Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social groups help distinguish people from different groups and are noticeably popular in our communities nowadays. Our media product doesn’t represent any particular social groups as we only have two main characters seen throughout the course of the sequence. The first noticeable one is the teacher herself who is of a white race in a black suit. From her dress code we can gather that she may be of lower or middle class as she looks formal and smart. From all we can see we may conclude that she may be from a working class background. We used Havering College as our location as we were shooting about a teacher this could also be seen as lower or middle class. For example in the classroom we see objects just as a computer and a smart board whiteboard which is fairly new to technology.

We don’t conform or follow typical stereotypes in our media product as we use a female as the main character. We leave the audience to decide whether they think this character is a protagonist or antagonist, as this will help create suspense and enigmas as they try to solve the puzzle. She plays a strong, confident and assertive character and we can sense this just by watching the opening sequence. This is not conventional as in most thrillers or other genre movies the men play the leading, commanding and heroic role. Our other character plays the student whom the teacher attacks. Again we use a female character as it suits the scene; this is where the teacher and student have a conversation. The reason for this scene is for the teacher to look dominant and the student to look fragile and inferior, so using a male character would be inappropriate. The student is of a mixed race and wears casual clothing; she also has her hair out. In a typical thriller movie she may have other female friends by her side and looking like they might cause a fight. When seeing her on screen the audience may think that there is going to be a conflict, with the student being the one that provokes her. But the tables are turned as the teacher is the one who is rude and the student is left feeling inferior.

Above are two images,  the first one is taken from my two minute opening sequence ‘The Teacher’ and the second one is from a crime mystery thriller ‘Along Came A Spider’. I will compare the woman on the left in the cream suit to the character in my sequence. Already we can notice some similarities and differences between the two images. We can see that their dress sense is similar as they are both wearing smart skirt suits. They both have their hair down which provides connotations of being elegant, confident and slightly carefree. Their body language is crucial as it tells the audience how they may be feeling and what they might be thinking through their non-verbal communication. From my sequence my character the teacher has her arms by her sides swinging them back and forth occasionally. This connotes her being in a rush as she strides to get to her destinations using her arms to help her. However, Mrs. Hume from the second picture has her hands sort of together; she’s almost twisting her fingers. This connotes uneasiness and angst, as it looks like she’s nervous and worried about something.

Some differences can include their roles in the movie. In my sequence the teachers part is somewhat revealed but to a certain extent as the audience can’t gather on whether she’s the antagonist or protagonist. We see her for most of the sequence and one might say she looks content and normal. However, at one point she is portrayed as evil; but if the sequence was to continue onto a film their opinion may change. On the other hand, Mrs. Hume is seen to be looking nervous and on edge, but she is innocent and has no main role in the film, she appears once on screen. Overall, we can identify my character with the social group of a ‘different teacher’ as she has another side to her that she doesn’t reveal to just anyone. She’s not your conventional teacher as she does more than teach any has a mean streak.