Evaluation: Question 2How does your media product

represent particular social groups?

O   Our key character is the Granddad, a 70 year old man who lives alone in a dilapidated outhouse.  He wears bland colours and dated/ aged clothes. 

This presents him as someone of an older generation, maybe not familiar with modern ideas and ways of living.  We gave him a diary as the main prop, as opposed to technology that younger generations would be more accustomed to, such as phones and tablets.

O Some other props are the newspaper articles, which also suggest his novice nature towards technology, showing older people have not moved on with new generations and therefore their ways of thinking and perceiving what is right and wrong have not adapted either.

This lack of modern development conveys his grand age and distance from modern society.  The way he lives alone in an outhouse also suggests this, furthermore portraying older people in general as alone and distant.

Our second key character is the little girl named Hannah, a six year old girl that dresses in bright, delicate, innocent clothing that suggests her purity and vulnerability, evident within the personality of most young children in her social group.

Also, we dressed her in bright colours, such as a vivid red cardigan.  This symbolizes danger in a subtle way, foreshadowing that something bad could happen to her.

This represents her as a young, happy girl who leads a standard life, not far from the norm. Her happiness and innocence makes audiences care about her safety more, and be more worried when she goes missing, leading to them being more involved in the film. This creates a relationship or bond of care between the audience and Hannah.

The two main locations in which we filmed, represent two different social groups.

The first of the two locations was at a play park in Rattlesden, this location is used to represent the younger generation.  

We chose the location of a park, to suggest normality, in the granddad and his granddaughter and their relationship, a man and his daughter playing in park does not deviate from the norm, therefore giving away no clues and not foreshadowing any future events. Only later as we transfer into the second location does an element of enigma be introduced.

  This ensures a surprise in the audience when something bad happens, because you don’t expect it in such a normal, everyday location. Because this location represents a younger generation well, the audience expect her to be at home and safe there, however the tense and creepy music juxtaposes this, therefore cementing the thriller conventions of mystery and surprise.

Our second location is the Grandad's dilapidated outhouse, a dark and dingy shack with little in the way of furniture and general luxuries This represents the fact that he is in the older section of society, reflecting how he has not modernised and is still living by old methods and standards. This fits in well with the stereotype of older men, not complying to modern and newfangled ideology.

We used an extremely low camera position and angle which makes audiences look up to him, presenting his power and authority within our film. This matches up to stereotypes that older people are seen to be more wise and powerful due to their life experience. However it does present him as a powerful man, therefore straying from the perceived idea that older people are weak and frail, as the Grandad in fact is portrayed as powerful and possibly dangerous.

The low camera angle also fits in with the idea that old people are enigmatic and creepy. We only see his feet, adding an element of enigma to his character which is inspired by the stereotype that all old people are mysterious.

We considered Mise en scene extensively throughout the planning of our thriller introduction. Not only did we think about costume, as before mentioned, but we looked at the way we wanted to present them in other ways. We ensured to choose an actor with facial hair as this hints that he may be untrustworthy, acting as conciliately of his face. We also got the grandad to dress in largely dark clothing, to connotate bad and an evil aspect to his character.

However we didn't want to place him into a social group for audiences in an obvious fashion. Different elements of his person, like white hair add a highlight of his honesty or could symbolise the good in him. This acts to confuse audiences, leading his persona and morality down to the ultimate interpretation of the audience.

We also used the element of sound in our thriller opening to reflect our character's particular social standing. When the Grandad is in his outhouse, we selected a tack that is dark and deep sounding, reflective of someone who is dangerous and connotates that bad things could happen whilst he is around. This challenges the stereotype that old people are jolly and welcoming all the time.

We added in the diegetic sound of thunder also, this crashing and booming sound is symbolic of danger and the grandad's supposed 'bad guy' persona.

The girl, Hannah's mode of address when exclaiming 'wheeeeee' whilst on the zip slide shows again her innocence and sweet nature. Her tone of voice is high in pitch and a blissfully happy tone. This is very reflective of the stereotype of all young girls, being cute and innocent.

We used editing methods to portray the characters in particular lights also. Firstly, we looked at speed of editing. When the grandad is in his outhouse, we used jump cut shots which increased the pace of film, giving the impression that he knows what he is doing and is in complete and efficient control. This also reflects that he has a plan of action, because of how quickly and decisively he appears to carry out his actions.

This challenges the stereotype that all old people are slow and 'doddery', leading audiences to feel that he may not fit in with the general idea of a Grandad, foreshadowing that maybe he will do things that a Grandad wouldn't normally do.

We decided to show Hannah in slow motion however, to show that she is not over thinking, troubled or planning anything evil like the grandad could be! It visually articulates how she is young and innocent and care free. It also allows for a big emphasis on Hannah, for a lengthy amount of time, possibly an enigma code that she will play an important part in the story. Which in it's self challenges the idea that young peole are not important and are usually overlooked.