HARRY SAUNDERS

Representation of social groups

What social group did we represent?

We tried to represent young, male, office workers in general in our media production, as this is the target audience of our product. We intended to do this by using body language and mise en scene through costume. We wanted to represent them through the socio-economic scale too. In the end, they were represented negatively due to crime involvement. Our audience feedback clearly picked up that the men were office workers, showing that we were effective in this procedure as it represented them correctly.

Examples

For example, we used costume to represent the characters as office workers because they are dressed smartly like a stereotypical office work would. They both have white shirts, black trousers, smart shoes and ties on, which heavily connotes the typical office worker’s outfit.

Explanation

We intended to use costume to connote the typical C1, office worker as the outfit is smart yet isn’t overly smart e.g. full suit with blazer etc. Intending to do this makes it easier for the audience to understand or guess what occupation the characters might have.

Reflection

I think we did this quite well because in the audience feedback we were told that the mise en scene was very good and that he liked it. This shows that it was appropriate and worked well. However, This wasn’t picked up by our audience feedback ,so this may not have been as emphasised as it should’ve been and if we were to re-film we would definitely exaggerate costume further.

I think to improve to the mise en scene we should’ve added to the costume, e.g. a name tag to clearly show they are workers.

Example

The use of body language was used to create a representation, for example, Mitch was represented as under a lot of stress because of the way he held his head in one of the bathroom scenes. The body language shows us that he is stressed out and is trying to think.

Evidence

We intended to do this because it is a key signifier to how the character feels and the mood will reflect on the audience and make them sympathise with the character/feel a certain way. It was also intended because it is a typical representation that office workers endure a lot of stress during their working lives and we thought that reflecting this on our characters was appropriate.

Reflection

In our audience feedback we were told that themes of tension and mystery were created, and this could’ve been via the body language of stress and tension that Mitch created, showing that it was effective. To improve, I think we should’ve asked a more direct question in our audience feedback about the body language, rather than the themes created through this, or again emphasise his body language further so that the message is clearly received in the product.