Evaluation- Question 2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation and Preferred Meanings Preferred meaning is how someone wants their audience to read the characters as, how they want them to be viewed. This is all done by representation. The media are always representing the world through to fit with their ideas. They are encoded in the media language to manipulate the view. In film mise en scene, sound, camerawork and editing is used to portray certain aspects creating the desired effect. Although they want the audience to read it a certain way, everyone will view the film differently based on individual differences for example age, gender, interests etc.

Representation in the Media All media is constructed. All media texts only show us a small part of the story. They create versions of reality through the process of: Selection- Selection is where they select which aspects are most important and interesting to themselves, Britain and their audience. Construction- Every aspect is constructed. This is done through storyboarding, the setting, Mise en scene, Angles, shot types and more. Presentation/focus- Getting the audiences attention and focus to their media text. .

Thrillers- The villain Thrillers are usually about a crime. The thriller focuses on the villain and the fight between good and bad. The villain might not be clear at the start and is slowly revealed throughout the film. Hitchcock said that the villains should be normal or attractive so that they can get close to their victim as opposed to stereotypical villains.

Gender- Male Men were always and still are seen as the hero's in films. They will often put themselves at risk to protect a women and be confident, daring and adventurous. Male roles are usually as an authority figure for example the police man, investigator, lawyer, journalist etc. For example the psychiatrists in Shutter Island and Sixth Sense are played by men.

Gender- Female Female roles used to be a princess, or someone that needs saving. Today that is still quite common although there are more female villains in the Thriller genre. They are also portrayed as love interest of the male hero. Laura Mulveys- Male gaze theory says that women are on camera to be observed and sexualised. Example - The Femme fatale character are very common in Film Noir films where the woman is dangerous and powerful through her sexuality. The final girl is another commonly used idea of the strong confident girl who tries to fight off the villain and ends up being the final one alive and surviving.

Age Age in thrillers is usually 15-30s. This is so that it appeals to the audience who are usually around that age as well. There are also occasional child roles or elderly roles to portray them as innocent and make the audience feel more sympathy for the character.

Race/ ethnicity The biggest race in Thrillers is White. Usually people with other races are usually seen as comedic. In conventional horror films the ethnic minorities are usually the first to die. They almost always have smaller parts and the main character is played by someone white. For example in inception Dileep Rao who was grew up partly in Saudi Arabia has a smaller role in the film as a chemist specializing in sedatives.

Our Opening- Timor Our cast were all female aged 16-18. We did this because it was easiest for us because of our group and so that it would appeal to that audience. There are also a variety of ethnicity's in our production which will also appeal to a wider audience. It is implied in our thriller that our villains is the three girls who come in at the end which makes it a female victim but also female villains.

Selection We chose to use actors our age. This was because it was most accessible and also because there is a big teen audience of horror and thriller films. We chose the location of our film based on how the room would fit Lunas character. The dark scenes were not important where they were filmed as long as we had the props to make the scene atmospheric and dark. Lunas room however needed to be bright, homely and girly. The props were chosen to symbolize the characters and make the audience tense and excited for what's to come later on in the film.

Construction We put a lot of effort into detailed planning of settings, mise en scene and shot types. This was so that our characters and their actions would be read in the preferred way. Luna as vulnerable and innocent and the other girls as the bad killers. Every shot was carefully thought-out. For example these shots we edited together so that the innocent prop of the nail file in the light room as Luna gets ready contrasting with the dark room and someone lighting a match. The props symbolize the people and the preparation foreshadowing the events in the film.

Presentation The presentation and focus is on the props used and the symbolism attached to them. For example the contrast of the red roses and the knife. This shot was one of my favourites of blood being wiped off by the flowers, usually a nice beautiful object being negatively portrayed to fit with the girls characters and symbolizing danger. It Implies that they are turning something good bad. This can however be read in many different ways but the main idea of the contrasting of good and bad put together is a strong image and a recurring theme in our opening.