How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The main character, Niall is the perfect example of a teenager. He wants freedom, to live by his own authority, to do what he wants, to go where he likes and to do things his way. These characteristics of individuality are ones that can be seen in all teenagers and the social group as a whole.

Teenagers are constantly trying to understand who they are and what they desire to do and achieve. This is something that is reflected in the film (the idea that Niall can run away from home and start a life of his own, on his own). Teenagers often to music as a way of trying something new and different. Something Tangible that they can work with a mold to express themselves. This is one of the main reasons we decided to have Niall as an aspiring guitar player, and with very few possessions his guitar is obviously something very important to him. This enabled us to use the guitar as a clear symbol that represents this individuality. He's casually dressed in what he feels comfortable in (he wears what he likes, when he likes).

When thinking about the kind of teenager and social group Niall represents, I realised that the character we've created is actually very similar to the Robbie, a character in the recent film of the book, The War of the Worlds. Robbie is an adolescent boy around the same age as Niall who doesn't get on with his father and wants to get away and live his own life. He dresses similar to Niall and displays an optimistic view on life.

I believe teenagers, with some exceptions, like to dress themselves in a certain way that they wish other people to view them in. Some teenagers dress brightly and flamboyantly with lots of colours and different styles. Others do the exact opposite and choose darker, plainer clothes possibly because they're trying to keep their head low. This is the exact way I wanted my audience to view Niall. He's not noticed by others and he makes his journey from his house to the park because that's precisely what he wants! he doesn't want attention; he just wants to start a new, and do his own thing.

Teenagers are complicated, misunderstood, perplex beings which you would imagine would be very hard to translate on screen, but actually it allows for me to represent my character in practically any shape or form due to the diversity of the social group.