Question 2

FRANCESCA BJORKEGRENHow does your media product

represent particular social groups?

QUESTION 2

AGE – HOW IS IT SHOWN IN OTHER PARANORMAL HORROR FILMS?

Typically in paranormal horror films, the main characters are a group of teenagers, with none of the characters being more than 18 years old.

An example of this would be Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014). Within this film, there are a group of teenagers that are subjected to mystery that they need to uncover. As you can see from this screenshot from Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, there are a couple of teenagers that are central to the films plot and storyline. This keeps to the conventions of paranormal films and therefore we decided to keep to them ourselves within our film The Hellion.

Another example of this would be Truth or Dare (2012), it is clear that the main body of the cast is made up of teenagers no more than 18 years of age. We have replicated this by choosing characters that fit thatcriteria, of being 17 years old and younger. This makes the film and the characters more relatable and realistic for the audience which will make them enjoy the film more.

We have decided to conform to the codes and conventions of typical paranormal films because of our mainstream psychographic as our target audience. Mainstreamers tend not to like change and so we wanted to be able to target the vast majority of our audience by keeping to these expectations.

Within our cast, we have a younger girl, aged around 10-11. This is typically when we see young children being portrayed as innocent and vulnerable. However in horror films in particular, young children are seen as sinisterand ones who are exploited in the sense that they are subjected to horror and usually made to do things they wouldn’t normally. An example of this would Sinister (2012), the young girl pictured below, looks innocentfacially but then we see that she has bloody hands and clothing, this shocks the audience as you wouldn’t expect this from a young girl. However, due to the nature of the film, the audience would make inferences about whether the young is actually innocent or evil.

AGE – HOW HAVE WE REPRESENTED THIS IN OUR FILM?

We, as a group, have conformed to the codes and conventions of paranormal horror films because we will be targeting demographic E for our main audience who are typically in the mainstream psychographic. This tells us immediately how we will represent our characters within the opening of our film, The Hellion, because we know that typically mainstreamers do not like change and therefore would not like/appreciate art house films for example and would want to stick to what’s popular, which would be ghost horrors with conventional characters and a reasonably simple storyline.

The cast we have chosen are around the age of 16-17, which from looking at several films is typical. This enabled us as film makers to get a true representation of what the characters would look like and to make it relatable for the audience. This will aid the film in becoming more successful because of this factor.


The mise en scene in this scene represents age due to the surroundings. The sofa is reasonably new and modern, telling us that the film is set in the present day. The costume of the characters also tell us this. The costumes include typical modern day female clothing, including a leather jacket for the character Aria and a varsity jacket for the character

Will.

The lighting of the footage and this particular scene in the film shows age as its dark and obviously night time, which is typical of teenagers in the present day of staying up late. The candles in the background also contribute as this tells us that the presence of the Ouija board is ancient as candles are associated with ‘the olden days’.

The angle of this particular shot also represents age. The high angle medium-long shot shows us that the teens are vulnerable which subverts the audiences expectations. This is because typically, teens are seen as

powerful and in control.


We have conformed to conventions of paranormal horror films of having teenagers as our main cast, with the exception of the character Lilly Rivers, who is a young girl aged around 10-11. This is to shock the audience when Lilly becomes possessed and odd things start to happen to the group of friends. This would subvert the expectations of the audience because we associate young children with being innocent and not being evil and being able to be possessed.

We have shown Lilly being young by the way her costume looks and is. Her costume depicts her as being young and innocent due to her clothes being pajamas. Pajamas make the character of Lilly seem young and vulnerable as the connotations of the colour white (the main colour of her costume) suggest purity and peace. Also, as her pajamas have different coloured hearts on them, it suggests that Lilly is young and cute which contrasts with Lilly’s actual personality within The Hellion due to the fact she is being possessed and going to put the other characters through hell.


The mise en scene used within the scenes also suggest innocence and youth as she carries a teddy bear down to where the other characters are and watches on. The audience will associate the teddy bear with being innocent and pure due to the fact young children have bears for comfort. Also, her hair style as a plait which suggests innocence as this is typical of young children and early teens, this also shows her vulnerability. This, again, subverts the audiences expectations which is conventional of horror films.

The lighting in these two shots differ slightly in the sense that the first one (on the left) is brighter than the second. This is because we wanted Lilly to be seen in a stereotypical way as innocent and vulnerable, the lighting would show this because it is bright which connotes these things. The other, however, is darker and tells us that Lilly is not long innocent and vulnerable as a typical child should be.

GENDER – HOW IS IT SHOWN IN OTHER PARANORMAL HORROR FILMS?

In paranormal horror films, there are codes and conventions of what typical character types appear and are therefore expected by the audience. For example, males are portrayed as being masculine, strong and brave whereas females are weak and vulnerable, needing help from the male characters.

As you can see from this screenshot to the right, the male character seems to be a ‘jock’ and popular by the way he dresses. As mentioned in our costume decisions, ‘jock’ type characters are usually seen to be wearing reasonably sporty clothing/plaid shirts, which this male character in Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones is wearing. This highlights the fact that he could be of central importance to the films plot. This type of characteris expected within a horror film, in particular paranormal as they are the ones tobe the ‘hero’ and be strong and brave for the other characters.

Girls are typically seen in paranormal horror films as ‘wimpy’, weak, or even nerdy which is what the audience come to expect from a group of teenagers in a horror film due to the amount of films with those character types within them. In the screenshot taken from Truth or Dare (2012), shows the female character appearing innocent because of her costume. The colour white connotes purity, peace and innocence which makes the audience more shocked when something bad happens to that particular character.

GENDER – HOW HAVE WE REPRESENTED THIS IN OUR FILM?

In my research into how gender is represented within other paranormal horror films, males were depicted as being strong, brave and being ‘jock’ like. We have decided to stick with the codes and conventions of this because our mainstream audience would be able to identify with the characters as perhaps they know someone like that personally or they may be simply expecting there to be a character like that within a paranormal film. We have done this by looking at the two male characters and dressing them in what we thought would be appropriate and fit with the conventions of a horror film, in order to bring their personality’s out without them having to speak, so it is obvious for the audience who is what type of character.

With the character Will, we dressed him in stereotypical ‘jock’ clothing with a varsity jacket which makes him seem brave and strong. This is ideal for The Hellion as the dialogue he says makes him seem this way also – “Come on, let’s play.” Another typical trait of the jock is to not take thingsseriously, or to joke about which is exactly what we made Will do in our film, to be true to the codes and conventions of the paranormal horror genre. There is a specific scene where Will makes Lucy (the nerd of the group) jump whilst playing with the Ouija board.

Another type of male character that is usually seen within paranormal films is a ‘cool’ kid, although different to the ‘jock’ previously stated. This character is still masculine and tries to persuade the other characters to take part in the action. This is what Josh did in The Hellion, by saying to Lucy:“Come on, nothing bad will happen.” to try and reassure her whilst playing the Ouijaboard. As mentioned in the costume ideas post, we dressed Josh in ‘cool’ and current clothingto emphasise his role within the group.


The mise en scene is used to represent gender in these shot of the character Will, especially the costume. The costume represents gender as the jacket is what we as an audience would associate with a male character. The jacket makes the character look masculine and ‘jocky’ – all typical stereotypes of males.

Camera shots and angles are used to establish and represent gender. In this shot on Will, a slightly high angle medium-close up shot is used to show his expressions and emotions. This shows the audience that the character of Will is a stereotypical male as he is masking his emotions in a scary time.


Costume is, again, used to represent gender. Alfie’s character of Josh is a stereotypical ‘cool’ male as his hair is styled in the stereotypical male teen way and his clothes are what you would expect. This represents the male gender well as this is what audiences would expect and therefore conform to conventions.


In paranormal horror films, there is always a cynic and is not sure about what is going to happen – these types of characters are usually female. This is because it enables the characters to interact with each other more due to the fact that one isn’t so sure, making the storyline interesting and at the same time establishing what character plays what role within the conventional paranormal horror film.

Within our film, The Hellion, Lucy fulfils this role. The costume that we have dressed her in is ‘nerdy’ clothing, with a tartan top and glasses which makes it easier for the audience to realise what character she is and also to fit with the codes and conventions found and mentioned in the costume post. We have made her dialogue fit with this image also – “wait, so we’re not actually going to play this, are we?”This makes the audience shocked when we see that Lucy is the one to actually play the Ouija board first, with the persuasion of the other characters.

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