This is how I have represented certain social groups in my opening sequence

1. Q2: HOW DOES YOUR TITLE AND
OPENING SEQUENCE REPRESENT
PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?
By Ciaran Emmett

2. Introduction
In my opening sequence I have represented the
following social groups;
• Young aspiring footballers
• Professional footballers
• Football fans
• Referees

3. Costumes
The costumes I used also help to represent the social group of young
aspiring footballers as in the opening scene the main character can be
seen wearing a Sunday League kit. This allows young aspiring to relate to
my media product because young aspiring footballers play football every
week and when you are playing football they will be wearing Sunday
League football kits so this can allow them to relate to the opening scene
as the main character is wearing a Sunday League kit so this helps this
helps to represent the social group of young aspiring footballers. I have
also used costumes to help represent the social group of referees. For
example when the main character suffers a serious injury, the referee
sprints over and sends the player who tackled the main character off.
When the referee appears on screen he is wearing a common referee
outfit. The referee is wearing a black shirt with black shorts, black socks
and football boots. In a real life football game a referee is required to
wear an all-black kit. So by the referee wearing this in my opening
sequence it makes my opening sequence more realistic and helps to
realistically represent the social groups of referees in my opening
sequence.

4. Lighting
I have used relatively bright lighting for this opening sequence.
Teenagers normally play football on a Saturday or Sunday
morning and at this time of the day the light is quite bright so I
have tried to represent this group of young teenagers who play
football by filming during the day when the lighting was bright.
Originally I had recorded some footage in which the lighting was
too dark. I decided to get rid of this footage as it did not
emphasise that a football game was taking place on a
Saturday/Sunday morning and also the footage was too dark to
clearly see the actors. At this stage of the opening sequence
there is a very positive vibe as the main character is rapidly
becoming a professional footballer so the bright lighting helps to
represent the current mood/atmosphere of the opening
sequence. It would not make sense if I had dark lighting for the
opening sequence as it would imply that it is a negative mood.

5. Props
The prop of a football also helps to represent these
groups as stereotypically, junior footballers play football
in places like parks with their friends and in order to do
this they need a football so this prop helps to represent
this social group. I have also attempted to represent the
social group of referees through the use of props. In my
opening sequence a referee will be seen blowing a
whistle and then sending a player off using a red card.
These are all props which a real referee would use so this
helps to make my opening scene more realistic and also
helps to represent their social groups as referees have
small unions in which they interact with other referees so
hopefully this will help to represent them.

6. Camera angles
I have used lots of mid-shots in my opening scene. I have used
numerous mid-shots because a close up would not include a lot of the
important framing which is in my opening sequence and a close up is
used to capture an actor’s emotion and I did not feel it was necessary
to display their emotion in the opening scene. A long shot would not
have highlighted that some footage was not actually filmed inside
Goodison Park for example when he is playing for Everton so for this
reason I have tried to avoid using long shots. Because these shots did
not seem appropriate for my opening sequence I have decided to use a
few mid-shots as they capture an appropriate amount of framing and
they also help to represent that the main character is overwhelmed to
be signing for Everton. For example, I represented professional
footballers by showing the main character in an Everton press
conference and holding up an Everton shirt in order to represent that
he has signed for Everton. Most footballers do this when they sign for
a club so this makes it more realistic.

7. Make-up
I have challenged the make-up section of mise
en scene in my opening scene. I have done this
by not using any make-up what so ever. All of
the actors used in my opening scene are males
and commonly/stereotypically boys do not wear
any make-up so I have not applied any make-up
to my actors and hopefully this can help to
represent the group of young teenagers and
young adults.

8. Screenshots
I have also used screenshots in this opening sequence
and this allows me to represent football fans-mainly
people who often read Sky Sports articles. This has been
achieved as I have created my own screenshot of a Sky
Sports article which highlights that the main character
has signed for Everton. I have used Sky Sports articles as
they are the most popular Sports sites for football fans as
they report on football news very fast as they have lots of
reliable sources for finding out information and for this
reason football fans all across the world view Sky Sports
so this helps to represent the social group of football
fans.