Task 2 how does your product represent particular social groups?
- 1. Task 2- How does your product represent particular social groups? What social groups are represented in your film (e.g. gender, age, class, ethnicity, etc.? Evelyn is represented as a middle class white female teenager, we thought that she fitted the role well as through research we saw that she is perfect for the representation of a typical vulnerable girl in supernatural thriller films. We based Evelyn off of “Carrie White” in the supernatural thriller filmCarrie released in 2013. It was important to have a female play the role of the possessed figure as they are stereotypically seen as less likely to be able to defend themselves against the supernatural powers and therefor more vulnerable to becoming possessed. The way that she is dressed in the opening sequence shows her middle class background and because of the way she looks the audience would assume she is totally innocent, however this is far from the case which is why it is unexpected for the audience as to why she is the way that she is. We deliberately went against the traditional conventions of thriller films, stereotypically she would be the one who is being protected by a stronger male figure from a protagonist. Instead we made her the protagonist to give the sequence a creepy eerie feel from someone who looks innocent in fact being the main problem. To what extent are your character representations typical of your film’s genre? Compare, with examples from real films. “Carrie White” who is played by Chloe Moretz in the supernatural filmCarrie released in 2013 inspired us with character appearance. She plays an innocent role at the beginning of the film however as the film goes on she becomes the protagonist and possessed by supernatural powers which challenges the social stereotypes of females in thriller films. During the sequence we also used similar body language to present her vulnerability to the situation they are in, this is shown in the 2 pictures below where Evelyn keeps here arms and legs close to here body as if to cover herself, in comparison to the picture of Carrie, this presents her in a very insecure way with a lack of confidence. This is also typical of thriller films to feature a middle class quite wealthy girl as they are seen as the most vulnerable yet are able to understand the situation.
- 2. How have you constructed yourrepresentations through mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound? The majority of our sequence consists of a fast paced montage style of editing, through research we found that the most common age group that watched supernatural thriller films was the category of ages 15-24. We felt that it was important to maintain a fast tempo to keep the constant focus and attention of the audience, it also helps to entice them in to be keen to watch the rest of the film. This goes against some of the traditional conventions of opening sequences as they are normally fairly slow paced to allow the audience to take in the surroundings and set the tone. However our style of editing does reflect the rest of the film and set the tone by showing that it is a fast paced action filled thriller. Comparable info From looking at the table we can see that once again teenagers and young adults were the most popular age group for going to see a supernatural thriller/horror with a huge majority of 69%. Supernatural thrillers tend to appeal more to younger adults as they are looking for a thrill. The amount of male and females going to see the film was closely split showing that supernatural thrillers don’t favor either gender. From research we also found that the most common social class going to view supernatural thriller was middle class, this can also be seen in the table above with 48% of viewer being from a middle class background going to watch Insidious. Because of this we dressed Evelyn in a middle class looking outfit for the opening sequence to help more viewers relate to the character of Evelyn. Sound plays a very important role during our opening sequence, we have used both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The diegetic sound is the voices of Issy who plays Tracey, the new care worker and Emily who plays Evelyn. Our non- diegetic sound is a range of sound effects built upon each other. Examples of sound effects we used are church bells, howling wind and sharp crashing noises to create a spooky soundtrack to fit our supernatural thriller genre. Our soundtrack is inspired by the use of sound in the opening sequence to the thriller film Arlington Road, we have used a layering effect of various different eerie and
- 3. spooky sounds to create a sharp and distorted tone. We featured a lot of close up camera work to give the sequence a mysterious feel and not give too much away as well as featuring a lot of movement of the characters themselves. This was done to maintain a high tempo and keep the audience on their seat anticipating what is going to come next.