TW - Evaluation Question 2

How Does Your Media Product Represent Particular Social Groups?

Megan Claydon portrays our 'Scream Queen'

In our media production we included very few characters due to the fact that we were only making a short film opening sequence, and there is usually a lot of narrative enigma and quite a few unrevealed characters in regards to the rest of the film in the opening sequence in many films, however we did manage to incorporate several stereotypical character types into the film opening.

The first stereotype we have used is that of the 'Scream Queen'. The 'Scream Queen' is most commonly portrayed as blonde, busty, very sexually active, and someone who usually meets an untimely fate somewhere in the film. Our 'Scream Queen' is killed off very early as this is only our opening to what would be a full, feature length production. In our production, this character, named 'Amelia' in the production, is played by 'Megan Claydon', as we believed she best fit the criteria.
As you can see from the pictures, both characters do bare a resemblance and this works to our advantage in our film.

Drew Barrymore is the 'Scream Queen' In 'Scream'

Another stereotype we used is the typical 'jock' boyfriend, in which we cast 'James Crowther'. The jock type character tends to be quite big and seen as strong on camera. He is also sexually active, although he does not show it off like a 'Scream Queen', however he is still killed at some point in the film due to his sins. In our opening, our 'jock' named 'Carl' leaves the house after engaging in sexual activity with 'Amelia' therefore his storyline does not progress, so we did not have to decide whether it was necessary to kill him off or not. The only real thing known about the 'jock' is that he is sexually active, and usually is quite unintelligent.

Typical Jock

James Crowther

In our film, gender and sexuality do not really play a part, as there are no majority genders in the opening, and because this is only a film opening we cannot use other conventions such as the 'Final Girl' or the 'Survivor', the one who defeats the killer. Also, both characters in the opening are made apparent to be heterosexual, because it is signified that they are in a relationship, and the kiss before 'Carl' leaves anchors that perspective. If the film were to progress it is undecided if we would incorporate other sexuality types. It would also be quite difficult if we did use other sexuality types as many people may feel uncomfortable having to showcase that in a publicly viewed product.

Both characters are also of the same ethnicity, and again, if the film were to progress then it is undecided whether characters of other ethnicities would be introduced, although both choices on different sexualities and ethnicities are plainly because we did not need to think past the film opening, aside from a plot that could possibly be continued.
Both characters class and status is unrevealed although due to the house and its size, accessories and furniture it is suggested that the characters are seemingly well off. This however is not too important to the overall opening, as our film would not progress past that. It is also revealed through watching that both characters are in normal physical state, as they can walk to the door from upstairs freely. A character who goes against this is the seemingly bitter 'Frank' (see above) from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, who has a disability which forces him into a wheelchair. The use of a disability is a good way to portay a sense of vulnerablility to the killer, however it would be quite uncommon to find someone who would be willing to portray their disability on screen with a low budget such as ours.

Finally, we used actors in the same age range as our target audience(15-24) as we felt this would best represent a relation between audience and characters, which is likely to increase attraction to our film. It also means the audience can better relate to the characters, which can provide a greater 'fear factor' which will both compliment and benefit our production.