Evaluation

By Tegan Lomas

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our product has two different social groups within it. One of these are people within poverty, this is shown through one character whom is Vicky. In other media products people in this social group are rather largely seen as being misled and misunderstood. A big part of this is shown through the mise en scene. The baggy clothing mostly suggests that they are lost down the wrong path. This is shown quite a lot in Bullet Boy. The men all had clothing on which masked themselves up. The other social group that are featured within our product is people within middle-high class. Three different characters show this certain group, these are Evie, her brother and the woman who hits Vicky laying on the bench.

People within poverty are seen as being very sad within our product. We get this message within seconds of the opening sequence starting. The close up really emphasises how full of upset she is. This is because the screen is filled with her face in which she is crying. The use of puffed eyes escalates this because it shows that she is crying quite a lot of the time rather than a few tears in the mornings. It really highlights how sad she is in a small intense shot. This is taken further through showing that people within poverty are mislead. This is shown through the use of a cigarette in the hands of a teenager. It shows that she felt she had no other way to get away from her problems. For Vicky this is ten minutes to just sit down and think. However, this isn't a positive thing for someone of her age to be doing which shows that she has no guidance within the matter. As well as this there is the obvious fact that she is homeless which really shows us the extent of her misleading. Another thing that we represented people within poverty is that they're quite cut off by others and the world. The editing is quite good in showing this as there are straight cuts. It is used throughout the whole media but it heightens the sense of Vicky being completely cut off from the lifestyle that Evie has. As well as this the camera pans off of Vicky straight on to the woman whom ends up hitting her. This suggests that people in a lower class are deemed as less important than those whom are otherwise.

We represented the middle to upper class people as being quite happy. This is shown through the use of high key lighting in the bedroom scene featuring Evie. It is really bright which makes a lighter, more bubbly atmosphere. This suggests that she is feeling this on the inside. As well as this the make up we used on the characters makes their skin look really healthy and flawless. Usually people whom are a lot happier all of the time have a glow to their face. Not only this, they are seen as being treated really well. This is clearly shown when Evies brother brings her breakfast. He says, "Mum told me to bring this up". It shows that she is being brought up in a good environment with caring parents. This really helps in the contrasting. It also shows the difference in independence. Middle to upper class people are shown are being quite dependant in opposition to people within poverty whom are seen as being very independent. Finally people within this social group are seen as being quite narcissistic. This is because the girl comes and kicks Vicky off of the bench saying, "Go". It suggests narcissism because she feels that she is better than someone in a lower class because she has the nerve to go and tell someone to go away from a public place. As well as this the girl is standing over Vicky. This is shown through a long shot. It suggests that she feels that she is "higher" than Vicky. Feels that she has more worth than Vicky due to the sad position that Vicky is in.

By Tegan Lomas

Question – What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Gritty realism why British

British studio example

The gritty realism’s are British films. We know this because you can clearly tell from watching it that they’re low budgeted. They have no money to use visual and special effects whereas in a block buster they’re high budgeted and they include a lot of special effects such as explosions etc. Another reason they do this is because they replace potential long winded sentences explaining the situation with complicated words with full on special effects and action. This not only makes it clearer to understand but makes it more interesting to watch. The big 6 block buster studios make the films for international audiences so they can sell in other countries than America to make more money. Whereas gritty realisms make films for primary audiences where they’re specific to Britain and they’re shown on one or two screens and just move around Britain.

Block buster films purpose is to entertain, however British gritty realism’s are more for education and to hide subtle morals in. They cover all different types of social issues including poverty, crime, drugs, sex and racism etc. Block buster films always follow todorov making them extremely predictable unlike gritty realisms, they always have a shock end which you aren’t expecting. They’re not always happy endings either unlike big budgeted films created from the big six productions such as; Warner Bros, Paramount pictures, Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures, Universal Studios and 20th Century Fox. In Gritty realisms there are high levels of verisimilitude however in a blockbuster film there are low levels, as they’re mostly about fairy tales and super heroes etc. which is not realistic one bit.

In our gritty realism opening sequence we definitely portray that it’s a British film and it’s a low budget film as we used no high tech equipment to film. In fact we made it specifically hand held camera movements. We also didn’t use any kind of special effects or visual effects. We covered a social issue which was extreme poverty, this is another example of why it was a gritty realism.