How does your media product represent particular social

groups? Evaluation 2

Who is my film representing?The main representative area that my film portrays is age. Some aspects of the film also represent regional identity as well as class and status. The particular group I have focused on is teenagers and young adults who have been affected by drugs.

http://benharrisasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/rough-cut.html

Here you can view a ‘rough-cut’ of the film intro. From this we can see the areas and particular social groups that are being represented in the film.

Analysis:Cinematography

In the very first shot of the opening sequence there is a point-of-view shot of an exam paper. This immediately tells the audience that the film is representative of young people as exams are associated with teenagers aged 16-18.

The following shot confirms that the protagonist is a teenager, and shows that he is struggling to maintain an interest in his revision. A medium-longshot was used to include props such as revision guides and driving books to reinforce the characters age.

Close-up shots on actors reserved for the protagonist

The use of a slow zoom on the drawer suggests to the audience that the teenager may be interested in the drugs that are in there.

The scene then cuts to a close-up of his pen and the revision paper. These shots have been used to represent the choices that young people often face which is to focus on their studying or to engage more with their social lives.

The over the shoulder shot gives the idea that he is being watched/judged as he is walking back into the empty house with increasing amount of now that he is older.I believe this represents particular social groups in terms of young people being judged by those older than them and also in terms of drug abuse being linked to paranoia

The non-diegetic sound used in the extract represents the use of drugs because the music used in the intro has a slow tempo and creates the effect of time being slowed down.

In terms of diegetic sound, young people are represented by the noise of the pages turning which can be heard during the title sequence, before any visuals come on screen to show it is a revision booklet. The timing of this sound very quickly tells the audience what age group the film is focusing on.

The dialogue in the ‘kitchen scene’ shows that Dylan is still told what to do by his parents as his Mum calls out “Dylan can you come downstairs please” so that she can tell him what he needs to do whilst they are away for the weekend. The strength of this use of dialogue is that it shows Dylan is still treated as a child in some respects because he needs to be told what to do.

The composition for the intro provides a synchronous sound that suggests to the audience that there is some sort of problem the protagonist is facing. It was written to give the video an apprehensive/eerie feel so that it creates the desired atmosphere

Sound:

The mise-en-scene is arguably the most representative technical code because it covers a wide range of the representations in the extract of young people and their link to drugs.

Mise-en-scene:

Costume:

Realistic clothes that are age appropriate for each character have been used to support the genre of social realism. For the protagonist these include; a black & white checked shirt, blue jeans etc.

Lighting:

A low key light has been used on the teenager to represent the negatives of drug use and his mood. This is contrasted by the high key lighting used on his parents.

Actors:

All actors in the film are untrained and non-professional which is a convention of the genre however it also helps to represent young people because the actor used to portray Dylan is a teenager himself therefore he is relatable to the character.

Naturalistic acting to allow a focus on the performance rather than ‘over fulfilling’ a role

Props: There are many props used in the film to help represent both young people and drug abuse. These can be seen in the examples below…

Mise-en-scene:

Revision booklet, associated with teenagers preparing for their exams.

Drawer full of smoking equipment, this suggests the character has been smoking for a while.

A grinder to show that the characters problem is to do with drugs.

Setting:

The film is set in the interior and exterior of a house in Tadworth, Surrey.

The setting is important because it gives the audience a sense of location and it relates to the regional identity of the characters which is a possible factor that caused the protagonists drug problem. Tadworth is a varied location in terms of the class and status because there are areas on both ends of the scale. This means that whilst the protagonist may not be living in the rough parts, it is possible that he has experienced difficulties due to their location.

The way in which certain shots have been cut represents the social group the film is portraying. For example the cut between the drawer and the revision booklet represents the choice which Dylan is about to make.

Editing:

By using editing to represent particular groups, the audience gain a better understanding of what is happening in the scene and what the characters are thinking.

Another advantage of post production editing is that it enables the use of transitions which can represent leaps forward in time such as when Dylan is debating whether or not to continue his revision.

Editing also allows for an appropriate title sequence to be generated for the film that highlights the key themes and issues of the affects of drug abuse on young people.