Evaluation Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In this blog I am going to be writing about the way gender is represented within my thriller:

My thriller focuses on all of the technical areas, these include Mise-En-Scene, sound, editing and camera. In this paragraph I am going to talk about the Mise-En-Scene aspect of the sequences. First of all when the two characters come into the container we see one is behind the other. This shows that one of the characters would have more dominance in the sequence and and that would be a stereotype of the gender aspect as the character standing behind, and therefore lower than the male character in front, is a female in the sequence. Another part of the sequence which shows a stereotype between the two genders is when the female character puts down the two duffel bags and the male character is the one who does the work throughout the sequence emptying the money and filling the bags, splitting the earnings. Finally there is a point in the sequence which shows a subversion of the stereotype which is how the male character would be the one who would come out on top by showing his dominance but in this part of the sequence the female character shows how dominant she could be by shooting the male character to walk away with all of the money.

A second technical area which my thriller opening sequence focuses on is the camera angles. We start off the sequence showing the two characters having the same amount of power because due to them both having their balaclava’s on we cannot tell who is what gender. Once the man takes off his balaclava we have a shot of the camera looking up at him showing that he will have more dominance and power in the sequence. However, we also look up to the other character in the sequence, who is the female character which is also a subversion of the stereotype that woman would be looked down upon compared to the man. Further in the sequence we see the female character straight on, at the same level, and when she sits down on the chair she looks up at the male character, who is stereotypically doing the work. This shot of the female character looking at the male character who is above her shows a stereotype that the female would take orders and be of a lower status that the man. We then cut to an over the shoulder shot of the female character sitting down looking up at the man and the man looking down at the woman this is, again, a stereotype. We then go to a shot of the gun being put onto the table which shows how the male character, stereotypically, would be the one who would become aggressive and frustrated. The hand held shot of the male character getting angry shows how he is, conventionally, going to be unstable and on edge. As the man picks up his gun the woman shoots up and kills the male character. This is a countertype because the woman stereotypically would be the one who is weak and never in charge and the opposite is shown in this sequence as she is the one who takes charge by shooting the man, also we have a shot of the camera looking up at the female character and being the one who would be in control.

The third technical area that my thriller opening sequence focuses on is sound. First of all, when the characters all into the container and put the bags on the table there is non-diegetic sound of sirens and ambient noises which set the seen that they are in a rural area with many crimes. As they get into the container the character put the bags on the table and there is pleonastic sound of the male character taking off his balaclava and diegetic sound of his heavily breathing whilst the female character is not out of breath at all,, this shows that the male character is the one who has done most of the work in this job of theirs, this is a stereotype of the man as he would be the character who would have done all of the work as the woman wouldn’t. There is more pleonastic sound where the male character puts all of the money on the table and the rustling of the money when  he is sorting out the cut of money for each, this is effective because it shows how much work the male character has done. There is more diegetic sound of the male character repetitively trying to get an answer out of the female character who doesn't reply. this is a countertype as the woman would stereotypically answer the man on demand. There is then pleonastic and diegetic sound of the male character getting angry by swearing, for example he uses the word “fuck!” to show his frustration, conveying the stereotype that men will be more aggressive compared to woman. However, the pleonastic sound of the woman shooting the gun which shows a countertype that the woman wouldn't do any damage and that they would be innocent.

The final technical area which my thriller focuses on is editing. First of all there seems to be large amounts of time between each shot, to show how there isn't much anger or frustration but as soon as the male character takes off his balaclava and puts the money on the table the are suddenly very quick cuts/transitions to connote a stereotype that men will be angrier and more frustrated, whereas the woman seems to stay calm throughout the speed shown in the sequence, this represents the woman to be counter typical in the way that she isn't showing any emotion as that is something that the male would do. There is then more speed in the sequence when the male character get annoyed with the woman when she doesn't answer/obey the male. There is then a moment of pause when the man takes a breath before he reaches for his gun to shoot the woman, this is a stereotype that conveys males of being the aggressive gender. The female reacts quickly and shoots (backstabs) the male character, which is a countertype that portrays away from the idea that female would be slower and less dominant/powerful compared to the male.