2. Target Audience
Our target audience is girls between the ages of 12 and 22.
Our attempt was to do a representation of your typical female
teenager – age and gender. We wanted our audience to be
able to relate to our protagonist and so tried to incorporate
various ideas.
3. Girly
We wanted to show that Naomi is very girly. This wasn’t too difficult as we simply
thought of many props which could imply vast femininity. Pink was a definite yes in
terms of decorating the room and getting props as everyone would asociate pink
as a very girly colour. We also tried to use makeup to show this side to Naomi to
make it clear that she does spend time getting ready and doing up her face and
this takes away any thoughts of her being a tom-boy or a very good girl – she can’t
be getting dolled up if she didn’t want to impress someone. The Vogue magazines
and collection of books such as “The 50 Shades of Grey” and “Rules of Attraction”
are books a typical girly girl would enjoy reading. Small dogs are also related to
ultra femininity and we have put Ollie in our opening sequence!
4. Confident
Her confidence is shown through a variety of ways. We see this right from the
beginning as she writes her name on the mirror and pouts which shows she is fond
of herself and confident. The fact that she is wearing a short tight skirt reveals her
self-confidence too as a person who was insecure about their body would not
wear such a thing. Her red lips also show her direct and valiant persona. The fact
that she puts her heels in her room and then has to walk down the stairs brings
about the idea of her being fearless and her upright position whilst walking shows
that she walks with a purpose and meaning.
5. Flirtatious
The pictures on Naomi’s mirror are symbolic of
her flirty nature. We have a close up of her
phone where she gets a text message from a
boy, Aiden, who is calling her “babe” which
isn’t particularly loving and the audience may
think he is her boyfriend but will learn
otherwise later on in the film. We did not want
to represent her as very promiscuous as this
wouldn’t make her character appealing and she
wouldn’t be likeable. We therefore thought of
including things to make her look as if she is
flirtatious. The innuendos such as the “Glow
Job” cream and “Thick and Fast” mascara not
only show a naughty side to Naomi but also
add a comical effect to our opening sequence.
We did not want any explicit sex scenes as it
would not be appropriate for our target
audience so we decided to add in these little
details as implications. They are not graphic
indicators to imply that she does have
relationships and maybe likes boys but doesn't
necessarily mean that she is promiscuous or
sexually active.
6. Recklessness
We wanted to give a slight impression of recklessness via Naomi’s dress sense. Her
leopard print heels were the main signifier of this as they suggest a care-free and
fun attitude. There is also a red part on the shoe which makes the heel even
higher suggesting danger and feistiness not just through the colour but also the
dimension. Her leather jacket is a subtle brown colour which makes sure she is not
represented as a “biker” but implies there is another side to he which should be
treated with caution. Our titles have a black shadow behind the writing which
adds a sense of mystery and reveals that there are in fact two sides to Naomi!
7. Baring in mind the stereotypical teenage girl and our target audience, this
is what we have come up with. We used signifiers so that we could have as
much of our target audience as possible to relate with and empathise with
Naomi and get them to respond to her representation in this way. I believe
people outside our target audience will think of Naomi as a typical
teenage girl as we’ve included boys, romantic novels, makeup and the
right clothing for the social group which we are trying to represent. In
addition, the camera always takes a man’s point of view which is key
here, as according to Laura Mulvey’s theory, women wish to see
themselves through men’s eyes and think of what a man would say as they
are getting ready. A lot of young women will be able to identify with
Naomi as the majority of them do take care in their appearance.
