Evaluation Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Mine and Niamhs two minute introduction (Neighbours) is a black comedy and it involved two main characters; Isabelle and Sarah.
 Sarah is what is seemingly the protagonist, however the preferred reading is that by the end of the two minutes our audience has understood that Sarah is the antagonist throughout the film, (if it were to continue).
 Isabelle is seemingly the antagonist; the leader of a powerful girl social clique. However, (much like Sarah) the preferred reading is that we find Isabelle being the protagonist.
 Sarah's character (Sarah) is on the outside of the girls clique and doesn't belong anywhere. She mainly keeps herself to herself if at all possible. Where as in a typical teen film, Sarah would get tormented by the clique; this doesn't happen. Sarah has a sense of ambiguity throughout the first two minutes. The preferred reading is that that audience aren't too sure on what her motives are throughout. We get a sense of the meaning behind her character, when she is following the girls and she crosses a face off the wall.
 Where as the character Isabelle we denote that she is a typical leader of a powerful social clique. As the film progresses our idea is that the audience can connote that she isn't all that she seems. She isn't the girl who inflicts pain on others for her own satisfaction much like Regina George in "Mean Girls".
 The character Rian and Amy are part of the clique and they may not have a major role in Neighbours however they also represent that looks aren't all of someone and that you never really know anyone until you meet them.

 There are many factors that influenced our representations. Heathers has had a very large impact on Neighbours. In Heathers there is a red scrunchy that the leader of the clique has. Each time one Heather gets murdered the next heather ends up wearing the scrunchy. By the end Veronica ends up wearing the red scrunchy. The scrunchy represents power and the colour red represents the clique sticking together. The audience could also denote that it is the colour of blood therefore connoting that there is a darkness to the girls. The colour isn't pink unlike in Mean Girls. Because mean girls is a light hearted film in comparison to heathers we can compare and connote that Heathers is a darker film. Much like in Neighbours the clique wears a dark pink lipstick; representing that they are one. Where as Sarah isn't wearing any; she is alone and left out of the clique. Me and Niamh wanted to make it obvious to the audience that the girls were a strong clique and that there was no getting in or out of their clique. Sarah has no chance. The girls are intimidating and possibly a threat to Sarah; the reader learns later on that it isn't the clique that is a threat; but Sarah that is a threat - people aren't all they are made out to be.
 The film Donnie Darko has also influenced the representation of our film. Donnie Darko is a dark film that focuses on a boy that is having hallucinations about his surroundings. There are quotes such as 'i have emotional issue as well' that give the audience the impression even though it is a dark film there is also some humour.
 When the clique of girls enters the school they are walking in a triangular formation; this represents their power and how they stick together. It also connotes that because Isabelle is in the front she is the leader of the clique (the protagonist/antagonist). We got this representation from the film mean girls; leader 'Regina George' is the leader walking in front of the other two actresses.
 Both characters are stereotypically dressed. However throughout the film we begin to connote that both aren't all they seem to be. For example; Isabelle is wearing lighter clothes (eg. denim jacket and a white top). Denoting that she is girly and into her fashion much like Regina George in 'Mean Girls'. Where as Sarah is wearing darker clothing; denoting she is individual and doesn't fit into a clique. Denoting this could lead to the audience assuming that Sarah may get bullied by the clique for being individual.

 However their personalities are counter types to a very stereotypical teenage film; such as 'Mean Girls'. Isabelle may be wearing light colours and be the leader of the clique; however we denote throughout the two minutes that she isn't the dangerous character. Sarah is. Sarah is the potential murderer in 'Neighbours'. By the end we can connote that Sarah is a threat to Isabelle and her friends, as she crosses a girl off her wall.
 Our film is based on a teenager girl in a typical high school setting; with a dark past. Our target audience is teenagers of any ethnicity. We are using caucasian females. We chose these actresses due to them bring available; using the opportunities around us.
 Socio-economic groups have a large range. They were created to help the government group the population into categories. We are aiming our target audience to be in the category E - Casual labourers, the unemployed and pensioners; for example people who live on basic benefits or students. Seeing as our characters are in group E. This means that our audience can relate and identifiy with the characters. This is going to be highlighted by the protagonist being a caucasian student girl. This is so that teenage girls can empathise and connect with the protagonist and antagonist of out film. She will be wearing typical girl clothing - clothing brands such as; H&M and topshop.
 Psychographic profile fits into groups; much like socio-economic groups. based on personality, beliefs, values, interests and lifestyle choices. The government also uses this grouping to see where different people fit into different categories and compare them. Much like demographic but instead of focusing on the work they do they focus on the behaviour of the audience and their actions.
For example a group of 16-18 yr olds staying at home and a group of 16-18 yr olds leaving home and having to live for themselves for the first time would be very different audience's. For example if we were aiming the film at a group of 16-18 yr olds that are leaving home, the film could focus on independence.
 Our film is aimed at a teenage audience and a young adult audience, between the ages of 13-22. This is because we believe teens enjoy our genre and theme more , which is teenage murder. As out opening was mostly filmed in a school setting we belie that teenage benefit from this , they can relate and understand the context and setting. Our cast were 16 or 17 and i believe having a cast at the same ages our target audience has benefited our opening , our audience can relate more to our story line, they also feel some kind of connection and relationship as the cast as they have similar features which in this case is age. We used fast pasted editing in our opening , due to the increase in youtube and music videos , fast pasted editing in time with music and beats has become increasingly popular , therefore we used this is some parts of out opening to appeal to our audience , we belive this swill help our opening look up to date. The music we used as a basis for ideas and influences was chosen as its peopler and well known in the younger society. therefore we though basing our music on music that is already popular would give us an advantage and create a more up to date and on trend look to our opening. We would give our opening a rating 12 based on what i read on the BBFC’s website. 
 I think the genre of our audience will be fairly split between males and females. Our female actors draw both a female and male audience in but mainly attracting guys due to male gaze. The aspect of violence also attracts a male audience as wifi and horror films are traditionally and stereotypically seen as "male films". The issue of conflict between the girl and the scene in which they get ready draws in a female audience and the aspect of teen conflict also will appeal to a female audience.
 Our opening is english that means that our audience will be english speaking. We hope that our audience will become a UK-wide audience and we hope that we would make sales worldwide and over sees.
Our settings include traditional looking english school settings , i think this will appeal to american as it fits the stereotypical image american have on England and i believe that this will appeal to them.
as films such as wild child become very popular due to the english boarding school setting.
 Typical audiences for our genre would be teenagers. Our genre of teenage under and crime is very popular in the movie industry at the moment sue to the break out of series such as scream queens and going back to films such as heathers. The typically audience for the genre such as scream queens is young teens and there is an equal divide between males and females. Typical audiences for dark comedies such as, 'Heathers' are teens and girls going into their 20's . Heathers was released into cinemas in 1988. It flopped. Heathers did best through video players. The distributor 'New World Pictures' failed to reach out to the correct audiences and the marketing for the film was poor; there was minimal posters and TV ads. Many people weren't too sure about the film due to it addressing such raw subjects; eg. eating disorders, date rape and suicide. If the film were to continue we would take inspiration and focus on raw topics such as teen mental health and what it's like to be a teenager in the UK in 2016.
 Our representation challenges the normal conventions of a teen film due to the main two characters being extremely different than they really appear. Isabelle challenges the stereotypical conventions by being innocent instead of being the bully. Our representation of the lipstick binding the clique together fits well with the typical conventions. Letting the audience denote that they are a clique and stay together. Our costume designs also fit the typical conventions of a high school film. We took inspiration from 'Mean Girls' and 'Heathers'. With the clique wearing a certain type of outfit and the "protagonist" (antagonist in Neighbours) wearing darker indie clothes; standing out to the surrounding people. Our film also takes inspiration from the TV show 'Pretty Little Liars' (American, teen drama). Created by I. Marline King. In this show a typical popular group of girls are tied into a continuous line of murders and deaths. Even though they may look like stereotypical girls they have been through a lot. They have been involved in murders and kidnappings.
 If we had had more time we would've added more stereotypes to show the juxtaposition between the characterisation. A male protagonist would've been added; this would have showed the binary opposition between Sarah and Isabelle. the male figure would've had been attractive - bringing in more of the female eyes.
 Overall our film shows that not all social groups are what they seem to be; just because you look like a stereotypical girl group, doesn't mean that you act like one. We want to break the typical conventions and thoughts that our audience have about high school social groups. The audience will be influenced by past film that they have seen; such as 'Mealn Girls', 'Scream Queens' and shows such as 'Pretty little liars'. Neighbours will show our audience to not judge a book by it's cover. We represent different social groups by making them sterotypically binary oppositions, however by them both waking up and getting ready in the beggining of 'Neighbours' it shows that even though they act and look different they are really more simmialr than they think. So are there really different social groups in high school?