EVALUATION OF MEDIA PRODUCT Question 1

QUESTION… In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? To answer this question I will be comparing nine screenshots from the film trailer Millie and I made, with a another nine screenshots from a selection of other films. These films will mainly be from the same genre as our trailer; Social Realism so I can accurately compare them. I will chose different aspects to compare such as lighting, camera angle, setting and more.

COMPARISON PHOTOSHere are the two 3x3 grids of the screenshots I will be comparing…

COMPARISON 1

Here we have a similar shot of two females seeing each other for the first time. Both the female with the blue hair, Emma, and our central protagonist, Alice, are moving in a social area when they catch a glimpse of their potential love interest. One difference is that Alice is in a car whilst seeing Maggie, the love interest, and Emma is on foot. This allows for the central protagonist, Adele, to look back and notice the Emma, unlike our trailer where only Alice sees Maggie. Another difference is that our central protagonist sees her love interest first, where as Emma, the love interest, sees the central protagonist first.

Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013)

Loving You

COMPARISON 2

When doing the final touches to our editing Millie and I were undecided whether or not we wanted to include actors and actresses names. Eventually we decided that we didn’t want any actors/actresses names shown in the trailer, but pictured above is where we would’ve added Alice’s. This is because we wanted our trailer to be considered as an upcoming independent production with actors and actresses the audience may have not heard about, so thought it unnecessary to include them. This conforms to many others film we looked into.

Loving YouThe First Girl I Ever Loved (2016)

COMPARISON 3Loving YouFish Tank (2009)

One main attribute of film trailers is to have quotes from critics. Millie and I designed our own (on the right) as we liked the professional finish it gave to the trailer. Coincidently, it has a very similar lay out to the one on the left from Fish Tank, with the solid line horizontally across. We wanted to have our quote from an independent, low budget magazine, so we decided to use ‘Indie Magazine’ as it was suitable for our genre and similar to what I wanted to create in the Ancillary Task.

COMPARISON 4Loving You

Despite these shots not looking similar to the eye, when you look further into what’s happening in them they become very similar. Both Alice and Hazel are using a form of technology, which I believe was a key element throughout my trailer. We wanted to use contemporary technology because we felt it would help attract our specific target audience of teenager, as technology plays a major role in the life of 21st Century teenagers. The slight difference in this shot is that Alice, our protagonist, is a victim of cyberbullying. Where as Hazel, is having a friendly text conversation. Even though cyberbullying is a horrible subject Millie and I really wanted to include it as we believe that cyberbullying is the most invasive and current form of bulling, which again our audience could relate to.

The Fault in Our Stars

COMPARISON 5Loving YouCareer Girls (1997)

In both of these shots the central protagonist is laughing with her friend/friends. The shot from ‘Career Girls’ is in a car, however we chose our shot to be in a home setting because we wanted to show our central protagonist in a ‘safe’ setting, so she can show her true character. We also wanted to include this shot as it creates more of a contrast between the shots where Alice is alone to this one with her friends, it intensifies the isolation she feels and audience sees.

COMPARISON 6Loving YouBlue is the Warmest Colour

(2013)

In both of these screenshots the central protagonist is looking lovingly at their love interest, Maggie and Emma. They are both also lying down, Adele on the ground and Alice on a bed. Millie and I decided to use a bed as it created a more intimate atmosphere between the two characters and again created the ‘safe place’.

COMPARISON 7Loving YouManchester by the Sea (2016)

This shot of Alice is taken from the argument section of the film trailer, as you an tell from the slight look of anger and disappointment in her face. This is also reflected in the image on the left, taken from ‘Manchester by the Sea’, where Lee Chandler is arguing with lawyers about the custody of his nephew. This shot is in a public place, however we chose to use the privacy of a living room as we thought this would allow the characters to express their selves more freely.

COMPARISON 8Loving YouLetters To Juliet (2010)

Both of these shots are over the shoulder shots and show the central protagonist looking up at their love interest. Due to the protagonist being positioned lower than the love interest, they appear to be inferior in the relationship. You could say this is true because in our film Alice, the protagonist, is in love with Maggie who is in a relationship and at this stage of ‘Letters to Juliet’ the protagonist believes her love interest is with someone else. However, despite the plot line, both protagonists are looking lovingly towards the second protagonist which suggests they’re love for the other is strong and could overcome the barriers each plot has.

COMPARISON 9Loving YouLike Crazy (2011)

In our trailer, Millie and I used some soft focus filters to add to the gentleness and intimacy of some specifically chosen shots. Here we used it because both our protagonists were lying in bed, which suggests a level of intimacy. This can also be seen in the screengrab from ‘Like Crazy’, as both protagonists in an intimate setting and the soft focus therefore used. Both protagonists also have a physical connection with their love interest which again suggests another level of intimacy between them.