Representation

Our TV trailer consists of three main characters, two protagonists and one secondary character.

The two protagonists are going to be created as stereotypes.

"stereotypes are a typical or mass produced images, repeated so may times, it seems to have an established pattern. It is a simplified and highly judgmental type of representation"

Stewart, Lavelle and Kowaltzke

With stereotyping, the process of selection is excessive. Certain aspects are focused on and then exaggerated. At the same time an evaluation is made and the audience is invited to make a judgment. Repetition establishes stereotypes and over time allows them to appear "natural"

Walter Lippman, defined four main functions of stereotyping:

-an ordering process

-a short cut

-an expression of our values and beliefs

-a map of the world

It is important for us to create stereotypes in our TV trailer, as they will allow quick recognition for the audience in such a small space of time, they will allow the audience to relate and quickly understand the content of the trailer by understanding the characters and their personality without even watching an episode and getting to know the character and it will also be useful for us to convey lots of information quickly.

Our soap opera/trailer will include three main characters. The ganster, the woman and the love interest. The gangster will be played by myself, the woman by Hannah and the love interest by James. Obviously due to all the characters being different, they will all be represented in different ways to enable the audience to understand the different roles that are being played. The female protagonist will be portrayed as being innocent, elegant but also made obvious that she is hiding her secret. Scenes with the woman, will be brightly lit up and perhaps side lighting will also be used, to establish the double life she is leading.

The gangster character will be filmed in the dark will low lighting to show his character as being dark and myserious. His character will be played confidently and slyly. He will be dressed in a black suit to give him the gangster representation.

The love interest will be shot in high lighting to show his character as vulnerable and the 'nice guy' who has innocently fallen in love with the woman. His character will be played almost confidently to reassure himself he will end up with the female and he will wear a white suit to give him the good, innocent representation of his character.