Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social

groups?

Our opening sequence contains 4 characters, they all are ethnically different, however, they share the same age and there is gender variety, there are more females then there are males though.As a result of this the different stereotypes in which we covered were ethnicity, age and gender. We didn’t focus on religion or education as we didn’t feel as though they weren't particularly important or key factors that were relevant to a horror film.Our ideal target audience is similar to that of the age and ethnic diversity of the actors within the piece, this is because we feel that it would be easier for the audience to identify with the characters as they are from a similar background and are of the same age.The use of the alcohol bottle within the opening sequence shows that the teenagers within the piece conform to the stereotype that the older generation have given young people. It shows that they are rebellious because they are engaging in underage drinking. The negative character is shown through the use of the handheld camera and the creepy motif music is to represent the paranormal presence of the unknown character.

It could be said that our media sequence would appeal to the unemployed, working class and skilled working class (also known as ‘blue collar’ workers.

Age

Our target audience are that of a similar age to the actors within the piece so I believe that they would be able to relate to some of the situations that the characters go through, however, not the paranormal side obviously.

Age within our piece plays a very significant factor. All of our actors are young people. The stereotypes that are associated with young people is very a regressive, archetypical stereotype.

Stereotypes of teenagers are that they are very loud, rude and aggressive. The older generation believe that us young people have no self control and that we lack knowledge. Besides our characters lacking the aggressive and loud trait, in our opening sequence young people are portrayed as regressive and they conform to this negative stereotype that the older generation have of us.

One of our young actors take on the role of portraying a responsible male officer and he executes this well. In my opinion this shows another side to young people, even though it is acting it shows that young people do have the ability to take responsibility.

We have followed the stereotype of having young teens starring in a horror film, in the 20th century it is commonplace for teens to star in this genre of film, it makes it more intense for the viewers because it is statistically proven that 15-24 year olds watch horror films the most.

Our piece conforms to the stereotype of teenagers being rebellious as in our opening sequence we have shown teenagers underage drinking, this could be interpreted as a sign of rebellion and shows that teenagers are irresponsible.

Our main characters do take a dangerous trip into the woods which does challenge the stereotype of teenagers. There are two young girls in the middle of the woods, this not only sheds a different light on the young girls and emphasises their vulnerability and innocence but it also shows that young people have the ability to be mature.

Gender

Originally there were suppose to be more male characters than female, this was to emphasise the stereotypical male dominance and the stereotypical weak and feeble characteristics women are thought to have.

Challenging female stereotypes within many films now a days is commonplace. Women are portrayed as this ‘damsel in distress’ who needs to be rescued or helped by the heroic male character. Recently in other horror films such as, ‘Scream’, this film has a female main character who is always able to prevail over evil. It could be argued still that women do not know how to take care of themselves as in the beginning of the sequence it is a male character who is offering the female protagonist help.

On the other hand, we have challenged this new stereotype of men being the main character. This piece is based around a female. She is the main character, whereas usually it is a man. In doing this, we hope that people will see that women are just as good as men in taking on large roles.In addition, in our opening sequence we have only one male character, this could be interpreted as women being portrayed and seen as more dominant than men, in this sequence.

We have followed the regressive stereotype that all women are vulnerable and need assistance from other people. This is shown in our police scene and the scene when Lauren, who plays Jaz ends up alone.

Females are usually represented as being inferior and dumber compared to the male characters. Females are seen as not having any dominance.

We have chosen a female character as the main character because we believe that female audience members will be able to identify with the main character more. We thought that we would attempt to challenge the stereotype that women can’t be the predators (as we have a female killer) and that they don’t have the ability to take the lead roles.If this was a real movie, because we would have a large conglomerate producing and distributing our film we would have bankable actors playing the lead roles

Ethnicity

Our chosen actor for the main character is a mixed race female, this might be depicted as unusual because usually the main character is predominantly white but also can be black.

From my research, I have found that most heroic/main characters are usually white. We have challenged and gone against this stereotype that the main character has to be that ethnicity as we have a mixed race actor who plays the main role. From my research, I have found that views on mixed race people is that they are depicted as problematic, distraught and downtrodden as they could neither fit into the category of black/white. It could be argued that our media sequence reinforces this stereotype and creates a regressive interpretation of these mixed people as in our sequence

We do not have any specific targeted racial audience members that our media product is aimed at, this is because horror films can appeal to all race types. However, because the piece is filmed in an urban location in Shrublands, the piece will appeal to all race types, but perhaps more white people than black because of the location the sequence was filmed in, it is predominately white.

There is common belief that white characters follow this ‘good guy’ trait/image and that they are to be trusted, they usually end up as the hero of the film. However, in other films, ethnic characters who are not Caucasian are depicted as the ‘bad guy’. In our opening sequence a mixed race actor portrays the paranormal ‘bad guy’ as she commits a murder. This is unusual as it is not commonplace for women in horror films to be the one that is feared.

As this media sequence was filmed in South London, here people are judged a lot on the way in which they speak. If they speak in a received pronunciation they are said to be from the Upper class, in slang terms ‘posh’. However, if they speak in a cockney or ‘ghetto’ way they are perceived to be from the lower class. If a person was to just hear the voice of a person and they spoke in a cockney common way they would be identified as being a ‘chav’ and ‘white’, stereotypes.

Within our piece we do have a blonde actress who does play one of the main characters, we have followed this stereotype that all blondes in movies are stupid and dumb and are always the ones who end up dead first.By following this stereotype we believe that men will want to engage in the film more, this is reinforced by Laura Mulveys theory of ‘The ‘Male’ Gaze’, whereby the camera is said to be male and within the shot is the gaze that men like to stare at (the woman).