QUESTION 2How does your media product represent particular social groups?

UNDEFINED REALITY

Which groups do we show in our film?

• We show the teenage age group. The first victim is a teenager, and the rest of the victims are planned as being teenage, which gives the impression that the killer is targeting those that made his school life hell.

• We show a disabled person in our film (the killer) but we represent him as violent although we tried to implement the idea of Multiple Personality Disorder, so that it’s clear that the killer is in many different frames of mind about what is right and wrong.

• In our film, so far, there are only men on screen. The fact that one man is dead and another is being chased shows that there are some men out there that only want to kill others, which is sort of true.

How do we present different social groups? The Teenager

• In our film, we tried to adhere to the obvious stereotypes, but this was difficult seeing as none of the teenagers did anything that was typical of ordinary teenagers, bar the killer, but he has an explained disability. Instead of having the teenager look like a typical teenager, we made him easily identifiable, showing the audience that he means no harm and that his intentions are not to cause trouble, as he appears to be looking for someone, due to him finding a phone on the floor that presumably isn’t his own. We do slightly subvert our use of teenagers though, as he is alone. This may seem suspicious or stereotypical to somebody who doesn’t know what he is up to.

• The reason we kill off a teenager in the opening of our film is simply to show that when it comes to pain or death, they are the same as everyone else, and that they feel the same emotions. It’s not the easiest thing to pick up but the message is there. This might help to get teenagers off of a stereotypical list as more and more people who pick up on our message realise that teenagers are still human beings, but hey are more easily influenced.

• Our teenager does not talk in our film, and this adds to the mystery of the victim. The victim does not explain why he is there, which creates questions for the audience. We use editing to present our teenager very minimally. We show most of his character in the first shot of the film, as he finds a phone. We cut to him finding the phone, which shows that he is trying to look for someone. We mainly use a long shot and close ups to show our teenager, adding to the mystery of the teenager, making the audience question his actions. Our teenager is wearing typical clothing, which shows that he is in fact a teenager, but he also wears a hat and gloves, which we think represents our teenager as different, as most typical teenagers wear only hoodies.

How do we present different social groups? The Disabled• In modern films, there is not much distinction between what disabilities are shown. There is more often than not a person

in a wheelchair, a person with some kind of major learning disability or somebody who is close to death or has contracted a life threatening disability. We decided that we wanted to represent our disabled character differently. We probably don’t represent him in the best way, but we give reasons for his actions and we give the audience hints of the more gentle side of his disability in an attempt to make them connect with him.

• As a result, we subvert the stereotypical representations of a disabled character by making him, for the first bit of the opening, seem overly violent and uncaring, striking without clear motives. However, this also adheres the typical representations, because in media and sometimes in the real world, people take disabled people on face value with little attempt to connect with them. We apply this to our character as he is taken on face value at first, but when he starts to show remorse, we start to see him differently.

• We think that this representation might help disabled people in media and in the real world, because it discourages judging someone based upon their initial look or actions, but to rather try and connect and see what is actually going on, our character has Multiple Personality Disorder, but you wouldn’t know that if you didn’t pay attention or just took the character too literally at first.

• Our killer does not say anything in the film, which creates the questions necessary for the audience and also surrounds his character in mystery. Our killer is almost never clear in the shot, his back is mostly turned to the camera and he is seen through bushes. The times when he is seen clearly show how his mask covers his face entirely, raising more questions about him. There is quicker cuts to different shots where the killer is concerned. This is because we want to show little of him but we want the audience to remember him. Our killer wear big clothes and a mask, which means that he does not want to be identified by anyone, and this shrouds his character in more mystery. He also wear big boots, and our thriller takes place near a industrial site, so it implies that what he wears might not be his, which means that even though our killer is disabled he still smart.

How do we present different social groups? The Male Gender• As in many other forms of media, the males are more often the strong and powerful villain with either

brains or strength. We subvert to this because of you do take the male character's looks into mind, the first teenager looks thin and weak, but then the killer doesn’t seem to be too much stronger but gains his advantage through surprise attacks. Also, because of his disability, it’s presumable that his mind jumps around too much to be very intelligent.

• The male villain is also represented as being able to act however he wants without repercussion, and , depending on the franchise, the time it takes for his death or capture can vary. Two examples of this support the statement. Lord Voldemort, in the “Harry Potter” franchise, is around/mentioned in eight movies until his death in the finale. The Killer from “Dead Man’s Shoes” lasts only one film.

• Our male is different from other villains, but he is still a villain some people will just see him as that, but others might notice the differences between him and others, spreading the lesson that not all representations have to be strong or violent when it comes to the male gender.

• Our killer does not talk, which shows that he is sinister. The killer is heavily edited, which shows that he is good at hiding who he is. Our killer is also not in that many shots where he is clear. This shows that his attack is sudden and it supports the fact that he hides his identity well. Our male wears big clothes and a mask. It is typically males that wear bigger clothes, which immediately shows that our killer is definitely male.