Question twoMax Boyden

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

social GROUPS

We chose to portray very few social groups in our piece so as to further the

connotation of isolation. We used the structure of the “traditional nuclear

family” so that the audience were able to relate with the characters

Father

antagoni

sts

mother

- White

- Male

- Strong

- Middle-Aged

- Working father

- Protective

- White

- Female

- Strong

- Middle-Aged

- Housewife

- Defenceless

- White

- Male

- Strong

- Young-Adults

- Ex-Military

- Psychopathic

Father

The father conforms to the dominant

ideology of a strong male figure in the

family, as shown by his will to protect his

wife at the first sound of her scream. This is

a positive representation

However, the initial scenes of him driving

are ideologically loaded so as to confuse the

audience into believing he is the antagonist

(hence the red lighting, connoting evil)

He also connotes a traditional view of a

father figure, connoted by his suit which

suggests he is working father, the binary

opposite to the mother, who is represented

as a housewife. This may be considered as a

representation of patriarchy

Father

Red lighting perhaps suggests an evil

side to the character, However, we

learn later that this is just residual

ideology. The shot was also angled low

so as to represent the father as

dominant

Running to the door is used to represent

his desperation/devotion to his wife,

petrified that something bad has

happened to her. This also shows his

strong willed, caring attitude,

stereotypical of men

The suit was used to

represent a “working

man”, and also the

traditional values held by

the family (I.E: Male

breadwinner, female

housewife) However, this

shot was chosen so the

antagonist could appear in

control of the situation

Our portrayal of the mother could be seen

as negative as it give a very stereotypical

view of women is society (Eg: Housewives)

She is shown to be far weaker than the

antagonists and therefore helpless. This

was exploited by our choice to only show

her in high-angle shots, so as to make her

seem small, as well as coving her face

quickly

However, her portrayal could also be seen

as positive as she is not the antagonist in

the situation, in fact, quite the contrary.

She is shown to be a mother, who's

dominant ideology connotes, a caring and

loving individual

mother

MOTHER

The antagonists lifting the mother

from her position was used to show

their strength in comparison to her,

but also to make her seem vulnerable,

as they approached her from behind

We chose to bad the mother early on so

that she would become objectified. No

longer having a face, we believed the

audience would see her through the eyes

of the antagonists as an object, not a

person

This low angle shot was put

in to show how small the

mother was in comparison

to the antagonists,

furthering the ideology of

helplessness

The mother’s reluctance to

fight back furthers the

portrayal of the dominant

ideology of women being

weak, and ruled by men

Our antagonists are three young males who are meant to be of a military background. This is then a negative portrayal of young-men, who are often stereotyped for causing crime and violence, but also serves as a negative portrayal of the military, suggesting that their psychopathic tendencies have stemmed from their time at war

We chose to use masks on the killers because of research into both “The Strangers” (Bertino, 2008) and the “uncanny valley” effect, by which humans are made afraid of objects that are close, but not quite human (Eg: Clowns, realistic robots)

ANTAGONISTS

Antagonists

We took inspiration for this particular

shot from “The Assassination of Jesse

James” We felt that keeping the

characters in the shadows further

helped to distort their presence

The low-key lighting was used to full

effect to make the antagonists appear

almost “ghost-like”. This shot involves the

character emerging from the darkness,

with only his face visible

The masks were chosen so

no emotion could be seen,

something that is typical of

psychopaths. However, we

decided to include black

out eyes and sewn mouths

to add an element of fear

to the otherwise standard

masks

The green coats and boots were meant to

represent a military background by which

the three antagonists had become

psychopathic, perhaps being expelled for

such a reason

Macro issues

We believe that our piece is ideologically loaded so as not to necessarily

challenge the conventions and ideologies of current society, but at least to

highlight them and allow individual to make their own judgement

As explained, we thought about how we could use mise-en-scene to represent

the characters effectively

Father Mother Antagonists

- Shows a dominant

ideological stereotype of a

strong father figure

protecting and providing

for his family, representing

a patriarchal household

- However, he is negatively

represented due to his

inability to save his wife, in

fact it is his action that

lead to her death

- Is shown to be weak and

defenceless, a dominant

ideology for women in

today’s society

- She is shown to conform to

the patriarchy of both her

husband and the

antagonists, a negative

representation of women

- Positively represented as a

caring mother who works

for both her husband and

her children

- Shows a negative yet

dominant ideology of young

males causing crime in

society and stereotypes the

portrayal of a psychopath

- Has a residual ideology of a

military background, even

suggesting that it was

experiences in the military

that lead to their action.

This is a negative

representation