1. How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
Evaluation Question 2

2. Point- how did you intend to represent the
social group’s featured in your production?
We intended to represent the little girl (Ella) as weak and
vulnerable. We did this through mise en scene. For example
we made sure she was wearing bright colours including pinks
and reds in order to portray her age and helplessness. In our
production we left the colour of her red trousers and her pink
rucksack, however we turned the rest of the footage black to
connote her innocence clearly to the audience. Additionally
we included high angle shots looking down on Ella which
showed the audience how small she was in comparison to
Harry the kidnapper. Our audience feedback suggested that
the use of ‘leave colour’ (on Ella’s costume) throughout our
production was effective as it drew focus to the young child.
However some of our target audience stated that this
technique was not effective as it detracted from the narrative.
To improve the representation of Ella’s character I think we
could have used dialogue to show her lack of development.

3. Cont.
I think the stereotype associated with the character
of Ella would have made the audience feel
sympathetic and protective of her. For example the
audience may have been able to empathise with her
mother. Stereotypes are important within films as
they allow the audience to have a pre-judged idea of
the character before they feature in the text.
Stereotypes help build a personality for the specific
character as the actions of the character will be
already established. Sometimes this can help the
narrative of a text to develop as the stereotype may
be prone to a certain way of living.

4. How did you intend to represent
the social group’s in your
production?
The second stereotype we featured within our
production was the antagonist. For example
we specifically chose the antagonist to be
male. Males are usually stereotyped as being
the antagonist as their character usually has
to convey anger and violence (which may not
be seen natural for a woman). In order to
create this stereotype the mise en scene in
the shot had to be effective; for example he
needed to wear dark clothing (black coat and
dark jeans). We additionally succeeded in this
stereotype via the use of body language. For
instance we made sure the antagonist was
standing behind a wall and looked very
sinister in order to connote evil and danger
ahead.

5. Cont.
I think the stereotype used in this example would
have an impact on society as this may reinforce
the idea of men being the antagonist. For
example the behaviour of males is usually
regarded as more ‘suspect’ than the same
behaviour of women. We could have possibly
treated the groups more fairly by including
another antagonist (a female) as this would have
been an counter-type and would have
represented both men and women in a similar
way.

6. How did you intend to represent the
social group’s in your production?
The inclusion of the character of
Ella’s mother Lindsey represents
women to be subordinate. For example
Lindsey manages to lose Ella in the
town centre. This represents women to
be slow and dim-witted. This can often
be stereotypical as women are often
negatively stereotyped to be physically
and mentally inferior to men.
Additionally we used a female character
to be shopping with Ella as this makes
the narrative seem believable and
creates a sense of verisimilitude which
appeals to the audience.

7. Continued.
I think the stereotype of Lindsey in this production
would make the audience (especially females)
empathise and feel guilty for the character.
This stereotype isn’t fair or an accurate representation
of women, however it is the way in which some
societies view women therefore I think the inclusion of
this stereotype is justified as some of the audience
members might recognise and feel familiar with this
character.

8. How did you intend to represent the
social group’s in your production?
The character I played (the witness) was
introduced to act as an countertype/anti-
stereotype. For example most people would
associate blonde women as being
unintelligent, ditzy and unreliable. In our
production the inclusion of my character was
to challenge this stereotype. For instance the
witness is speaking to the police about an
important incident that has just happened
and therefore this means that all information
needs to be delivered clearly and reliably. My
character defies the stereotypes associated
with blondes as the witness tells the police
information on what she was wearing and
where the incident took place in order for the
police to find her.

9. Continued.
The countertype included suggests to the audience that
hair colour isn’t a factor in how clever/how much common
sense somebody has. This additionally portrays young
teenagers to be seen positively as speaking to the police
about a serious incident can be very difficult.
I think if we were to use another character as opposed to
a stereotypical ‘dumb blonde’ the witness’ role would not
have had such a large impact as the countertype allows
the audience to see that not all stereotypes are accurate
which contrasts the role of blonde women.

10. How did you intend to represent the
social group’s in your production?
We chose to include a real
policeman in our production
as the inclusion of real props
and real mise en scene would
create a sense of
verisimilitude for the
audience.
As the policeman sounded
friendly and looked smart I
think this represents police
officers positively.

11. Continued.
Having a real police officer as a character I think will
have had a large impact on the audience as they will
have been able to see what the police actually have
to do.
A lot of the time police officers are stereotyped
negatively. In our production we deliberately tried to
portray the policeman positively as in the opening
sequence this creates anticipation for the audience as
‘nice people’ are usually expected to be the
protagonist and ‘save the day’!