Question 2

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

3. The main character in our film ‘Trauma’ is a 23 year old ex war
soldier. Previously, he was in combat in the US
army, however, a traumatic accident took place causing John
to become injured and in doing so lose part of his memory.
Our film depicts the psychological effects of war and the
trauma the soldier faces in attempting to regain his normal
life.
Therefore, the social groups presented in our media product
are:
Soldiers
Stereotypical young males
 Psychologically traumatised/ mentally disadvantaged

4. Soldiers are represented as:
 Strong/ tough
 Strong-willed/minded
 Heroic
 Patriotic
 Loyal
 Camaraderie
 Sense of identity
 Responsibility
How do we use the representation of soldiers in our media product?
In many media products, the actors playing the part of soldiers
generally use their body language and facial expressions to express
their character.
 As Jon looks up towards the camera at the end of the
sequence, he demonstrates a confident look in his eyes, this
gives the impression that the character knows and understands
that he has a job to do. This reinforces the representation of a
strong-willed and determined character.
 Another way we would show the representation of a soldier is
that in the rest of the film, we would use a flashback to show Jon
rescuing one of his injured peers during combat, this way we
would be showing the character as being heroic.

5.  We decided not to include any narrative or dialogue in our opening sequence in
order to slowly build up the development of the character, however in the rest
of the film, Jon’s voice would be low and deep to show his growth and
experience as a man. However when answering to his sergeant, he would use a
clear, responsive voice in order to demonstrate his respect and loyalty towards
his superiors.
 To continue, the mise en scene of the opening sequence further represents the
social group of soldiers. We used a camouflage, green, folded army uniform by
the side of Jon’s bed so that it is in clear view of the audience’s focus. This
would immediately give the idea that he is a responsible character and gives
him a sense of identity.

6. In order to make the
acting of our actor as
professional realistic as
possible, we needed to
get an idea of how real
veteran soldiers would
have felt about their
experience in the war. This
poem explains the horror
that the soldiers would
have seen and felt; we
then used these feelings
to be able to direct to our
actor the exact way he
should present himself.

7. We also decided to look into similar products that
contained actors playing the parts of soldiers. As a
group, we researched the character in the film ‘The
Lucky One’ and John’s character in ‘Dear John’. We
looked at their body language, facial expressions and
acting in order to again, show our actor how he could
effectively play the role of John Smith.
Overall, we found that they often used a pained facial
expression instead of words in order to connote their
emotion, we integrated this into our own media product
by only using sound and acting in the opening
sequence, we did not use any dialogue or narrative.
‘Dear
John’
‘The Lucky
One’

8. Stereotypical ‘man’:
 General toughness
 Well built/strong
 Facial hair
 Masculine/Manly/Macho E.g. James Bond
 Rugged features
 Motivated by action
How do we use/challenge these stereotypes?
 Our media product represents the social group of a male through his
rugged features, we decided to create a stubble effect on our actor
in order to portray him as being older and more ‘rough-looking’. We
designed this using black power and eye shadow and a stipple brush
to dab across his jawline, this looked rather effective.
 Another way we represent a stereotypical male is through his
physical body, as Jon is laying down, we can see a well-built chest
and strong-looking arms,

9. How are traumatised people represented?
A traumatic event involves a single experience, or an enduring or repeating event, that completely
overwhelm the individual's ability to cope or integrate the ideas and emotions involved with that
experience. The sense of being overwhelmed can be delayed by weeks, years or even decades, as the
person struggles to cope with the immediate circumstances.
 A person may re-experience the trauma mentally and physically, hence avoiding trauma reminders.
 Anxiety and other associated emotions.
 Intense feelings of anger may surface frequently.
 Emotional detachment – ‘Numbing out’
 Images, thoughts or flashbacks may haunt the person
 Nightmares may be frequent How have we used these representations?
 The first way we have represented the traumatised character is
through the wiping of his forehead. This gives the impression
that he is trying to escape from the pain and suffering inside his
head, as well as the physical pain.
 The isolation of the character connotes the emotional
detachment from the public and the outside world. We have
used this representation to show that Jon can no longer cope
with the everyday happenings of life, he has become too
traumatised.

10. Finally, the way Jon suddenly wakes up from
his nightmare reinforces the representation of
psychologically traumatised people, he is
currently experiencing nightmares, flashbacks
and horrifying images that continue to haunt
and disturb him.