The Street Disability. How does the editing help construct representation?

As the main character of this extract walks away from his old place, we are purposly shown a fence and barbed wire. This could be to symbolise that there are more than just emotional barriers stopping the character from living a 'normal' life but also physical barriers preventing him along with the views of others. An ellipsis is used to take you from one location to another. Then a close up shot of a women's face lets you see who the subject of the scene is. They then cut to a long shot to show you the main character speeding up to help the woman. This shows he is a caring, helpful person. This representation is then shortly contrasted as he bends down to help the woman with her shopping (close up shot is shown of his face and then her face) who screams when she sees him. This is contrasting as you don't tend to scream at caring helpful people, so this is showing that he is scary and must be a 'freak'

The clip uses ellipsis and sound bridges at 3 different points. The first is from the workplace to the women and houses, the second the houses to the town and the last one, from the town to the army office. This is a very useful editing technique as each time it portrays the character in a different light. For example, as he walks away from the work place we as the audience view him as a victim and feel sorry for him as he is unable to get his job back. As he leaves the houses and enters the town, we could see him as a possible threat as he looks very angry as he walks with purpose to the rhythm of the up beat tense music. This clip also breaks the 180 degree rule but this is done with great purpose in order to show both sides of the character's face in order to emphasise his disability and how others view him. This works well with the dialog that is taking place as this rule is broken. For example as he says "join the British army" we are shown the 'good' unscarred side of his face, as if to say he is only useful when he is 'normal'. Then a moment later as he says "Scare the shit out of your family" we are shown the scarred side of his face. The way the two images are contrasted along with the dialog makes you believe that the other characters only think he is useful when he is 'normal' and then if he isn't 'normal' he is just a 'freak'

The Selfish Giant

FINAL: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Here is the link for my padlet presentation http://padlet.com/wall/ad6mcil01k or you can view it below:

Created with Padlet

FINAL: How did you attract/address your audience?

Here is my Spicynodes presentation http://www.spicynodes.org/a/202b1b1f6dfe46345c8d81a9fedf9888 Or you can view it below

FINAL: Who would be the audience for your media product?

This is my link to my Bubl presentation https://bubbl.us/?h=1dd638/3e67f4/19ULQ09L7YeEI or you can view it below

RE-DRAFT Who would be the audience for your media product?

When I conducted my audience research into thrillers I received a greater response from woman then I did from men. I also had a high response from people aged 15-24.
This effected my decisions over casting and story line. On the strength of the research it homed my decision to specifically target woman within that age group.
I knew that there was a good story line that I could run with, that would profile the role of women in a strong role.

The majority of my cast are between the ages of 10 and 18 (which is the lower half of my intended target audience). I did this because I thought it would be easier for my target audience to relate to the characters if they were of similar ages.
Secondly the main two characters in my thriller are women (the killer and Charlie). I think this helps me to target women instead of just portraying women as the victims. I am also portraying woman as having power, i.e the killer.
Using women as the main characters will help women relate to the story line as they can empathise and relate to either to the position of power or the position of being a victim.

It is generally known that there are very few rolls for woman where they take the lead roll.
The following are films that have women in leading roles.

'Alien, released in 1979 and directed by Sir Ridley Scott was the first action movie to have a woman as its protagonist. The reason why this movie really stands out is because the lead character "Ripley", played by Sigourney Weaver set the template for what is now known as the "Final girl". According to Roz Kaveney, the "Final Girl", is "the androgynous female without vices who will always make it through to the last scene". This technique is used in science fiction, thriller, suspense and horror movies.' 

These following results are taken from the web site IMDB. they are not necessarily reflective of every person who ever watched these films or programs just of those who logged into the web site. 

The age range is slightly different to my age group by a few years on the upper end of the scale, but i think is quite comparative.

Prime suspect from 1991 has a main lead character in the form of the police detective. 'A female police detective investigates a series of serial murders while dealing with sexist hostility from her male comrades.'

Votes	Average
Males	1679	8.4
Females	883	8.8
Aged under 18	2	8.0
Males under 18	2	8.0
Aged 18-29	433	7.5
Males Aged 18-29	273	7.4
Females Aged 18-29	160	7.8
Aged 30-44	1017	8.4
Males Aged 30-44	659	8.2
Females Aged 30-44	358	8.9
Aged 45+	1029	8.7
Males Aged 45+	713	8.7
Females Aged 45+	316	9.0

These results show that the largest demographic  group watching this film was men 45plus.

Salt 2010. A very unusual turnaround with this film in the fact that 'Angelina Jolie replaced Tom Cruise as the star of new spy film Edwin A Salt.' 'A CIA agent goes on the run after a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy.'

Votes	Average
Males	141405	6.4
Females	32433	6.5
Aged under 18	2768	6.9
Males under 18	1849	6.7
Females under 18	919	7.2
Aged 18-29	99671	6.4
Males Aged 18-29	79743	6.4
Females Aged 18-29	19928	6.5
Aged 30-44	55456	6.3
Males Aged 30-44	47464	6.3
Females Aged 30-44	7992	6.3
Aged 45+	10959	6.7
Males Aged 45+	9131	6.7
Females Aged 45+	1828	6.7

The largest group of watchers was males aged 30-44+

The film Gone. 20012  'Amanda Seyfried was believable in this movie as a paranoid victim trying to prove she is right. When her sister disappears, Jill is convinced the serial killer who kidnapped her two years ago has returned, and she sets out to once again face her abductor.'

Votes	Average
Males	2120	5.4
Females	455	5.5
Aged under 18	8	5.0
Males under 18	3	5.7
Females under 18	5	5.0
Aged 18-29	941	5.5
Males Aged 18-29	734	5.5
Females Aged 18-29	207	5.6
Aged 30-44	1203	5.3
Males Aged 30-44	1031	5.3
Females Aged 30-44	172	5.4
Aged 45+	358	5.5
Males Aged 45+	321	5.5
Females Aged 45+	37	5.8

Interestingly enough the results here show more women under 18 than men watched this film, but the largest group was men aged 30 -44+

The film Hanna. 2011 A sixteen-year-old girl who was raised by her father to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives. 

Votes

Average

Males	97788	6.8
Females	23442	6.9
Aged under 18	1433	7.2
Males under 18	797	7.0
Females under 18	636	7.4
Aged 18-29	61495	6.9
Males Aged 18-29	47908	6.9
Females Aged 18-29	13587	7.0
Aged 30-44	46126	6.8
Males Aged 30-44	39518	6.8
Females Aged 30-44	6608	6.8
Aged 45+	9069	6.8
Males Aged 45+	7712	6.8
Females Aged 45+	1357	6.9

The amount of men that watched this film vastly outweighs the amount of women  which would indicate that woman didn't enjoy this film as much as the men.

The film Kill Bill. 2003 The Bride wakens from a four-year coma. The child she carried in her womb is gone. Now she must wreak vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her - a team she was once part of.

Votes

Average

Males	363434	8.2
Females	75352	8.1
Aged under 18	4444	8.5
Males under 18	3530	8.5
Females under 18	914	8.5
Aged 18-29	234259	8.2
Males Aged 18-29	191940	8.2
Females Aged 18-29	42319	8.2
Aged 30-44	158102	8.1
Males Aged 30-44	136147	8.1
Females Aged 30-44	21955	8.1
Aged 45+	27106	7.5
Males Aged 45+	22991	7.7
Females Aged 45+	4115	6.8

This another film where it would appear that more men watched this film than women.

The following results are from the above films and the results represent the demographic I was looking at to target.  Though not very encouraging for a large female audience I did not let this deter me.

Prime Suspect 

Females Aged 18-29

160

7.8

Salt

Females under 18

919

7.2

Females Aged 18-29

19928

6.5

Gone

Females under 18

5

5.0

Females Aged 18-29

207

5.6

Hanna

Females under 18

636

7.4

Females Aged 18-29

13587

7.0

Kill Bill

Females under 18

914

8.5

Females Aged 18-29

42319

8.2

Though the results are biased towards men there are many factors that would maybe influence these results. I did not let this bias throw me off the challenge to produce a powerful thriller opening showcasing women in lead rolls.

I wanted my leading lady to be a "Final Girl."