1. In what ways does your media product represent particular social groups? In our psychological thriller movie `Neurosis`, we were able to represent our particular social group (teenagers) primarily through age, gender and location (mis-en-scene), with the help of other key techniques.
2. Age Age – We were able to represent the onscreen social group because we included two main characters who were starring in our film, and they too were teenagers aged 16 and 17. You witness these two characters about 35 seconds into the film, so immediately; you know that our final media product represents teenagers, as our particular social group. Furthermore, in our media product, there are no other characters on any other age that are of significance during the film, we just wanted to concentrate on our own age. Having also completed a thorough research for our genre, we realised that most psychological thrillers attract audiences of our age. However, most of the actors who star in those movies tend to be of middle age, or even older. With this in mind, we wanted to go for something different by including characters of our age, to let our audience know or gain greater understanding of the particular social group we tried to represent
4. Gender Gender- We were also able to represent the onscreen social group through another theme in gender. Gender is an important theme in representing our social group for our final media product, because it highlights the clash in personalities and fashion/culture between male and female. Horatio Milton Baxter, the main character in our film was dressed up smart, with glasses, classifying him as a top nerd/neek. This also combines with his superior intelligence, therefore making him isolated from his peers, a typical unique and orthodox male. In comparison, Mia Charles, the second character, is presented as an attractive, articulate and popular cult figure in the film. She comes across as fashionable and it seems as though she has a lot of friends, and everyone ones to socialize with her, unlike Horatio, this in turn makes her a typical female teenager. (here you can witness the difference in clothes wear between the male and female)
5. Gender (continued) In my research of a psychological thriller, I found out that if there was to be a male character that was also the main character, most of the time, he would hold a position of importance, or would be a novelist. This suggests that they are smart and intelligent. Such examples that come to mind our both the main characters in the `Secret Window` and `The Shining`. Whereas, the main character in `Scream` is a female and they tend to be more into gossip, fashion, and have a sense of informality about them. (Mort Rainey with glasses)
7. Location (mise-en-scene) Location-The mis-en-scene too, was important in representing our social group. The filming was located in and around Graveney School, so people gained a greater understanding of our intended social group, and therefore would be more interested in watching the film. Furthermore, when Horatio enters the newsroom we insert a dark shade in the background to add to the sense of eeriness and spookiness.
8. Location (continued) In our research, when I watched the ‘Secret Window’, I realised that there was a shot of Mort Painter, where he is in the car, and there is a dark background which also illustrates a sense of eeriness and spookiness about the film, so in that sense we were following the codes and conventions of a psychological thriller.
