This document discusses how the media product represents various social groups: 1) The target audience is ages 20-40 as younger audiences may find the complex storyline confusing while older viewers will appreciate the depth. 2) The main characters (Tom and Ed) are represented as working class (bands D and E) as they make up most of society and are linked to crime, though the main character is upper-middle class (bands B/A) to challenge expectations. 3) Various elements like costumes, age, gender, accent, and movement are discussed in regards to how they represent different social classes and groups in ways that both conform to and challenge conventions. The goal is to balance realism and relat

1. QUESTION 2: HOW DOES
YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT
REPRESENT PARTICULAR
SOCIAL GROUPS?

2. OVERVIEW
Psychological crime thrillers are usually aimed at people above the age
of 18 due to their possibly disturbing nature with violence and fear
inducing scenes but also a possible gore element. Also the complexity of
the story line means that for younger audiences it may be confusing and
un-relatable. However I would say the estimated target audience would
be from around 20-40. This is because I think that it has an exciting story
with some action that young people could follow however the depth in
characters and story line mean that older more patient viewers will also
enjoy the story too.
This then determines what sort of class of characters would be most
appropriate to exhibit to the audience in terms of relatability and also
realism in terms of relatability to the narrative. From this I would determine
logically that my class representation of the 2 characters (played by Tom
and Ed) would be in the D and E class as they are seen generally as the
largest group that makes up society and responsible for the majority of
violent crime in the U.K. However my main character will probably be in
the B/A class band. The reason for this is to show that not all crime
originates and grows from the lower classes, but sometimes it stems from
the top and goes downward, this therefore challenges common
conventions and perceptions of social classes as represented by the
media institutions.

3. REPRESENTATION: CLASS AND
STATUS- COSTUMES
In these freeze frames you can clearly see the costumes of the characters and
the way that these costumes represent different class and status. Tom and Ed are
both wearing casual clothes which may be seen as ordinary to society with both
costumes quite relaxed, however, with the addition of the masks, these seemingly
innocent people are now categorised as evil and bad as their identities are
concealed using animalistic masks. The reason I picked the pig masks specifically
was to play on this animalistic concept and the snobbery that the upper classes
typically project onto people of the lower class bands, in my eyes this seems
animalistic as it is nonsensical and seems like a retraction of civilisation, humanity
and equality. This is then seen as sort of ironic as the higher class main character
is presented without his mask in full black with a hoodie which naturally, stood
alone, would usually represent a lower class person if we were to fully conform
with stereotypes. However I decided to dress him in this manner simply to show
that clothing doesn’t define status and sometimes people wear different items of
clothing for practicality, rather than status representation. So to the most extent
my film challenges stereotypes of most social groups, however does still conform
in different ways other than costumes as there is still a need for the audience to
be able to relate to the class differences.

4. REPRESENTATION: AGE
In terms of age, my film represents youthful characters which are usually seen as the cause of most
trouble and crime by society and in my film I do represent them in this way. Many films also do so as
it is relatable for the larger target audience as better represents my characters as those connected
with crime. An example of the youth being presented as bad in a the film would be ‘attack the
block’, where hooded youths try to track down a creature and kill it being a general disturbance
and anti social. We can see from the pictures below that the characters are young wearing,
hoodies, masks and generally presented as aggressive and criminals. This combination and
association between the young and hoodies immediately being linked to crime is a common
interpretation especially within the media and my film conforms to this.

5. REPRESENTATION: GENDER
In terms of gender I decided to use an all male cast, this is due to the common conception
that men are generally more angry, aggressive and physically powerful than women. This is
supported by nearly all Hollywood films with men most often representing the evil characters
especially in action films. Not only this but men are also usually seen as the main protagonist.
However this isn't always the case as many films challenge this concept, films such as ‘Kill Bill’
which has a female protagonist. However not only this but psychological thrillers are more
common to attract a male audience so I decided to use a male cast to make it more
relatable. Psychological thrillers with a male casting the main good or bad roles include:
‘Shutter island’ ‘Memento’ ‘Se7en’ and ‘The machinist’ however there are many more. This
shows the Hollywood trend of which I conform to with my product.

6. REPRESENTATION: ACCENT
In my product the accent of the main character isn't revealed as in the opening
scene he has no dialogue, this is intentional as I don’t want him to be limited by
interpretation of accent this early on in the film. However other characters such as the
one Tom plays have a weak youth London accent, this is seen by many social groups
as slightly intimidating and hard, this is to show that even a tough man is scared of the
main character. This emphasises the power of the main antagonist and represents the
group as bad and provocateurs in the narrative. Films such as ‘Lock stock and two
smoking barrels’ use this idea except with a much stronger more obvious accent. I
didn’t want it to be too obvious as I didn’t want class division to be too heavily
involved in my film.

7. REPRESENTATION: MOVEMENT
As we can see by the way the main character moves, heavy footed yet cautious,
usually society and media institutions would see him as suspicious and tough. This
would therefore represent him yet again as bad and possibly in a lower class band to
what he actually is, band C2 possibly. However as I have explained he is actually of
an upper class background but it is hinted that he is not. This is to challenge
conventions and also present him as variable and unpredictable as his appearance is
deceiving in terms of his actually character and reactions at different times in different
events.

8. END OF QUESTION 2.