1. Question two – How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In my film I chose to
use a female character
in order for the
audience to build up
sympathy for her, as
she is stereotypically
weak and helpless.
In the film ‘The Ring’ they used a dark haired teenage female character as
the main part in their film. In my film the characters traits are not shown in
the opening as she is asleep however the opening scene makes my
character seem naive as she is affected by her nightmares. She is also shown
to be afraid and unsettled. This is different to the character in the ring
because she is shown to have the typical bolshie attitude of a teenage until a
little later in the film when she is shown to fear and be scared like my
character.
By using a young
female character this
also allows my
intended audience of
women between 15
and 24 years of age to
relate to the character
due to similar
characteristics and
the common problem
of having nightmares.
In both ‘The Ring’ and my film the opening scene takes
place in the teenagers bedroom. In both of these it is made
clear that this is the setting by the relaxed attitude all
characters show there and the bedding that is most
commonly that of a teenage girl. Having this setting once
again helps the intended audience to relate as this is more
than likely where they would spend a lot of their time.
In my film the
character is alone in
her bedroom making
her seem even more at
risk and helpless. In
‘The Ring’ the
character starts of
having a friend with
her making her less at
risk than my character
but as the film
progresses the other
character disappears
allowing the character
to be shown as alone,
deserted and helpless
like my character.
In both of these films the girl is the main role in the film.
Stereotypically girls are thought to be Naïve, Helpless, Need
protecting, ditsy and innocent. By using a female character
these traits are likely to be assumed without the need to show
them although in my film there are hints that my character
possesses these traits. In ‘The Ring’ the character seems to be
more outspoken than a women but possesses the
stereotypical traits of a teenager allowing the audience to
make assumptions about the character before being certain.
In our film we used little girls to the object that
creates fear in our film. The traits
stereotypically put upon little girls is
innocence and naivety so I used this them as
what is scaring the main character to contrast
these stereotypes. There costumes suggest
they are from a different era as I felt that if
they appeared as normal modern children they
would not really be scary to anyone.