Representation in Films

In this piece of research i aim to identify how different social groups are represented to us as an audience at the beginning of the film. This is an extremely important element in the opening sequence because the representation of certain social groups can tempt the audience into form premature opinions on characters they are yet to understand properly.






Although the two social groups are of similar age in these two Coming Of Age films. I have found that the representation of the two groups are extremely different. As a result, i have identified that it is extremely important not to stereotype the social groups we are going to use in our production. Therefore i can say that this piece of research is extremely useful because it has given me the knowledge to know that it is very important to use our own interpretation of the specific social groups.

Learning comment: From this specific piece of in-depth research into the representation of certain social groups in films, I have clearly identified how the use of mise en scene, sound and camera angles portray individual demographics. For example, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off the use of extreme close ups in the opening sequence allow the audience to immediate build up an idea of what the character is going to be like due to the facial expressions showed through this camera angle. In addition, the use of sound can also have an effect on how certain social groups are portrayed. For example, the use of rap/hip-hop non diegetic sound in the opening of 21 Jump Street allows us to understand what this demographic is musically interested in. This example in 21 Jump Street partially typifies the stereo typing of male teenagers as if they all listen to this genre of music. As a result, we see that in many films, specific demographics are often portrayed in an unfair and perhaps incorrect way. Moreover, I found that there are a wide range of codes and conventions used in opening sequences to represent social groups. This is often done through the use of mise en scene, sound and camera angles as I have identified above.