How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Within our opening sequence two social groups are represented, these are young, vulnerable women and men aged in their late teens or early twenties.

Women are represented in our opening sequence matching both the stereotypical and conventional view. Here in this screenshot we see the victim crouched on the floor, looking worried. The camera is low to the ground like her creating a sense of weakness and vulnerability. Her clothing also adds to the vulnerability of her, through the light colours contrasting with the dark surroundings. The idea that she is the victim and that she is wearing a dress with make-up matches stereotypical views.

The male in our opening sequence is the killer and is represented appropriately. His face is almost always completely concealed by either his clothing or the dark surroundings. This gives him the typical feeling of a killer or stalker. His clothing is also dark, matching his surroundings in a camouflage-esque way. He also matches with the stereotypical view that all killers/stalkers are male and reasonably young. The low camera angle also highlights his power and control over the situation and along with his silence this creates the impression we wanted to create.

We chose to match and follow on with the conventional style of thrillers. This was our decision, as we didn’t want to run any risks that may turn the audience away from watching and enjoying our opening sequence. If we follow the traditional and conventional thriller style the audience would also find it easier to understand and will therefore be interested in continuing to watch our opening. Finally by following the conventional thriller style characters are far easier to identify and understand.

Written by Marcus Murdoch