The document discusses representations of characters in films through the lens of semiotics theory. It analyzes two characters, both females in their early 20s from middle class backgrounds, portrayed in the opening of one film. One character is a photographer shown only from the hands up working, leaving their identity and intentions ambiguous. The other is similarly shown only from the hands and upper body doing a seemingly professional task. These mysterious introductions challenge stereotypes about gender and build intrigue for the audience around what roles the characters may play in the thriller genre.

1.  It is portrayal of a character in a certain way –
and with the producers of the film will encode
signs such as Barthes theory of having
semiotics/signs, which the audience will then
decode, which is part of Stuart Hall’s
representation theory which is to decode the
media product as a whole.

2. Character 1 – Our film.
She is in her early 20’s –
and due to the props she
has around her, it is
made to look quite
professional, so this
reinforces to the
audience that she is
around this particular
age group. Therefore the
social group she belongs
to is the middle class.

3.  Due to the photographer playing a key role in the film and
being a female – it challenges the stereotypes of men
playing these roles as the bad one in thrillers. There is
Barthes’ theory here of not knowing what exactly is going
on, yet due to us filming only features of the body, it
represents the photographer as someone in the bad role,
even though she is a female and of middle class, which
does challenge stereotypes

4.  The similarities in these scenes is that we have used an angle so that you only see
the person’s hands, and not who they are – also they are both writing, but again you
cannot see what they are writing or what it is about, so this adds to the mystery
element of the film’s opening sequence.
 Some differences are that in our film it is a woman’s hands whereas in Se7en, it is
man’s hands. This is quite different to most thrillers as normally it is the man who is
the main character. So as these two character's are the ones with the main roles, for
the audience it would add to the mystery of whether this is the good or bad person.
 With the mise-en-scene, it allows the audience to see what the person does –
possibly as a profession – which is photography, but then they wouldn’t know why
or what this could have to do with the thriller element – whereas in Se7en we don’t
know what the profession is – we only see him writing in a book – there is nothing
else in the frame for us to make an assumption of what he does.

5. Character 2 in our film is
another female who is a similar
age – around her early 20’s, and
we can see this by the props
around her – the bright lights
and green backdrop makes it
seem much more professional
and so this shows the audience
her age. Again, her social group
would be the working class.

6.  Some of the similarities between the two characters in these films are that they are
not the main character yet they are both females. This is unusual for a thriller as the
men are stereotypically play the roles in the thrillers. They are around the same age
group – quite young in their 20’s but both working.
 Another similarity is that both the characters are dressed very casually, which is
either due to not trying to seem like the ‘bad person/character’ in the thriller, or
because they aren’t anything to do with those characters who actually are the ‘bad
ones’. So because the characters are dressed down, the audience assume they are
not part of the thriller element. This emphasises their age – if they were dressed up
they may appear to the audience as older.
 Some differences in the two films is the camera angle we used. We used a medium
long shot to seem as though the camera is the photographer, and to also get in more
props into the framework, however in Taken, the character is in the front of the
frame so we don’t see many more props.
 Finally, the location in our film is also not usual for a thriller – it seems quite safe,
and harmless and not where anything to do with the thriller genre could take place,
which is similar to Taken as well – both images of the characters are in a safe
environment and so when something does happen it is a shock – this however is
similar to most thrillers as the climax hits when its unexpected.

7.  Due to both these characters playing the role of the victim
in our film and in ‘Taken’, they are both females which
make them out to be more vulnerable, they are also
represented as younger so again more vulnerable and due
to both characters being in the middle class, it makes it out
to be more surprising to the audience, especially as this
would be more shocking considering their seem normal
and without any issues attached – similar to Barthes’
theory of the enigma code – finding out later on in the film
what is actually going on.