Question 2

Throughout the title sequence we have used a range of social groups shown between the two character. This includes, genders, age and social class, more specifically middle class. Some represent a challenging stereotype where as others are commonly used conventions and reinforced stereotypes you’ll Find in existing films.

GENDER Within our title sequence we have used both genders in specific ways to represent that social group. we decided to chose a male actor to play out the victim who is one of the two major characters of the title sequence. This character is shown as being very vulnerable and isolated which really challenges stereotypes as the female characters are often portrayed as weak and helpless where as in our title sequence we have switched the roles around to show a true representation of what someone that age and gender may do in that situation. This also makes our title sequence different from most others that follow that specific representation and stereotype of women.

How does your media product represent particular social group?

Here we got two screen grabs one, from our title sequence and the other from ‘’It Follows’’, an example of a movie which uses a young female to emphasise her vulnerability. I put these bedside each other to illustrate the differences between the two showing how we challenged the stereotype within gender.

For the representation of the female character, we followed the commonly used and conventional in horror, a possessed child (Antagonist) . The contrast of something so innocent found in an dark and uninviting atmosphere seems to have been used for decades. Due to this, its now a stereotypical convention in the horror genre which is why we added this character into our title sequence. Examples of well known horror films which have used this particular idea are ‘‘The ring’’ , ‘’Sinster’’ and ‘’the grudge’’.

The white long dress is also a constantly used costume for these particular characters. The ideology of women and their sense of clothing is also shown through the consumes although this particular torn grubby looking white dress emphasises the evil dark spirits of this character.

AGEAge is also shown throughout our opening sequence from the two characters. The protagonist is an older teenage boy ,18 where as the antagonist is a younger late teenager girl, age 13. throughout this sequence we have added some hegemonic and pluralistic ideology such as the main protagonist is trapped and in danger with this young girl causing the problem. This is definitely challenging stereotype as its usually the other way around where the older one is the threat and the younger child is in danger. However, in horror films like this the younger girl is seen as being more powerful than the older. In addition, most teenagers are classified as being uptight , out of control and rowdy like however in our title sequence we represent the teenager as being vulnerable and week emphasising how teenagers can be in a dangerous situation. The younger girl is usually seen as being innocent and quiet but we challenge stereotype by changing it around and making the girl the antagonist.The represent the day to day outfit of a teenager the character wore the typical jeans, top and a pair of Nike trainers. This represents the casual and typical look of a teenager. To imply that the antagonist is a younger teenage girl we also used a prop of a teddy bear which she carries around. Here we use hegemonic idea as Many horror films use this idea, starting of with the possessed child being in a play room or holding some sort of creepy doll/bear. As toys are associated with younger children we can instantly guess their age.

CLASS

Lastly, within the social class we only represent the working class for the protagonist of the title sequence. As he’s an ordinary teenage student in a working class family. We represent this teenager as a working class not so upper class character through the use of costume as its very subtle and casual looking. It doesn't have much to it, it is just very simple and typical to any other working class teenager. We thought really carefully about how he was going to dress as we didn't want him to stand out too much. Making him dress in a particular way instantly suggests on what kind of character he is.

The important part to choosing which social class and character we were going to pick was to make sure it engaged the audience. So we decided on a teenage boy who is in the category of a working class family as the majority of our audience are in the same demographic.