Ben Jackson

AS Media Evaluation

Question 2: How did you represent social groups in your opening

sequence and how?
Definition of Social Groups: A social group is a segment of the population that is categorized via different attributes of themselves i.e. age, gender, ethnicity and even disability or social class etc. Example 1: One social group we represented was young men, however this was negatively represented as the young male introduced in our production was a juvenile delinquent who was committing a crime by breaking into the house he is seen entering. One technique used to represent this character was the use of mise en scene; the character is dressed in dark, baggy clothes with a dark scarf that hides most of his face. This social group represented is very stereotypical to the present as many believe young males are the cause of most crimes therefore this character was strongly relatable to the audience as shown in the audience feedback and was also very easily recognised as a criminal when introduced. Example 2: Another social group presented in our opening sequence was policemen, a professional, hard working and educated middle-aged man. The technique of mise en scene was also used here to present him smartly and well dressed, he is shown wearing a white shirt with a black tie, smart trousers and also a hi-vis jacket. This representation was more positive and again relatable to the audience as most policemen are seen as very professional and educated people who are strict with their job. Overall this representation of policemen was a positive one as he is seen being helpful towards the detective and is also dressed well and clearly has no faults in personality. Example 3: A further social group represented in our opening sequence is a detective this was an extremely stereotypical representation and also conventional. The detective is portrayed as a high-class, important and strong figure, the technique used to do so was low camera angle shots and also colour correction of high-key lighting to overall present him more positively and strongly. Also, again, mise en scene was used as the detective was wearing a black long coat with professional and smart clothes on as well and is also shown exiting a nice car when first appearing showing he is a wealthy character. Again this was a positive representation and our audience were able to identify that he was an important character and also the protagonist of our opening sequence. Conclusion: In conclusion I feel that overall our representations were accurate to todays society and also conventional towards other thrillers. Moreover the bad representation of the young juvenile burglar may upset some of our target audience as young teenagers are a part of our audience profile, however the positive representation of both the policeman and the detective will be effective towards both the communities of the target audience and also how they portray those social groups themselves.