How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

How does your media product represent particular
social groups?
Our media product represents a British teenage social group due to the fact that the
location of our film is based in the UK and all of our actors are British. This is no different
from the British teenage movie ‘Kidulthood’ which is based in the streets of London,
however, very different because our film is set in a middle-class, middle England boarding
school which is stereotypically White/European. This is seen as a very British thing, and
other movies such as ‘St. Trinians’ portray the same image as our movie; a boarding school
located in the midlands, with middle-classed students.
As you can see the white race is the

minority in this type of teenage film
Here, the black/Indian race is the minority

in this teenage film.
The stereotypical representation of British teenagers in the sense of race is subverted in our
film as usually in a British teenage film, you would find that the actors would be white to
make it clear that it is British for example ‘St. Trinians’ the majority of the actors are white.
In our film on the other hand, the main character is a black female, the best friend is Indian
and the chaser is the only white person in the film in this racially, ethnically, diverse
community. However the teenage social group in general is portrayed in the opening scene
as the main character is texting away on her phone. This is also emphasised when a point of
view close up of her phone is shown when she texts her boyfriend. It is well known for every
typical teenage to text rather than make a quick phone call.
It still represents a teenage social group with these characters due to the props used. It also
supports the stereotypical representation of British people as our opening scene starts with
the two characters both drinking tea and one reading the local newspaper, which is seen as
a very British thing to do, drinking tea whilst reading The Daily Mail. The mise-en-scene also
supports the stereotypical British image. The main character wears heels, a blazer and a
posh scarf with a shoulder bag. The main character’s best friend also wears a posh scarf tied
around her neck and a tweed blazer with elbow patches. This supports the stereotypical
image of British people; however, it also represents a certain class. The costumes worn carry
connotations of sophistication and maturity, especially as they are only teenagers in
boarding school. This suggests that these teenagers are rather wealthy.
The boarding house used for filming.
In ‘St. Trinians’, females are the dominant gender, representing strength and power. Our
film is the same as there are two females and one male however very different as the male
appears to be more powerful as he chases and kills the girls. Unlike ‘St. Trinians’, our movie
supports the stereotype of males being more dominant. In our opening scene, where there
are shots of the Zach chasing Kayla, there is fear in Kayla’s face and determination and
resentment in Zach’s face. The typical representation of teenage girls is all portrayed in the
opening scene due to the conversation that they have. They talk about staying at home,
watching movies and about Kayla’s boyfriend. This is seen to be more of a female thing as
males would stereotypically be seen to be talking about sport or X-Box games rather than
their girlfriends.
Overall, the use of mise-en-scene and props all represent a particular social group for our
movie, which is stereotypical British Teenagers.
How did you attract/address your audience?
With our target audience being aged 15-24, we wanted our horror to start off with some
action to engross them straight away, as within that age range, adrenaline and fear draws
that type of audience in. We were going to open our film with a general conversation then
lead straight into the first killing, as we thought that it would surely be the most ‘eye
catching’ thing right at the beginning of the film, so we filmed this and edited it. However,
with further thought, we decided that there would be no tension or suspense being built up
if the first thing the audience would see was a homicide. We did some audience research,
and showed a few people of the 15-24 age range our first take of the opening of our film,
and for some, they too agreed that it gave them as the viewer nothing to look forward to
further on into the film. According to one of our viewer, it was “too much for the beginning.
It’s screaming ‘HORROR’ in my face!” so as a Team we put our thinking caps back on and
shortly after, came up with a new idea.
We decided that in order to keep up with the sense of fear and to give our audience an
adrenaline rush instantly to keep them interested, we decided to show a chasing scene that
would appear later on in the film, and then approach the reality of the film. To differentiate
the future from the reality, we shot the chasing seen in short snippets breaking it up with
the opening credits and stopped it before our main character was actually killed to build
that suspense for our audience. This was a rather quick and active moment, with voiceovers
of the characters being out of breathe and with a thunder roll sound effect in the
background, to create the sense of excitement. To make our audience feel closer to the
action, we used a handheld digital camcorder and when filming it ran alongside the so that
the audience could feel the unsteady environment and feel as if they are running also. This
short scene was then followed by a calm, silent conversation in an everyday situation. This
allowed the audience to see that the scenes did not link in at the same time scales; however
it attracted out target audience by building up suspense and giving them a taste of what
they would see later on in the movie.

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

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How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

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How does your media product represent particular

As you can see the white race is the

Here, the black/Indian race is the minority

The boarding house used for filming.

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