How does your media product

represent particular social

groups?

During the pre-production of my project I was thinking of what

characters should I have and what their get up would be like. When I

came up with idea of creating confusion amongst the audience with

concept of a missing girl who has mysteriously disappeared (as there is

no evidence of her being kidnaped found), it was obvious that in such a

situation we will have a few suspects and a Detective. The detective

will be the main character and will be in spotlight throughout. Keeping

that in mind I decided to make the look of the detective sleek and

stylish with a sense of professionalism being kept in mind. He should

have a mature look on his face and a light beard would add to his image

as a detective. Mujtaba Ali Malik ( who played the role of the detective

seemed perfect for the role)

I did not feel like following the attire of the stereotypical investigators.

Investigator Jake in movie “China Town” represents a stereotypical

image of a detective. The beige colored khaki jacket accessorized with

a hat is too boring and unrealistic for the audience and therefore I tried

to form a new look with the touch of the old look of the detective in my

film. I choose khaki pants and a blue coat accessorized with aviator for

my character. This made him fashionable and desirable for the female

audience and the male viewers wished to be like him. This is how I to

some extent broke the stereotypical image of a detective but still

managed the character look like one.

Furthermore, I decided to have the detective being played by a male. In

many films including china town the role of the detective is played by a

male. Additionally, males are considered dominant, physically strong and less

emotional than females hence the reason why the job of the detective is

given mostly to males and this is why I also wanted a male detective in my

film. It also makes it more believable for the viewers.

Males are given more importance in action/crime movies because of their

strong rough and tough image. However major roles in such movies are also

given to females in the recent years. “Salt” is one movie which has broken

the stereotype and casted Angelina Jolie as the protagonist who is a female.

This media text indicates the viewers that women are equally good and

capable as men and prominent roles are also being played by females these

days.

The detective is clearly the protagonist in the media text, however the

searching for the antagonist is the main story and the thing that will make the

audience watch the movie till the every end. The antagonist is somewhere

hidden in the suspects and the audience will try to guess who is the culprit from

within the suspects. Kidnapping and such crimes are usually blamed on the male

population because of their strength and guts to do so such deeds. The

audience expects the criminal to be a male however to make them curious and

create mystery the suspects in my media text are of both genders, highlighting

zero discrimination and breaking the stereotype that women can also be

blamed for a crime.

Similarly the female gender is also well represented

in my opening sequence. The rival of the missing

girl, Aniqa depicts the fact that women has

jealousies and grudges against each other at petty

issues and it’s

never hidden. The character’s acting and gestures

represented the stereotypical image of a popular

high school girl, very close to the characters in

“mean girls”

Using media language such as sound, camera shots, mise e scene and

editing I represented social groups. The Antagonist was the detective and

all the camera shots, the music, his posture and his attire well informed

the audience about his character. Similarly “who is the protagonist?” was

the whole mystery created and that would make the audience curious

which would make them watch the movie till the very end.

ANTAGONISTWHO IS THE PROTAGONIST?

Moreover as far as the character of farwa’s best friend is concerned, she acted

all melodramatic and her character indicated the viewers about the fact that

women are more emotional then men.

It can be stated that I represented gender in a stereotypical way in my film.

The protagonist was a male and the suspected antagonist is also said to be a

male to some extent in my film, the rest is a mystery! I used a mix of the

stereotypical crime movie image with a detective and picked some stereotypes

from high school drama movies.

My crime/suspense opening undoubtedly links to my target audience which is

Age 15 + it is a mix of crime and high school movies as it deals wit a crime that

has taken place in a school and most of the suspects are teenagers. I also

carried out a survey regarding the tastes of the audiences and according to the

results people enjoy crime and suspense movies. The movie in the very start

creates a tension amongst the viewers and this is what makes it interesting for

the audience and makes them watch and find out the mystery themselves.