EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2: HOW DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT REPRESENT PARTICULAR SOCIAL GROUPS?

In my opening, I wanted to represent the outcast groups in secondary school and college. To do this, I dressed and behaved how many real life outcasts who are unpopular do. Dyed hair, unconventional clothing and make up (a male countertype) were all used to shape the design of this movie. I used narration to connote the idea of talking to yourself, which is a real thing I and many other socially awkward and disabled teens do. This is similar to other teen angst films like Easy A, where the main character Olive (Emma Stone) has died hair, is socially awkward and narrates the story while being on screen, however I go beyond by having the narrator Joe and movie Joe interact with eachother. This is breaking the 4^th wall, which other movies like Wayne’s World, Spaceballs and Deadpool have done and have come out with great success. The inspirations for Joe himself, his appearance and his character was mainly Scott Pilgrim (Scott Pilgrim vs the world) and Garth Algar (Wayne’s World). These two interact differently than the characters around them and stand out due to their dorky appearance. Both elements I wanted to show through this character.

I believe I have challenged the teenage convention by making him mentally disabled; not only does this allow for a unique character and unique comedy as there are new joke possibilities, but also it gives a character that teens with actual autism can relate with. Because of this, I made him male as, although there are female autistics out there, it’s far more common in boys. This is so that the character and movie can appeal to a larger audience. Although, because of his awkward personality, he’s not that masculine. So autistic teenage girls can relate too if they ever saw this.

However, while this protagonist is mainly a countertype to the teenage archetype, I decided to have the characters surrounding him be stereotypes. This makes Joe stand out and gives the message of doing what the main character does by being yourself. It also makes the hero more vulnerable in a mainstream “normal” society.

The two main examples are Evangeline and Eugene. Evangeline is played by one of the most popular and most beautiful girls in the school who happens to be a model. This worked for the character visually, seeing how she has no dialogue and is in it for a short time (despite being a major plot point) she needs to convey a lot in a short space. She wears normal, trendy clothes and  in terms of attitude is very similar to that of Regina George (Rachael McAdams) from Mean Girls. This is to appeal to the teen demographic where Mean Girls is regarded as one of the best films ever, it also keeps this movie from going too unconventional. We have traditional characters to balance it out.

Another stereotype is Eugene, who is a bully.  He is aggressive and throws insults at the protagonist. He is also unattractive so that we don’t sympathise with him visually. This however could also be seen as a countertype as being obese is a common insecurity with teens. To play on the insecurity aspect makes him more realistic as usually bullies bully to make up for their insecurities. This is why I gave him a name most people would be embarrassed to have. So in ways, he’s a stereotype, but he’s also a realistic portrayal  of bullies in schools, particularly seeing how he doesn’t really overshadow Joe, they have a neutral rivalry that puts them on the same level. Like Bulk from Power Rangers (a huge inspiration for Eugene) he is obese and has a name they're embarrassed about (even Bulk is called Eugene).

Below are the three example characters and the main characters that inspired him (Joe: Garth Algar, Eugene: Bulk, Evangeline: Regina George)

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4: Who would the audience for your media product?

This is my ideal audience. Gender wouldn't really matter, boys and girls could enjoy it, but in the case of this picture, it is female. both boys and girls could relate because my product focuses less on the difference of male and female stereotypes and more popular versus unpopular. they might not have an income as they would be social outcasts and probably don't get out a lot. the music they'd listen to would consist of a lot of rock, metal, punk and emo music as it fits their personality of being quite angst-y. they would watch  a lot of horror movies and teenage angst movies. they would wear a lot of dark colours like grey and black clothing that is unconventional for the soul purpose of not wanting to fit in. they would live in both town and rural areas. the race wouldn't matter. anyone in the rest of these categories could fit in. they would want to watch my movie because they could relate to the characters being social outcasts, whether they want to be or not. they would also want to watch it because it doesn't sugarcoat or romanticise the plot or characters, it balances fantasy with the reality of these "high school" situations and all the comedy has some negative or mean punchline to the jokes and set ups (with the girl not being interested with the characters, giving him only one friend and getting in brawls with bullies). we want our audience to feel like they know our main character as this will have a more emotional weight to it when they are not laughing hysterically at all the multiple comedy styles. the fourth wall breaking will make them laugh but they will value the meaning of it when they think about it, that being that the hero is literally talking to himself.

MEDIA PROJECT!!!!!

JOE! or: The Greatest Loser in all of Longsands Academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8M4qa0tGJQ