How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Gender• In our opening thriller sequence, we had a male antagonist and a female

antagonist. The reason for having a male antagonist character was to portray how men stereotypically can have more power and control over women, and so we wanted our character in this particular storyline to be almost manipulative towards women. In order to portray his authority and importance to the narrative, we ensured he had the most screen time, as our opening sequence was heavily revolved around the role of this particular character and his obsession with girls. We also ensured to imply his role of authority and power through the use of camera angles and the way he looks at the photos on the wall, and we enforced this through the use of flashbacks. We incorporated low angle shots to give the audience the impression that he has hierarchy and status, making them feel intimidated by the character, reflecting the stereotypical views of society of men having more status and authority than women.

• The female antagonist is only shown on a photo and so doesn't have much screen time at all. Often in films, according to Laura Mulvey, women are presented as sexual victims in the 'male gaze' and so are often casted as these characters and not a main character, which is exactly what we portrayed in our opening thriller sequence.

Class/Status • The class that our main antagonist represents is a middle

class status. This is because our character's occupation is a maths tutor and so would be on an average salary and is shown through his attire and the fact that he can afford to accessorize with clothing such as a watch, smart clothing and a tie. Our character also represents the fact that what many people consider 'normal' in public, that many people can be very different behind closed doors, for example Oliver appears to be a normal man, but in his room, it is suggested that he is a psychopath with a strange obsession for raping and murdering girls, but isn't typical for someone of this age and class, which adds to the mystery and narrative enigma for our opening thriller sequence.

Age• According to statistics, the thriller gender is mainly aimed

at 15-25 year olds. This means that the conventions we used had to appeal to this age bracket, but also ensure that our opening thriller sequence would appeal to other audiences in order to broaden our target market. Our actor's real age is 18, and so his character fits perfectly into this age bracket, making it more relatable and enabling the audience to identify with our character. However, it must be noted that the majority of people this age are not rapist or murders and so it is an unlikely characteristic of this age group. However, our character does challenge stereotypes of older males victimising older women, and could also highlight and raise awareness of domestic violence and abuse. 

Sexuality • Even though we didn't give our

character a specific sexuality it is suggested that he is straight, which is suggested through his clear obsession with girls. Without realising, we have signified a clearly straight character who becomes satisfied by harassment towards girls.