Evaluation 2

How does your media product represent particular

social groups?
General Group Representations:

Micro- Elements:

In real horror films certain social groups are

portrayed in certain ways. For example, females are
shown as weak, vulnerable, mother figures, sexual
objects and gentle. Males on the other hand are
shown as strong, violent, daring, bread winners and
dominant. In addition to that teenagers are normally
portrayed as law breakers, irresponsible, feared by
society in some films, anti-social and demanding
whilst adults are seen as controlling, boring, career
driven and sensible. These are typical characteristics
that horror films usually use to make it easy for the

Horror films tend to use micro- elements to

represent characters in certain ways. Microelements include: Camera angles, Sound,
Editing and Mise-en-scene.

Sound
Throughout our opening the executioner
does not say anything, especially whilst
the potential victim is questioning him.
We did this on purpose as we want the
audience to fear this character and
become suspicious to why he is not
answering when talked to. To make up for
the absence of dialogue from the killer we
use non-diegetic sound such as slow
creepy music that fits in nicely with the
church and religious theme of our film.
The opening also consists of choral music
which in itself sounds mysterious. The
music builds up to when the killer has
caught the potential victim and drops
when he kills him. This builds up tension
within the audience between those two
points. The slow music represents the
killer and how he creeps up on people. We
use diegetic sound for when the church
gate is shut, we liked this as it made a
screeching sound and then slammed shut
to show that the potential victim is
isolated and locked in which could
indicate that he is weak. This conforms to
the normal representation of victims in
horror films.

Although there is non diegetic and

diegetic sound in the film Scream, like
our horror film the killer does not say
anything. This makes the audience
curious. In addition to that the
executioner and scream killers both wear
masks, this already represents them as
mysterious characters and therefore the
audience knows that they are not
planning on speaking due to the mask.

Editing
In The Executioner opening we use a
range of editing such as shot reverse
shot as the killer is walking towards the
potential victim in the chair. The camera
cuts between both of them, sticking to
the 180 degree rule and lets the
audience see their facial expressions. In
this shot the potential victim is shown at
a lower angle and the killer is shown at a
Camera
Angles
higher angle.
This shows that the killer is
dominant, stronger and has more power
In The Executioner opening we have a male
than the potential victim. This shot
character which is represented as the killer. We
makes
potential
victim
look
and
have
usedthe
certain
camera
angles
likesmall
a Dutch
tilt
weak
which
subverts
from
the
normal
angle to represent his distorted twisted mind. This
representation
of the
males
as they
are
camera
angle shows
audience
that
something
to be
portrayed
as brave.
Also
is meant
wrong with
the
killer. We also
use lots
of close up
shots
whilst
theusually
camerafemales,
is panning
across
the
victims
are
but
we have
victim
photos;
this
is
significant
as
it
shows
the
subverted from this and gone for a male.
audience that the killer is hiding something. We
We
also use
a match
action
for
use
hidden
camera
shots on
which
hint shot
to the
when the
victim These
is opening
audience
his potential
own personality.
shots the
represent
him as
and strong.
church gate
asmysterious,
this showsviolent
how scared
he
Therefore
this purposely
conforms towanted
the normal
is. We also
himcamera
to
angles
that
you
would
find
in
real
horror
openings
struggle opening the gate to show how
and
representation
of men.
hethe
hasnormal
lost all
control due to
the killer

following him. This represents him as

weak and vulnerable. In addition to that
we use a transition to show different
angles of when the killers holding the
Close up shots are used in films such as Se7en as
knife, this represents him as powerful
the killer is cutting up photos and writing in diaries.
and
violent.
This
has
the same effect and makes the audience
suspicious of that character as he remains hidden
from the audiences eyes due to the close up
shots.

Scream uses a Dutch tilt camera angle to show the

audience her uneasy feeling of talking to a
stranger on the phone. This is better than the
character just saying what she is feeling as it
makes the audience more curious. This shot is

Mise-en-scene
In this shot of The Executioner we use
a dim red lighting to represent the killer
as dangerous. We used a red light as it
links to blood and death. This looks good
as it represents him as a killer. In
addition to that his costume makes him
look very dark and hidden, like hes
hiding a secret, which also represents
him as strong and daring, conforming to
the normal representation of a killer. He
is surrounded by victim photos which
make the audience associate him with a
predator as he keeps track of his killings;
this conforms to the normal
representation of males. His body
language makes him look like he is
obsessed with the photos.

An example of this is in the shot below of

the killer from Friday the 13th. Like in
The Executioner the lighting is quite
dark as it indicates his dark thoughts
and presence. In our opening we have
used a dark costume which is shown in
this shot of killer. This is used to
represent them as mysterious as their
clothes hide their identity. Although, not
shown in the shot above, both killers are
wearing masks which also indicate that
there hiding their identity but also a dark
secret. We used a red lighting above,
however a black background is used in
Friday the 13th as this colour is also
associated with death and could link to
when the killer comes out, which is at
night. The low camera angle represents
the killer as a strong, powerful character
that has control over you; this is also
shown by the way he is looking into the
camera. We also use a shot like this as it
looks like the killer is coming for you