Final Reflections/Representation

Gabrielle Nkansa-Yeboah

The protagonists challenges the conventions ofhomeless people. For example the character isa teenage orphan which is rarely depicted infilms along with his ethnicity. In which thestereotypes of teenagers is also challenged. Forexample the character is shown as hardworking and eager to be successful, whereasteenagers are usually depicted as troublesome.However stereotypes are still used to portraythe character as being homeless. For examplethrough the costume and props used as wellthe location.

The business man however uses theconventions of rich, business people. This isachieved particularly through the costumeused. For example the character is depictedwearing a smart shiny suit and tie, to presenthim as being wealthy. Although in the trailerthe character isn’t shown throughout theaudience, his character and representation isstill significant. For example the locations thathe was depicted in also reflected his image.These were on trains and in the city wherebusiness people are stereotypically found.

Representation of Characters

The representation of the businessenvironment was one of the conventionsthat was followed. This was important aswe wanted to distinguish the two settingportrayed in the trailer. The scene wascaptured in Liverpool street in which weknew that it featured big buildings and aworking environment. This was done toshow the character working towards hisdreams of becoming successful. This wasfurther emphasised by the bright lightingused to symbolise a change.

The representation of the suburbanenvironment was also anotherconvention followed. For example herethere is a much less formal tone, inwhich the character is depicted sittingnear a bin and the area looks quitedeprived. Again it was important toshow the character in his natural stageto highlight his development. The darklighting was also used to emphasise thecharacters state of disequilibrium, whichcontrasted from the other scenes.

Representation of Characters

Representation of Target Audience

Our target audience was teenagersbetween the age of 16-24. As a result wewanted the audience to be able to relate tothe story given by making the protagonist ateenager. We first began by relating ourideas to our genre “drama” In which itconventionally deal with real life issues. Asa result we focused on the main issuesdealt with by teenagers, however we didn’twant to focus on conventional issuesportrayed in films such as gangs, crime,drugs etc. Thus we decided to focus on theaspirations and success of young peopleand the issues surrounding that.Furthermore the protagonists beinghomeless and an orphan. symbolicallyrepresents the struggles and set backsstopping teenagers from reaching theirdream .

Improvements/ Pleased with:

Pleased with : I am thoroughly pleased with the outcome of the products and how well it suited our genre. For example most of the feedback gained from our audience was very positive in which many said that they would want to watch the whole film. I am also pleased with the quality of our media products in which it resembled real media products, thus making it very effective. The research and planning is also something that I am pleased with as a lot of the development was as a result of this. In which we looked at other real products and applied some of the influences to our products.

Improvements: I think the way our product could have been improved particularly in ourtrailer is by adding scenes where the character is talking and interacting with anothercharacter, as I feel that it lacked versatility and that this may have engaged the audience abit more. Another way our trailer could have been improved was by applying a range ofdifferent scenes as I felt that they were too similar. This could have been improved byshowing a better contrast between the suburban and inner city environment as I felt thatthis wasn’t shown enough. Thus limiting its effectiveness.