Evaluation Question 2

While producing our thriller sequence, we wanted to focus on one particular social group by using just one character in our opening clip. We decided that we wanted to use a girl as we could adhere to a particular stereotype; that females are more commonly victimized as they are considered weaker and more venerable than men. We decided that we could use such a stereotype to our advantage using our choice of costume. By dressing our protagonist in a muddied wedding dress, we emphasized her innocence and reinforced the connotations associated with women to portray our killer as a coward who victimizes individuals weaker than himself.


As our protagonist wakes up we see that she has painted nails, and curled hair. This adheres to a common stereotype concerning females, that they take care in how they look. We felt that this effectively contrasted the bruises and dirty white dress, which indicates a struggle or a fight, which subverts the stereotype that women are more easily preyed upon, while the white dress contrasts the dirt and stains as they represent loss of innocence, which subverts a stereotype that women are more innocent and are subjected to far less. As our protagonist looks around the coffin, we used her facial expression and the shot duration to demonstrate confusion and uncertainty, which subverts the typical stereotype of younger people being bright and quick thinkers, as she has trouble defining where she is.

The use of diegetic sound was also helpful in representing our chosen social group, we used monologues such as 'Please help me!' 'Please let me out!' to portray our protagonist as venerable and helpless, which adheres to the stereotype that women are venerable. We also used the diegetic sounds of the atmosphere to show that our protagonist is taking in her surroundings, which we felt subverted the stereotypical victim of a killer, as a conception is that the victim would panic instantly and use no logic. However, we wanted to quickly subvert the stereotype by using the actors body positioning. As she sat up and started to hit the coffin we felt that we subverted the common stereotype of women being weaker and unable to rely on strength, while the energetic, frustrated side of younger people was adhered to with these actions. As the scene's pace slows, the protagonist calms herself and accepts her fate, which we thought showed bravery, as she was not afraid of her death, that she was accepting it. Which subverts the common stereotype of women being cowardly and frightened. We also used our editing techniques to subvert and adhere to various stereotypes within the media industry. For example, we used slow shot transitions to show that our protagonist was thinking, which we felt subverted the stereotype that women are always frightened and panicking in life threatening situations, while we began to speed up the shot speed as we felt that the pace reflected her emotions, which adhered to the stereotype that after becoming frightened, the victim will resort to screaming and aggression, which we portrayed through use of a close up of the victim's hands hitting the coffin. Overall, I feel that within our thriller we both subverted and adhered particular stereotypes within society, especially focusing on gender and age differences.