Evaluation of Representation

Evaluation of Representation of Women in our Piece

• Our cast consists of all women, a mother and her two younger daughters.

• In the first 2 minutes, all the characters are shown as having 'issues' - the girls are scared of their mother and don;t know what happened to their father; the mother visits a grave and makes soup but still seems sinister. Immediately women are seen as falling into two classic archetypes - the villain and the princess (Propp). The younger girls are seen as vulnerable as they’re young and innocent, perfect victims.

'Princess' archetype for female characters

• However the other actress in our film is the mother who we eventually find out as an audience to be the villain. We can compare this to even a simple fairytale Disney film, Cinderella, Repunzel, the ‘evil’ stepmother being cruel in one way or another to their daughters.

• This shows that in media, age can possibly redirect the representation of women. She is in fact a mother and mothers have a representation of being loving, caring and warm. However it does fit into the ‘wicked stepmother’ stereotype which is also common in media, where the older woman becomes jealous and therefore evil.

Wicked stepmother archetype

 

• The two children are represented in two main ways in the thriller. They are seen as adorable and vulnerable, we show this with the shot reverse shot interaction of their close conversation about their mother. Their emotions show how they feel and by the way they are sitting both wrapped up in covers and their body language shows they can have a close relationship, the softer side to a child.

Conversation showing a vulnerable side

 

• They also show a rebellious and cheeky side at the same time. This is important because if they did not disobey their mother at times, the plot could not move forward. However, it also reinforces a common stereotype about 'stroppy' teenagers found in e.g. soaps such as "Eastenders".

Stroppy teenage girls in Eastenders

• The sisters relationship also have two sides to it which can represent the way children are, we see a teasing relationship as siblings try and irritate each other as we see at the start by Erin teasing Shannon with the love letter.
 
• On the other hand we see a protective and closer side to both of the girls as they feel distant towards their mother and comfort each other on the sofa. This shows that although there is a sisterly competitiveness between the two, they see family as the bigger importance and again links into the fact that they represented as the more potential victims; this can suggest that their youth is more important then their gender when we are looking at representation, which is usually more complex than just looking at one specific social group.

Confrontation

Looking for love letter

• By making our ‘villain’ a female, we are still within horror / thriller conventions but what is more unusual is that our female villain is indeed a mother and we do not know what her suspicious motivation is yet.
• I think that this changes the female representation a little. The representation of our mother is mixed. She is shown as a warm and motherly-like in the use of her costume and the acting style of the actress.

 

Motherly stereotypes

•  She is also seen by cooking the girls’ dinner, which is also a stereotypical thing for a mother to do for her children and usually connotes caring. What she is wearing makes her look like a regular mother. Adding this together, our representation on the surface is not a negative one.
 
• However as we look more into the sound and dialogue, there is a different picture. She is never at home with the children, she suspiciously firstly visits a grave and we see she has blood on her hands. Sinister non-diegetic music plays when she appears. This then questions what the mother is truly like and gives a negative representation as some mothers aren’t all what they stereotypically seem to be like. It also breaks a social convention which can make it seem more threatening.

Soup cooking - music makes this seem sinister

• This mixed representation is important for our narrative as the key 'hook' for the audience is what the mother might really be like. So here we see that representation is dictated by genre conventions as well as social conventions.

 

Evaluation of Representation in Coursework

Evaluating the representation of a specific social group in my piece

 

 

SOCIAL GROUP - WOMEN

• Throughout the first 2 minutes of our filming the two sisters are represented as vulnerable and weak, however they are seen as rebellious and mischievous at the same time. 


• Therefore our film offers a mixed representationof women.  There are only female characters shown in the first two minutes of our film. The mother is portrayed as a wicked mother which taps into a classical female stereotype of the evil older woman carrying out a revenge on younger women. 

Close attention paid to sisters and their relationship

 

• The sisters are represented in a positive way where the audiences feel sympathetic towards them.  This is reinforced through the dialogue used, costume and the camera angles used. For example there is a use of POV shots, to allow the audience to feel more emotionally attached to the young girls. The teenage girls also receive the most screen time, therefore allowing the audience to feel sympathetic to these characters. They talk about missing their dad and not being sure what happened to him, making them seem alone and vulnerable.

Shows relationship and huddling under blanket suggests vulnerability

 

• When filming the opening sequence we weren't focusing on how we would represent the teenage girls and the mother in the story. We were just trying to create an interesting narrative. It is only looking back that we see that we have used an almost fairytale like narrative with the children being slightly scared of an older woman who seems friendly on the surface but might not be.
• Our film has many stereotypical elements. It starts off with the two young girls arguing over a letter. Teenage girls are often represented as argumentative and catty as shown in the first two minutes of the film. Our film has a similar representation to the film 'Mothers Day' where there are teenagers who also behave in this stereotypical spoilt way as well as a mother who is the murderer. They have portrayed the teenagers in the same way we have, such as being argumentative and mischievous teens. This is both a common media stereotype and an important narrative one - if they weren't like this, they wouldn't be curious or disobedient enough to go into the room they've been banned from.
• Having a young cast of mostly teenagers/ children is often found in psychological thriller films. This relates back to the idea that they often seen as more susceptible and young, therefore they fit into a perfect victim role. These teenage girls are arguing which gives a sense that they almost deserve to get in trouble. Lacey suggests that horro films act as a collective revenge on women and teenagers, and the same might be true of thrillers. This reinforced in our extract by using actresses that are young and look vulnerable and are conveyed to be innocent through dialogue e.g. the soft converation on the sofa.

Shows curiosity and disobedience

 

• Teenagers are represented in two different ways in thriller films; there are usually the vulnerable and weak youngsters however there are also the types that are ignorant and rude. On the other hand in a lot of thrillers there is usually a teenager who is conveyed as the killer that is seen as out of control and is a threat to the people around them.For example in the film Adulthood teenagers are represented as villains and disrespectful.

• Where as on the other hand teenagers are represented as vulnerable and weak, as seen in the film 'Insidious'.

• We have combined these two representations to create characters who are sympathetic enough for the audience to care what happens to them but rebellious enough to move the plot on and provide action.

• On the other hand through the first 2 minutes of our film, the mother is represented in an ambiguous way, which allows the audience to wonder what her role will be. She does not necessarily do anything bad, but it allows the audience to get a sense of what parent she could be through the use of music in particular as the non-diegetic track that plays whenever she appears is quite sinister, and we also see that the girls are scared of her reaction if she catches them by the door. She is making soup for them which seems loving, but might be more sinister.



Loving and kind mother from "Twilight"



Violent mother from "Take the Lead"

 

• There are two main media stereotypes of parents, there are usually parents who are portrayed as loving and generous  to their children, often seen as responsible careers and there are also abusive parents at the same time who are against everything their children do. In this film we have represented the mother as a parent with psychological issues that will arise later on in the film. This is due to her abnormal behaviour that she is conveying to the audience in the beginning of the first two minutes. 

Soup making seems sinister

 

Visit to mysterious grave

Coursework Before Taking A Break

Here is the coursework as it is before we take a break from it; we will be evaluating what we have done so far and then coming back to make any final changes.

 

Cut for Audience Feedback

Progress With Editing

The screenshot shows how we are ordering clips on the timeline.

 

This is an early cut of our piece.

Photos from Filming

These photos were taken as we filmed and give a sense of how we approached the task.

Preparing the casserole / stew

Adjusting the camera

Adjusting the tripod

Directing the cast

Setting up props

Getting the right angle / distance

Finding the right location

Using props effectively

Using the tripod flexibly for different effects

Top Grossing Genres 1995-2012

Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2012

		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
1	Comedy	1,751	$44,792,158,044	$25,580,901	23.48%
2	Adventure	521	$38,199,674,469	$73,319,913	20.03%
3	Drama	3,132	$33,621,012,632	$10,734,678	17.63%
4	Action	570	$32,066,637,809	$56,257,259	16.81%
5	Thriller/Suspense	561	$15,495,734,985	$27,621,631	8.12%
6	Romantic Comedy	403	$11,286,883,357	$28,007,155	5.92%
7	Horror	329	$9,093,205,812	$27,638,923	4.77%
8	Documentary	1,076	$2,063,950,710	$1,918,170	1.08%
9	Musical	113	$1,865,013,970	$16,504,548	0.98%
10	Black Comedy	85	$781,440,299	$9,193,415	0.41%

As you can see from the table the top grossing genres from 1995-2012, thriller films are fifth and horror is seventh, taking up 8.12% and 4.77% of the market share respectively. They also totalled at $15,495,734,985  and $9,093,205,812. This is a good amount for films to make, as you can see these two genres are popular and have a market, meaning the target audience enjoy these films and can be relied upon to come and watch them. We hope that our film, which has elements of both, will attract both target audiences.