In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge conventions

of real media texts?

Conventions of Short films

• Limited characters • A twist • Low budget• Length • Everyday situations• Not a lot of dialogue

How I have used these conventions

Limited characters -    In a stereotypical short film there are normally 2-3 characters so the plot doesn't get over complicated with different story lines of each individual. I have decided to only use two as my plot is rather confusing, in addition as I only have 5 minutes to try and portray the characters I have kept to a small amount. Both of them are protagonists however one of them is more important therefore the audience can then create a relationship between them. Having too many characters will make the audience confused and less engaged. The two characters I have in my short film 'Through my eyes' are both females at the age of 17. Although they are both in the same location one of them does not know that the other exits so there is no contact between them. I think that having three characters would over complicate things so two was ideal to convey my idea behind my short film.

Continued…A twist  -    My short film has a confusing twist, a twist is a very particular convention to have as only certain genres can have a good plot twist. I decided to create a short film with this in as I believed that it would be easier to film and edit together as it was interesting. I have a twist in which the beginning is not as you seem, the pictures of the two girls look happy and content however it has yet to be shown that one of them has died and has been looking over her cousin. Low budget  - My budget is defiantly low and most short films tend to stick to this as it is very difficult to create a professional looking feature length film with a low budget. They manage to get the price down by only using small amounts of characters and locations and even getting some volunteers to act in the film. I managed to talk to two of my friends who were willing to help in my short film therefore I didn't need to pay them also I tried to limit myself to only use locations that were free and easy to get to. My film is an independent one and I believe that although I have got a low budget it does look professional considering I have not spent anything on it.

Continued…

Length -   My film is under 5 minutes which is a big convention of a short film as having anything over 10 minutes would then not be classed as a short film. I am glad that I have managed to make it shorter than this as then my audience will become more engaged, also it makes it easier to get everything that I need in that time as it can be precise and to the point. Not a lot of dialogue  -  Most short films do not have a lot of dialogue and if they do have any speaking it is normally in the form of a voice over which I have got. As I only have two characters in which they do not interact then dialogue between them would make the short film confusing. I decided to use a voice over as she is alone and this would work as it is her thoughts whilst the actions are on camera. 

How I have developed them

Everyday situations  -  I have developed this convention as I have tried to put an everyday situation with many people around the world of loneliness and even some deaths in the family. However the way that the cousin is watching her is not realistic and doesn't really use the convention. They try to take the everyday situations and add a twist to them so it makes it more interesting which I have tried to do. Dialogue- I have also adapted the dialogue as stereotypically there is limited dialogue however with mine there is none, I decided that I would only use a voiceover which is developing the convention. A twist- I have developed this as I have got a slight twist however it is not actually mentioned in the short film, whereas most short films mention the twist and why it has happened. I wanted to keep this quite so the audience can develop this themselves,

How I have challenged conventions

I have not really challenged a lot of conventions with the short film as I wanted to keep to them so my short film would appeal to my audience, and I already know that a short film with these conventions would work.

There is one thing however that I have challenged as at the beginning of my short film I do not start with the title straight away, there is a long introduction in which photos are used instead of film snippets. This is not normal for a short film as they want

to display as much filming as they can. 

Conventions of a short film poster

When researching short film posters is was hard to find the differences between the two, but when looking closely there are certain elements that can be seen on all short film posters. They are both created using the same editing technique so they both look professional and more authentic. The film posters are what the audience sees first so this attracts them to watch the film, most short film posters have less information on them, a feature length film poster sometimes has a tagline which gives some information away as they have so much detail that it will be easier to understand. It does have a title and a billing block, whereas a feature length film usually has a release date as well. Some short film posters have a screen shot of a picture from the film whereas a feature length film usually has a photo that has been taken specifically for the poster and in a famous location. As short films conventionally have limited characters the bill block will be smaller than usual, in addition the fonts can tell the genre. 

How I have used these conventions

Photo of the protagonist- I decided that it would be easier for me to follow this convention as it would then be easier for me to get the audience to understand what the film is about.Big title- I have also used this as having a bold title makes it easier to spot and stands out.Billing block- I had to stick to this convention as it was then easy to spot that it was a short film poster.

How I have developed conventions

I have not really developed the conventions of my film poster as it was harder to change because there is only a certain amount of conventions for the film poster.Colour scheme- I changed the title as I couldn’t have the black on the black boarder so I had to change the black and white to make sure that it would be seen. However I had to develop these as I did use the same colours for the billing block.

How I have challenged conventions

Full image on the poster- I have used a boarder around the image to give it more depth, also the image that I have would not stretch to fill the whole page. Also having the boarder allowed me to add the title so it made it easier to read.Billing block- I have challenged this convention as I decided that my billing block would not look like a stereotypical one. Most people created theirs online with a billing block generator however I thought that mine didn’t look appealing with the title. Therefore I created mine on pixlr and had a different name on a separate line instead of having it all squished together.

Conventions of a short film poster• Pictures of the short film • The title of the film• A quick synopsis• A release date• A quote from the short film

How I have used conventions

Pictures of the short film- I have used these as I thought that it was a must have because they have to see a glimpse into what the short film is about. The three that I chose were of the beginning, the title and the final scene, having these all together showed a quick insight into the short film.The title of the film- I have added this in the short piece of information about the film before to make sure that they know that it called Though my eyes.A quick Synopsis- I have also added this in as well because most of my audience are going to read this before they watch the short film, having this before hand makes it easier to get my audience to watch the film afterwards.A release date- I have defiantly uploaded this as this is a key part to the short film.A quote from the short film- This I added a long the bottom to spice things up a bit because there needed to be a bit of insight to the film.

How I have developed conventions

There are not really many things that I have developed because it was harder to develop conventions for a double page spread.First of all I have developed the colour scheme as it was easier for me to fit various colours for the different aspects of the interview., people could then easily follow what the producer has said. Normally double page spreads have have only two colours that they use and stick to the house style, I have used the same on the poster so it is easy to identify however I added the green to make it more eye catching.

How I have challenged conventions

• Firstly I have challenged the idea that there is a boarder around the article, sometimes the bleed is only small to make sure that everything is located correctly and the writing is not off the page. Having this allowed me to easily identify the title and add a different aspect.

• I also added some stars to make it look more appealing and give it a bit more depth.

• I also decided to go over the fold of the double page spread to keep the article neat, having this made it easier to create and if I did decide to create it in mind of the fold that would happen if it is in a magazine.