Evaluation of Representations

Evaluation of Representations:

Our group did not originally want to follow too many representational conventions for our opening sequence to our film to avoid it being classed as a stereotypical thriller.

After working on our piece we found that it is quite hard to create a thriller which is not stereotypical as we wanted to cast a weak female victim and an antagonist male villain which is probably the most obvious chose of casting.

This stereotype of men being stronger then women and  therefore being able to over power them is so common and accepted around the world mainly due to how the media represent it makes our audience identify with our film so its more believable to stick to this pattern of casting. So that our film has a genuine authentic feel to it.

The stereotypical characters in thrillers consist of criminals, stalkers, assassins, victims on the run with dark pasts, psychotic individuals, cops and escaped victims etc.

There are mainly two main male characters in thrillers one being the antagonist and the other the protagonists.

Both men are usually portrayed as being physically and mentally strong especially the protagonist or “the hero”.They tend to be less emotional then women.

Males in thriller films tend to be brave and of high intelligence however they also usually come across as mysterious even the hero.They are seen to have a lot of independence.

The antagonist: Kidnapper

We cast Christian to be the kidnapper. We looked into how the villains of thrillers are normally represented.

We found that they seem to be masked or have an alternative identity. This technique seems to be used most of the time to build up tension for when the villain appears.

We as a group decided this would be a great way of making our audience want to watch more in anticipation of who the kidnapper is, this is why in our fist 2 minutes of our opening sequences Christian's identity was concealed; we only had shots of his arms, back, lips and hands.

 

Villains stereotypically have shady sense around them gives them the sense they shouldn’t be trusted. This character may have some physical deformity (which is why their identify is secret for the majority of the film as they do not want to reveal themselves).

This was one convention that our group was not going to follow as further on in our film we would have revealed   Christian's face. He belongs to a different stereotype - the villain who looks ordinary and is therefore terrifying because you would never pick him out. This also creates fear and tension.

Often the villain will wear form-fitting clothing that emphasize their build and therefore power i.e leather trousers or jackets.

Typically, colors of the characters clothes will draw parrels with their personality villains appear in dark cloths usually black.

We used Mise-en-scène to create a recognizable look or a kidnapper. This was a convention we stuck to, as we dressed Christian in dark black mysterious clothes. However this is a negatively stereotyping men.

This is a representation from the film 'The Hitcher' of a kidnapper.

The Protagonist: Innocent victim

Women in thriller and horror films often portray a variety of roles, younger females tend to have a sense of purity and innocence, however older women are portrayed as having great sexual appeal.

We cast Shauna to be the victim. As this role mainly consists of a female in her teens or 20’s. For example: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” which starred Jessica Biel or “The Hitcher” which starred Sophia Bush.

These characters are normally represented as innocent and young characters who wear pastel colors or white to emphasize certain aspects of themselves for example their innocence or purity and most certainly their vulnerability - and also on a practical note to allow blood to show up.

This is done to make the audience sympathize with the character more.

This is what we choose to do with our film as Shuana dressed in a white t-shirt.

This was to represent that she is innocent and vulnerable but mainly to show up the blood.

Women in thriller and horror films are usually portrayed as being passive and dependent upon men. Which is again what we chose to do as she later seeks help from officer Simpson.

However, the close ups of the knife suggest she fought back and maybe won - so she is closer to Carol CLover's 'fianl girl' character, the one whoi survives to the end of the horror film because they do not give in even when everything seems against them.

Our representation is slightly updated because we start the film by seeing the girl has survived, so she is not the victim for long.

The protagonist: Police Officer

A male hero is normally introduced later on in the film however we chose to place him in our movie at the early stages.

The hero’s in thrillers are often men that are accustomed to danger in their jobs or lifestyle i.e. a police officer.

Usually they have an aim to defeat the evil of the situation and will persevere even if nothing is going according to plan.

In general this character will appear smartly dressed in a suit and tie.

Films that stick to this stereotype are “Seven” were Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are wearing suits are ties nearly throughout the whole movie but also in “Inception” starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

We represented our male protagonist character in a very conventional way - tall man wearing a suit.














This character is honest and trustworthy, seen through dialogue, but also authoritative, "I can't help you if you won't talk to me".

Overall Representation:

Both genders are greatly stereotyped in very different ways. The men are portrayed as being very conventionally masculine and powerful but one is the hero and one is the villain, so they use their strength in different ways.

The female character is seen as being very passive and not independent at first, but even by the end of the first 2 minutes it is hinted that she is stronger than this, so we are updating the representation and are not falling into the trap Pickering identifies of sticking to "biased and limited" stereotypes.

Initially it seems that we have used very familiar stereotypes but this will trick the audience into thinking they know what will happen in the film but we can then subvert this.