Question 2

Q2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

     Our media product represents youths. The two victims in our film were teenagers and the kidnapper was also a teenager (although the detective was played by a teenager, the character is an adult).

     We have chosen to present the youths in the film not by the typical presentation of youths causing trouble, hanging around on the streets and being disrespectful, but as individuals who may have emotional and mental problems (the kidnapper) and as normal, well behaved teenagers going about their daily lives (the victims). We did not want our film to represent the normal idea of youth today, but as a representation of the youth that have problems and are often ignored and the normal teenager who is often overlooked.

     The mise-en-scene we used to present the youth was the actors (us) we used who are teenagers and the costumes. One victim was wearing skinny jeans which is one of the most popular clothing choices amongst teenagers and the other was wearing a vintage dress which is also a growing trend for youths. These two choices showed the normality of the two victims. The kidnapper was wearing a black hooded jacket which is synonymous with teenagers and crime. The hooded jacket indicates to us, even before we see what happens, that the character wearing it is up to no good as over the years the media has made us aware that it is something to beware of.

     The meaning we have created in our film is that people are not who they seem. The message in our film is that you should not trust everyone (like the two victims trusted the kidnaper but then he kidnapped them). 

     Compared to existing representations in the media, our presentation of youths is slightly different. Usually in the media (mainly in the news), youths are usually presented as being involved with crime, behaving badly and as being bad for the community. Our film does present a youth who is involved with crime, but only because he has emotional and mental problems - hence the name Insanity. On the opposite end, youths are also seen as high achievers, involved in many groups and very social. This type of youth is presented in programs such as Glee and Hollyoaks. The two victims are just two innocent, normal girls walking on their own from one college class to another.