Question two - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In this question I will be talking about the social groups in our film and how they were represented.

There were actually many social groups represented in our film opening, these were, youth, student, adults and teachers. The youths we had were also our students, they were, Rio, Brad, Michael and Katie, our adult was also our teacher, Mr Frost.

We were able to present them as youths by their clothing and props, for example Katie was wearing skinny jeans, a jumper and a jacket, and teenage girls wear these usually. The same can be said for Rio’s clothes; they were simple but were identifiable as what a teenage boy would wear. The props that identified them as youths were their phones; Michael had his phone out when time was stopped, also Rio’s headphones are visible when they are walking out of the classroom, youths are regularly seen on their phones and listening to music through their headphones. The way they are represented as students are their bags and folders containing work, also the fact that they are in a classroom with whiteboards and desks shows where they are and this identifies them as students in detention.

The way Mr Frost is represented, as a teacher is his costume, dialogue, camera angles and his props. His costume is a sensible suit, comfortable for walking round in all day which shows authority whereas the student’s normal clothes does not. The prop that shows that he is a teacher are his pen, which he points at Luke and slam on the table. He also has a school pass around his neck with the school badge on it and his picture; teachers usually wear this so they are able to walk around the school freely. 

The dialogue also shows that Mr Frost is a teacher, for example, “Mr Gregory, Mr Gregory, LUKE!” is one of Mr Frosts lines in our film, this shows him starting off formal but when that fails, he calls out the students first name, this is done frequently by a teacher when they are trying to get a student’s attention. The camerawork is one of the most important things that show that he is a teacher; the camera angle on him is high, showing him off as taller than Luke, this shows the authority the teacher has over his students.

 

 These same social groups are also represented in films such as sixth sense

In sixth sense there are three of these social groups. Cole is the student in the school.

Next it’s Malcolm, he’s the adult

And finally there are Coles teachers in the school, one is called Stanley Cunningham.

Chronicle

There are three of these social groups in chronicle. Andrew, Matt and Steve are the main students in the film

They are also the youth in the film along with the other students.

And the adults are Andrews’s father and mother.

  

I feel that our representations of these social group were quite good when it came to showing Mr Frost as a teacher and an adult because it was clearly shown in his costume and his dialogue, however I feel we could have done better at showing that Brad was a student, I think that putting him in the school uniform would have been a better way of representing him as a student. The way we represented them as youths though I felt was very successful, especially with the props that were used.

Thank you.