QUESTION2-How does your media product represent particular social groups?-FINAL

We carefully thought about many elements in our piece to ensure they represented the social groups we wanted. This made sure our characters were relatable and therefore our audience can get more involved and feel more empathy for the characters. Because we only had two characters we had to focus closely on every aspect to them and their mannerisms, facial expressions and costumes. We were keen to present Freddie as quite a shady and hidden character-we had him dressed in all black to reflect a dark side. We wanted to make sure Jade was quite girly therefore we made the actor wear her hair down and wear quite girly pyjamas. This made her come across as a 'typical' girly girl, it showed her innocence. By conveying her as a normal typical girl we were able to make the plot twist at the end seem even more surreal. We were able to make the audience feel sympathetic towards her because up until now she had been shown as a 'normal' girl, however how she appears at the end we are able to determine she doesn't lead a normal life. We also focused on the surroundings because this gave away a lot about our piece. For example we included an establishing shot initially of a peaceful village and included sounds of birds chirping to present a picture of innocence.

 

This is our establishing shot which we placed at the beginning of our sequence. We wanted the shot show an peaceful and "normal" village. We made sure no people were in the shot because we wanted to present this idea of tranquillity. These houses additionally look quite modern which is good because right from the beginning the audience are shown the time period. Freddie is shown walking in quite a run down area that looks quite dodgy. This is representative of the stereotypical image of a teenage boy who typically gets into trouble and involved in dodgy business. However, this contrasts with the type of house and village he lives in being quite middle/upper class.

 This is some shots of our character Freddie Sharp. He needed to reflect a young man who had this dark side. We had him dress in black to reflect this. At this age teenage boys are stereotypically seen as quite threatening and invasive, so the black adds to this idea of him being intrusive. The converse and hoodie-cardigan show that he is a younger character. The fact that he is wearing converse shows that he is  We looked at a few RMAs to see what characters typical of this type of role would wear. We thought "Teen Wolf" was a good one as they are teenage boys with a secret dark side.in most TV shows and movies the evil baddie wears black so this was an easy way to get the fundamental idea behind his character across. The colour of black is also often associated with death which is obviously a prominent theme in our crime drama. We kept the shots of Freddie very fragmented, showing close ups of particular areas that are ket in the scene. This adds an element of mystery, again making him seem threatening as his identity is hidden from us. 

 

This is our character Jade Jarvis. We contrasted Freddie's costume and personality with Jade who wears white to reflect purity and innocence. This difference exaggerates each of their roles. In addition to reflecting this, white often shows emptiness which is also a main theme that comes to light right at the end. Her mannerisms, such as the slow breathing and scared facial expressions, show her as weak. This is a stereotypical characteristic of girls, especially in contrast to the powerful image that men typically portray. We had her brushing her hair initially in the sequence to present her as very image conscious. This takes the depth away from her character and draws her down to simply the way she looks. This is very stereotypical of girls who take a lot of pride in their appearance. We also did this to show how little control she has over her situation and therefore she takes extra care into the elements she can control (her appearance.) 

At the end Jade is on the floor crying leaving the audience guessing what has happened. Unlike with Freddie, we ensured that Jade's face was seen throughout which gave her an identity. It makes her character seem very clear and therefore we empathise with her more. Additionally she is more relatable because we can see her fully. 

 

We used an iPhone as an important element to our mise-en-scene. It is hugely representative of this modern day time where everyone seems to have one. It shows again that they are middle to upper class as they can afford really modern and expensive technology. It also establishes the kind of time period our film is set which is modern day.