Question 2 How does your media product represent particular

social groups?

• In psychological thrillers, characters often battle their own minds: they attempt to determine what is real, who they are, and what life's purpose is.

• Characters in psychological thrillers are also commonly represented as people who like to be alone and the villains tend to also target children/adults which are alone so that no one is there to see what happens.

• Villains in psychological horrors also tend to hide their identity from the viewers. This is perhaps they themselves do not quite know who they are. They tend to target victims which are happy with their life and usually have something which the victim was deprived of.

• The villains in psychological horror are of both genders males and females.

• An example of a psychological horror could be "Orphan". The social group represented in this is of a little girl. She is stuck in the body of a little girl while actually being in her 30s. She is deprived of love and attachment and thus targets the males in families she is adopted by, during this she kills the rest of the family in order to have the male to herself. This shows her disfunctionalism and want of love.

Orphan (2009)

• Our final product represents the main character as a adult male which has been deprived of a normal childhood and thus is left psychologically scarred. He takes the identity of a clown which we can see came from his childhood toy. This a stereotypical social group for a psychological thriller as the characters in these movies are usually scarred due to their past experiences just like our main character. The clown targets little happy children (as seen in our opening sequence) as he himself was deprived of a happy childhood which makes him think that therefore no one else should have what he didn't. Because he was raised in a alcohol full family with his parents constantly arguing the only comfort he was able to find was in his toy clown - thus explaining why he took its identity. Our main character represents those who have been privated from a normal childhood and are left with psychological abnormalities which lead them into abnormal behaviour and make them more leaning towards committing crimes.

The representation is shown through the use of costume. Dark colours are

used to show the sadness and the dark side of the clown. The costume is also

similar to the one of the clown childhood toy which shows the link

between lost childhood that the clown want to desperately link.

The make up shows that he hides his true personality as he himself is unsure of what he really is like due to being deprived of a normal

development. The red around the clowns face is made into a smile which shows irony as his

whole life he has been subjected to constant disappointments and sadness.

The facial expressions that the clown uses show represent him a as a

emotionless character. From this we are able to see straight away that the clown does not know the difference between right and wrong and that this also doesn't bother him much.

His facial expression fits the representation of a character which

hides his emotions as the past proved to him that it is a weakness to

do so.

The use of casual clothes as a costume for the clown also

emphasises the representation of this character as it shows the

people with psychological abnormalities look just like

everyone else and thus are not easily recognised.

The use of facial expressions also emphasised the

representation as it shows the clown perversely

smiling at his target. This emphasises that is is

mentally scarred from his childhood and also gives

the audience a hint that he will harm the little girl in

some way.

The character is represented as small and vulnerable. The representation of children from families which are full of violence and

alcohol is further empathised as he is a alone and crouched down during most of

his screen time. This shows that he has no one to comfort him and the use of the high

angle emphasises that he is little and helpless.

The representation is further carried out through the use of costume. The costume

that the little boy is wearing is a worn out, old pyjama

which shows that he is poor and that most of his families earnings is spent on alcohol rather then necessities for

him.

The little boy backs up his representation of being alone as he is constantly sad and shows signs of fear. During his screen time he does not

show any other facial expressions which shows that

his life is full of disappointments and

melancholy.

The location of the character remains the same thought the whole of his screen time. This

emphasises that he is alone and stuck in one part of his

childhood which made him the way that he is. The location also reinforces the representation of the little boy as the colours of

his room are cold which reflects his childhood. The White Walls can symbolise the innocence of

his childhood while the dark floor can be used to show how the dark side is side is starting

to get to him and also foreshadow what will happen.

The representation of his character is that he is a sad and alone child which is a victim of violence and

alcohol abuse.

The representation of the little girl is emphasises through her

costume. She is wearing colour which shows reflects her

childhood and that she a happy. The hints of black in her costume can foreshadow that something

bad will happen to her. The costume also emphasises her

representation as she is dressed casually and not like a adult which

shows that she is little and innocent.

The representation of this character is also emphasised

by the face expressions which she uses. The girl in

the clip is smiling and enjoying life but as soon as the clown character appears he face expression is change as if a hint of danger is being

set for the audience.

The location of the character also adds to her representation as she in at a playground. This is a stereotypical place for

children to be at and shows that she is able to enjoy herself and play like other children. This is in contrasted to the young version of the clown who was always in his room unable to be

like normal children.

The body language emphasises the girls representation as she runs home showing that she is scared of the clown. This shows that just like other children she is scared of a stranger.

The representation is also emphasised through body language as she quickly turns around to

see if the clown (in casual costume) is still watch her. This shows her alarm.

The representation of this character is a happy little girl which is living a

normal life and has a normal childhood.

The representation of the character was also emphasised through the camera angles and editing. A series of close up shots and mid shots were used while showing the main character in order for the audience to see his facial expression clearly and to see that he is holding a object which he will use to harm his victims stoking it as if it brings him ease.

We also used high angles while filming the clowns part to show that he is little and vulnerable. The high angle used allowed us to portray the little boy as very small and fragile. We also used close up shots while the little boy was sleeping to show his facial reactions when he was looking at the clown. We also used eyeline match in this scene in this scene to show how the toy gave him a idea of a second personality.

To represent the character of the victim we used a series of mid shots in order to portray realism. We also used close ups to show the audience her facial expressions when she saw that the clown was no longer there after turning around. We used match on action when the little girl put her hand on the door pull to show that something happened to her as she disappears after that without being able to open the door.

The representation of the main character was also shown thought the use of score music. The music sounded like a lullaby with a creepy twist on it which was used to emphasise the childhood of the clown and that in his mind he is lost and doesn't know what he is doing. The music also emphasises that the clown never had a real childhood and is unable to become a proper adult which caused him to be the way that he is.

The argument sounds which were used in the flashbacks also added to the clowns representation. The sounds of auguring emphasised that the clown never had a normal childhood and that he was bought up against violence and hate. The sounds also show that because of the constant lack of love the little boy became attached to his doll explaining why he took its identity in the later years.