1. Q2. HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

2. AGE
• The film defies the stereotype that teenagers are shown as being aggressive, moody and
criminals. Instead it turns the stereotype on its head and shows teenagers in a positive
light; willing to work and active. There would be binary opposites throughout the rest of
the film. For example, the main protagonist’s friendship group would defy the teenager
stereotypes and the antagonist (The kidnapper, who is slightly older – age 19) would
conform to the stereotype that teenagers are aggressive, angry etc.
• Leading on from the previous point, the main antagonist is not shown in my opening
sequence (I have purposely done this to act as an enigma code, keeping the audience
hooked) so the audience would not be able to deduce the age of this character. It is
obvious they are being chased because of the POV shots and because of the stereotype
that teenagers are ‘aggressive’ etc. the audience would assume that they are being
chased by a teenager.
• Lilly, the second character, is very dependant on others whereas Marie is very
independent. This is shown throughout the opening sequence because Marie urges Lilly
to come with her right at the beginning because Lilly is reluctant to go with her, afraid they
would be caught. This is stereotypical of teenagers being dependant on others. The film
represents teenagers the same as a group E audience; still in education and learning low
or minimum income.
• The two girls in my opening sequence are 15 years old and are shown as being scared
and therefore very vulnerable.

3. GENDER
• I tried to apply the theory of binary opposites to the two main protagonists in my opening
sequence as best I could despite the fact that they are both girls.
• I have also applied the binary opposites theory between the protagonists and main
antagonist. I have done this through the types of camera shots I used. The shots showing
the protagonists are very smooth, but the POV shots from the eyes of the antagonist are
very shaky and chaotic, a very stereotypical view of a male character ‘villain’ character.
• Both of the main protagonists are female, and as I have said previously, they have been
portrayed as being vulnerable and are shown as the ‘princess’ characters.
• The main antagonist, unbeknown to the audience is male. He is dominant because he is
not seen in my opening sequence, and would back the view that the unknown is more
terrifying than what is in shown in physical form. He represents a patriarchal (male
dominant) society and is the ‘villain’ in the structure of the film. Stereotypically, in other
psychological thrillers such as Flightplan, the male character is usually revealed to be the
culprit. This is conventional in other genres of films to, such as in the Die Hard franchise
where the villain is male in all four films.

4. ETHNIC GROUPS
• I have not represented any social groups in my opening sequence. However, if I were to
make the whole film, I would shoot some scenes in and based around Shaftesbury School
in Dorset. The school prides itself on promoting people other ethnic groups from around
the world to join the school. I think this would be a good opportunity to explore the
stereotypes related to ethnic groups (e.g. Asians = geeks) and to go against the negative
stereotypes associated with particular ethnic minorities.
• If I did use this I would convey them just as equally to the other characters because we
live in a modern world where ethnicity isn’t important and should not be used as an
excuse to degrade particular social groups.

5. CAMERA SHOTS
• Lilly asks Marie what to do half way through the sequence. The camera is eye level when
Lilly asks, and when Marie replies, the camera shot is at a slightly lower angle, connoting
she is more dominant, responsible, confident and older than Lilly.
LILLY – EYE LEVEL MARIE – LOW ANGLE
ANOTHER EXAMPLE WHERE MARIE
APPEARS HIGHER IN THE FRAME

6. CAMERA SHOTS CONTINUED
• The POV shots of the antagonist makes the audience feel as though they are in the
digesis of the film. To begin with, the POV shots of the antagonist are smooth, connoting
that he is calm and that he thinks everything is fine. When he realises Marie and Lilly are
trying to escape and the chase sequence picks up towards the end of the opening
sequence the POV shots are more evident . The POV shots here are very shaky and
sometimes blurry as he runs to catch up so they connote that the antagonist is desperate
to stop Marie and Lilly from escaping.
SMOOTH SHOTS AT THE BEGINNING SHAKYSHOTS AT THE END

7. COSTUME
• The colours Lilly wears in the opening sequence are mainly light blue and white. Together
these colours connote pure and innocence. This challenges the stereotype that teenagers
are moody and chaotic.
• Marie’s clothes are mainly very dark. They connote authority and trusting. The colour
white is very dominant too, so she is pure and innocent, just like Lilly.
Neither of them are the
stereotypical ‘girly girl’ and this
is connoted through their
clothes.

8. ‘MARIE’
• As I have mentioned, the Marie wears predominantly black and white clothes. It is not
very clear who Marie actually is so to add to the enigma code; for the title I used the
eyedropper tool to select the colour of Marie’s dark hood. This should serve as an extra
clue to the audience when they try to discover who Marie is. The title itself gives an
insight into Marie’s personality. It is very bold and I believe the black reflects Marie’s
bold, rebellious and risky personality. The white around the edge connotes that she is not
a bad person, it makes her look young and innocent. The sharp serifs on the letters
suggest that she could be quite aggressive and dangerous so should not be crossed or
underestimated.