several close-ups on my victim’s face to show her growing terror.

The verisimilitude created by my film opening enables the audience to relate to my victim, as she is represented so clearly as a vulnerable teenager. My target audience also comes from this social group, both girls and boys. I decided to have a female victim, as both boys and girls tend to empathise with the stereotypical attractive female victim.

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
Judith butler suggests that in accordance to this theory having gender identifications causes problems amongst our society, therefore we should be open to the suggestion of not having fixed identifications of masculine and feminine but have multiple identifications. Therefore contradicting the law we all abide by. However the film industry do not abide by her theory, as because of gender they are able to create certain moods and therefore movies.

Until Next time...