Use of Demographics

Gender - For the opening title of our thriller we have an all male cast. Originally this was chosen firstly because we thought having a male psychiatrist linked to the archetype of authority and by subverting that stereotype we’d only have to use up more screen time to justify that decision to the viewer. Secondly even though the patient could be of either gender it was a simple choice of the right actor happening to be male.
This is also from influence of John carpenter’s ‘the Thing’ (where he took out the female character from the original ‘The Thing From Another World’ stating it would make it more realistic) where an all male cast gives a shocking impact. By having male characters take the place of typically female characters it adds another layer. By having these (in Mainstream Blockbuster’s) potential hero’s breaking down on screen, it makes the viewer extremely uncomfortable. It also leaves an underlying tone of aggression and possible violence through out. We believe this tone will give a dialogue driven scene an edge,
This does have some effects on our viewer however, as a thriller is usually aimed at a male viewer. This means that the male viewer should be able to relate to the patient easier. Adding tension that the psychiatrist does not believe the protagonist.
If this was to be made into a full film, it would be more than likely a female character would be introduced, this means potential female viewers won’t be excluded and male viewers gives a potential love interest. Whether this would be the ‘helper’ role or the ‘femme fatale’ role would have to be decided.

Age – Our Protagonist is a viewer’s insight into the film, and by using an actor in their late teens, this means those from 15-19 can fully relate to the character and those older might aspire to be that character. This use of age can make our film more accessible which is necessary in high concept films, as viewers may switch off if it doesn’t effect them (that’s why many thriller stake place in urbane places as it mean no matter how fantastical the plot they can imagine it could happen in their home/school/workplace/etc.).
By having our psychiatrist as an older member immediately our target audience will subconsciously have little empathy for the character. This proves a helpful tool in quickly establishing the psychiatrist as an uncaring character. We know nothing about the character and can not relate.

Ethnicity – Our two cast members are both White-British, this is simply a reflection of the area in which we are shooting (and whilst there is never a point that sets it in a certain area, it would be fair to pin point to around the Essex-London Area) is predominantly white. There was never a suggestion of casting people of nay ethnic background as it would have been tokenism. (Tokenism is where cats members are chosen with the ethnicity as a primary reason, it comes across as untruthful as it comes across as prejudice, ticking boxes, as opposed to telling a good story.
An example of Tokenism is from the original Star Wars Trilogy, where ‘Star Wars IV : A New Hope’ was criticised for a completely white cast. This was planned to rectified when Lucas cast ‘Lando Calrissian’ in ‘Star Wars V: Empire Strikes Back’ to a Black Cast Member. This caused controversy as the decision was labelled and condemned as tokenism.)

Class – The casting of our teacher meant he had to have an upper-middle class accent, this puts him outside our demographic again emphasising that feeling of mistrust. With our protagonist as lower-middle class it makes him fairly accessible, and the approximately the same class as our demographic. Class was important to us, as films where class is misused often can aggravate the viewer, an example of this is in ‘Notting Hill’ where the casting of Hugh Grant can be criticised with his upper class accent distancing him from the everyday man he’s meant to represent.

Tim McNiven