The document discusses how the media product represents various social groups through its characters. It includes 4 characters of different ethnicities with more females than males. It aims to appeal to a similar aged and ethnically diverse audience as the actors. Some stereotypes portrayed include teenagers rebelling through underage drinking. While most characters conform to stereotypes, one male portrays responsibility challenging age stereotypes. It aims to challenge gender stereotypes by having a female lead but still depicts women as vulnerable at times. The main character is mixed race, challenging expectations for the lead to be white. It potentially reinforces some stereotypes around mixed race people and location.

1. Question 2: How does your media
product represent particular social
groups?

2. Our opening sequence contains 4 characters, they all are ethnically different, however, they share the same age
and there is gender variety, there are more females then there are males though.
As a result of this the different stereotypes in which we covered were ethnicity, age and gender. We didn’t
focus on religion or education as we didn’t feel as though they weren't particularly important or key factors
that were relevant to a horror film.
Our ideal target audience is similar to that of the age and ethnic diversity of the actors within the piece, this is
because we feel that it would be easier for the audience to identify with the characters as they are from a
similar background and are of the same age.
The use of the alcohol bottle within the opening sequence shows that the teenagers within the piece conform
to the stereotype that the older generation have given young people. It shows that they are rebellious because
they are engaging in underage drinking.
The negative character is shown through the use of the handheld camera and the creepy motif music is to
represent the paranormal presence of the unknown character.
It could be said that our media sequence would appeal to the unemployed, working class and skilled working
class (also known as ‘blue collar’ workers.

3. Age
Our target audience are that of
a similar age to the actors
within the piece so I believe
that they would be able to
relate to some of the situations
that the characters go through,
however, not the paranormal
side obviously.
Age within our piece plays
a very significant factor. All
of our actors are young
people. The stereotypes
that are associated with
young people is very a
regressive, archetypical
stereotype.
Stereotypes of teenagers are
that they are very loud, rude
and aggressive. The older
generation believe that us
young people have no self
control and that we lack
knowledge. Besides our
characters lacking the
aggressive and loud trait, in our
opening sequence young
people are portrayed as
regressive and they conform to
this negative stereotype that
the older generation have of us.
One of our young actors
take on the role of
portraying a responsible
male officer and he
executes this well. In my
opinion this shows
another side to young
people, even though it is
acting it shows that young
people do have the ability
to take responsibility.
We have followed the
stereotype of having young
teens starring in a horror
film, in the 20th century it is
commonplace for teens to
star in this genre of film, it
makes it more intense for
the viewers because it is
statistically proven that 15-
24 year olds watch horror
films the most.
Our piece conforms to the
stereotype of teenagers being
rebellious as in our opening
sequence we have shown teenagers
underage drinking, this could be
interpreted as a sign of rebellion and
shows that teenagers are
irresponsible.
Our main characters do take a
dangerous trip into the woods which
does challenge the stereotype of
teenagers. There are two young girls in
the middle of the woods, this not only
sheds a different light on the young
girls and emphasises their vulnerability
and innocence but it also shows that
young people have the ability to be
mature.

4. Gender
Originally there were
suppose to be more
male characters than
female, this was to
emphasise the
stereotypical male
dominance and the
stereotypical weak and
feeble characteristics
women are thought to
have.
Challenging female stereotypes within many films
now a days is commonplace. Women are portrayed
as this ‘damsel in distress’ who needs to be rescued
or helped by the heroic male character. Recently in
other horror films such as, ‘Scream’, this film has a
female main character who is always able to prevail
over evil. It could be argued still that women do not
know how to take care of themselves as in the
beginning of the sequence it is a male character
who is offering the female protagonist help.
On the other hand, we have challenged this
new stereotype of men being the main
character. This piece is based around a
female. She is the main character, whereas
usually it is a man. In doing this, we hope
that people will see that women are just as
good as men in taking on large roles.
In addition, in our opening sequence we
have only one male character, this could be
interpreted as women being portrayed and
seen as more dominant than men, in this
sequence.
We have followed the regressive stereotype
that all women are vulnerable and need
assistance from other people. This is shown
in our police scene and the scene when
Lauren, who plays Jaz ends up alone.
Females are usually represented
as being inferior and dumber
compared to the male
characters. Females are seen as
not having any dominance.
We have chosen a female
character as the main character
because we believe that female
audience members will be able
to identify with the main
character more. We thought
that we would attempt to
challenge the stereotype that
women can’t be the predators
(as we have a female killer) and
that they don’t have the ability
to take the lead roles.
If this was a real movie, because
we would have a large
conglomerate producing and
distributing our film we would
have bankable actors playing
the lead roles

5. Ethnicity
Our chosen actor for the main
character is a mixed race
female, this might be depicted
as unusual because usually the
main character is
predominantly white but also
can be black.
From my research, I have found that most heroic/main characters are
usually white. We have challenged and gone against this stereotype that
the main character has to be that ethnicity as we have a mixed race actor
who plays the main role. From my research, I have found that views on
mixed race people is that they are depicted as problematic, distraught
and downtrodden as they could neither fit into the category of
black/white. It could be argued that our media sequence reinforces this
stereotype and creates a regressive interpretation of these mixed people
as in our sequence
We do not have any specific targeted racial
audience members that our media product is
aimed at, this is because horror films can appeal
to all race types. However, because the piece is
filmed in an urban location in Shrublands, the
piece will appeal to all race types, but perhaps
more white people than black because of the
location the sequence was filmed in, it is
predominately white.
There is common belief that white characters follow this
‘good guy’ trait/image and that they are to be trusted,
they usually end up as the hero of the film. However, in
other films, ethnic characters who are not Caucasian are
depicted as the ‘bad guy’. In our opening sequence a
mixed race actor portrays the paranormal ‘bad guy’ as
she commits a murder. This is unusual as it is not
commonplace for women in horror films to be the one
that is feared.
As this media sequence was filmed
in South London, here people are
judged a lot on the way in which
they speak. If they speak in a
received pronunciation they are said
to be from the Upper class, in slang
terms ‘posh’. However, if they speak
in a cockney or ‘ghetto’ way they are
perceived to be from the lower
class. If a person was to just hear
the voice of a person and they spoke
in a cockney common way they
would be identified as being a ‘chav’
and ‘white’, stereotypes.
Within our piece we do have a blonde
actress who does play one of the main
characters, we have followed this
stereotype that all blondes in movies
are stupid and dumb and are always
the ones who end up dead first.
By following this stereotype we
believe that men will want to engage
in the film more, this is reinforced by
Laura Mulveys theory of ‘The ‘Male’
Gaze’, whereby the camera is said to
be male and within the shot is the
gaze that men like to stare at (the
woman).