how does your media product represent particular social groups?
We used our characters, mise- en-scene and camera skills to represent different social groups in 'Imprint'.
how our characters represent different social groups...
o.t.s site of activity- played by elle barnes
Arguably, young people are represented differently three times in the O.T.S.
The first connotation the audience might get from the site of activity could be that Elle is fashionably dressed and pretty, therefor (because Elle is portraying the interests of a whole age group) all young people are fashionable and pretty in the eyes of the audience now. We created this representation with the mise-en-scene element of clothing, we also had to consider casting greatly to make sure we had a pretty female actress who could represent a proportion of stereotypical young females.
Another connotation presented could be that Elle is daft because she is on her own in the toilets, doesn't try to leave when the lights go out and doesn't try to use a phone for help. Because of her mistake, the O.T.S ends with her being stabbed to death by a terrible serial killer, which perhaps could have been avoided if she'd have thought quicker and got out of the building sooner, rather than wandering around looking for the killer. To create this representation we were careful about how we positioned her throughout the scene and what props we used. As Elle is representing the knowledge and common sense levels of a 15-25 age group, this will lead the audience to the conclusion that all young people are silly and unintelligent.
The final representation of youth that Elle brings is that all young people are vulnerable and helpless. This is a result of the content of the scene- Elle is being stalked and she doesn't realize, she then gets caught in a toilet and stabbed to death by the stalker. Again, this could have been avoided if Elle has noticed the presence of the stalker before or tried to escape or had someone else with her. The fact that the shots don't show anything like this shows that the audience will most likely be getting the impression that Elle is vulnerable and doesn't know how to handle dangerous situations and therefor the audience will also bed led to the idea that this is the case for all young people.
Because Elle plays her character to highlight her vulnerability as a female, it could also be argued that Elle has created the message that all females are vulnerable and can't defend themselves too. We represent her vulnerability through the use of high camera angles looking down on her from the audience's perspective; this makes the audience feel Elle is powerless.
The first connotation the audience might get from the site of activity could be that Elle is fashionably dressed and pretty, therefor (because Elle is portraying the interests of a whole age group) all young people are fashionable and pretty in the eyes of the audience now. We created this representation with the mise-en-scene element of clothing, we also had to consider casting greatly to make sure we had a pretty female actress who could represent a proportion of stereotypical young females.
Another connotation presented could be that Elle is daft because she is on her own in the toilets, doesn't try to leave when the lights go out and doesn't try to use a phone for help. Because of her mistake, the O.T.S ends with her being stabbed to death by a terrible serial killer, which perhaps could have been avoided if she'd have thought quicker and got out of the building sooner, rather than wandering around looking for the killer. To create this representation we were careful about how we positioned her throughout the scene and what props we used. As Elle is representing the knowledge and common sense levels of a 15-25 age group, this will lead the audience to the conclusion that all young people are silly and unintelligent.
The final representation of youth that Elle brings is that all young people are vulnerable and helpless. This is a result of the content of the scene- Elle is being stalked and she doesn't realize, she then gets caught in a toilet and stabbed to death by the stalker. Again, this could have been avoided if Elle has noticed the presence of the stalker before or tried to escape or had someone else with her. The fact that the shots don't show anything like this shows that the audience will most likely be getting the impression that Elle is vulnerable and doesn't know how to handle dangerous situations and therefor the audience will also bed led to the idea that this is the case for all young people.
Because Elle plays her character to highlight her vulnerability as a female, it could also be argued that Elle has created the message that all females are vulnerable and can't defend themselves too. We represent her vulnerability through the use of high camera angles looking down on her from the audience's perspective; this makes the audience feel Elle is powerless.
does this representation match the stereotype?
Yes:
It could be argued that this character does match out stereotypical female site of activity image we usually see- pretty, foolish, vulnerable. This is because the choice of shots, angles, editing and mise- en- scene all potray these key themes that centre around being pretty and innocent/naiive and helpless. |
No:
It could also be argued that the age representation does contradict the usual stereotype some people have. We often believe that young people are more street wise, cautious and careful about safety because of better education about these things in recent years. However, during the O.T.S, Elle creates the opposite impression of young people which could be a surprise and contrasting idea compared to the usual stereotype for the audience. |
killer- played by nick bojczuk and callum panchabaya
Young people are represented differently again by Callum/Nick in the O.T.S.
The first connotation the audience might get from the killer could be that he is suspicious and untrustworthy because he wears a dark coloured outfit and a hood that hides his facial features throughout the O.T.S. As Callum/Nick is representing male youth as a whole, this connotation could be applied to all people who wear hoodies in the audience's eyes. We made this representation occur with careful costume selection.
Another connotation presented could be that males are violent and dangerous. This representation occurs because we cast a male (rather than a female) to be our killer, which is obviously a violent, negative role. This representation is solidified with the use of low camera angles- looking up at the killer creates a sense that he has great strength and power and is therefor all the more violent and dangerous. Our male character is also seen mostly with a knife prop, this implies that he is violent too. Because of this, the audience may begin to view all males as violent and dangerous.
The first connotation the audience might get from the killer could be that he is suspicious and untrustworthy because he wears a dark coloured outfit and a hood that hides his facial features throughout the O.T.S. As Callum/Nick is representing male youth as a whole, this connotation could be applied to all people who wear hoodies in the audience's eyes. We made this representation occur with careful costume selection.
Another connotation presented could be that males are violent and dangerous. This representation occurs because we cast a male (rather than a female) to be our killer, which is obviously a violent, negative role. This representation is solidified with the use of low camera angles- looking up at the killer creates a sense that he has great strength and power and is therefor all the more violent and dangerous. Our male character is also seen mostly with a knife prop, this implies that he is violent too. Because of this, the audience may begin to view all males as violent and dangerous.
Does this representation match the stereotype?
Yes:
It could be argued that 'Imprint's' representation of males does match the stereotype because we normally imagine violent personalities to belong to strong male characters and this is the case for our story line in our O.T.S. |
No:
However, some members of the audience could be made to feel sympathetic towards the killer because they get to see the wall where his collection of photos are. Some members of the audience may recognize this location choice and clever use of props as a symbol of how much the stalker really was infatuated with the site of activity and perhaps mentally unstable, so they would be able to sympathize and understand his actions. This obviously contradicts the stereotype we usually see of killer characters- normally we imagine that they're heartless and completely evil, but in 'Imprint', the killer is shown to have an emotional attachment to the girl. |
why did these representations need to contradict?
We felt that although both characters are supposed to be of a similar age group (15-25) in order to capture the attention of our target audience, we recognized that these characters needed to be represented with clear contrasts because one character is supposed to be innocent and the other is supposed to be evil. We aimed to keep these overall representations fairly simple and clear for our audience because we were aware that a short O.T.S does not allow the producers/editors enough time to delve into the complexities of the character's personalities individually. We felt that as long as the film of 'Imprint' began with an opening title sequence that highlighted that innocent, perhaps even daft girls were being stalked and killed by a violent, troubled male, then we had represented particular social groups in the way we hoped to!
By Chloe Harris