Evaluation 2

Our production focuses particularly on 2 main social groups, in broad terms, there is, as in any thriller a victim and a villain, however if we focus more selectively on how social groups are represented it is clear to see Rosie represents parents/adults and more importantly mothers as a social group. When thinking of the role of a mother, typically the first things that come to mind are maternal instincts, a warm-hearted nature, a longing to protect and care for their children. So we wanted this to be evident in our representation of mothers. 

There are many ways we attempted to outline Rosie as a mother, through dialogue, nonverbal codes, dress code and props. Firstly Rosie’s costume must reflect that of a mother’s so we decided keeping her in a sensible sophisticated coat would not only highlight her as a mother, but by not using anything too bright or colorful we didn't distract from the plot. Having Rosie as the almost victim (as well as the baby) fits the stereotype of a female, vulnerable and young victim, also fits with the gender stereotype of females. Her dialogue is also came significant, although only given few lines Rosie ensured she spoke them clearly and in a mature fashion.  

Furthermore the non-verbal codes became a key part of conveying a mother’s typical warm-hearted nature, in some scenes this is conveyed through Rosie’s holding of the baby, she almost clutches her which implies a maternal love and caring for her on screen daughter. Props also helped us to convey mothers as a social group as typically mothers would use a pram to transport their child from different locations, the pram connotes images of child and mother. Looking at the thriller 'Panic Room' for inspiration, the mothers non verbal codes suggester she was incredibly protective of her child, we used this almost clutching onto style with our production to also connote the idea that Rosie would shield her child from any harm.

How does our media product represent particular social groups?

Alexia (me) who we cast as the villain, took on a rather stereotypical role of a thuggish character, this being evident in her dress code, we used the film 'ils' as a stimulus here as we believed the villains at the end acted as fitting characters to draw inspiration from for our production. To convey a stereotype we had to observe again the non verbal codes and dress codes of the thugs in 'ils'. 

When thinking of thugs as a social group you typically think of scary, dangerous, threatening and shadowy figures. So bearing this in mind we had to make Alexia appear all of these things, we made her seem as threatening as possible through a lack of dialogue as this creates an air of mystery and darkness about her.

Finally, to reinforce the stereotype we used 'thuggish' clothing, the use of a hoodie to mask her face made her seem dangerous and threatening and the fact we couldn't see her eyes is similar to the shadows on the face of the killer Strauss in the thriller 'Dead Again'. 

Being unable to see a person's eyes makes them seem as if they are hiding something and creates a sense of mystery and danger, making them appear very sinister and dominant. The black clothing also connotes evil and danger all alludes to the idea of a crazy and threatening character.