Evaluation Question 2.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Age, gender and class are a particular set of representations within our film opening. The three character we used represent the same kind of social group. Although Tom is the more aggressive/dominant character, their youth, clothing and involvement in drugs relates them all to the typical youths that are associated with drugs and violence, and adds a kind of reality to the storyline. As the characters are youths, this is a good attraction to our target audience because they are relatively the same age. The film opening is very much male dominated much like the stereotype associated with drug and knife crime. It is clear that the rest of the film will be male dominated. The Class Representation we chose to use for our characters is working class because many people in today's society link the crime element in the genre conventions to the urban setting and lack of politeness that is associated with the working class. The drugs and knife are also direct elements of crime that are often linked to the working class rather than middle and upper classes. Drug use and dealing alongside gun and knife crime are a huge problem linked to the working class as well. We used a back street with a derelict building, a skate park, and an underpass to make a strong link between the kind of characters we used and where they would be. For example we would not put working class drug dealers in a row of town houses near a high end shopping complex because it is unrealistic. Instead we chose our settings because they are well known for being dangerous and people of higher classes tend to stay away from derelict areas of any town or city.

These characters are very similar in terms of clothing and props, however very different in terms of their roles. Their clothing is very similar because they are typical of the 'skater boy' image consisting of baggy jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies with trainers, Ipods and skateboards. They both also have some involvement in drugs. However, they are very different because although we expect Billy to be a main character throughout the film, he unexpectedly dies at the end of the opening, whereas Freddie is a main character throughout the 3rd and 4th series of Skins.

The messages and values they represent are that their stereotype mat not be new to the drug scene, but knife crime should not be focused just on particular social groups represented by race or class. The masculinity could also be a very clear indicator of violence and aggression. We chose Billy to create these particular messages and values because he is a direct image that it is not just one or two social groups that can become involved in what is represented in the Crime genre. He does fit well with the genre conventions but with a different kind of characterisation that most audiences are accustomed to seeing in films such as Shifty and Kidulthood/Adulthood.