Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation: The description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.

We decided to present Hadi as a regular teenager with a dream of becoming a professional footballer in the future, however, he also has some characteristics of a stereotypical jock. This is because he is fit and athletic,  which is demonstrated by his footballing prowess, but he is also vulnerable as is shown by his mugging. The costumes that we chose for him also reveals aspects about him. For example, Hadi's football kit shows that he belongs to a group - a typical feature in sport films - however the fact that we don't show any of his teammates implies that he is in a league of his own. This shows that our film focuses on an individual rather than a group, which is rare in films with a sub genre of  sport. We chose to represent the muggers in a negative light in order to contrast them with our protagonist, which enabled us to portray the good and bad sides of youth in London. This provides our audience with an unbiased view on the matter. Their costumes are dark in order to reflect the immoral nature of their actions. Criminals in films like Kidulthood also abide by this aspect as it is representative of real-life situations, which brings a sense of realism to the scene.


 In terms of cinematography, we emphasised Hadi's lack of power in comparison to the muggers by using a point of view shot to show the muggers running  away. We used this shot to give the audience Haid's perception of the event and to convey his helplessness to them, which is similar to the stereotypical bully vs nerd convention in many other teen films. We conveyed the dangerousness of the muggers through the use of our editing. This is because we shortened the length of the shots in the scene that they were present in to bring a sense of tension to the scene and unsettle the audience, which suggests that the two characters are catalysts of demise. The contrast in music that we used to portray both sets of characters creates binary oppositions of good and evil. This is because the samba music used in the scenes where Hadi is playing football is upbeat and creates an energised atmosphere, which reflects his strong will to become a professional footballer. However, the grime instrumental that we used to present the muggers is cold and eery. This brings about an atmosphere of tension and danger to the scene in which they assault Hadi.