Chris Mahoney G324: February 2011

Ethnicity, Disability, Sexuality, Regional Identity, Gender, Age and Social Class in Sunday's Child Teaser Trailer, through aspects of media terminology; Camera shots, angles and movements, Sound, Edits and Mise-en-scene.

In the teaser trailer social class is conveyed through aspects of media. The camera projects this representation through the use of a long shot, which views an interior shot of the setting. As part of mise-en-scene the setting has meaning, and with the long shot we are able to interpret the Bell's family as wealthy. Through the families wealth we are able to presume Molly and her family belong to the middle class of society. Another aspect of mise-en-scene that suggests she belongs to a middle class family is her clothing. Molly is seen wearing moderate to expensive clothing items of a casual style. When she is first introduced in the teaser trailer she wears a blue 'Abercrombie and Fitch' hoddie, and throughout the teaser trailer she wears many layers of clothing to protect from the cold weather, a sensible decision that suggests that she takes care for her body.

The representation of gender shows a stereotypical view of males being the stronger sex. Through the use of a well composed camera shot; panning from the subject in the frame we can see Molly's father holding his wife back to prevent her emotions of a missing daughter inflicting further damage to her only other daughter Molly, who's been put at blame for her siblings disappearance. To show the female gender to be weaker, which is a commonly seen as stereotypical, throughout the extract Molly is seen at the centre of attention where the masked villain over sees her actions, until the point where he strikes. From Molly's facial expression (mise-en-scene) the audience can interpret that at some points she is scared. Along with her facial expressions as part of mise-en-scene is the fact that she is seen alone, investigating independently, with no-one at her side for protection she is naive and an easy target.

Age is represented stereotypically in some part of the teaser trailer, as the younger daughter Annie is only 11 and is seen alone with a red balloon signifying danger. A lost girl in the midst of the night is a dangerous prospect, alone with no company she is straight away taken advantage of as she is suddenly taken away from the frame. With Molly not being much older at the age of 16 she is seen as naive. As her elders dominate her as her investigates her way into trouble. Young children appear dead in the extract, a stereotypical statement that is likely in the modern age as the youth of today are either seen killed, or as the killer.

Ethnicity and Regional identity are represented at the start of the extract. The traditional event of Guy Fawkes bomb fire is screened in several long distance establishing shots, this event is only celebrated by the British Culture because of British history, and from this information we can presume the ethnical backgrounds of the chosen location is of British descent. The location for the fireworks is a highly populated area, but with trees and agricultural values we can assume it's not a city location.

Ethnicity is represented alone where a boy of Brazilian/ Portuguese descent is shown dead, suggesting that the ethnic minority cannot survive. This murder indicates that the ethnic minorities are easier to be a target because of the physical appearance.

Regional identity of characters is shown through diegetic and non-diegetic sound, as the characters speak with a received pronunciation dialect. An example of this happening would be when Molly starts her investigation and she speaks into her recording device, which is then bridged over edits for explanatory reasons for the purpose of the audience.

Sexuality is represented from a stereotypical point of view, as all characters of what we know of are hetro-sexual (straight). Its not the main focus of our storyline as representing sexuality would be more of a focusing target for a Romance genre film. The continuity of hetro-sexuality interlinks with the regional identity, where in a built up area such as a city sexuality is far more diverse, in comparison to villages and towns.