Main Character Research and Media Representation;

Before writing the plot for our film trailer we decided to choose who the film would be based around; The main character. The main character is vital to our film and our trailer, as the events will take place around her, making her a central part of our planning. We decided that we would have a woman character for our main character, and will then have a kind of mental illness... Here is what we said her characteristics will be:

• A young - middle aged woman
• Mental illness
• Pale skin
• Slim
• Depressed (due to past events)
• Bags under eyes (due to stress)
• Pregnant/a mother

  
  

  We have decided to make her have a mental disorder, but we needed to decide what mental illness she will have, and then base the story around this. We need to know what happens to people with the illness so that we can be accurate with our story and character.

  
  

  We began by researching schizophrenia as we thought this to be common in films and characters who are portrayed to be 'mental'. schizophrenia is characterised by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly gives the victim auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganised speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social dysfunction. We thought that this was a good description of what we wanted our character to have, but then we though about how we wanted her to have believe something that isn't actually happening, and be convinced, and we knew that this had a different title, and therefore did further research to find the right disorder.

  
  

  After researching different forms of mental disorders, we came across the right one for our character, it is called Dissociative identity disorder, this can be defined as having a 'spilt personality' meaning a person can display multiple identities/personalities,

  each alternate personalities have a unique set of memories, behaviours, thoughts and emotions related to each specific personality.This is perfect for our character and for us to base the film around. This disorder is closely linked with schizophrenia. 
  
  
  Media Representations
   The media already has existing ideologies and conventional stereotypes of gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality and disability which are often shown through the chosen actors/actresses, lighting, sounds and camera angles, movements and shots. Seeing as our main character is going to have a medical condition, one key feature which we should consider through the filming process of our trailer, is how we represent the medical system and how it is already conveyed through the media. What most people know about the medical system and existing illnesses is often due to the media, this is where we find out (read and watch) what we know about the system and the stereotypes attached, unless an individual has a personal account of certain aspects of the way the medical system is run or how illness/disease is treated. One major aspect to point out from our trailer is the fact that there will be nurse in the hospital scene, which means we should compare how women are conveyed in the medical system in the media. Ours fits into the stereotypical idea that nurses in hospitals are women, people associate nurses to be women as this is seen as a 'feminine' job title and is conveyed by the media this way, our nurse is also played by a women, fitting in with existing media.
  
  
  Another factor which shows the existing representations is the fact that our main character develops a mental illness (which we have previously researched into thoroughly) and that this is a sensitive subject (hence our chosen age rating for the film '15'). The media represents this as a weakness and also gender representations of women tend to be that they are the weaker sex and that they would be more 'prone' to mental illness. After research into this, I have come to the conclusion that our film follows the conventions of the mass media representations as our chosen main character is a woman, and it does portray a weakness and that idea of stress causing further issues and that she is a 'motherly' feminine figure.