Evaluation Question 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Social groups have been represented throughout my thriller through mise-en-scene, camera angles, sound and editing. To begin with mise-en-scene has been used representing males as quite a dominant gender. Despite the fact they are bruised and cut, they still show will power to wanting to get to the end of the mission, by retrieving the phone. Additionally, during the fight scene, Mike is able to kill Adam which shows a huge range of masculinity and adhering stereotypes to men being masculine. Also, it adheres to the theory 'survival of the fittest' as each man is willing to kill of the other to get what they want. Despite both characters looking drained and warn out through the mise-en-scene of cuts and bruises and sweat stained shirts, both characters are willing to fight one more time in order to receive the item that both characters seem to want, which is unknown to the audience why they want it, the phone. The sweat stained shirt suggest that both characters have been there for a long and that they are in a hot environment, underground. Additionally, the cuts and bruises suggest that they have both previously been beaten but, by once again, it is unknown to the audience why. As the two characters are between the ages of 30-40, it suggests that they are mature enough to handle what they are doing and are willing to fight for what they think is right.

Camera angles have also been used to influence the different social groups in 'Falter'. For example, the camera shots are originally slow but once the fight starts they are quick and fast pace giving an action vibe and creating suspense. As both of these men seem to be on equal terms, we used lots of mid shots but did not choose to make one more powerful than the other by using high/low shots as it would have given the concept away before it was officially revealed. Despite the fact we used high angled shots during the fight, we used a on level shot with Adam, the victim, to show his perspective whilst getting strangled which made Mike seem more powerful and of a higher status.

The editing was used to show the different social groups in the thriller too. For example, the quick and fast paced editing during the fight scene helped build tension but also showed the masculinity of the two characters, as typically men get into fights and who that they are the most powerful. However, at the beginning of the thriller, we used slow paced shots of Mike. The reason we used this technique is so the audience could get to know that character and feel sorry for him as we originally think he's tied there and there is no way of him escaping. Also, this helped build suspense. The fact we used slow shots at the beginning and fast shots during the fight emphasised the contrast between relaxation and tension and really helped build an tense atmosphere as it was a shock for the audience.

Sound played a large factor in helping create suspense and represent our social group. For example, the diegetic sound of the train at the beginning instantly supported the fact the characters are sweat stained, suggesting the fact they are underground in a hot environment. From the beginning we then started to feel sorry for Mike as we were led to believe that he is the only character there due to the editing. The reason we chose diegetic sound over non-diegetic sound is because we wanted this opening sequence to feel as tense as possible and a soundtrack may have broken this and put the audience at ease which is not what we wanted to do. Additionally, the sudden diegetic sound of the phone ringing made the audience jump in some cases as we were unaware of a phone being there, which once again comes down to the successful editing. Especially as the sound of the phone was louder than it may have been in the real world, to emphasise to the audience that this is important, it contributed to shocking the audience. However, once the characters has reacted to the trigger sound, we were unaware which character held the most power as it was a question to who could break free the quickest which built a large amount of tension keeping the audience grasped and engaged.

However, despite adhering many stereotypes about masculinity, we also subverted stereotypes by having the victims as males. Stereotypically, males are usually the heroes, however we decided to use males because we felt this would shock our audience, especially as our target audience is males, to show that males are not invincible and can get themselves in unfortunate situations too. This therefore supports the title of the film 'Falter' showing how men lose strength and momentum which is contrasted in this scene as both men battle using all the strength they have left to fight for the phone. In conclusion, I believe that my media product represented our particular social group using mise-en-scene, camera angles, editing and sound.