2 REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL GROUPS

HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

In my film opening, there are four social groups represented:
- Sociopaths
- Photographers
- Models
- Teenage Girls

SOCIOPATHS
In our film opening, SOCIOPATHS is one of the four social groups represented. This is a main aspect in our film because the main character, Sam is a sociopath and has an unhealthy obsession with Jasmine. The genre of our film is a psychological thriller which is a common to feature sociopaths.

I looked at many previous thrillers which contained sociopaths as main characters, like:
- The Talented Mr. Ripley
- Single White Female
- Nightcrawler
- The Roommate
- Psycho
- Black Swan
- Silence of the Lambs

To advance the development of the characters in the film, our group decided that we could stage an interview for our main character SAM, who is a sociopathic photographer. We were deciding to stage the video as a psychiatric interview with a mental status examination of his health.

We have researched into psychiatric interviews in film and television, to further develop how it will be structured, how it will look, and how the overall essence of it will be. An example, that stood out was the American television series, Lie to Me, which revolves around a psychiatric doctor who accpets assignments from law enforcement and assists in investigations, reaching the truth and complexity through applied psychology, interpreting micro-expressions, through the facial expressions and body language.

We got inspiration to do an psychiatric interview from FilmEscape. I read through this article by Charlie Sierra on how to get to know your character. I looked on real psychiatrists in England and how they actually talk their own patients, such as assessing their state of mind, using a range of psychological illnesses and on their own personal habits.

I decided to create a collage of images relating to sociopaths
and sociopathic behaviour. Many of the images contain a
mask, which refers to how many sociopaths are liars and
don't tell the truth whether it's about their emotional
feelings or when they are asked moral questions. 

We will be asking him about various questions relating to character statistics (age, gender) and will also ask the character about his feelings, emotions, background and his mental state.

Psychiatric Questions: 

Do you think that this picture is demeaning towards women?

Do you think that it is acceptable to control and boss women around? Why?

Who has inspired you to become a photographer?

Do you think that your success has been based on your attitude towards women?

Does this work of David Bailey inspire you?

How do you think this has effected your attitude towards your loved ones?

HERE is a LINK to a video of the INTERVIEW


PHOTOGRAPHERS
In our film opening, PHOTOGRAPHERS is one of the four social groups represented. The social group of 'photographers' are represented in a dark tone in the film. Sam is the only photographer in the film opening and is very controlling when it comes to his models, their types posing and what meets his standards.

An example, in which I looked at when looking into the portrayal of photographers in the media was the British 1966 psychological thriller Blowup, which is about a fashion photographer, who believes he has captured a murder on film. In addition, the photographer in the film has strict standards and gets fed up and bored of his models, which is similar to Sam's exacting standards. Another aspect of Blowup, I thought was interesting was how he objectifies women by being misogynistic, which also relates to the harsh comments Sam makes to the models like "tuck your stomach in".

I find that from this thorough research on these I have a higher knowledge of how photographers, especially fashion photographers are portrayed in media.




MODELS

I decided to create a collage of images relating to models
since I feel that many models are represented in a
stereotypical way in the media. The models are especially
represented in ways which they look pretty, yet light-headed. 

In our film opening, MODELS is one of the four social groups represented. The social group of models is very common when it comes to there representation in film and television. In most of the representations of models, they are portrayed as skinny, superficial and . In the television show, Ugly Betty, there are various different models in each episode, which seem to be stock characters, whereby most of them have the same personality.

In our film, there are three models present. These are Amy, Flo and Izzy. All three of them encompass the main stereotype of models, which are blonde and have a slim physique. We thought that in this way, they could be antagonized and verbally abused.

The biographical HBO Film, Gia was key when looking at ways models are treated in the industry, since the film revolves around one of America's first supermodel, Gia Marie Carangi




TEENAGE GIRLS

I decided to create a collage of images relating to teenage
girls to further my understanding on how they talk to
each other and how they are stereotypically represented
in media.

In our film opening, TEENAGE GIRLS is one of the four social groups represented. The teenage girls are Jasmine and her friend Ana. This is a main aspect in our film because we are trying to portray these girls as close and intimate friends who can trust each other. This can be referred to how Jasmine opens up to Ana about her suspicion of Sam stalking her.

This is a popular stereotype in films and television, like in Mean Girls, teenage girls are represented as spiteful, two-faced and vindictive. Other stereotypical representations of teenage girls, which are friends in Glee, where the teenage girls are friends among themselves and are close, however are outcasts from the school society. Despite, these differences they are quite similar in the terms that both of the groups of teenage girls come from a middle-class background, talk a lot of the time about men (especially romantic interests) and the race of these girls in most of these films and television shows are predominantly white.

However, before we began filming we had to do some research into how teenage girls are represented in the media and what sort of stereotypes are linked to them, such as:

- The constant conversations, teenage girls have about boyfriends and relationships
(e.g. Fun Size, Mean Girls)

- Teenagers being involved with crime, for their own gain and self-pleasure
(e.g. The Bling Ring)

- Teenage girls being obsessed with status and being popular in school
(e.g. Mean Girls, Gossip Girl)

- Teenage girls being mean and teasing one another
(e.g. Cyberbu//y)

And stereotypical stock characters like:

- The Mean Girl
(e.g. Mean Girls, The DUFF)


PROFILES
I decided it would be interesting to create profiles for the two main characters of Focus, who are Sam and Jasmine.

Sam is the main antagonist of the story. Despite him being the
antagonist the film, it is mainly from his perspective, since
many of the scenes are him filming Jasmine. He is classified
as Upper Middle Class because he has a sufficient job as a
fashion photographer and is dressed in suits often.

Basic Information about SAM:

Age: 20-22

Gender: Male

Height: 6"2

Weight: 180 Pounds

Appearance: Tidy, Smart

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: British

Social Class: Upper Middle Class

Occupation: Fashion Photographer





Basic Information about JASMINE:

Age: 18-19

Gender: Female

Height: 5"4

Weight: 120 Pounds

Appearance: Stylish, Well Suited

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality: British

Social Class: Traditional Working Class

Occupation: Magazine Editor