EVALUATION Q2 by Maria Beardall

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our Media product doesn't have many representations based on the fact that there is only one character seen in the whole opening, yet can represent major factors such as gender, age, regional identity and ability etc. The two main factors we focused on as a group however were gender and age as they were to be made obvious for important reasons, other than that our main character is a female, not commonly used in many protagonist main character roles and is of the target audience age.

Gender:

Mise-en-Scene is the main way we conveyed to the audience that the main character is female, as these conventions are easiest for a audience to pick up (see Propp's character types), and for the audience to identify. However her character is untypical as she is a female, yet also a protagonist; not a victim or damsel in distress, and also isn't sexualised as most other characters are in the Media industry.

We created Eliza's gender, imaged predominately through costume, hair and make up. We curled her hair to make it seem strikingly feminine and a typical hairstyle to a female character and also, in the hall scene, used very bold eye shadow which is, again, typical to what a female would wear. This was accentuated by the black and white filters which, as the visual normality of colour has been stripped from the first part of the opening, and forces the audience to notice smaller details such as her hair and make up. The visuals were also added upon by making our actress wear a white, laced dress which comes to the knee of her, seen in long shots. This reveals her skin which is usually sexualised in the film industry, yet we added it to cause confusion and also make Eliza seem more vulnerable, and also hints innocence as a white signifies the individual to be a good character. In the forest scene she is wearing jeans and a coat, very covered up for a typical female character yet is conveying the 'tomboy' female stereotype, which links with her, fittingly, being a protagonist. She does have her nails painted to however enforce the female image.

Camera and editing also contribute to giving Eliza the representation of a female character, however she is untypical. The camera work and editing work seamlessly together to produce the image of a female through deliberate close ups of Eliza's lips, eyes and chest to also add and really forces the audience to notice she is a female through the Mise-en-Scene. There is also a pan down her arm too, which would be seen traditionally to sexualise her female character, but is now to show she is vulnerable and scared through body language - her intense breathing and gripping her hands tightly. This adds to the hints that she isn't a traditional female in the industry, therefore is quite unusual in her character type (not gender, her role in the film), as she differentiates from the sexualised image of women seen a lot - she is seen as scared, yet bold and untypical as she looks around in the forest before she gets taken, and in the hall scene (possibly planning to escape) - she is a clever protagonist. These actions are all seen through mid shots and long shots. The transitions seen where the main character is introduced not only shows a dream state to the reality, but also is slow and not intimidating to show that Eliza is feminine and not a threat to anyone - she is a protagonist; which is harder to show and break away from being an untypical female, yet I believe we achieved this and conveyed this to our audience well as she is deliberately supposed to seem warm and angelic.

Sound is also used to convey that Eliza is female, predominately can be identified through the voice over which was spoken by a female. This gives major clues as the dialogue links with the actions and facial expressions, therefore hints that the off screen voice is Eliza's. It represents her as the audience can tell the voice belongs to her. The words are expressive and convey her emotions in the appropriate way which can tell the audience she has serious thoughts about what is going on and therefore is very smart and holds elements of a typical protagonist; breaking the typical traditional view of females for a positive view.

What we wanted to achieve/our intentions:

We chose to have a female for our main character as we believed it would communicate more with our demographic, and we also wanted to break the boundaries most of the media industry don't; with using a protagonist female character and not sexualisation of  her. It was a challenge we wanted to take on to communicate to the audience from her as an untypical female and in this sense draws more attention to her as it works with the thriller genre of creating suspense and sparks curiosity in the audience's mind. We wanted the audience to notice she is vulnerable yet inquisitive and intelligent, therefore morally want her to 'win'. We did use stereotypes in the sense of appearance, but didn't play on them in the way most industries do.

Age:

We wanted the age of our character to relate to our target audience, therefore kept the age of Eliza at the 17 mark, which we portrayed through Mise-en-Scene, by using hairstyles and make up in a way that is of a youthful trait, hinting she is of a similar age to the audience, permitting them to relate to her. Her nail varnish in the forest scene is also a clue to her young age as it it typically done by teens, and her nails can be seen in a close up of her taking her earphones out. This also leads on to the over the shoulder shot of her on her phone, technology most stereo typically used with teenagers, along with earphones -  these props connote she is, again, a similar age to the audience which makes the audience feel connected to her and more vulnerable and on edge as they are the same age to Eliza and make the disequilibrium more real and possible to them. Therefore, props are used heavily to convey she is youthful.

Camera and editing also portray she is a teenager through close ups to subtle hints in props, such as an OTS shot of her holding and listening to music on her phone, and also a CU shot of her when she takes her earphones out; you can see her nail varnish which connotes youth and is an activity stereo typically seen to be done by teenagers, and also shows her with more technology, her earphones. We wanted to connote her youth through technological props as it is also typically seen as teenagers who are constantly on their phones and using new gadgets. Therefore we used objects and activities related and seen as youthful through the medium of camera shots to really concentrate on her age and also exaggerate these features of her. Editing also symbolizes her age in the forest scene as the cuts show her movement is quick and expected of a teenager, therefore also add to her built up image of being a young age as she can be seen quickly looking around and actively checking her surroundings; typical to a young and aware protagonist.

Sound also adds to the portrayal that Eliza is young as the music is upbeat and correlates with the editing to show there is drama she is in the midst of, and therefore leaves assumption that she must be of a young age to be able to move quickly - unlike an older, more unable person would stereo typically would be unable to do. The off screen dialogue is also a massive hint that she is of a young age as the dialogue is spoken by someone the same age as her, therefore sets up the image that she is speaking, and immediately is presented as a teenager, or around that age, to the audience. This creates and furthers her image as a teenager to the active audience who will be of the ability to clue she is around the age of themselves.

What we wanted to achieve/our intentions:

We chose to have a teenager as the main character as we believed it would make the audience feel more personally linked to the main character, and therefore spark an interest in her as she is 'linked' and most probably in a similar situation to the audience, making the drama feel more real. We wanted this effect on the audience to make it much more intense as they feel related to her in some way due to her assumed and portrayed age, and would make a potential audience want to watch the film more and also keep people actively viewing the film. It also emphasizes the thrill and emotion felt to the audience as it feels more potential to happen to them.

Overall Opinion:
I believe that our character has been correctly presented to the audience to create a diversity in the media industry by 'branching out' and using a female protagonist, and also deliberately resonates more with the audience as they feel linked to the character as she is typical in connotation of age; therefore making the film more thrilling as it resonates with the audience on a personal level more (an effect wanted as we knew the target age we wanted from the beginning of planning this film.)