Evaluation Question 2

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

The character in our production is a serial killer. He is hunting down a woman who has hurt him emotionally and affected him mentally. His persona is based on a typical horror; Killer is after someone, hunts them down, and kills anyone who gets in the way. From his appearance, you are given mystery, from his lowered head, broad stance and by low camera angles.

Low camera angles show off dominance and power. His unsheathed sword shows his intentions, when it is revealed the climax begins to build. Typical codes and conventions of the horror genre influenced us, e.g. his hat being the prominent feature of him when he is first revealed. The hat is made the signature trait that makes him easily recognisable to the audience.

Both the characters Jason (Friday the 13^th) and Mike Myers (Halloween) have similar traits with our character, e.g. No dialogue, which helps add more mystery to the character and suspense. Another similarity, all these characters have a weapon to symbolise the intent to kill, and this is helped to be shown off via their stance and lighting. A strong posture and lighting coming from above will create a sense of power. We challenged the code and convention of most characters being shot in a film noir style, which helps to make the audience think evil/dangerous. We tried to keep a slight balance of human to the character without losing the psychopathic feel. We pulled this off by not using a mask, but a hat; this gives a more personal look on the character instead of him just masking his identity.

Later on through the progression of the film as the story gets revealed, we try to get the audience to understand his actions and see him as a human rather than a mindless villain. With Mike Myers, early on in the film Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2007 the audience are given a chance to sympathise with the character, however later on in the film the character loses this as he becomes just a stereotypical villain.