​AARON'S AS MEDIA

There is only one character in my film, so really I haven't explored more than one social group. My main character is two different ages in the film, in the first, interview, scene he is supposed to be his current age, of early twenties, however the video he's watching and narrating is of him when he was younger, at college (aged about 16/17). In the first scene, when he's in his early twenties, he's supposedly middle/working class, although well known for his work as a graffiti artist, so maybe he's considered a minor celebrity. Here I wanted to portray him as an average 'bloke', who doesn't really see himself as a celebrity, I did this by making his speech really blunt and casual, almost as if he's not used to interview situations; possibly because he's never had a job interview, or just because he's not familiar with being 'famous' yet. I had this idea from one of the films I researched, Banksy: Exit Through the Gift Shop, were, obviously, Banksy is an incredibly famous graffiti artist, although the whole way through the film/documentary he comes across, very much, as a 'normal guy'. However I found it difficult to make the audience aware of the time difference in the video and the interview, so I had to use text in the film that read "5 years later", if I were to remake this product I would use the mise en scene of the character's clothes to better portray the change in time, as in parts of the film he is wearing very similar outfits.

Later in the film, where the main character is in his teens, I wanted him to come across as an average college student, during the day, I did this through the character's clothes, and the general mise en scene and locations (outside the college and on the bus). During the night, when the main character goes out, I wanted to completely change his look, as he's, then, no longer an average college student. I did so by changing his outfit, into dakr clothes, mask, and different backpack. Another theme I wanted to achieve with the main character, was something I discovered through my primary and secondary research, that people expect unpriviledged, working class teens in a crime/teen drama, I achieved this theme, again, by the character's outfit, but also through his intentions (of vandalism), and the general mise en scene of the night and garage scenes; I made the garage look as old, run-down, and grimey as possible, and I purposely chose later locations that looked dark and run-down; the sort of places you see in Ill Manors, and Adult/KidultHood.

One way, I was really going to portray the main character's social status and age, was through his trainers (you'll see this on my storyboard, during the train-station scene), my plan was to have him wearing old Nike trainers, with paint marks on them, I thought this would be a really good use of iconography, however, on the day of filming I forgot to bring the trainers. This was a big mistake, however I think the film still works without that shot, if I was to re-film my film I would definitely film and include that shot.

The mask I used was also strong iconography. The mask is famous for being in the film V For Vendetta, and being warn by members of the hacktivist group Anonymous. The mask really represents disatisfaction with the world/society, and that's exactly what my main character has; he's had enough of his everyday life so he feels the need to release and rebel at night, which is another similar theme in V For vendetta and Anonymous. The mask also represents the character's interest in politics and current affairs (by having an affiliation with V For Vendetta and Anonymous), which, I feel, challenged the convetion that teens are disenchanted with politics, and don't care about the world they live in, as I don't believe this is true.