1. By Jumana Ismail
How does your media product
represent particular social
groups?

2. Whilst filming our opening sequence,
it was important to see how are
characters would influence
particular social groups including:
- Class
- Race
- Age
- Gender

3. Class is not very clear in my opening sequence as the characters are all dressed in scary outfits
which allows the audience to focus on them more as a character rather than their class.
However, the protagonist is dressed in very scruffy and plain clothing which suggests she is
more of a working class character.
The antagonist, who appears at the end of the opening sequence is dressed in a long black
expensive looking coat which may indicate that she is from a Upper class family. The fact
that she is the villain may indicate that she is from a higher class than the protagonist, as
people with more money in society are usually represented as people with higher power.
Antagonist.
Represented as a
middle class
character.
Protagonist.
Represented
as working
class.
Representing different people from different class’s is
vital in my opening sequence as it allows a more
varied audience to watch my opening sequence and
attracts people from different class’s, as well as
prevent anyone in my audience to feel left out.

4. The Hero that we see throughout the opening sequence reading out the letter
she received is shown wearing decent looking clothing in an average sized
house with classy furniture. This may indicate that she is middle classed.
Class is vital in horror movies as in almost all of the opening sequences I
analysed, it was clear to the audience what the Class of the characters was.
For example, in the opening sequence of ‘The Woman in Black’, it is clear to
the audience that the three young girls are from a upper class family due to
the way they are dressed, the size of the house which is emphasised through
the long and wide shots, and the ‘classy’ props.
It is clear that the
Hero is middle class
due to her outfit and
the chair she is
sitting on, as it looks
very ordinary,
however not cheap.
Class (continued)

5. The race of the social group I am representing in most of my opening
sequence is British white. As my opening sequence is British and is set in
the UK, having British/white characters would fulfil the conventions of
British horrors. In most of the horror opening sequences I have analysed, I
realised that the protagonist tends to be white. For example, this is shown
in ‘Insidious’, in which the protagonist is a young white boy. Additionally,
the protagonists in ‘The Woman in Black’ and ‘The Ring’ are also white.
However, the antagonist is of Brazilian race, which means she has a darker
skin colour. The fact that my antagonist is off a different race also matches
the stereotypical portrayals of the villains being ‘outsiders’.
However, to go against the conventions of horror movies, the Hero that acted
out in my opening sequence was also from a European race. This also goes
against the stereotype of people from the same race helping each other just
because they are from the same race. For example, the media represents
the Latino community in the US as very ‘close’ and ‘together’ and therefore
take care of each other. The Villain has a darker
complexion in order to
emphasise on the
difference between this
character and the
protagonist.
Race

6. In my opening sequence, protagonist is ‘white’ which
conforms with typical representations of protagonists in
horror movies.
In my opening sequence, Hero is of European race. Although we can tell
from her accent that she is not from Britain, she still saves the protagonist
who is suffering, as she turns out to be the protagonists mother who lived
abroad for many years, however people thought she had died.

7. The representation of Age is very common in the media. Our groups
opening sequence has a target audience between the age of 16-25, as
according to my planning and research, I thought that teenagers are
more attracted to horror movies. Therefore the certification of my film
is a 15.
The protagonist in my opening sequence is dressed and acts differently in
two different scenes in order to show the difference between her
present self, and her character in the past. In the 1st scene, the
protagonist is dressed in very plain dark clothing with dark makeup in
order to make her look older. This would therefore attract older
audiences, particularly females. However, in the flash back scene, the
protagonist is dressed in a short bright dress, with her hair in pig tails.
This is to highlight the fact that she is remembering the past, as she
dressed like this to look like a young girl.
Additionally, the fact that our film is targeted to be audience above the
age of 16 is because our story line is very complex. We wanted to leave
the audience trying to work out a mystery and thinking carefully about
the rest of the movie.
Age

8. In my opening sequence, I have only included female characters, as I thought to go with the
typical conventions of a horror movie. In most horror movies, there tends to be a female
protagonists who end up becoming the ‘final girl’.
Although the media in general represents female characters as ‘weaker’ and more ‘emotional’,
female protagonist are represented in a positive way in most horror movies, as they come
across as more active. Many female characters are seen as even the hero's or characters
that save the day.
Therefore, in my opening sequence, both my protagonist, and the hero are females. The
female protagonist will become the final girl.
I did not include any males in my opening sequence as the characters I included were the
characters with the most significance. As a group we felt that we did not need to include a
male character as we wanted to portray the different types of woman we see in the media,
particularly in horror films.
Women in the media are represented in many ways, some female protagonists as weak and
helpless, and some are represented as strong and powerful. As my group are all females,
we thought to show both types of representations in our opening sequence. we
represented our female protagonist as weak and helpless as she was possessed and had no
control over herself. However, we portrayed the female antagonist that the audience see’s
in the last scene as powerful and fearless. Finally, the female hero in our opening sequence
is portrayed as helpful, wise and strong minded as she is willing to help the female
protagonist out. By portraying her helping out another female, reflects on the issues
raised everyday in the media about how women help each other out and may even
encourage it, as well as enjoying the movie.
Gender

9. A long shot showing the female
protagonist. She is dressed in a
dark and gloomy outfit with very
dark make-up to either show that
she is a victim or an evil person.
This keep the audience in
mystery.
This is a mid-shot on the female
antagonists face. She is dressed in
dark clothing and dark makeup,
however, it is clear to the audience
that she is the evil character due to her
coat and the use of music that is
played when the audience is
introduced to this character.
A long shot on the female
hero. The audience can tell
that she is not evil due to
what she is wearing. The
white top emphasises on her
purity.