Representation (Q1B)

Identify characters, events or issues within the production to discuss? and what representational concepts are highlights i.e women?

• Theorist 'David Guantlett' believed that "identity is complicated - everybody thinks they've got one". To counteract this quote, for my AS opening sequence production we chose to have an female protagonist in order to subvert the typical 'male' stereotype. Thus, we discuss the elements of feminism in our production. Subverting Laura Mulvey's 'male gaze' - our main protagonist is fully dressed, and not sexualised in any way. However, does counter in the stereotype that the female victim is weak and passive to the villain, although the villain would had been later revealed to be also an female, this subverting Vladmir propp's character stereotype's in media texts. 
• For example the hero/ villain are typically played by a male, whilst the princess is arguably played by an female. We took inspiration from 'Wonder woman' (2017) in which the female (wonder woman) was presented as the 'hero' whilst the 'princess' was presented as an male (Steve Trevor). However, we subverted the convention of sexualised minimal clothing, which 'wonder women' wore and instead dressed our protagonist appropriately in order to avoid our character being seen via the 'male gaze'. 

• The behavior of our female villain indicates Judith Butler's 'queer theory' in which we rejected the common conventional behavior of gender roles and counteracted with our own oppositions, thus influencing gender fluidity. We took influence from such films as "Laura Croft: Tomb Raider" (2001) which heavily symbolises gender fluidity, since Croft portrays her role in a masculine manner and minimizes her use of sexuality. We represented our female villain as dangerous, by incorporating angles of them remaining hidden whilst watching the victim, we demonstrated this by filming POV angles behind bushes/ long grass in order to embody the villains perspective, thus demonstrating the villain as mysterious and un-stereotypical for a female. 
• Angela McRobbie's theory could also be argued regarding stereotypical gender roles in our production, since the female protagonist is presented to be young and vulnerable. The villain can be clearly signified as dangerous through the use of Barthes codes, symbollic coding. The symbollic coding is used in my own production when the villain is holding a poll which is clearly signified to be an weapon which thus symbolises violence. As for the enigma codes we represented were sounds of an intense 'heartbeat' and an 'isolated' location in order to indicate the intensity for what is about to take place and keep audiences desiring answers. 
• The main protagonist begins to run away from the 'villain' however is captured, in which we used a technical camera angle, as the protagonist fell. Here we used an POV angle of the protagonist falling to represent that she has been attacked, therefore the villain has currently 'won' thus furthermore extending the representation in which the protagonist is currently the 'victim'. As well, the low angle of the villain approaching the victim and the dolly of them picking up her phone indicates that she currently possesses full power, whilst the victim is represented as passively lying helpless on the ground. 

Discuss the specific elements of character representation i.e. facial expression, behavior, as well what representations have been generated?

• Throughout the opening, the characters true identity remained a secret. Regarding her age, morals and current incentives etc. However, we purposely chose our protagonist to look within a younger age category in order to highlight the dominant ideology which is that youth stir trouble and violence. It can be identified by the audience when the young female is checking her phone to witness a 'downloading image' that she has gotten herself into unwanted trouble. 
• As well, with the use of close up shots and mid shots you can identify by the characters facial expression that she is fearful and nervous since she keeps twisting/ turning around to analyse whether anybody is watching her. This may have represented Stanley Cohen's theory in which social groups i.e. youth are "demonised" and "marginalised" through negative representations via the media which is causing moral panic in which society fear that particular social group. Furthermore, our production stereotypes this common misconception through the use of footage of violent youth and a troublesome protagonist, our production may have even signified slightly higher moral panic in consideration to the protagonist being a female, which subverts the common conception that only young males are the cause for violence and danger in today's society.
• Thus conforms to Julian Mcdougall's theory "In a media saturated world, the distinction between reality and media representations become blurred or invisible to us" thus interprets the message that youth are more than likely mislead within the media, which many audience members fail to recognise meaning this stereotype has now become an mediated norm. You could also argue that our production indicates hypodermic theory which represents that our product could influence a large audience of people by 'injecting' them with messages of 'violence' and 'anger' thus creating an 'mirror' effect which is a common problem of representation within the mass media. However, the lack of our protagonists instincts to fight back may indicate that her 'youthfulness' makes her slightly childlike, as well her appearance could be apprehended as young and casual which could connote innocent which opposes the current mise-en-scene which she is in. 
• The protagonists desperation can be identified as she tries to call somebody for 'help' and instead receives no answer, thus represents her inability to protect herself, conforming to the stereotype in which females are 'weak' and require 'rescuing'. Through the characters body language whilst she is trying to call via her phone to help you can identify that she is frequently alert and uncomfortable in her current surrounding. We decreased the saturation whilst editing in order to make the mise-en-scene appear as more dull, therefore appealing to the protagonists representation of being in an abnormal environment.