Evaluation 2 - Media Product Representing Social Groups

What social groups appear in your opening sequence?
In our opening sequence we used a young teenage girl. The original plan was to include a grown man also, this would have been an additional social group - but when it came down to it, we believed that it created more suspense leaving the man out of the audiences view. We therefore resulted in using only this young girl.


What is the stereotypical representation of these social groups?



There is usually a stereotypical view of a teenager, and this representation of them is often shown within films. In some films, teenagers will be shown as aggressive, lazy, criminals and most likely to be involved in violent behaviour, as the image to the left demonstrates (Kidulthood). 

You will watch them partying, out with friends and having a good time, or controversially sleeping around the house, not moving from the sofa all day. Teenagers are related to as having 'attitude', no manners and are constantly swearing (whilst smoking and drinking!). This image shows teenagers partying in the film 'Step Up'.

However, the representation of girls is different. Girls are seen to be innocent, vulnerable and 'dependent' on others. But also 'girly' and very neat with their appearance. Although some films do go against this ,most of the time this is the way a young female will be represented. In the film 'Grease' and they show girls all depending on each other.

How has your opening sequence represented them in a conventional or unconventional way?
Our opening sequence has represented teenagers in an unconventional way, although our character used is a young teenager she still goes against the associated stereotype. We do not see her partying, participating in criminal activity or ultimately sleeping. But instead we see her as being vulnerable and the victim. The camera angles I think play the main part in demonstrating this, both times the girl comes on screen, we see her tied up. We agreed to use a low-angle shot as this shows that she is uncomfortable with the situation but also inferior to whoever has tied her up. This goes against the stereotypical view of a teenager, and therefore we have represented her in an unconventional way. However, a girl being tied up does promote the stereotype of girls as it shows her to be weak, therefore in this sense a victim, so our opening sequence does suggest some type of conventional representation. 


Why have you chosen to represent them in an unconventional way?
I think by choosing to represent the teenager unconventionally it makes the opening sequence more interesting. The audience may not understand what is going on but at the same time want to watch on to find out - narrative enigma. The audience may at first find it hard to identify with the character, but by the sound effects of her whimpering in the background, towards the end of the sequence they start to understand the situation of her being tied up. By not following the stereotype of a ‘dangerous and out-of-hand’ teenager, I think the audience would want to watch on to find out the rest of the storyline.