Foundation Portfolio Evaluation: Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? 

In our film opening we only have one actor who multi roles to play both the protagonist and antagonist. A few films have done this, like Buried, but it's quite rare, most have a character list of between 3 - 10, like 28 Days Later.





Both character A and B in our film opening represent the female gender; there are no men in the opening of Apparition, however both of these roles could have been played by a man. I think that by having a woman play these roles, we break away from the stereotypical convention of men getting the better roles compared to women. In thrillers, it's also more common for men to play either if not both the antagonist and protagonist. The antagonist is usually far more stronger than the protagonist and therefore is the main reason why males are usually chosen for this role; however by using a woman it shows that not only are females capable of playing the villain but they also don't have to rely on their own physical strength and violence to create suspense and tension for the audience to remain interested.

It's not made abundantly clear what class both character A and B are; we filmed in a fairly middle/working class area, where people aren't struggling to make ends meet, but also can't afford to live frivolously. This represents the status of most people in the UK, which also sticks to the conventions seen in most thriller films as they're supposed to be realistic and relatable for the audience. The costumes aren't ostentatious and are similar to the attire most people would wear on a daily basis. The neighbourhood is similar to one that most people are familiar with and so therefore the target audience feel more at ease as the mise en scene is something they can identify with. 

Race is another stereotype seen in a majority of films; whilst it's not strange or unfamiliar to see an all black cast, it's not something that happens often in the film industry. Most films that attempt this, either flop at the box office, are independently made so aren't as well known or only have a few main black characters. 

If we were able to continue this film, we probably wouldn't cast it as all black characters, because we could want racial diversity to be seen. However by having the first two minutes of the film just showing a black actress, it breaks the stereotype of seeing mainly an all white cast.