How does your media project represent particular

social groups?

By Jessica Shutt

StereotypesIn our film, our main character (Lucinda) subverts stereotypes.Typically, in society, you’d expect a young teen to be active, happy and sociable as they have very little cares and are at a significant chapter of their lives as they are slowly maturing and becoming young adults. As a teenage girl, we’d expect Lucinda to be still quite immature therefore assuming she’d be interested in typical teenage girly things like; boys, makeup and her appearance... Although, Lucinda does not appear to be the typical teenage girl. She appears sinister and eerie and gives us the impression that she’s mentally unstable. She chooses not speak to anyone which creates a sense of mystery. Lucinda wears a long whiteVictorian style nightgown which appears abnormal as it gives the audience the impression that she’s stuck in the past. Her presence has and unearthly feel making the audience feel uncomfortable and ultimately perceiving Lucinda as a threatening figure.

Representation of CharactersIn our film, we show short snippets of Agnes's abductor. In the snippets we see him preparing for the abduction e.g.; putting on his gloves and starting the car engine. Due to him being male, I feel it makes the female audience feel uneasy as the male sex as perceived as being more powerful and protecting. The idea that his intensions are to hurt young females who cannot defend themselves make his character appear dangerous and threatening in which the female audience may feel they can personally relate to. Typically we associate men with violence which supports stereotyping as It would appear abnormal if the abductor was female.

CinematographyWhen filming, we used low angle shots of Lucinda and high angle shots of the psychiatrist. The effect that this has makes Lucinda seem significant and powerful, implying she had authority over thepsychiatrist who due to the low angle shots appeared vulnerable andInferior to Lucinda. This again subverts stereotypes as the child has authority over an adult. Shallow focuses were also used of the Psychiatrist with Lucinda out of focus, this gave the audience the Impression that Lucinda’s character is enigmatic and unpredictable.

EditingIn our film, we used a variety of editing techniques including cross-fading and in and out fades suggesting passages of time. This tellsthe audience that Lucinda has been in the mental asylum for a Lengthy period of time. Flashbacks are used to Show Lucinda's past from the day hersister was abducted. Jump cuts were used to show the flashbacks and we changed thecontrast of the frames and adjusted the colour adding a yellow filter to allow the audience to recognise that the flashbacks were from the past. In theflashbacks we see Lucinda and Agnes playing hide and seek in the garden. This supports stereotypes as hide and seek is a typicalchildlike game and something we’d expect from girls around that age.

Sound The sound we’ve used is sinister and eerie. This gives the audience the impression that Lucinda has a dark and foreboding presence. The music creates tension and anticipation towards Lucinda which builds up until the final climax.

Click here to listen

Mise-en-scene

For the psychiatrist and translator, our aim was to make them look very professional and sophisticated as due to their job we assume they would be middle class. Therefore we dressed them both very smartly which contrasted with Lucinda's obscure look.