AS Evaluation - Question 2

"How does your media product represent particular social groups?"

There are 2 main characters in my thriller film, and three supporting characters. The killer is a former bride, who’s husband-to-be left her at the altar for her best friend. She killed his 3 friends, the supporting characters, to get revenge, and she is now coming for him. She wears her wedding dress and veil when she kills as a symbol for how she is doing this for a specific reason. The colour of the wedding dress is ironic as it is white, which is usually used to represent innocent characters. This is one of the ways in which my film challenges the conventions of the thriller genre. The main victim, the former groom, is now in a relationship with his ex-fiancée’s best friend. He is shown in flashbacks during the sequence, getting ready for the wedding. At the end he is shown at present time, with his new girlfriend. He is the implied last victim of the sequence. His three friends are all killed before him, by the ‘bride’, to get revenge and build up for the “main event” – the groom’s death.

The bride/killer/main character

The ex-groom/ex-fiancé and his (implied) new girlfriend, the ex-bride's (ex-)best friend

In my thriller film, the representation of gender challenges conventions. In most conventional thriller films, the killer is a strong male, and the victim is a weak, blonde female. However, in my film, the killer is a strong female, and the victim is an average male. All of our characters may appeal to our target audience (older teens/young adults – 15+) due to the characters being quite young and therefore more relatable to the target audience. Furthermore, more females may want to watch the film due to the reversed gender roles. The film will appeal to females more because in the film they are not represented as weak.

My film represents the group of brides - married women, and women who are about to be married. It stereotypically represents brides as control-freaks who overreact. In my film, the 'bride' seeks fatal revenge on the fiancé who left her on her wedding day, by murdering people he loves, and then attempting to murder him (we see in the opening sequence that she is in his house as he opens the bathroom door, but the scene ends abruptly there). She is evidently mentally ill, as she is homicidal, and this is contrasted by her white clothing. White is conventionally (within the thriller/horror genre) used to represent the opposite to represent the innocent, however, in my film the opposite is portrayed.

Overall, it is easy for our audience to build a relationship with our characters. All characters are approximately the same age as most of our target audience, and therefore are somewhat relatable to them. An audience would want to watch our thriller sequence as the characters and the narrative is intriguing and filled with suspense.