Question 2...

Our media production is about many different social groups. Upon first watch people may think that it is about Teenagers, and the needless danger that they tend to get themselves into. We knew that this would be the case as our title, "SHORTCUT" signifies impatience which is very common among teenagers around our age. However, we initially meant to show the characters in our production as the  mentally ill. We intended to show the way that they can be experiencing pain and other issues whilst trying to hide it from others so no one would notice. If you hear the whispers in our production, this is why we used them. The mentally ill need aid at most times if not all, and using a shortcut was one of the many ways we could try and get our character on his own so that he was vulnerable.
This may be controversial, and I will explain this in question 3.
We chose to represent the mentally ill as it can be quite disturbing for certain audiences and quite often thrillers, especially those with horror connotations, make most feel uncomfortable. It also makes the audience feel quite sympathetic towards the character as they wish they could be there to help.
There is no real well known stereotype of the mentally ill, and this is definitely something we struggled with and found difficult to include in our production.
We are trying to give the audience the message that there is danger around every corner, and even when you think you are fine, you may not be. As well as this, we attempted to highlight the need to aid those with mental issues and how difficult it can be for them as it is something that can be overlooked.
Our use of location is very tight and squeezed. This makes the audience feel trapped and that they have to see what is going on. It also highlights the way that the character is trapped as there is no way that he can get away from his problems. The fence we used is very sharp and can be harmful if care is not take, which happens to be the way we must take care of those with issues such as the one we instilled in our character, which is Schizophrenia.
We also took great care in what colours we used. My character, very much the villain in this piece, only wears black to give the audience the connotations of serious danger and fatality. The fact that the clothing covers my face also enhances this danger and mystery surrounding the thriller opening.