Question 2: How does your media

product represent particular social

groups

Different social groups we have represented

O In our production, we represented different social

groups. Different social groups are typically

separated into these categories:

O Gender

O Age

O Sexuality

O Ethnicity

O Regional/National Identity

O Ability/Disability

O Class & Status

Social groups we represented: Gender

O Our detective in our film was male and this is

typical for this type of character. It shows that

males are the typically stronger of the two genders

and they have more power. Typically in murder

mystery films the detectives are male and this

could show that overall they have more dominance

and are mostly the main character in the film. We

have chosen a male to play our main character as

they typically show more bravery and a male

detective is much more conventional to murder

mystery.

Gender continued -camerawork

O For the camerawork, we used several low angle

shots. Low angle shots are effective to use on the

powerful looking, male detective. We have chosen

to use this shot so the focus is on him and the

audience clearly know he is the main protagonist.

O We have also used an over the shoulder shot as

the detective is looking at the dead body so the

audience can see what the detective is seeing and

focus on the more important aspects of the scene.

Class and status

O In our film, the audience can tell that the detective

is middle or higher class. They can tell this

because of the car he arrives in and the way he is

dressed. Chances are he has a high paid job and

therefore he can afford a nice car and nice clothes.

A detective in murder mystery films are typically

well dressed and high paid so this is why we have

chosen to use this kind of stereotype. We have

tried to keep our film as conventional as possible

so by making an important convention as realistic

as possible we have successfully done this.

Class and status continued -camerawork

O At the start of our film, we used several mid shots

and long shots that just focus on the detectives car

driving towards the location of our film. This is to

emphasise his importance in the scene and show

he is one of the main characters as it goes into

detail of him arriving. By using several mid shots

and long shots we have represented class and

status.

Age

O We have focused on age in our film by carefully

choosing what the main character (the detective)

looks like. We have portrayed him to come across

as a young, middle/higher class male. The reason

we have done this is because younger males

typically have more positive stereotypes than older

males or very young males. Some examples of

these stereotypes are brave, strong, determined

and courageous. It contrasts with the stereotypes

of older people; some examples of these are weak,

powerless and unimportant.

Age - camerawork

O For the camerawork to represent age, we used

several long shots and mid shots. We used close

up shots of the detectives face to show he is

young, charismatic male who is determined to

solve the mystery. We used low angle shots to

show that younger males typically have more

power than any other social group. Camerawork

was a key aspect in emphasising the age

representation.