How does your media product represent

particular social groups?

Social groupsThe main social group in my media product are

teenagers. I chose this social group because my target audience are 18-25 year olds and according to a survey I made, teenagers were the favorite age group to be portrayed in horror movies; see image below.

Teenage boysTeenaged boys are usually represented as

violent, troublemakers who are always dressed in hoodies and dark clothing. They are generally represented as rude and are also a menace to society.

Representation of teenage boys.

In my film I attempted to challenge these established stereotypes. Instead, I decided to represent the boys as innocent so that my movie is different from other movies that feature teenage boys.

In this shot the meaning that I wanted to create was that of a victim: this is done through mise-en-scene - through actors movement. The boys hands are both held in the air and his mouth is wide open in terror which are general actions portrayed by a victim who is scared.

Representation of males as victims

In the three films that I’ve looked at during product research, none of them have a male victim. From this I conclude that it is unusual for a male to be a victim.

I decided to make the male the victim a teenage boy to give the idea that boys aren't always the perpetrator. I also used this twist to shock the audience, knowing that they wouldn’t expect such a thing to happen.

I used the shot below to indicate that the male is the victim: I used mise-en-scene – props and also lighting to emphasize the roles. The female has scissors aimed towards the victims ears about to cut them off

Representation of teenage girls

Teenaged girls in the horror films that I have looked at during product research are usually innocent, powerless, venerable, ‘damsels of distress’ who are often victims of situations such as murder and rape who tends to be executed by a male character. For example, the movie ‘Prom Night’ fits the established stereotype of female teenagers.

Teenage girlsI decided not to use the general stereotype of

females as being innocent and venerable. Instead, in my media product the teenage girl is the antagonist who kidnaps the male protagonist and chops his ear off which is an unusual role for a female play in the mainstream media