How does your media product represent particular social groups?

James Lusher

Social class❖ In our thriller film, the second assassin is dressed in a smart

suit. This is so he can disguise himself as a sophisticated and respectable person, unknown to everyone else as an assassin. We represent this killer this way so that he looks professional and can be trusted. He wears glasses as this emphasises the representation of professionalism and innocence. Before he goes to kill his victim, he removes the glasses and this makes him look more of a threat and eradicates the representations that the audience first saw.

❖ Due to the killer’s costume (sharp suit, smartly dressed, professional-looking), he would most probably fit a higher social class as this promotes his authority and sophistication.

Stereotypes❖ Both the victims are female. This fits one of the most generic and typical

conventions in films of women being weak, powerless and most typically the victims. We chose two blonde girls as they are further stereotyped as being weak and innocent and by murdering them the killer is seen as more evil as the victims seem as if they have done nothing, due to their stereotypes of being innocent.

❖ Both of the male characters (the killers) are dressed in black. This fits in with the typical convention of black connoting danger and the unknown. We covered the first killer’s identity to add to the mystery, and due to them being dressed in black, this further emphasises the feeling of mystery and the unknown.

❖ We represented male characters as dark and dangerous in our opening sequence through the common character type of murderers and women as innocent and vulnerable through the common character type of victims.

Costume and mise en scene

❖ Victim #1 is in jeans and a white t-shirt. Her costume presents her as a normal person and this links with our target audience as they wold find this as more of a threat because they could relate to it more easily. In addition, the white t-shirt on the victim connotes the typical stereotype for girls and victims as innocent and vulnerable.

❖ Victim #2 is in a red and pink flowery top, grey hoodie and leggings. This is also seen as very casual clothing and what girls from our target audience would most typically be wearing and immediately identify with.

❖ Both of the victim’s outfits contrast with what the killers are wearing. They’re wearing fairly bright and colourful clothing whereas the killers are wearing black. These contrast with each other to help show how different they are and emphasise each character’s typical stereotype (innocent, dangerous etc.)

Characters❖ Both the killers speak in a very formal manner. This

promotes their power because well-spoken people are typically portrayed as authoritative. It also makes them seem more mature, emphasising their danger over the young and innocent victims. Due to the way they are speaking, they are seen as easier to trust because they are imposing that they are not a threat.

❖ Only the second victim speaks. Her dialogue is a lot different from the killers’. We used a more informal tone for the victim and this helped make the killer seem more powerful and authoritative. As the victim is a female, she has a softer voice and this also helps emphasise her innocence in contrast to the killers’ danger and power.