How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Within my media production, I chose to represent my teenage character differently to this stereotypical aspect whilst being inspired by the representation of the main female character from the British film production of ''Fish Tank''.
The main character within my film Becca is represented as a 16 year old character and is denoted wearing dark unfashionable clothes which could connote her lack of class as a character. These dull colors could also maybe connote emotional depression that she goes through within her life. Within the film, due to her age being of a young represented teenager, the audience may tend to judge her before her actions. Becca tends to act very mature about things within the beginning of the production (when we view her trying to stop an argument caused between Dan and Jade whilst they are resulting in actions of domestic violence) but as the rest of the film follows, the actions and decisions that Becca chooses to act upon completely change the way the audience look at her from how she was represented at the beginning of the film to how she changes in the rest of the story line; she turns into a violent aggressive character and this causes the audience to witness two different aspects of a typical teenage girl revealed within the media world.
Camera/Editing
At 0.20, I placed the camera so that the door and Becca were denoted within the shot. As this shot commences, the audience are able to hear the strong load sounds of screaming and banging which Dan is inflicting upon Jade within the room. Due to the camera being placed out side of the room away from the main action, it causes the production to create enigma towards the audience due to the fact that they are unable to know of what harsh damage is being inflicted upon Jade from Dan's strong domestic abuse actions.
Also, due to the shot denoting Becca outside of the room, it connotes that she is of a young age and she is not suitable to be experiencing these type of actions due to her being of a young age (16 years old).
During the beginning of this production, we witness one of the characters Jade walking into her flat after going somewhere without letting anybody know that she had left. As Jade walks up the staircase, the camera uses a close up shot of her footwork; as the audience denote this, it causes a sense of tension and causes her actions performed to become very strongly focused upon when being one of the first female characters to be introduced. While she is walking into the flat, Dan is denoted within the kitchen looking through the fridge. Both their actions twists with the stereotypical expectations that the audience have when witnessing their actions. Normally, the audience would expect the female character to be within the kitchen and the male character being the one to walk into the flat after going somewhere.
At 1.54, we denote Becca suddenly walking up to a door and opening a letter slot to see if anyone is in the house. I used continuity editing to approach this whilst the camera is on the other side of the letter slot as Becca opens it from the outside. Usually, an adult would not typically be seen doing this action of opening a letter slot; they would be ringing the door bell or knocking like a normal person would. Due to Becca opening the letter slot in hope that someone opens the door, it is quite immature of her and helps to connote her representation as a teenager.
Sound
For the first 0.57 seconds of this opening sequence, i created a sound track to play on top of the action that commences from Jade and Dan. (The software that i used to create this was through Logic on the IMac). From researching into my target audience, i created the sound track in a way which would suit their musical appeal; this being genres such as Garage, Hip-Hop, R&B etc. Although this sound track has a depressing emotional element to it, the rest of track apart from the minor key melody line has a very deep strong based representation which relates to genres such as Garage and R&B due to these genres consisting in thick textured base lines. Due to my sound track being of this format, it would appeal more to the main social group that i am aiming towards for my target audience.
From 1.20, the audience are able to hear diegetic sounds of screaming and banging which Dan inflicts upon Jade within the room. Whilst denoting this, it connotes to the audience the type of character that Dan is whilst listening to all the harsh loud banging that he is inflicting upon Jade. Whilst hearing the screaming, the audience feel a sense of sympathy for Jade due to her being a female which the audience would stereo-typically judge her to be of a weak represented character.
Mise-en-scene/Expressionism
The location which i chose for my opening sequence was a broken down flat estate which gave a very low working class representation towards who is living in it. Within the kitchen scene in the sequence, the audience are able to denote a lot of mess and one of the cabinet draws missing. This causes the mise-en-scene to appear of a unstable unvarnished feel whilst the audience watch the scene.
For Becca within the scene at 1.20, the expressionism with the lighting matches her representation and appearance once she is denoted. Due to the lighting being of a dim quality, this could connote the difficulty and depressed situation which Becca experiences at that moment as well as others. Due to her being of a young teenager, this lighting connotes her being in darkness of the situation and her standing there unable to help could connote her helpless actions towards what Dan is causing to Jade. The lighting also reflects upon the harsh actions in which Dan is acting upon within the room which causes it to appear as such a effective scene as he is a male adult within the sequence.
Also, due to the shot denoting Becca outside of the room, it connotes that she is of a young age and she is not suitable to be experiencing these type of actions due to her being of a young age (16 years old).
During the beginning of this production, we witness one of the characters Jade walking into her flat after going somewhere without letting anybody know that she had left. As Jade walks up the staircase, the camera uses a close up shot of her footwork; as the audience denote this, it causes a sense of tension and causes her actions performed to become very strongly focused upon when being one of the first female characters to be introduced. While she is walking into the flat, Dan is denoted within the kitchen looking through the fridge. Both their actions twists with the stereotypical expectations that the audience have when witnessing their actions. Normally, the audience would expect the female character to be within the kitchen and the male character being the one to walk into the flat after going somewhere. At 1.54, we denote Becca suddenly walking up to a door and opening a letter slot to see if anyone is in the house. I used continuity editing to approach this whilst the camera is on the other side of the letter slot as Becca opens it from the outside. Usually, an adult would not typically be seen doing this action of opening a letter slot; they would be ringing the door bell or knocking like a normal person would. Due to Becca opening the letter slot in hope that someone opens the door, it is quite immature of her and helps to connote her representation as a teenager.
Sound
For the first 0.57 seconds of this opening sequence, i created a sound track to play on top of the action that commences from Jade and Dan. (The software that i used to create this was through Logic on the IMac). From researching into my target audience, i created the sound track in a way which would suit their musical appeal; this being genres such as Garage, Hip-Hop, R&B etc. Although this sound track has a depressing emotional element to it, the rest of track apart from the minor key melody line has a very deep strong based representation which relates to genres such as Garage and R&B due to these genres consisting in thick textured base lines. Due to my sound track being of this format, it would appeal more to the main social group that i am aiming towards for my target audience.
From 1.20, the audience are able to hear diegetic sounds of screaming and banging which Dan inflicts upon Jade within the room. Whilst denoting this, it connotes to the audience the type of character that Dan is whilst listening to all the harsh loud banging that he is inflicting upon Jade. Whilst hearing the screaming, the audience feel a sense of sympathy for Jade due to her being a female which the audience would stereo-typically judge her to be of a weak represented character.
Mise-en-scene/Expressionism
The location which i chose for my opening sequence was a broken down flat estate which gave a very low working class representation towards who is living in it. Within the kitchen scene in the sequence, the audience are able to denote a lot of mess and one of the cabinet draws missing. This causes the mise-en-scene to appear of a unstable unvarnished feel whilst the audience watch the scene.
For Becca within the scene at 1.20, the expressionism with the lighting matches her representation and appearance once she is denoted. Due to the lighting being of a dim quality, this could connote the difficulty and depressed situation which Becca experiences at that moment as well as others. Due to her being of a young teenager, this lighting connotes her being in darkness of the situation and her standing there unable to help could connote her helpless actions towards what Dan is causing to Jade. The lighting also reflects upon the harsh actions in which Dan is acting upon within the room which causes it to appear as such a effective scene as he is a male adult within the sequence.
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