Media Evaluation Task 2 - lauren

1. Task 2
How does your product represent particular social
groups?
By Lauren B

2.  In our opening scene our characters, the teenage girl who suffers with
sleep paralysis and an unidentified but presumed male who is
anonymous antagonist.
 The first social group, gender. We have represented peoples dominant
genders by having the main character as a female. Also, by having the
antagonist as an anonymous person that is presumed to be male (as we
used a male actor), it shows that we have shown gender in a positive
light as we are showing the varying different genders people have; like
gender fluid, etc.
 Secondly, we have shown peoples age by the using teenagers to
portray the same age group. However, we have not shown varying ages,
but as the antagonist is anonymous we cannot be sure about their age
(again through filming we used a teenage actor). Furthermore, we have
positively used props to represent the main character being set in (her)
teenage girl's bedroom. We did this by using stereotypical things we
thought know would be in a teenage girl bedroom; such as, perfume,
food (like chocolate, crips, etc.), phone, clothes, etc.
Social Groups

3.  Thirdly, we have represented how people can suffer from mental health
in our film, as the main character is suffering with sleep paralysis
attacks. We have tried to show how it can affect a person and can cause
people to hallucinate from either the lack of sleep or from the prescribed
remedies. Also, how this can make a person very vulnerable.
 Fourthly, within the film we have only shown peoples ethnicity through
the main character as she is a white and British/South African. However,
our crew all have a different culture/background/ethnicity.
 Lastly, we have mainly shown the C1 to E class. This is because the
bedroom that she has shows the parents to probably be apart of the C1
class. However, the main character is a teenager and we do not know at
this stage of the film that she would have a job; but for most teenagers
around her age – 19 – would have at least a weekend job. This will make
her more relatable to our target audience as well.
Social Groups

4. The main character's characteristics are shown through the mise-en-
scene;
 Costume – the light clothing for the main character shows her
innocence/vulnerable, however, she also wears light grey pyjama
bottoms which could reference to her not being as
innocence/vulnerable as the audience may think.
 Lighting – as the sequence opens when it is low-key it could show how
she could have a dark side – which is furthered by the mirror prop.
This is because it could show her as having multiple personalities.
 Actor – as the actress was a teenager like our character, we have
represented age and or target audience will relate to her more.
 Make-up/hair – we decided to keep her make-up and hair natural, so
that all teenagers/target audience could relate to her.
Mise-en-scene

5. This is also shown in the camerawork when we tried to
show her characteristics and the storyline at the same time.
We did this by also showing our main social issue, mental
health. As our main character suffers with sleep paralysis,
and that is the main theme of our film (as she cannot tell if
there is someone really there or that it is just a paralysis
attack, and she is hallucinating.) We showed this through
the camera by using different camera shots/angles (which is
also conventional to our genre) of her struggling to decide
whether it is reality or not.
Camerawork

6. From the start you can tell that the main character is
very vulnerable, from the sharp, tense music. This is
furthered through the edited close-up, on the post-it-
note that states that her parents will not be back till
Monday. This is because her being left on her own,
when she is struggling with her sleep paralysis is
makes her more vulnerable to someone and for her
to hallucinate.
Sound & Editing

7. Our representation of a both of our characters are shown as typical teenagers as;
 In real life;
 A stereotype is that they are lazy and have very messy rooms – we have accurately shown this through
our use of props in the main characters bedroom.
 However, another stereotype of teenagers is that they are rebellious – which she does do not replicate
yet the antagonist does.
 Also the antagonist adheres to that all teenagers wear black, however we mainly chose to do this costume
to further how anonymous they are at the start of the film.
 In film;
 In most psychological thriller films the teenager is shown to make the audience uneasy as they are
unpredictable – we have shown this with the antagonist, however the majority of the film the main
character seems to be the victim. This could adhere to the stereotype, that women are always the victim,
and could by taken negatively from gender social groups. As well as we have represented the antagonist
as a male, which could further this. However, we are not shown during the opening that she is the victim to
another person, only to her sleep paralysis attacks.
 For example – we showed this like the black swan mirror scene, although it is the same character in and
out of the mirror. However, this adds more tension to our film as within the Black Swan you can
automatically know that she is hallucinating. Whereas, in our film as it is another character it is most likely
that she is not, because of the flash backs with them.
Representation

8. Natalie Portman
The Black Swan
Kezia and Zack
Paralysis (our film)
Same lighting
Back of
both of the
main
characters.
Key;
• Difference/Countertype
• Similarity/stereotype.
Same
character
Different
character
Both wearing white top
and grey bottoms.
Also, wearing
black top under
Both characters in the
mirror reaching for
something.