How does your media product represent particular social

groups?

By: Rebecca LewisNightmare in the Woods

Representation in the film & Stereotypes• Young people are the main focus in Nightmare in the Woods, the

main characters in the film are aged the same as the target audience and this helps the film represent the younger characters in a relatable light/state. • The characters are teenage girls because usually the protagonist in a

film based on horror a young girl will become possessed instead of a man; this is due to the stereotype of weakness, emotional personal traits and general female characteristics.

Camera Angles: representation of a particular social group• The camera is looking down on the possessed character and this aims

to represent that the character is under some form of influence and she isn’t in control of her own physical form or emotions.• Also the teenage girls are shown in a relatable way to the audience

because socially they would be classed as the ‘generic’ idea of a teenage girl; this is shown through their clothes, actions and social dialect. • This representation supports the stereotype of young girls/women

being easily influenced and in need of a superior to help and guide them in life.

Expressionism in the film

• The films lighting is all natural and no filters were used on any of the shots, this is because during the first two minuets of the film we aimed to make it look as though the conversation could be genuine and typical of teenagers. Also, by using natural lighting it helped the film in terms of achieving that of a low budget film and what to expect in such a ‘casual’ scene in the film. To conclude the lack of filter and use of natural lighting positively affected our film both in terms of cost and overall out come/ appearance.

Editing• Due to the majority of the first two minuets of our film being

conversation and two shots, we decided to use a lot of the technique ‘shot, reverse, shot’ and then edit these shots together, to represent a conversation taking place.• Also during the editing process passages of time were added such as

the fade in and out of the ‘typewriter’ style time added in after the phone call scene. This is a quick and affective way of clearly highlighting/ showing a passage of time in the film; also it was done in Final Cut, which is the editing software we used.

Iconography

• The iconography in our film all relates to the genre of Horror/Thriller. Blood, red eye contacts, general teenage girl necessities (such as makeup) and characters with a link to the storylines background are all iconographical features we used in out film.

Mise-en-scene• The mise-en-scene used was everything seen on scene/ in shot. Some

items we had in our film were not intended on being added in the original thought / planning process but during the filming process we found that they would benefit our film. For example, the guitar being played during the opening scene was spontaneous yet seemed to fit well so the shot was used in the final editing process.

Locations• There are four different locations used during the first two minuets of

the film; The Woods, bedroom, street leading to the house where one of the girls lives and the bathroom used for getting ready to go to the woods. These locations weren’t shown in a linear order during the first two minuets but further on in the film the shots would make more sense because the storyline would be revealed more to the audience in small sections and hints.

Typography

• The typography used in the first two minuets of the film is mostly black on a plain background or black over a blood red shade, this is to give the illusion of foreshadowing what is to happen in the film itself and the blood represents the bloodshed of the characters in the film.• Also the black writing in the beginning titles could represent the lack

of soul (which is a reference to possession of sorts) and the loss of a life, which also will take place in the film.

Camera Movement and Angles

• Canted angles and handheld camera movement take place during the first shot of the film (the bloody hand leading to the possessed character ‘Kelsey’), this helps to give the illusion that something is wrong and that there’s something strange and un-nerving about the woods/ happenings in this scene.