1. How Does Your Media Product
Represent Particular Social Groups?
By Matthew Plumeridge
Monday, 18 March 13

2. Codes and Conventions
• Our media product follows the conventions
of horror/ thriller films. The conventional
characters in this genre would consist of the
antagonist (the attacker) and the
protagonist (the victim).
• Our film is also within the survival and
zombie sub-genres. This means that the
characters are always in danger, and
different characters types will deal with this
differently.
Monday, 18 March 13

3. Character Stereotypes
Age and Gender
In a conventional horror film the most common gender
for a protagonist would be a female character, as they
are more vulnerable. However in survival/zombie based
films the antagonists usually consist of more than one
person, usually a group of people with mixed genders
and races. This is to show the audience the scale of the
danger and situation, as people have to unite to stay
alive.
A horror film will also commonly use a teenager as the
protagonist as they are naive and allow the target
audience to identify with the character. However in
survival/zombie films characters of all ages can be
present, however adults and teenagers are more likely
to survive.
Monday, 18 March 13

4. Character Stereotypes
Age Range Gender Characteristics and Conventions
•Scarred, innocent, needs protection
Children 0-12 Male/Female •A burden on others
•Used to make audiences feel empathetic
•Naive, scarred
Male •Wants to help, can be clever and strategic
•Used so that audiences can identify with characters.
Teenagers 13-19
•Naive, scarred
Female •Damsel in distress, although can be tough
•Used so that audiences can identify with characters.
•Leader, takes responsibility, makes decisions
Male •Protective, used to relate to audiences as an
Adults 20-59 authoritative figure.
Female •Protective, helpful
•Wise, selfless, knowledgable
Elderly 60+ Male/Female •Burden, slow
Monday, 18 March 13

5. Character Evaluation
Character 1 - Guy
Guy is selfish character and does not think
of the consequences of his actions. He is
naive and primarily thinks for himself over
others.
Similar Characters: Pete -
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Like guy pete is also selfish and does not
think about others. His unlikable
characteristics make him a prime
candidate for being killed off, as it alerts
the audience of the danger the characters
are in without the audience feeling
emotional.
Monday, 18 March 13

6. Character Evaluation
Character 2 -Charlie
Charlie is a cautious character who thinks
about his actions. Despite his slight
paranoia , he still gets into bad situations
because of his naivety and bad judgement,
and places trust in the wrong people.
Similar Characters: Columbus
- Zombieland (2009)
Columbus is similar to charlie as he to is
very cautious, to the point where he has
devised a set of rules he must abide to for
survival, however this also restricts him.
Also like charlie he has bad judgement
when it comes to social interactions.
Monday, 18 March 13

7. Character Evaluation
• We have also used mise en scene to
construct the characters to fit a
teenage stereotype.
• Both characters costumes have been
used to make them easily identifiable
as teenagers e.g hoodies and jeans.
Monday, 18 March 13

8. Character Evaluation
• Not only do the characters fit
stereotypes of the genre but they also
fit general stereotypes.
• Both characters are represented in
the negative stereotypical
representation of teenagers; Naive,
mischievous, selfish and irresponsible.
• We represented them in this general
way because we wanted to attract a
larger audience.
Monday, 18 March 13

9. Character Evaluation
• Despite Charlie and Guy being having
different characteristics, overall our
opening scene represents their social
group, teenagers, as naive and
irresponsible. This negative view
towards the two characters is to hint
that they will find themselves in
danger. This will build suspense in our
audience as they know that something
bad will happen to the characters.
Monday, 18 March 13