Evaluation Task 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups? - Gender

Our film opening first starts by displaying the Columbia Pictures distribution company opening sequence and is followed by our production company (Pulse Productions) opening sequence, in turn the screen goes from this to black. On top of the black screen, the credits appear in a typewriter style in white, accompanied by the synchronous sound of the typewriter over it, this was inspired to us by Paranormal Activity.

As soon as the credits disappear from the screen, there is a heavy synchronous sound of breathing and is followed by the non-diegetic sound of the music by just seconds later. The music soundbridges as the scene cuts to a point of view shot of somebody wearing slippers and cow print pyjamas running through the woods. The camera is moving fast and is shaky around the woods indicating the scenes have been shot handheld. After this the screen cuts and we see a female led in bed tossing and turning. The screen quickly fades back again to the point of view shot of someone running in the woods. It then becomes apparent to the audience that the female is dreaming and that her dream is of her running. 

Most of the clip is edited to cross cut from the dream scene to the female sleeping in a disturbed manner we can tell this because she keeps moving in her duvet. This is a traditional representation of a female as females are represented to look more vulnerable, and the nightmare justifies this. 

The camera pans around, as if the person holding it has turnt around, to show a glimpse of a female character dressed in white with dark eyes standing behind the person that was previously running, at this point it becomes clear that this is the character who has been chasing behind. This is a modern representation of a female as when females are being chased it is usually by a psychotic male and females are usually portrayed as the victims. 

Then the screen fades to black and we're shown extreme close ups of 2 characters eyes edited to cross cut from each character very fast. We can tell that one of the characters is the female that is dreaming and the  other set of eyes belong to the stalker, as it is made clear by the make up on her face.The non diegetic music stops as the scene ends on a close up of Saira's eyes opening up and non diegetic synchronous knocking sounds become louder as she does this. After this the screen fades to black again and the title of the film, 'Mind Games', appears again with a typewriter effect.

The camera then cuts to a close up of the female's feet as she makes her way out of her bed to put on her slippers, the same slippers we were previously shown when the girl was running.. We can see also see that the girl is wearing cow printed pyjamas, as previewed before like the slippers. The scene then cuts to a close up of the girls arm as she opens her curtains to let some light in, the sound of the curtain dragging along the curtain rail as she pulls it is synchronous. From this we can see that the girl is wearing a red over sized hooded jumper. Red is seen as a dangerous colour aswell as a very feminine colour, so this is a traditional representation of a female. However this is contradicted when we get a better view and see that the jumper is branded with a sports logo. So it can also be argues that this is a modern representation of a female as sports is usually associated with males.

After this the camera cute to an establishing shot of the hallway where another character is knocking on the door. As a audience we realise that the non-diegetic synchronous knocking sound was actually the girl knocking on the door. At this point that sound becomes diegetic and the character travels across the hallway to answer the door. The camera then cuts to a close up of some letters on the floor that the girl picks up and sorts through before answering the door.

As the girl opens the door, the other girl walks in, indicating that they're friends. Her friend is dressed is a cardigan and has a side bag on, with her hair tied up high. Her look contrasts with the other females, as she is dressed and ready showing a traditional representation of a woman. Whereas, the other character is still dressed in her sleeping attire, indicating that she may be lazy. This is therefore a modern representation of a female as females are usually portrayed as hard working.