Evaluation - Question 2 - Sophie

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main protagonist in our opening represents a young, middle class, white female.
In the first few shots, through camera angles, shot sizes and music she is shown as independent and a strong character. For example, the low angle panning shot of her legs (revealing her whole body) shows her from the first shot of her from the ground, giving the idea that she is strong character with high power in this section. Following this shot she continues to be represented as a strong character, specifically through extreme long shots of her running through the woods. Where extreme long shots can be used to show someone vulnerability in a scene, we used these to show how alone however confident she is.

Establishing shot of the woods

Panning MS of the protagonist's legs

Up until the protagonists flashback, she is continued to be shown as a character with high levels of power and status. Specifically when she kneels down by the river, although we are aware that she is having hallucinations and may faint, we chose to still show her through a low angle shot from the ground so that she still looked like a strong character.

Low angle shot of protagonist by the stream

However this all changes after the flashback sequence. The second shot we see being an extreme long shot of her kneeling by the stream, shows her as extremely vulnerable and it is here that the thriller conventions of a young vulnerable women being in danger from a dominant direct threat (in this case a kidnapper) comes into play. Especially as the audience now can see that the man is following her, therefore placing him with the higher status and power level.



The antagonist of our opening represents young, lower/working class, white males. In contrast to the representation of the protagonist, the male is represented in a negative light. The man is represented through sound as the character with much power and authority (even if not class). The non-diegetic tense soundtrack used for the flashback sequence, represents his character as a big threat as he walks and runs his hands around the machinery.