Sam Parker

Foundation ProductionEvaluation
Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our thriller opening represents and appeals to a very specific social group. On the socio-economic
scale it would probably be most suitable for people on the bands E/D. This class mainly comprises
of students from the ages 16 to 20 and the themes used would mainly appeal to them. I don't
believe that theres a specific ethnicity that the film would appeal to, but it portrays only white British
English people so that could be more of a drawback to other ethnicities. It shows a relationship
breakdown between a young couple which young people may be able to relate to because young
peoples relationships are often quite turbulent. There are only two characters in my opening
sequence both of which are important, but Lauren Scott (Leona Bilby) plays the lead role being the
protagonist. I wanted to focus on a very sensitive social issue, and because of that it was important
to fully explore the issue to make sure that my opening isnt offensive to people that may know
someone thats been through these issues, or had a similar experience.

Leona is representing a girlfriend who has

been a victim of domestic violence. I felt that
although domestic violence can be committed
by either gender, it is more common for men to
abuse women and because I had to stick to
the typical thriller conventions it was best to

Sam Parker
make Jason Mavericks (Cameron Price) the antagonist. I used Leonas appearance to my
advantage, she has long hair which makes it easy to mess it up and her figure means that I could
make her wear baggy clothes to make her appear drained and uncaring of her appearance.
I chose her costume to represent her predicament, the clothes are ripped, baggy and bloodstained
which implicates a number of different factors and she has cuts and bruises all over her body. The
red connotes danger, and the cuts and bruises show that shes been hurt, but the audience dont
know if all of the blood is hers or if its someone elses. I used make up in order to make her appear
beaten and bruised, fake blood was poured all over her and she wore a bandage and plaster
around her wrist which made it look like she had ripped a drip out of her hand in a hurry to escape.
Female leads in thrillers typically wear provocative clothing which appeals to the male audience. I
wanted to challenge this convention, so I made my character more covered up which relates to her
situation a bit more. If youve been in hospital youd be wearing sensible clothing that kept you
warm.

The antagonist of the opening is Jason Maverick, Laurens abusive boyfriend. This is a
stereotypical lead role, because its mainly men who abuse women in relationships and not the
other way around. Males are stereotypically more aggressive than female and thats what I wanted
to emphasise in my thriller. I took a lot of time thinking about the characterisation of Jason,
especially his appearance. I wanted him to look like someone you would see on the streets at night
in a sketchy part of town. For this I had him dress in drab clothing that was baggy and I used
makeup to redden around the eyes. I decided to do this because I wanted him to look very rough
and slightly ill. I wanted him to be a drug user and an alcoholic, and that lifestyle often implies a
very scraggy appearance. Its another stereotype that men are more commonly alcoholics than

Sam Parker
women are. The red eyes added a sense of danger to his appearance and made him look very
aggressive and imposing. I felt that it was
important to make him look dark and scary so
that it was believable when shooting the
scenes where he was abusing Lauren.

The character of Jason represents the darker

side of society, people that havent necessarily had a
very good education and live in poverty. They turn to
the black trade, smuggling illegal substances such as
drugs which gets them involved in criminal activity and
by taking the substances threatens their health and
changes their personality. Jason wouldnt have always
been an abusive person, as Lauren wouldnt have started a relationship with him if he was, but with
his excessive drinking and prolonged drug abuse hes become violent and unpredictable. He often
doesnt even realise what hes doing and he doesnt understand how the relationship has
deteriorated, he chases Lauren to the hospital where she was taken due to the injuries he inflicted.
He demands to see her, but the hospital staff know of him and what hes done and refuse him. In
his rage he kills the staff and pursues Lauren, she knows hes coming for her after hearing the
commotion and she escapes into the nearby woods.

When filming I decided to use a lot of high angled shots because they make Leona appear
vulnerable and powerless, and coupled with her vacant and scared expressions it made the hole

Sam Parker
opening more intense. There are also a number of close ups and extreme close ups which help to
confuse the audience to whats going on in the rest of the scene and the overlaid flashy shots again
disorientate the viewers.

Lauren Scott could be perceived as similar to Carrie-Ann from "The House At the End of the Street"
in the way that she dresses and acts, but she's not a killer. Jason Mavericks has all of the qualities
of Carrie-Ann. I used various different locations for filming, but the primary location was Bourne
Woods. I felt that the woods were a thrilling and dangerous location, and it made the opening look
a lot more tense and it added a sense of enigma, because the audience doesn't know where
Lauren has come from or where she's going. It also offers lots of places for the antagonist to hide.
Originally I had planned to film during dusk/twilight so that the lighting was dark and inconspicuous,
but I ended up filming during the day so I had to use a lighting effect in iMovie in order to make the
scenes look darker.

The media try not to focus too much on domestic violence, because its not a subject many people
like to talk about. In the rare occasion that domestic violence is talked about or portrayed it is done
so violently and the male is often the antagonist. I have followed these conventions, but also built
on it by making Lauren stand up for herself in some of the flashbacks, so she could be perceived
as an antagonist.