Evaluation AS 2

Q2) How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

In my opening sequence my group and I wanted to do something unconventional and something to throw our audience of trail in order to shock them and as a result, engage our audience. For example, we didn’t use the typically seen character of just a female victim and a masked killer. We made sure that there were two victims, one female and the other one male. The reason for this is to create shock for our audience and as a result of this, end up with a range of surprises throughout the thriller which will make the tension in the atmosphere consistent. Despite the unconventional use of different characters, there is still a hidden stereotyped that we have used to begin with, which can confuse the audience. This is because we start the opening sequence with a male driving home from work, which shows the audience that the main character is a male. This is unusual to see a male victim in a thriller as men are seen to be strong, intelligent and brave and so by using this dominant, male character it confuses the audience by leading them into a false sense of security. However, as the opening sequence moves on, you see a blonde female victim who is seen as the weaker out of the two characters shown so far which indicates that the first character to be killed will be this character. Therefore, through this is would be accurate to say that there is a clear stereotype in gender that my group and I have used even though it may seem otherwise. Due to this it comes across as my opening sequence isn’t conventional, however other elements such as having the blonde young female being killed first takes inspiration from Hitchcock’s Psycho where the main character dies very quickly and therefore follows the conventions of a thriller. This appeals to a lot of social groups as it there is a young female which attracts all different types of audiences, and an older man which also appeals to the audience, my media product represents the younger generation to be more vulnerable and weaker whilst portraying the older generation to be wiser and therefore more capable of looking after themselves. This is because the younger character is killed first, and then the older is after having realised what events where taking place around him.

Despite this, I have made sure that my audience can build a relationship with the characters. I was able to make sure of this through various different ways, such as the characters appearance and personality. I made the female a young, vulnerable girl which I felt would be suitable as young girls from the ages of 15+ would be able to look up to, and the characters approachable way allows the audience to feel sympathetic towards her and feel sad if something bad was to happen. A lot of teenage girls need inspiration and if I have an attractive, natural beauty it may encourage girls to want to base their appearance on themselves, rather than these other women with unrealistic figures and flawless skin. This builds a relationship with the audience because it inspires the younger audience to want to be like my character as it shows a realistic character and therefore a realistic wish for my audience to want to be natural and be happy with whom they are, rather than base their appearance on society’s views on how females should look. The male audience may also be gripped by this as having an attractive female within the production may hold their attention. Having a strong, sophisticated male character appeals a lot to the male audience as it shows a man with a realistic job, and successful which could inspire our male audience to want to aspire to great things like what our male character is. In a way, this is a stereotypical representation of gender as society views women as the weaker gender who are used solely to gain male attention and to inspire young girls to be like them, and males to be the stronger gender who are able to work and provide for the family, making them independent and automatically a role model without working towards it. I done this so that instead of creating a confusing and incorrect of each role within a family, there is already a set idea on how society thinks that things should be within the family and what roles each gender have. This therefore makes my opening sequence easier to follow from the audience’s perspective.