Evaluation 2 - Social Groups

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In our opening title sequence, the social groups that are portrayed are also all teenagers. However, the young characters in our first title sequence cut strongly challenge representations of teenagers in social media.

This becomes apparent in the first few scenes, where the character playing Alex Robinson (16 years old) is seen walking his dog in the quarry.

The social media often portrays teenagers as violent or wasteful with their time, revolving their lives around technology indoors or drinking and partying etc. In contrast to this, the scene of Alex walking his dog portrays teenagers in a more positive light, suggesting they are more productive with their time and do not lounge around indoors on their technology all day. Furthermore, as he is the victim in this sequence, the idea of teenagers being irresponsible and even dangerous is reversed. On the other hand, the mise-en-scene portrays Alex with his hood up, which could reflect the common concept of teenagers being unsociable shifty.


The other two characters in our film are also teenagers: acquaintances of Alex. These two teenagers have a mixed portrayal when considering the stereotypes given by the social media.

Although in the first cut it is not made clear, these two teenagers are depicted on their phones and watching television. This corresponds with the stereotypes that they are given in the media and so portrayed them in mostly a negative light. Conversely, the teenagers are engaging with the news that is on the television, which gives a very different perception of youth.

The fact that the teenagers then decide to go searching for the missing character Alex could be interpreted in both a negative and positive way.

On one hand, this could convey the mischievous and troublesome nature of the two young characters. On the other hand, the more likely perception is that they are outdoors and exercising, which portrays them as healthy and active rather than lazy and up to no good. The positive perception is what we have tried to create, challenging the social media stereotypes.