How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My piece represents middle and high class society through the concept of a heist. This is relatable to all classes in the way that that people can wish they could have lots of money and assets. I have to think about the cause and effect theory that it may give lower class people ideas to undertake a burglary of their own for their own gains. I have represented class within my film with my protagonist character, he wears black baggy clothes which would imply that he was from a lower class, however his paraphernalia such as the laptop etc. implies that he is of a middle class. I have represented class also by a scene shot at the end where the protagonist character drives away in a large van, now this wouldn’t generally be associate with someone being rich, yet also someone form a low class would usually be stereotyped as unemployed and perhaps own a van, but the content of the heist is what makes it represent middle-to high class. The audience are not aware from the opening scene what the content is. This could have been represented through shots of jewellery etc. and therefore could have been more effective. The fact that the protagonist character is a robber/hacker challenges the idea of the middle class being ordinary because the protagonist character is rebellious and deviant.

Gender within thriller movies and any movie really, are portrayed in many different ways. My film follows traces of a robber/hack, it also shows the process in which it is done chronologically. It is a linear piece to ensure that it is not too complicated to follow for a slightly younger audience. The protagonist character play a male tracer and the male antagonist character, which is only seen via a picture is the ‘wanted’ person. It could be argued that men are much more represented than females, perhaps because I have attempted to follow the stereotypical expectations of male associations with heists. I actually tried to show very little of any character to create enigma, this challenges expectations slightly. The age of the mass audience that would view my film would be aged from 12+, this is a wide range of people, allowing more viewers. There are several reasons for this choice. This is because a 12 plus audience is much wider than 15/18+ and means families can watch it together, I do have to be careful about content however to ensure that it is appropriate for that audience, i.e. excessive violence or swearing is not acceptable. My film supports the stereotypical idea that male characters are generally the ones who have more authority, are physically stronger and usually succeed with their crime or following on from their crime etc. As this shows in my film where the male protagonist/antagonist character get away with hacking the CCTV.

During my opening sequence, I had my character/s as a different age group compared to my chosen low certified aged of 12A. This was shown through numerous aspects, for example, costume- black baggy clothes, gloves, props- Van, laptop, board location map, and location- unknown. The low The protagonist is clearly experienced as this is demonstrated through the development of the title sequence, getting all the props etc. ready. This suggests that the idea of age connotes wisdom and authority, this is evidenced through the monitoring and hacking of CCTV in order to shut it down. The actor that is in my film is 20,The protagonist character in my opening sequence plays a middle aged man in his late 20’s, possibly older, this character is established in my low camera angle shots, especially when he is in the bathroom cleaning his hands and washing his face. This angle connotes the idea of importance and presence from the man suggesting that this age group are perhaps more diverse, deviant and daring.

I have used ethnic characters as my protagonists that reinforces this stereotype. Looking back at this I could have considered a wider range of ethnicities to challenge this view rather than reinforce it. The representation of ethnicity is deliberately minimal because I wanted to create mystery surrounding the character and create an enigma. The main scene he is scene is the duality/over shoulder shot getting washed, ready for the heist. The concept of ethnicity is quite important within my opening scene and titles. It is well known that there are gang cultures across London, in particular, and in the US, that are often associated with ethnic minorities.