How is representation addressed in your Media Product?
The use of gender representation in our music video is promoted by a female main actress. The actress is a typical teenager and this is shown by the very first opening scenes, where she has to get up in the morning with a messy bedroom. Teenagers are known for messy, untidy rooms. Also she is betrayed as being a vulnerable character and we see this in the black and white scene of her running away from the opposed killer at the very beginning. Black and white contrasts a mystery feel which only adds more vulnerability to the character. It adds a new dimension of almost a cold and dark feeling and often symbolises something from the past. So already the audience have a representation of time.
We see her getting up in the normal fashion, going downstairs and having breakfast, the radio is on with an announcement playing about a killer on the loose looking for teenage girls, this also adds to the vulnerability of the character. The representation of the character in a way is slightly stereotypical towards woman in a way that they are vulnerable and weak, this is because when she wakes up in the morning she’s all alone and certain camera angles show in a way that she could be being watched by someone outside. Also even though the killer is never seen he is however given a portrayal of a stereotypical male killer because of the radio announcement.
To address the representation of gender we asked the actress just to dress in everyday casual clothes, this way it helps to identify that she is female if you can’t already decide. However if we dressed the female in a suit and tie it would take the audience longer to recognise the gender and they would have to wait for a close up shot. Also the types of clothes she is wearing can reflect her age, wearing casual teenage clothes like jeans and hoodys gives the audience a head start on guessing her age, if we dressed her in knitted clothes however, trying not to be to stereotypical, you could argue that she would look slightly older. An example of this is the use of glasses in films, often you can see them on females, wearing smart clothes whilst giving off a rather intelligent look however the character could be no more than a form of entertainment. In essence the clothing that is worn can represent what the character is like in the form of media and how old they are.
The representation of gender in our media product can be seen as a stereotype. However in modern day society it’s not often that killers are caught and named as females. Age however is represented with the best of truth seeing as the actress was in her own environment. She is then able to act with ease and show her real self so the audience can get a good feel for how old she is.
