The document discusses how the media product represents various social groups through its characters. The two main characters are middle/upper-middle class males portrayed through their clothing. This challenges stereotypes by depicting the killer as middle class rather than working class. Both characters are also young to appeal to younger audiences, and are portrayed through more mature clothing. They are both ethnically white to match the demographic of the area and allow for broader audience connection despite stereotypes of criminals belonging to minority groups.

1. Question 2 -
How does your media product represent
particular social groups?
Social Class-
In the opening of our film opening we havetwo characters. Both of these
characters are represented as middle class/upper middle class (C1-A). This is
done by the costumes of the characters such as the suit for the killer character
that is very clearly related to the middle class due to the type of jobs that have
formalwear as a dress code. The music he listens to when he puts his
headphones on can also signify how he is middle or upper class as he listens to
quite classicalmusic despite his age. This challenges the stereotypethat the
middle class are usually the law abiding citizens whereas the working arenot. The
way the Killer is presented shows a negative representation of the middle class as
he is quite obviously a murderer fromthe firstscene. The costume of the body
also portrays Harrietas a middle class person due to the quite nice looking winter
clothes. This neither adheres nor challenges a stereotypeas this situation could
happen to anyonewhich we wanted to be put across in the film opening. Having
these characters portrayed as middle class helps relate the characters to a larger
audience as the largest social class is the middle class. Having this social class
relate closely to the largest social class is important in having our audience feel
tense and uncomfortableas they will relate to the characters and feel as if the
things happening could be happening around them in their everyday life. The
social class stereotypeof criminals is usually working class people. In our film we
have challenged the stereotypeby presenting our main characters as middle class
in order to not fall into one of the clichés of films in order to make our film more
interesting. The dominant socially class in the world of our film is the middle to
upper class justas they are in reality. This is becausewe want to make out film as
realistic as possibleto make the immersion for the audience even easier.

2. Gender-
The gender of our main character and secondary main character are both male.
This is often the case in films as unfortunately a lot of people become
disinterested in films when they see a female in a lead role (even more so in
Thriller/action films). Having two males as the leads in the film would ensurethat
we would have a larger audience if the film were to be shown. Themale is
generally in charge and leads the progression of the story in our film which
follows the stereotype that men have‘control’. We have shown this by him
obviously being higher up and using high angle shots on the body. The body
language also shows himas in charge as he is natural and calm. We have adhered
to the stereotypeof males committing crimes and the females are normally the
victims. We have challenged the stereotypically loud and powerfulmusic that is
used music that goes along with males which puts a moreinteresting twist on the
typically music that accompanies most male lead characters. Wehave used light
hearted joyfulmusic when he is digging which isn’t expected and portrays the
killer as quite a quirky person which adds to the likable killer aspect of our film
opening.

3. Ethnicity-
The ethnicity of both our actors in the film opening are both white. One of the
reasons why, is that the area weare in that is mostly white. Another reason is
that the ethnicity in the UK with the largest percentage is the white ethnicity. This
allows a wider audience to relate to the characters more. Having a white killer is
also slightly challenging the stereotype of criminals generally being part of a
minority ethnicity. This allows our film to stand out more than it would by using
characters of an ethnicity which is generally not shown negatively as we have
done in our film. The clothing the Killer wears is also morestereotypically
associated with white people so we have adhered to that stereotype in our film.
Age-
The age of both of the characters arerelatively young in or film opening. One of
the reasons for this is that it is hard to get older actors. However having our
characters being young would help us appeal to a younger audience who are not
our main demographic so we would be able to get more people to watch the film.
We did try to make the characters look as old as possible. We did this by having
the killer wear a suit which is of coursemore common for adults to make them
seem more realistic. The younger characters in our film are definitely the
dominant people in this world which generally the casein mostfilms. We have
used the stereotype that younger people commit crimes which is shown right at
the beginning where the body is shown, telling the audience that the Killer has
obviously puther in this situation.