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

GenderThe first representation that will be addressed is gender. Typically in post-apocalyptic films, a male character is used to attract the main focus of attention. They act as the protagonist and are portrayed as powerful and in charge of the situation, the causes them to appear as the dominant sex. In our film the main charter is not seen as the classic male figure in films such as I am legend, but actually appears as vulnerable and scared. This highlights the suggested youthfulness of the character and suggests early on that the character is not a fully grown man.

AgeLinking in with the previous point, the representation of age in our film is that the main character is not a full grown man yet but is in his late teens. This is portrayed by not seeing the character as a masculine hero but instead a more emotionally and physically weak teenager. By doing this the audience sympathise with the main character and automatically take his side. This would not happen is we chose a more violent character as it is possible opinions on him could be split.

LifestyleOur character was previously a regular middle class teenager; this is the style of life that will be relatable to most of the audience. This is the way we wanted our character to be portrayed. The reason we chose our character to be of a middle class background is that we wanted to emphasise that this wasn’t a problem that affected a certain group of people far away, but instead it affected the average person. This is similar to the main character from 28 days later where he has no particular skills or special characteristics. This appeals to the audience because it makes them feel it could happen to them also.

BritishWhen we looked into successful post-apocalyptic movies. The majority were set in the USA, however we felt that a post-apocalyptic film set in the UK would be successful to a British audience as it is not a very common occurrence. We used typical British scenes such as the railway station. The derelict housed used is also a location that would one day have been a stereotypical nice British house. But is now run down and abandoned. This is symbolic of the situation.

In the first scene, the main character is seen walking up to the house. Graffiti can be seen on the walls. Graffiti is a common occurrence for an urban British scene.

ClothesThe clothes used represent the gritty side of Britain; the colours used are very dark and unhappy. The khaki jacket connotes military/hunting. Also the use of black cargo trousers and black boots imply that the character has a hard time physically that requires durable clothing. This is symbolic of the harder side of British culture.The clothes used are those that would have been used in 2015. The character wearing clothes that old implies that they have stood the test of time.