How does your media product represent social groups?

In our film opening, we have represented two social groups. The primary social group is females, and the secondary social

group is ballet dancers.

CastHalf the judges and both of the ballet dancers were female, which made up the majority of our cast. This was to represent ballet dancing as a predominantly female-orientated activity.

Though ballet dancing is not necessarily restricted to female dancers, we thought that by females dominating our cast, it would appeal more to our audience, women.

We did, however, still have male actors making up the other half of the judging panel. This was to signify that although we usually associate females with ballet, it is not uncommon to see men in the ballet profession now. It also provided a balance of professional opinions.

The placement of the judges are also important, as one of the male actors was sat at the head of the panel, to reflect the stereotypically authoritative nature of men which is also expected of a judge. By contrast at the opposite end of the table a female judge holds all of the information, showing a more secretarial role which is a common typecast in business.

Music

Our music needed to relate to that of real music for a ballet audition. We chose classical music which was a moderate tempo, so that females could be portrayed as graceful and delicate.

The character of Jessica contradicts this, as her rushed behaviour is the complete opposite of graceful. This is why we chose to use diegetic sound for her scenes, to create a larger contrast between the two dancers.

Lighting and Editing

Though we used artificial lighting, it was still very soft. This is to create an association between women and warmth and gentleness. This then also applies to the calming effect of ballet dancing.

We did not use any transitions or effects other than fade-in, between clips. This was also designed to reflect the gracefulness of women and ballet dancing, as lots of effects would have made the piece less fluid and naturalistic.