My media product represents adolescents/young adults through the representation of character Brittany who I portrayed myself hence meaning that I had a hands on experience in making sure that she stayed as true to her age range as she possibly could. It is very stereotypical for thriller films to showcase this age group as they are generally viewed as having less experience of the world hence meaning that they have less knowledge making them more impressionable and vulnerable to the horrors of the world. Another reason this age group is often used is that this is the most popular age group for watching the thriller genre again this relates back to them being less mature than those older them and naturally younger children are unable to watch films of the thriller genre due to restrictions such as age certificates for films in the UK put in place by the bbfc. So if film makers want to make the film more relatable to the audience which they tend to as it means the audience are able to connect with it more then they would use this age group as this is the group which tends to watch thriller films the most. As I said earlier this was evident from research I took out both myself as well as with my group and having compared research we had gathered individually. As well as including results from both questionnaires as well as previous knowledge I already obtained from watching films of the genre prior to working on my media product. Results from my questionnaire also indicated that thriller watchers enjoyed to watch thrillers which they found to be more relatable providing us with yet another reason as to why it would be a good idea to have the main character/victim Brittany as a member of this age group. This makes the film scarier for the audience as they are able to picture themselves going through the motions on screen making the situation appear more real to them.
There are scenes of Brittany in her school uniform reminding the audience of her age and reinforcing the idea of how she was just a normal girl before all of this began highlighting the effect it must have had on her life. Reminding the audience of her age makes them even angry when considering the awful torment Steve is putting her through. We also see her sitting at home in her pajamas as she is rather covered up in her nightwear the audience is to see her as just as innocent as she has portrayed herself to be throughout. Often within the genre young girls are seen to be wearing very little clothing which has been known to annoy audience members seeing Brittany with long selves and long fluffy bottoms can help to make her more likable as she isn't doing things to aggravate the audience or to suggest to them that perhaps Brittany had in some way done something to Steve so to make him want to take out revenge.
Character Carol is a good representation of young adults just sort of coming into themselves and trying to do good within the world. We decided to have Carol as still fairly young as it is still fairly relate-able to the audience as this will be the age group that they will be approaching, they will be likely to have friends, older siblings as well as other people they may be looking up to of the age group hence they are able to relate the film to them also. Carol is dressed in rather sweet, comforting colours indicating that she is friendly and someone you can go to with your problems who is willing to help and look out for others. Carol displays hope within our thriller, the situation has nothing to do with her in fact she had no prior relationship with Brittany she just happened to be at the right place at the right time she could have left her there and it would have had no lasting effect on her life yet she didn't. Conveying how much of a nice person she really is saddening her death even further. The character of Carol was put into the film to add suspense and upset the audience further as well as display the great lengths Steve is willing to go through. Carols death indicates that Brittany isn't just imaging things that this really is happening to her. Carols death is set to upset the audience and course further emotion rather than just fear and suspense it is also set to be the cliff hanger between the opening of the film and the rest of it. It will create a variation of different questions for the audience for instance; what's the antagonists next move? Will he get caught? Is he willing to hurt Brittany? etc one of the most important elements to a thriller is to keep the audience guessing so to keep them interested hence it is important to have a cliff hanger between the opening and the main block of the film. I also suggested to the group that we have this as a cliff hanger as so much had already happened and been reveled within the opening sequence we needed to leave important parts of the story-line and key questions left for the main part of the film. If we reveled too much in the opening then the rest of the film may play out for some viewers to be to predictable or to be a long lead up to the end hence boring them and ruining their experience of the film.
Steve's purpose within the film is to play our antagonist meaning that he needs to lead up to the typical expectations of a antagonist within the genre. Having to set the tone of a frightening character with dark intentions, setting the fear in the audience of what his next move may be, without Steve the narrative would be completely different. Within films often a disequilibrium (a problem) is needed so that characters are able to over come it this is what Steve provides he is that disequilibrium with his actions stalking Brittany. The audience is set to watch Brittany's difficulty as she faces the troubles he brings her and hopes to watch her over come him. Antagonists such as Steve with a hidden identity tend to mostly be male as males as thought of as the stronger sex both mentally and physically. Meaning that putting him against a young innocent girl would put him at a frightening advantage hence coursing the audience to become angry as they view how unfair and unjust the situation is. Steve is set to be a rather unlikable character for the audience some may describe the relationship between the audience and antagonist as being one where they love to hate him. Steve is set to both anger and frustrate them as they watch him watch Brittany and hope that she is able to escape him.
Gender is represented rather stereo-typically throughout our film, often through our use of conventions such as Brittany being the typical female victim showing her and women alike to be weak and inferior to the stereotypical male antagonists of the world. Although some people are said to find stereotypes particularly annoying it is a common trend within the thriller genre as you can tell through the use of all the various different conventions throughout the genre. This is another reason why we decided to roll along with the stereotypes as appose to subversively having a male character as our victim. This would change what a lot of the audience are use to in their choice of thriller films and could go against what they had in mind of watching. Gender is also represented stereo-typically as we chose to have female character Carol to be our protagonist. Women are stereotyped to be much more in touch with their emotions and much better at expressing them as well as being better at connecting with others and being their for them. Hence it made sense for us to use a woman for this role rather than being subversive and using a male character as it would be easier for the audience to understand Carols intentions without having to be told too much taking up valuable time. If we were to use a male character audience members could be left to question his intentions, possibly seeing his kindness as a trap, even considering whether he was the antagonist without the disguise luring Brittany into his trap.
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