G321 - Evaluation Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Quinn Wakely

Quinn Wakely is the healthy, well-off daughter of a high class parentage. She is in her early 20's and is fresh out of a prestige University. Apart from the media, her cushy life has disabled her from seeing a bad world. Quinn seems to be an innocent, kind-natured person. However, she does not know she suffers from mild bi-polar. The easy, high profile life with her parents had kept her from turning her personality. However, when she takes up a job as a nurse to give back to society she realises just how much pressure comes with it. The career puts much stress on Quinn, which she cannot handle and is shown later on in the plot as her dark side comes through.

Quinn, although stays away from places such as the more dodgy sides of town, knows her place above the less fortunate has always been considerate of that. However, she could never relate to a person who was, for example, of working class. She does not understand the ways of the world as she has not had enough experiences.

In the love aspect of her character, she does show quite a lot towards her fiance in the beginning. However, she seems to put herself before him as she takes out her frustration of her job on him in their domestic setting.

In the introduction, I wanted my character to come across as mysterious and blank. I also wanted to show that no matter how passive and 'out-of-it' Quinn may seem, inside there is mental chaos. This is how I achieved my goal:

Costume

Before filming my product I decided to research the clothing a patient would typically wear in mental asylums. There were many variations, but I thought the straight jacket looked best. It was traditionally white and plain which contrasted with the insanity of the setting, but at the same time, gave off a sense of nothingness. The colour also blended in to the walls of my mental institute so as to give the impression that Quinn was fading into the background, like a ghost. The plain style would also be a sign that normality was trying to be restored through restricted colours and styles. However, I thought the straight jacket brought with it too many connotations of danger and inhumanity. I wanted Quinn's character to be subtle so it would not give her personality or the plot away. The simplicity of the white vest top, white trousers and bare feet shows a dismissal for all things materialistic. 

Make-up

In the institution, I thought using make-up would be a bad idea as it would add more depth and expression to the character's face. We needed to show Quinn wakely as more of an object who blended into the background than a real person. The make-up would also signify beauty and material products which is completely the opposite the the institutionalised Quinn Wakely. A clean, blank face to match the clean white walls and clothes.

Body Language

When Quinn is sat on a single chair in the institution we made sure her body language reflected her insane character. She is sat bolt upright. Her shoulders are squared unlike the casual slump that relaxed people get. This shows a certain amount of an uptight personality. It shows that she is not comfortable in such a place, which does reflect a little more of the pre-murderer Wakely. Another way of seeing this position is that there is almost like an invisible straight jacket on her. Although her arms are not crossed, the straight, square shoulders may be a sign of being restrained. In contrast to this upright position, Quinn's arms are slumped in the most peculiar of positions. Her right arm is resting on her lap with her hand bent in such a way that her palm faces upward. Her left arm is left hanging beside her, hands relaxed. This twisted contrast shows that something is not right with her. There is a lot of contrasting body language to make up for the lack of dialogue. In one scene, there are varied close ups of her eyes darting to each corner of the room. These sudden movements paired with the close up body twitches in the beginning show that there is something more to this character. It signifies that Quinn wants to break free from her invisible straight jacket.

Facial Expression

Throughout most of my movie opening Quinn Wakely's expression remains distant. Keeping a straight face and showing no emotion was a hard acting concept, but I think overall I achieved the look successfully. The distance in the character's face shows that her mind is elsewhere than the current situation. It makes the audience wonder what is going on in her head. When the darting eyes scene appears, she takes on a little more panicked/paranoid look to show her serene mask is cracking. Quinn obviously cannot be contained in such a place as a mental institute, which means she is quite uncontrollable and has a strong character. When the climax of my film nears, Quinn's façade finally breaks and turns into an explosion of emotions. Mainly fear and laughter. The manic look as she laughs gives off the impression that this character is well and truly insane. The fearful expression  creates a sense of pity for the character. This mix of emotions is what truly shows she may have bi-polar.  



Near the end of my film sequence we see clips of Quinn Wakely running through a forest. I wanted to represent her as panicked and hurried. However, I did not want to portray much fear as to not give the impression that she is being chased. It could easily be the other way round - she may be the chaser. (We find out in the plot that she is the one chasing). Here is how I showed my representation:

Costume

During the forest scenes Quinn Wakely is in completely contrasting clothes to the institutionalised character we saw earlier. I have dressed her in black, tight jeans, a white blouse, a leather jacket and high heeled boots.

The black skinny jeans and the high heeled boots paired together create quite a sexualised look. I want my character to come across as attractive and conscious about her beauty. She is almost vane in that aspect. The boots are very 'Tom Boy'-like as they are an army green and add quite a tough look to the outfit. The black skinny jeans are also quite smart and neat to show Quinn must keep up appearance. The leather jacket is more of a luxurious item as they are notoriously expensive. This indicates a liking for materialistic goods of the expensive sort. It also gives a hard, rock-chick edge to the character, indicating that she has a solid outer shell. Quinn wheres a cute, white blouse underneath, which softens up the outfit and makes her look a lot more feminine. It is fitted to give a sense of style and adds to her figure. Which links back to the earlier point of being sexualised. The white underneath all the black stands out and could signify the aspect of my character's innocence.

Make-up

Quinn's make-up in the forest scene is a lot more than in the institute. However, the simple application of black eyeliner, mascara and some foundation is very minimalistic and cannot be noticed due to the lack of close ups. This make-up indicates that she is wearing her casual day-to-day look, whereas at night going out into town she may where bright, bold colours because she is very young and modern. The foundation covers any blemishes and makes the skin look smoother which shows she very much cares about her appearance, even casually in the day. This could be seen as quite vane. The eyeliner and mascara can be seen as a mask. Quinn gives the impression that she is not very confident about her beauty and uses materialistic products to disguise that.

Body Language

I've made it very clear when Quinn is running that she is in a panic/rush. Her arms and legs are fully devoted to running. The crouching, jumping and dodging of obstacles within the forest shows she is physically fit and able. We see a lot of head spins as though paranoid of something within the woods and from that we assume that she is being chased. However, at the very end Quinn has slowed her pace and is now casually walking along as though going for a stroll. This confuses the viewer as it is a complete contrast to her panicked body language earlier on.

Inspector Hodges

The Inspector, although his appearance is dated, is a professional official. Being in his 30s, it would be expected that he has power over a lot of people. However, he is very down-trodden by more modern, young and harsher inspectors. The reason for this is that he is seen as an old 'push-over'. This is not the case. Inspector Hodges is a very sincere man with a huge respect for his clients. He is passionate and relates to the feelings of victims and suspects alike. He speaks in a soft voice to match his soft personality. Hodges is always persistent with his cases and likes to put all his effort into his job.

The Inspector puts all of his time into his career which does make up for the lack of family. His parents have passed away and his wife divorced him for being a push-over.

Costume

Inspector Hodges' costume is very bland. There is a lot of greys, blacks and whites. This shows that he is an official of some sort and takes his job very seriously. The blazer is very formal although quite a dated style. The grey takes away the business-like chic and replaces it with a dull, vintage look. He wears sensible, black shoes that have been neglected. This shows a lack of self-pride and appearance. These components together create a sense of pity for this middle-aged man.

However, we added a colourful scarf to his image. This lightened up the dull colours and showed that the Inspector had a flare to him. It makes him appear stylish and also shows a resemblance to the Tom Baker of Doctor Who's, who was notoriously known for his unique personality. My older audience can relate to this similarity as Tom Baker was probably around at their time of childhood.

 Facial Expressions

Inspector Hodges' main expression throughout the film is concern. He is very worried about his client and the situation he's been given. We can see that it is not a fake expression of concern as a comforting, almost sympathetic look comes through to show he is very passionate about this case and the client.

Hodges always keeps his facial expressions soft but serious. No smiles are used, to show this is a very sombre scene.

Body Language

The Inspector is stood quite upright for a lot of the introduction. His posture mimics that of a soldier to show that he is taking control of the situation at hand. Hodges then resides to a kneeling position to show that he is no longer in control of things and has been forced to retreat from his former position of power. At one point he brings his hand up to his chin in a way that makes him look quite thoughtful.

Camera Shots and Editing

When we were filming these two characters would had to use every technique available to put across their personalities. For instance, we needed to make Quinn look vulnerable in the introduction so we used a lot of high angle shots for her. The Inspector needed to be the figure of authority at first and so he appeared in the low angle shots. When the situation does not go the Inspector's way we see a shift in roles. Now Quinn appears in all the low angle shots and the Inspector in all the high angle shots. We then get the indication that Inspector Hodges has given in to his submissive behaviour and Quinn's mental silence over powers the scene.

A lot of close ups were used on Quinn to emphasise her empty facial expressions. Mid-shots were used mostly for the Inspector to show off his dated clothes and strong shoulders to show his male dominance in the introduction to the scene. Later however, when the roles change, more close ups of Hodges are shown to emphasise his concern and passion for the case.

Faster, jumpy editing was used on Quinn to show edgy, unstable behaviour. Inspector, on the other hand, appears in longer, steady cuts to give normality to his character.