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

2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Because the plot of our film revolves around how a group of teenagers deal with the haunting of their best friend, we decided to include the absence of adults and parents to highlight their vulnerability. The three teens are forced to become independent and make their own decisions in the plot. A stereotype of teenagers/children in horror movies are that they are extremely susceptible and exposed to the horrors of spirits etc. As well as this, the stereotype of teenagers being more easily frightened is present in our opening sequel to increase tension and fear levels. Even though we didn’t challenge stereotypes in the opening sequel; progressing further on to the film shows how Carter is guilty for the death of Piper. This challenges the stereotype of teenagers being innocent and vulnerable.

Creepy young/teenage girls have become iconic within the horror genre. The image of the disturbingly eerie young teenager has become a stereotype in horror, but the fact that it still remains alarming while being so familiar is evidence to its ability to frighten an audience.

Even though it is never clear in the opening sequence that Carter is guilty for Piper’s death, if studied carefully, we included particular shots which portrayed some kind of separation between Carter and the other two friends. For example, in a dialogue scene, Elias and Bree are shot together in one frame at a medium close up level. Seconds after, Carter is shown sat across from them in a shot on his own which makes him more significant and isolated from the two friends.

Because the time period is set in the present 21^st century, the three friends were dressed in a modern fashion. Their casual outfits in the opening sequence also represents the idea it was just a normal day for them before they were visited by Piper’s dead spirit. Piper is shot wearing a white dress, which she wore the day she died, and we chose this to show her innocence before she was killed. The stereotypical connotations of the white dress being linked to hope, innocence and unity is challenged in the opening sequel as Piper’s haunting actions near the end of the two minutes contrast with these stereotypes.