Question 2; How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our film opening focuses on social groups such as gender and age. We have quite a small target audience ranging from 15-25, this makes it easier for us to get our target audience right so they are able to relate to the opening. We represented age and gender through camera work, sound, editing and mise en scene.
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Though mise en scene we represented gender and age in a range of ways. To start of with we represented their importance through blocking. Our two main characters are female and are always near center when in a shot. This makes them the focus of the shot, meaning the audience will be focusing on them. However when Jess and Lucy are filming themselves, with the hand held camera, we wanted Jess to hold it, being in front of Lucy. This is showing Jess's importance to the opening, as the scene is going this starts to foreshadow her future in the opening. Leaving the audience wanting to watch more. Our young female character, Leah aged 10, is not a main character however when in a shot she is in center, showing her importance. She also takes up the right side of the screen, in a close up, during another shot in the montage. This once again makes her the main focus, having a bigger effect on our audience.
We only have one male character, and this is as the antagonist, our zombie. Even though you never see his face he is always at the focus of a shot, for example when we pan up his leg he is center shot, showing the importance, and building suspense. We also go in to a POV shot, during the first scene, making the audience see the situation from his point of view.
We also represented age and gender through colour and costume. We wanted to have the two main characters wearing colours such as pink and white, this shows how the girls are pure and vulnerable. Jess also wore a long grey coat and Lucy wore a long dark green and blue shirt. Even though these are not harsh colours they still gave the effect of danger towards the characters. The clothes they are wearing are casual and typical teenage clothing. For example, Lucy's long shirt is over sized, this is stereotypical for teenagers, as it represents her as lazy. The way she messes around with her make up and hair is also stereotypical for teenagers, this is because she cares about the ways she looks in front of the camera. For our male character we wanted Ryan to wear all black, this was a common convention of our genre, making him seem mysterious and dangerous.
Lastly we used our setting to represent our characters in certain ways. Our first setting was the woodland, even though this means that the characters are more vulnerable because they are left alone in the woods at a young age. It also represents them as young, bubbly and energetic. This is because they are walking, exploring and jumping in the woods alone, this isn't common for teenagers as most teenagers are seen as lazy. We also used a park as a setting for Leah, this is because she is young, aged 10, making her seem alone. This again represents her as the victim. This could also give more of an effect to the audience as she is young, making them feel sorry for her, we also found from our audience feedback that some viewers also found this bit creepy.
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Through the use of camerawork we represented the antagonist as dangerous and mysterious, a good example of this is when we panned up his leg to an over the shoulder shot. The fact that the camera is slightly at a low angle makes the shot seem more intimidating. Due to the fact we never show the male characters face, we can still tell he is a zombie due to the bite on his neck, this builds tension and makes the audience feel uncomfortable. When the, over the shoulder shot to the POV shot happens, this makes the audience see through the antagonist's eyes, making him look more powerful. It also represents him as smart, because the girls don't see him to the last moment, meaning he found them before they noticed him.
When the girls are filming themselves they use mid shots, this was to make them seem as normal as possible, making it more realistic. It also makes them vulnerable.
We also used a few close ups, as an example Leah and Jess during the montage. These showed the fear on the girls faces, keeping our audience on edge, but also worried for the characters. This represents the girls as vulnerable. Below you can see the pan of our antagonist and the hand held camera from the girls.
When editing we used jump cuts to show how the zombie is getting closer to the two girls, this is showing them in danger and represents them as helpless. However they are also slow cuts, this means the girls get more screening time, building more if a connection with the girls and the audience, having more of an impact at the end of the opening.
We also used a black out blinking effect during our montage, when panning the street the second time, this was to create the effect of it being from someones point of view, keeping the audience on edge. However due to the POV shot that was used during the beginning of the opening, the audience may link the two together and think the shot is also the zombie. This again represents him as powerful but it also represents change in everyone and everything.
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We was able to use different sound techniques to represent age and gender in different ways. We used Foley to make the opening seem more realistic, we added in the sound effects such as birds, foot steps and lastly heavy breathing. When adding in the heavy breathing we made it diagetic. This was when the antagonist is walking towards the two girls, this makes him seem intimidating. By the girls joking around and clapping this makes them seem more vulnerable, and endangered; this is because they are not aware of the danger that is coming towards them. However later on we added in heavy breathing of a female, this was for Jess, showing her character has changed, this builds more of a relationship with the audience. It also shows how females can be as dangerous as men.
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We wanted to show the girls in a childish way, this was ti show their innocents and age. To do this we had the girls jump around, clap and sing. This way not only does it give the girls these effects it also is relatable to the audience. Having the girls talk with higher pitch in their voices represents them as sweet and innocent. This again makes the audience have a better relationship with the girls, giving more of an effect.
When Lucy gives narration towards the end of the film opening, this shows the change through out. We also had it dragged out, fade in and fade out, this is because it would last longer having a bigger effect. It represented her as the damsel in distress.
Our score also gives effect on representation towards age and gender. We have our score starting out as slow and quite, although we added in crescendos to build the suspense. By the end of the score we had added in another instrument, giving the score more texture, leaving it to have a bigger impact on the audience. By the end of the score it had speed up, creating more tension, it gives the opening more of a structure and story. This link to the heavy breathing of Jess, showing change can happen to anyone.