The film represents teenagers and young adults who have been affected by drugs. Several technical aspects of the film represent this social group, including the costumes, setting, actors, and props. The protagonist is shown struggling with revision and facing a choice between studying and engaging in drugs. Editing techniques like cuts between the revision book and a drawer of drug paraphernalia represent the choices young people face.

1. How does your media product
represent particular social
groups?
Evaluation 2

2. Who is my film representing?
The main representative area that my film portrays is age. Some aspects of the
film also represent regional identity as well as class and status. The particular
group I have focused on is teenagers and young adults who have been affected
by drugs.
http://benharrisasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/rough-cut.html
Here you can view a ‘rough-cut’ of the film intro. From this we can see the
areas and particular social groups that are being represented in the film.

3. Analysis:
Cinematography
In the very first shot of the opening sequence
there is a point-of-view shot of an exam paper.
This immediately tells the audience that the
film is representative of young people as
exams are associated with teenagers aged 16-
18.
The following shot confirms that the protagonist is a
teenager, and shows that he is struggling to maintain
an interest in his revision. A medium-longshot was used
to include props such as revision guides and driving
books to reinforce the characters age.
Close-up shots on actors
reserved for the protagonist

4. The use of a slow zoom on the drawer suggests
to the audience that the teenager may be
interested in the drugs that are in there.
The scene then cuts to a close-up of his pen and
the revision paper. These shots have been used
to represent the choices that young people
often face which is to focus on their studying or
to engage more with their social lives.
The over the shoulder shot gives the idea that he is
being watched/judged as he is walking back into
the empty house with increasing amount of now
that he is older.
I believe this represents particular social groups in
terms of young people being judged by those older
than them and also in terms of drug abuse being
linked to paranoia

5.  The non-diegetic sound used in the extract represents the use of drugs because the
music used in the intro has a slow tempo and creates the effect of time being slowed
down.
 In terms of diegetic sound, young people are represented by the noise of the pages
turning which can be heard during the title sequence, before any visuals come on
screen to show it is a revision booklet. The timing of this sound very quickly tells the
audience what age group the film is focusing on.
 The dialogue in the ‘kitchen scene’ shows that Dylan is still told what to do by his
parents as his Mum calls out “Dylan can you come downstairs please” so that she can
tell him what he needs to do whilst they are away for the weekend. The strength of
this use of dialogue is that it shows Dylan is still treated as a child in some respects
because he needs to be told what to do.
 The composition for the intro provides a synchronous sound that suggests to the
audience that there is some sort of problem the protagonist is facing. It was written to
give the video an apprehensive/eerie feel so that it creates the desired atmosphere
Sound:

6.  The mise-en-scene is arguably the most representative technical code
because it covers a wide range of the representations in the extract of young
people and their link to drugs.
Mise-en-scene:
Costume:
Realistic clothes that
are age appropriate
for each character
have been used to
support the genre of
social realism. For
the protagonist these
include; a black &
white checked shirt,
blue jeans etc.
Lighting:
A low key light has been
used on the teenager to
represent the negatives
of drug use and his
mood. This is contrasted
by the high key lighting
used on his parents.
Actors:
All actors in the film are untrained and
non-professional which is a convention of
the genre however it also helps to
represent young people because the actor
used to portray Dylan is a teenager
himself therefore he is relatable to the
character.
Naturalistic acting to allow a focus on the
performance rather than ‘over fulfilling’ a
role

7.  Props: There are many props used in the film to help represent both young
people and drug abuse. These can be seen in the examples below…
Mise-en-scene:
Revision booklet, associated with
teenagers preparing for their
exams.
Drawer full of smoking
equipment, this suggests the
character has been smoking
for a while.
A grinder to show that the
characters problem is to do with
drugs.
Setting:
The film is set in the interior and exterior of a
house in Tadworth, Surrey.
The setting is important because it gives the
audience a sense of location and it relates to the
regional identity of the characters which is a
possible factor that caused the protagonists drug
problem. Tadworth is a varied location in terms of
the class and status because there are areas on
both ends of the scale. This means that whilst the
protagonist may not be living in the rough parts, it
is possible that he has experienced difficulties due
to their location.

8.  The way in which certain shots have been cut represents the social group the film
is portraying. For example the cut between the drawer and the revision booklet
represents the choice which Dylan is about to make.
Editing:
By using editing to represent particular groups, the audience
gain a better understanding of what is happening in the
scene and what the characters are thinking.
Another advantage of post production editing is that it
enables the use of transitions which can represent leaps
forward in time such as when Dylan is debating whether or
not to continue his revision.
Editing also allows for an appropriate title sequence to be
generated for the film that highlights the key themes and
issues of the affects of drug abuse on young people.