How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The only character seen by the audience in our opening sequence is Damien.

Our choices for Damien were to represent the hard-working, skilled, young man. He would have been to university, studied hard and got to be in a high standard job. We represent this mainly using costume, Damien is seen in a suit during the forest/dream scene, suggesting this is what he is used to wearing - hence why he wears it in his dreams and also when he gets ready for work in the following scene. A suit usually depicts smartness, in high ranked jobs men are often required to wear a suit or for special occasions, so the costume depicts our character well. We achieved this through casting by using an easily recognisable character similar

to most men of around the 15-24 age bracket. Slim build, short hair, average height and white as it is stereotyped in television and film that most men in these types of jobs are caucasian although this isn't necessarily true of the real world.

However, we do present the main male character in the first forest scene alike a victim of surrealism against the supernatural powers that are inferred by the mise-en-scene of the symbol, tilted camera angles/movement, and choices of soundtrack, this convention of a character is usually depicted by a woman in media productions, therefore we challenge the typical gender stereotype. Although, later in the opening sequence the character does convert into a typical male character heroic and dominant. During planning, as a group we decided to portray the character as 'dominant' by creating an air of arrogance about Damien as a character during the 'getting ready' scene - this was depicted through his acting, for example, when he is dressing himself in a flash manner looking in the mirror.

This example of comparing our two film sequences is interesting as we worked to portray Damien as a victim with use of a long shot to emphasise vulnerability which is also portrayed in the classic damsel in distress scene.