{Media EvaluationFallon Krampah

In the production part of my coursework I have developed and challenged real media products. My media products are a 5 minute short film, film poster and a magazine review double page and the genre was a romantic drama.

Storyline Conventions:Beginning with the short film ‘Gabriella’, for planning I have developed the idea of Todorov in my story. Gabriella started in ‘equilibrium’ when everything was at balance, with everybody living their normal lives, meeting new people as normal etc. This is then disrupted by a problem to cause ‘disequilibrium’ which is noticed in our short film as the ‘Fight Scene’ were the two main male protagonists fight over the female protagonist Gabriella. Todorov’s theory would then go on to say that a series of events take place before the ‘new equilibrium’ is established. However we have broken this idea in our film, as it does not end in a new equilibrium but rather continues in the disequilibrium adding a twist to our short film, making it unique and different from all the other romantic dramas. This is also found in real medias such as the ‘Titanic’ as there was no happy ending to the story.

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

of real media products?

Codes and Conventions of Romantic Dramas Forms and Conventions are things that make a media product recognisable. The settings that are usually used for Romantic Dramas are: - Beach towns/Beaches or Town

Centres- Variety of places the characters can

meet by “accident” throughout the film

- Places we associate with romantic – restaurants, couples homes, cinemas, the park

- Places were the main characters are on their own/isolated which enables them to show affection freely.

- Workplaces of main characters

The props usually used in romantic dramas:- Flowers/Chocolates – Gifts- Nice clothes/ swimwear- Car- Mobile phones- Photography- Suitcases for travel- Animals/pets

The typical action used in Romantic drama:-Boy meets Girl (vice verse)-Boy and girl grow close-Boy and girl fall in love /one of them falls in love first-Boy and girl pulled apart by tragedy, betrayal, jealousy or mistake-Period of time boy and girl or just one mourn the loss of the other-Through spontaneous moment boy and girl pulled back together

Typical Characters:-Male lead-Female lead-Friends of both main characters-A competitor for one of the main characters affections

Typical storyline:1. Boy meets girl2. Spend a lot of time together – fall in

love3. They become separated through

tragedy4. Spend time mourning the loss of other5. They are drawn back together6. Live happily ever after

Opening Sequence of film:

Our opening sequence starts with an establishing shot of the school, this was used to present the location of most of the scenes, and where the opening scene takes place. This is often used in many forms and conventions of real films such as 'Easy A' where there has been an establishing of the school at the beginning of the film. This has helped us establish time in the film. Through this establishing shot at the very beginning of the film we have guided the viewers understanding of the action. This exterior shot of the school building in bright day was followed by an interior shot of Gabriella and Emily talking which implies that the conversation is taking place in this building in the bright day time. We had decided on the title ‘Gabriella’ as it is short and simple to memorise. The title of the film ‘Gabriella’ comes in at 0.15s which follows right after the first establishing shot of the school. This was because we thought that it would look and fit perfectly having the title of the film at that point to make the viewers aware of what the film is called. The font that was chosen was quite simple pink font on top of a black background. The opening of the short film starts off as any normal modern romantic drama, by introducing the main characters. As we see Gabriella’s face first right after the title appeared on screen, we directly know that this is Gabriella. Through the editing of placing their names above their heads it is also easier for the audience to find out who the other girl Gabriella is talking to is. Quite early in the film we see the significance of the twos relationship which is also often found in many real medias such as 500 days of summer.

Romantic dramas rely more on the dramatic side of romance and plot rather than the complex shots and editing therefore I was able to follow the conventions.

Over the Shoulder ShotWe used many over the shoulder shots which we have found to be typically used to show that a conversation between two characters is taking place. We see this in the film ‘No Strings Attached’ as Emma’s body language and facial expression appears to be happy and relaxed. Over the shoulder shots allow us to see what the characters are seeing from their view point. Shots like these are used to potentially establish a relationship between two characters or more if so. In our film we have included this to make sure that the audience knows the relationship between Gabriella and Emily very early on in the film, giving the audience the idea that these two girls are very close friends.

Camera Conventions

Two shots are often used throughout the romantic genre to show how the relationship develops throughout the film. A two shot is also used to portray a particular relationship between two characters. Two shots are also known to be mid shots meaning that they bodies from the middle up are shown but not their legs. This is seen in many romantic films, one being Love Actually. We see the relationship between Karen and Harry being comfortable around one another and quite close as there seems to be no gap between the two. And that is exactly what I have used in my film.

Camera Conventions: Two Shot

For the audience to be able to make a judgment on what the characters may be feeling or thinking or to relate, close up’s are used to establish just that. In romantic films these shots are usually used to show whether a character may be in love, hurt, rejected, surprised in shock etc. In this screen shot you see Jamie and Dylan very close with Jamie having her hands around Dylan’s face and Dylan looking very intimately into Jamie’s eyes. This makes it obvious to the audience that the both have feelings for each other. This has been used in our film to give the audience the same kind of message as intended in the film ‘Friends with Benefits’. Gabriella has her hands around Lucas just as Jamie has her hands around Dylan’s face, creating a sense of security and comfort.

Camera Conventions: Close-up

These shots are used very frequently in order to determine the characters body language towards the other characters, seeing whether they care for one another, shy around each other etc. In this screen shot you see Adam from ‘No Strings Attached’ looking comfortable and relaxed around Emma. However, Emma on the other hand looks quite stiff and quite awkward/uncomfortable. Suggesting that their feelings towards eachother may be different than actually we initially had thought. In our film we see Christian sitting next to Gabriella in a mid shot. Gabriella’s back is slightly turned towards Christian suggesting that she may not be interested in sitting next to him or communicating to him. Christian on the other hand looks over to Gabriella very distinctively almost like he is watching over her without realising that she has little care for his presence. Both of the characters Emily and Gabriella feel a different way towards their male companion than actually initially expected.

Camera Conventions: Mid Shot

Long shots enable the audience to see the characters entire body, along with some of the scenery. A good judgement for the audience on how much the characters like/dislike each other is simply done through the long shot determining how much space the characters have around them and how close the two main characters are to one another.

In the film titanic a long shot was used here to portray the closeness of the two characters. We see the characters being deeply in love and free as the wind is beautifully hitting their faces. We are able to see the whole of the two characters body and a little bit of the scenery that they are on a ship. This was also used in our film, as we have Emily and Gabriella in a long shot standing very close against each other just like in Titanic. This suggests that there may be another level of a close relationship going on.

Camera Conventions: Long Shot

Extreme long shots are usually used in order for the audience to distinguish the scenery and where the characters are. In romantic comedy the scenery will normally be a famous landmark or town that the audience can easily identify and relate to. In the screen shot you can see that the scenery juxtaposes the action of the characters. The characters are arguing and fighting even though the lighting is romantic and is filmed at night time. The only extreme long shot that we had used was in the opening sequence in front of the school. This was done to help the audience identify that the scene is being taken at a school, making them further identify that the characters are going to be teenagers in that small space of few 13 seconds.

Extreme Long Shot

Editing describes the relationship between shots process by which they are combined. The editing pace often varies depending on the way the characters are feeling and what they are thinking. Editing pace in the process of boy and girl falling in love always slow down to make sure that the audience grasps the concept. Fast paced shots are used to create intensity in some of the scenes to help the atmosphere build up to show the character not being able to control their feelings and emotions. In Dear John, the titles and credits fade transitions were used giving a dreamy romantic loving mood before the characters or film have been appropriately introduced. In our film the main characters names were included throughout the first few seconds/minute of the film to help the audience understand who is who in the film. This was done to not just save time but to also give a different way of introducing each one of the characters.Fades are used on different parts of scenes and shots to help the audience determine what is going on in the action of the scene. Shot reverse shots can be often used in a romance opening scene or throughout the film to show the interaction between two characters were relevant or not looking and speaking at one another. This should could be filmed at completely different times, it can be therefore used very effectively to make it look like the characters were speaking at each other at the same time. We had used this technique in our film to show the interaction between the characters on several different accounts throughout the film. This made it effective enough for the audience to understand what the characters are going through. This has also been a useful technique in building up tension between the characters.

Editing Conventions

Props such as flowers and chocolates have been mainly used towards the end of the film to follow the romantic convention. Other everyday ordinary props such as phones, water bottle, school equipment and books etc. were used to all make it fit into the reality of the teenagers being students at school. Props are essential to any and many films, romantic or not. Dear John again, spoke about his collection of coins in the film, the coins are shown on screen and have a significance in the progression of the film. Helping to draw attention to the audience by making them wonder why this prop was used.

Gabriella had to appeal to the male gaze so that the male audience will be attracted to her. To do this we dressed her with dark tone clothing with fashionable accessories. The type of clothing for our characters do depend on the era. ‘The Notebook’ was set in the 50s/60s so the type of clothing over there is different to what we wear now. We wanted to make sure that Gabriela was always looking effortlessly stunning. This was because in reality not many people have time to always put lots of effort into the way they dress etc especially when they are only going to school to study. Hence why we have placed the key word ‘effortlessly’ to ensure that Gabriella does not have to struggle and do as much to look good for her male audience

Lucas is also always seen I dark/black clothing with a lot of leather. This is done to represent his dark side that we have discussed in his character profile. As he is seen to be mysteriously handsome by Gabriella and the female audience, this has worked perfectly for us.

Emily is also seen to be wearing a lot of dark colours also with a lot of leather. This was deliberately done to also show that she also has a dark side to her. Which is later revealed in the film.

Christian is the only innocent guy in this film. He is often seen in white, hoodies and casual clothing showing that he is pretty basic towards Gabriella. Due to the fact that Christian always wears white and brighter colours, he is seen to be pure, innocent and probably even a little naïve.

Overall, the characters choice of clothing has been specifically picked to connote their behaviour and personality throughout the film.

Mise-en-Scene Conventions

Most romantic films, are stereotypically set in places such as urban environments, beaches, schools etc. places where chances of encounter is likely to happen and make it seem “romantic”. Depending on where they are situated, this is able to help the audience predict/interpret what may be happening in the film or where the action of the scene or whole film is going to take place. Helping the audience to relate. In Dear john, the film begins, panning cameras and long shots are shown to suggest to the audience that places that they saw such a trenches and buildings in war and the beach, may be the main settings that are going to be used within the film. Both of the settings help to establish the tone and mood for the film in quite contrasting ways. As we had used mainly the school and Wootton area to film, the settings may be quite familiar to people who know where these places are. As they are teenagers in education still, using the school as a main setting was very important as much of the action would realistically take place in a setting like school.

Setting Conventions

To help set the tone mood and atmosphere sound is very important within a romance. If the film was intended to be sad, the music will establish this by the use of instrumentals of sad songs or including the lyric of the song which talk about something sad, or simply having sad instruments playing in the background such as violins work as well. Romances usually have a variety of different songs in them. Depending on the sub genre the choice of music is often influenced by the intention of the atmosphere in that specific scene. The music played in the background of the narrative, the pitch and volume all help set the mood and help the genre to be identified. Foley is often used in many romantic films such as footsteps, door opening and closing anything that can be heard in the real world. This was used quite effectively throughout our film even though it was initially intended to be a silent film. The dialogue had to be put over the film, to make sure that we had absolute full quality and that the audience would be able to hear and understand the characters efficiently. In the movie ‘The Last Song’ the dialogue was used for the characters to talk to one another some how just as we would in the real world. To help the characters bond and develop opinions of one another. At the same time this also allows the audience to create connections between the different characters.

Soundtrack conventions

Through the progression of women in society, I was able to break the emotional vulnerable female character in a romantic drama and create a female lead that was strong, confident and courageous and dominating over the boys. Which is seen in many films such as ‘Friends with Benefits’ ‘Easy A’ etc. Also, majority of the popular romantic dramas were based on lives of adult characters, therefore I chose to focus on teenagers and focus on how they deal with these kind of issues of love yet in a different and twisted way.We thought that it was important to have attractive male characters like in most ‘romantic dramas’ or ‘chick flicks’ in order to attract the female audience and to maintain the interest in the false leading love-story.

Stereotypes Conventions

One convention that me and my partner had decided to challenge was the use of narrative in a romantic genre. We did not want the predictable boring ending of every typical film and therefore decided to deviate from it by incorporating something new.

In general we have kept many of the conventions that were found in real media texts just to make sure that the audience would not get too confused if we would have deviated a lot from the genre which would not have been healthy for us.

Did my film break away from any codes and conventions?

Many different film posters were analysed on my blog to get the necessary inspiration that was needed. I was already familiar with the features of a film poster through the help of watching many films. However, through the research that I had done I had found out that there were some conventions that I was not familiar with which resulted in me finding this research very useful as it also helped me in creating my own film poster.

One of my preferred/ favourite film posters was the ‘The Holiday’ film poster. This was due to the fact that that I liked the high quality and professional look it had. I also thought that it would have been a great idea to use that style in my own poster to show the distinction between Gabriella with Lucas and Christian being alone. This helps to emphasise the characters roles.

Conventions of a Film Poster

The colour scheme of the poster is bright and does not use many colours in the text, rather works with the colour that is given by the two images. Just like ‘The Holiday’ I have used images from certain scenes of the film in my poster to give the poster some truth. So when the audience sees the film and the poster they will be able to identify where they have seen this before. In many romantic posters the use of bright colours is used, keeping it fresh and light.

Because I really liked this film poster I have tried to get a font that was as similar as possible yet not identical. The small font at the bottom was created to add verisimilitude and allows the audience to see that this is a real film poster. The small font at the bottom contains all the people that have been involved in the production of the film and the production company.

The slogan that was created is effective, it is short and to the point suggesting that even though on the film poster we see a girl and two guys suggesting that there is a love triangle the slogan then suggests something else, warning the audience to expect the unexpected. The slogan was placed underneath the title of the film to make that the second most important thing the audience should read right after the title of the film.

No my poster did not break away from any codes and conventions and I wanted to keep it that way. I had made sure that my poster followed the codes and conventions to gain a professional and balanced look which would be appreciated by my audience.

Did my poster break away from any codes and conventions?

Conventions of a Film Review Page

The key codes and conventions of a review page are very easy to distinguish and spot. They are not broken by magazine publishers and the structure is often kept the same. These include a big main image of a still image of a part/scene of the films or even at times a image of the making of the film. The images give the reader a sense of genre of the film showing key events from the film. The text is always kept in the same colour, size and font throughout the article. Some review pages often also highlight quotes from the film, director, actor etc. by changing the font, size or colour to help them stand out.

The review itself was kept in a traditional fashion by using the same font and size and colour in the review, but highlighting key words. The characters were introduced by name at the bottom of the review so that the audience will get a more explicit look at who exactly is going to be part of the film. I have made sure that the date of the release of the film was included so that the audience has something to look forward to, instead of leaving them to wonder when the film will be out as they may even be very excited to see it. Throughout the actual review I made sure that I included bits of the plot in the review so that the audience will have an idea of what the film is about. Character profiles has been places in there as well so that the audience can get to know the characters and relate to whoever they wish. I had made sure that Gabriella being the main characters image was bigger than all the other characters images and that she had her own little box which contained her character profile, as it was important that the audience knows who Gabriella is exactly before they watch the film. Overall I had tried to make sure that the audience’s needs were provided for throughout the whole magazine review page. I therefore did not break any of the conventions of a magazine review page.

In my review page I have made sure that the conventions were in my own style and design. I have not made the film name as obvious as the other film reviews that I have looked at. Instead I have used a quotation that I wanted to draw the audience attention and make them read the article. With a question challenging their ideology of what a romantic happy ending is. This suggests that there may be a series or tragic events happening throughout the film. I have made sure that relevant images from the certain scenes of the film were used. The main image of Gabriella and Lucas was used to emphasise that Gabriella has found an interest in someone and that the film will be focusing on her development throughout the film. Other images that were found from key scenes in the films were also placed in there just to make sure that the audience is aware that Emily and Christian also play a significant role in the film.

We had initially intended for the film to be a romantic silent film. Which we had carried through in the production of our first draft of the film. We had focused more on a modern/contemporary twist in the silent film genre, which resulted in the idea not working out over all. One of our main issues was that in our film the actors and actresses were moving their mouths and communicating to one another, however this was muted and we therefore could not hear a thing they were saying. We thought that this was a simple way of adding a silent element to our film while having strong non-diegetic music in the background to create the mood and atmosphere. However as we showed this to our audience, they had mentioned that the silent element that we added to the film did not work out. This was because they were keen to hear what they were talking about as the characters mouths were moving but no sound was coming out from them.

They had also mentioned that the music was music that was nice but did not impact them or move any of their emotions as we had intended for it to do.

This lead to us scrapping the silent element of the film and therefore then adding voice overs synchronizing them to the characters mouth movements. We had also decided to change the music, as most of the songs that were used had lyrics in them, which did not work out and actually went against our silent film idea. So we changed the music to songs that had few lyrics and had a more of a impact on the audience.

This resulted in us finishing our final product and present it to our audience again.

Audience Feedback: Silent Film

Audience feedback: - In order for us to know where the strengths and weaknesses are we had to give an insight on what viewers would think about my media products. This was also done to make sure that our products were understood in the way we intended for them to be.

Our audience had perceived that the target audience for this film was ‘teenagers’ of the ages of 17+They came to this conclusion due to the:1. The setting being a school environment2. Teenage actors3. Editing i.e. the text that was used above or next to the characters heads using neutral

colours such as white to make sure that there was no gender bias. 4. Through the poster of the film with the images of Gabriella, Christian and Lucas the

audience was easily suggesting that the film was about relationships and interactions between boys and girls.

These are successful conventions of typical teenage and romantic films, meaning that the film was easily recognisable as being aimed at a teenage audience in terms of the topic of relationships. The audience had correctly assumed it was a romantic drama meaning that the film genre came

across successfully, through the themes and plot lines in the trailer. ‘relationship between boy and girl with a drama element helped the genre to be identified’. The themes and narrative can be considered as conventional to teen romantic drama as they were easily recognised by the audience.

Our audience feedback also helped us to see whether the narrative that was portrayed is consumed in the correct manner by the viewers. We are very happy that the film had been consumed in the way that we initially intended it to be. one group claimed that it is clear that they can see ‘partial signs of the relationship building up early on in the film’. Another group stated that the ending of the film had ‘surprised and shocked them, as it was something that they had not expected to see’. This was a great response to us as that was our aim from the beginning of the project. Therefore, the narrative in our short film was considered a strength.

Positive response to the products – some audiences said that the film had an emotional response which was provoked by the magazine review page first which made them ‘interested’ and they therefore wanted to know more. All together the products had a direct, powerful and immediate effect on the audience and drew them into watching the film.

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout the production of the final products I wanted there to be a connection between the poster, review page and the actual film page. I had made sure to link the poster to the short film in terms of looks and themes according to how I saw it and tried to re-create that in the themes of the poster.

The review page however does not fully follow that as it has a more teenage feel to it rather than a serious, mature romantic look that the poster has.

The main elements that were share between the poster and the short film are the colour schemes. The short film is very bright and airy which I tried to create in the poster, giving it a light look.

For all three products the font was clear to read however they did not all interlink. As the film title within the film is a bright bold pink, the title on the poster is a casual black using georgia font and the review page using a bold pink font which went back to the title within the film. However the pink colour that was used in the film and in the review page suited the name as it was also a very feminine name.

I have presented simplicity in font and layout in the poster and given a little bit more edge to the review page. Gabriella features in all three products as she is the main character, so does Lucas. Gabriella is almost in all scenes of the short film, making it mandatory for her to be featured in all products as well, so that the audience will immediately recognise her

To follow the short film the poster had features the Lucas and Christian as well, as they also play an important part in the short film. Lucas is right next to Gabriella on the poster, showing their relationship straight away. Christian has been placed underneath them on his own, to suggest that no matter what he does to gain Gabriella’s heart, Gabriella will always place him beneath her and her relationships. Showing that Christian had no power what so ever. This allows to build up tension between these characters which is seen later on in the film as well.

Overall, in my opinion the short film and the poster are very commonly linked even though the font and colour of the title was different it still followed the same convention. The review double page however, has more of its own convention, suggesting that it may not be obviously linked to the short film and poster.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Media technologies have become very useful when it came to the construction, research and planning of my final products.

Without them no one would be able to create successful products.

They have enabled me to learn new skills.

How did you use new media technologies in the construction

and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Blogger has been a very vital place for my production of my product. On there I was able to record and effectively demonstrate all my work. Presenting my work online has proven to be more effective as it would allow me to post as I am going a lot or even do lots of my work on the actual site, instead of having to go back to a hard copy or a production log.

It is great to see the process that I have gone through from the first day that I have started till the end.

Blogger

Photoshop CS5

• Using this software has been very essential to my making my final products successful. This software is filled with various tools and features which ensure success picture editing which has been very beneficial for me. Being able to control the brightness and contrast of my images has helped me to achieve a smooth and professional finish to the images. It has also allowed me to create my film poster and review page on there using different shapes to act as boarders, adding the images, resizing the images, cutting out the background and using the writing tools to add my text. Photoshop has many functions that has made the production of these things possible.

Google has always been a very useful tool/website when it came to finding appropriate information for my blog process/research and the production for my final product.

It has also helped me to teach myself how to statistically analyse my research findings and put them into percentage forms on Excel, by showing me different codes that can be used.

It has also helped me to research into the different conventions of films, posters, review pages and genres.

It has also helped me in the process of editing the film by offering me different types of tutorials which I was able to use for free.

Google

This was used to help me record a quick video on me creating my first draft of my film poster. Just to show the process I went through

Screen Recorder

This was the main technology which was needed in the creation of my short film. It allowed me to capture my work professionally and efficiently. It helped me to capture my thoughts and ideas in an appropriate way. I had also learned various buttons on the camera for future cases in which I may use my Canon again.

Cannon 550D

YouTube has been helpful in uploading the film online to gain some responses and views and to then upload that video onto our blogs.

It has also been useful in helping me gaining some skills in terms of the filming by giving me new techniques to film and different camera settings to use.

YouTube

Facebook was our main source of audience feedback from all different kinds of people.

This was done by posting the finished products online, sharing them a few times and waiting for the responses to jump right into the comments section

It has allowed us to see the likes and comments in a sufficient and easy way.

Facebook has also been useful when it came to the communication of the actors/actresses and scheduling different days for filming.

Facebook

This was used to create our first draft of the film on. It was useful in terms of it gave us a nice structure and quality of the film from beginning to end, however we had technical difficulties when it came to the exportation of the film, as it always turned out very jumpy throughout the whole filming cutting off our camera work and making it impossible to sit through and watch.

We had then switched over to iMovie which allowed us to re-edit the film together with the already there structure. We had also then added in Foley and sound effects which we had intended to do on Sony Studio but did not manage to find on that software.

Overall iMovie gave us a fantastic finish

Sony Studio Platinum 12.0iMovie