Evaluation Task 2 (How does your media product represent particular social groups?)

Evaluation Task 2

In our thriller opening we present a young man aged between 18-25 who seems to be living a normal life and appears to be successful in that he wears a smart suit and nice watch and is generally presented as a successful professional. However what the audience don't realise until the very end of the opening is that he is also a psychotic serial killer.

 One character to whom our psycho killer can be compared to is the character of 'Patrick Bateman' from the film 'American Psycho' (Harron, 2000). On IMDb he's described as 'a serial killer who murders a variety of people, from colleagues to several prostitutes' despite the fact that he is also the head of a major Wall Street firm. In terms of the appearance there are similarities that can be drawn between the two characters. Both are young, white males with dark hair. In terms of costume, as previously mentioned they are also similar in that they are dressed in business attire. In terms of role, if we had made a full length film the character presented would have certainly
played a major role, if not probably the main role,
as does the character of Bateman in 'American Psycho'.


Additionally we subverted the stereotypical victim of a serial killer by using a young black male, rather than for example a young, white female. In most films young black males are usually presented as wearing hoodies and are often law breakers and tend to have dominant roles within films however in our opening the character is presented as completely powerless (as he is dead.)

Stereotypical female victim within a thriller --->













Stereotypical young black male presentation--->








We created these representations through the use of the four technical codes: mise en scene, camera shots, angles and movements, editing and sound.

In terms of mise en scene, especially in relation to costume we displayed the white male as being middle/upper class through him wearing a suit. In terms of props the watch he puts on also suggests he is a middle/upper class working professional. The fact that he is the only character that appears in the opening until the final moments when the dead body is revealed suggests that he is the protagonist of the film.

Camera angle wise there are a number of shots which display the white male's dominance for example the low angle shot displayed above in which he is shown to be looking down at the dead body. This clearly reveals his power and high status within the film opening. In contrast the close up shot of the black male showing his motionless face reveals the lack of power he has.

In terms of sound we use a slow, mysterious sounding piano piece which plays throughout. The fact that we use a piano piece reflects the middle/upper class profile of our male protagonist.

When editing our opening we cut various scenes down and added the music over the top. There are a number of scenes which last for a prolonged amount of time, for example the shaving scene in which a sense of calmness is established however there is a slight edge due to the fact that it's in black and white (which we added in during editing.)