In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My media products uses and develops forms and conventions of real media products in many ways to help to engage the audience. Supplying a viewer with what they expect will help to attract them into watching my film. I feel as though I have done this effectively due to researching into similar products under the drama genre. Not only do I feel as though I have used and developed forms and conventions I also feel I have challenged them, this will help to appeal my target audience as it give them something they did not expect which will create a bigger impact for them and appeal more to my film.

After researching into the forms and conventions of the drama genre, I found that this was the genre I wanted my short film to fall under. A real media product I analysed was off a storyline from the popular soap opera drama ‘Coronation Street’; this helped to inspire me to do a drama short film as I liked the storyline. Like in ‘Coronation Street’ I have used real life situations in my media product by using realistic characters which is a form and convention of drama productions. In the scene of ‘Coronation Street’ only two characters are within the scene. In my short film I have used this from the media product and kept it too a minimal of two characters as I think this is effective and I did not want my storyline to become unreal and lose professionalism.

Another convention used in the episode of ‘Coronation Street is the setting of where the scene was taken place. The scene is set in an everyday household of a young family, I too have used this convention and set one of my scenes in a living room of a terraced house, as the male and female characters in my film are young and give the impression to the audience they have just moved in together. I feel my target audience will be able to relate to this as they may be in similar situations, this will help symbolise the genre of my product to stand out as a drama. However I have also challenged this convention, as I also include various other locations which are set far away from each other which create a non-linear storyline, as my shots jump from various locations such as a bridge, wood, tunnel, public area and a household. I was inspired to do this from another real media product called ‘The Scientist’ this is the narrative storyline of a music video by Coldplay. In this the main character is walking in a reverse effect to his beginning location. However the audience is on the journey with him and see’s the distance he travels in jump shot forms. I was inspired by the way the character was walking backwards; this gave me the determination to interpret this in my short film which is challenging the convention of a drama genre but hopefully will make the audience more intrigued to watch the entire film.

As I researched more into reversed narratives I came across another real media product which follows the correct forms and conventions of the drama genre, this is another narrative storyline of a music video called ‘Breezeblocks’ by Alt J. This helped the inspiration for my storyline, as from my research I found that a typical convention for a drama product is for the audience to be able to relate to the characters. In the narrative story for Breezeblocks it shows a male and female character fighting with each other and the audience are unaware of which one is the victim, again this narrative is in a reversed effect so made it more attention grabbing for the audience. I used this idea, however developed it into my own as I made my male character become the antagonist by showing the audience in a reversed effect of him abusing my female protagonist. This is following the convention of a drama genre as in this day and age many women do get abused by their partners of which some of my target audience may be able to relate too, which will entice them to watch my film even though they do not see this until the end of the film due to the reversed narrative.

From my previous textual analysis’s I found that they all involved a male and female as their main characters. I could have challenged this convention and chosen to have my characters as two females, however I decided against this and used the typical convention of a man and female as it is what my audience will recognise and I did not want to surprise them too much especially with my product being in a reversed formation. Another reason for following this convention is because it is usually stereotyped for the man to abuse the woman and never another woman abusing a woman in a relationship.

The purpose of having a dramatic storyline is to attract the audience emotionally; this is another convention for a drama genre, in my film I develop the mood and atmosphere by the voiceover I use. My voiceover includes my protagonist talking about her feelings and thoughts towards my antagonist whilst walking in reverse through the various locations. I developed my voiceover from research of an opening of a real media product, this was a music video by Taylor Swift, I feel as though my dialogue develops as my short film progresses and my audience begin to feel close to the character which follows the convention of the audience being able to relate to her.

A form and convention which is usually followed in drama narratives is for the product to be structured with climaxes to keep the audience attached. For example in the real media product of Breezeblocks by Alt J the audience is captivated with the interest of what each of the characters are going to do next to each other. However I have challenged this as I keep my audience fascinated by keeping them gripped with the tension of her walking in reverse throughout the various locations with the sound of the voiceover, I think this works effectively as they are yet to understand the meaning of her thoughts as they can only feel sympathy for my protagonist until the end when the story unfolds.

Another important convention I have used for my product is the choice of music I decided to have in the background. Although the real media product ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay is a music video, I was intrigued at how well the music fitted with the narrative, I therefore wanted to create my own piece of piano rock which will be non-diegetic and will help the audience feel a sorrowful mood with the character. However instead of the protagonist singing like in the Coldplay video, I will challenge this and have my protagonist speak the voiceover to make sure it uses the codes and conventions of a short film.

I have used the idea of the woman killing the male from my textual analysis of Coronation Street, as I think it is effective and contradicts all stereotypes of the male being the killer which will lure the audience into watching the film. As this is the ending of my film, this contradicts conventions of a drama product as they usually end with a happy ending, for example in the narrative story of ‘The Scientist’ by Coldplay the reversed storyline ends with him and the female driving happy in the car whereas in my product my character is in lost emotions at both the start and the end of the film, due to the ending which the audience is able to visually see is of the antagonist abusing her. I feel this has worked well as it leaves the audience feeling sorry for the protagonist and creates a heartening mood.

My ancillary task one was to create a film poster. I looked into the forms and conventions of other real media products under the genre drama. I found that the most common forms and conventions used in real media posters include the title, main image, and production information. I have used this in my media product as I feel it adds professionalism and will attract my audience. I noticed from my research of real media texts that ‘FlightPlan’, ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ and ‘A Great Escape’ all have their main title towards the bottom of the poster. I was intrigued at how I found this effective and used this in my own poster. When editing the title I chose to have it in two colours; these were black and white, as I thought this would represent the good and bad in relation to my two main characters, this challenges the conventions of real media products as from my research I found they are usually presented in one bold colour. I decided that having the title towards the bottom of the page will give the audience a chance to view the image first, at which I made sure it was appealing and eye catching.

The main image from the ‘The FlightPlan’ is layered, as the background picture is of blurred lights and mixed colour tones of blue and black, layered on top of this is the female protagonist which clearly shows a confused and scared expression on her face which helps to entice the audience into watching the film as they will want to find out the reasoning of her emotions. I noticed this was a convention for drama posters as this too appeared in the real media product ‘Beautiful Dreamer’. I have used and developed this in my media product, as for my background image I used one of the locations in my short film, this is the tunnel which my character is seen to be walking through. However in this picture I decided to have a view of an empty tunnel and layered on top of that image my protagonist. The mid shot of my protagonist is large enough for the audience to see the scared and worried expression across her face. This will like the real media product help to attract my target audience as they will want to know the reason for her emotion as well as the empty tunnel. Together I feel they develop a feeling of isolation and sympathy for the character.

In the real media product ‘Flightplan’ they used blue’s and blacks as a colour theme, personally I felt this created the correct genre but also had an influence of an action genre. The colours I decided to use for my media product I developed from the poster I research ‘Beautiful Dreamer’, in this they used colour tones of brown and blacks. This helped to create the right mood for the time period the film is set in. I used brown tones in my poster, as that is the colour of the tunnel and a convention of a drama genre is to have real life and realistic settings I feel as though this supports and shows the genre.

From my research I also used other important conventions used in a poster. This was having the names of the main characters at the top of the page. When analysing the poster ‘Flightplan’ I saw that only one name was presented at the top of the screen, however I challenged this as I chose to include both my main characters names at the top as I feel it will help to attract my audience. In the real media product ‘A Great Escape’ a convention they have used is having star ratings positioned at the top of the page so that the viewer will be able to see them clearly. I chose to use this convention in my product as I think it will help to draw the audience in to watch the film. I also found on the media product ‘A Great Escape’ they include the release date which is shown just under the title. I have used this in my product but challenged the positioning of this convention as I decided to place it underneath the production information but in a bolder font to make it still stand out to the audience.

Cast Names

Star Rating

Release Date

For my ancillary task two I had to produce a magazine film review for my short film. I researched into the typical codes and conventions of a magazine review which included an image, a title, context, production information, a quote and other relevant information for the production. I then analysed three magazine reviews, two under a hybrid genre with drama and another under the genre horror, as I wanted to see the difference in the way they are presented. From my research I was inspired and used the real media products as inspiration for my own.

For the layout of my magazine I was inspired by the ‘New Moon’ magazine review as I liked how it was on one page. I was also inspired with the ‘New Moon’ magazine had the title for the film halfway down the page. I have used this idea in my own magazine review as I liked the idea of the image being at the top. From my research I saw that in all three magazine reviews the title’s were all bold and took the attention away from the other pieces of texts, in which case I have used this as I wanted to follow this convention in an article.

I used the convention of having a colour scheme in my magazine review as I thought it would make my magazine look professional. I was inspired with how the ‘New Moon’ magazine article used red and orange tones; I used this however interpreted it into my and used blue and grey tones. The reason I chose this colour is so that it would coordinate with my protagonists eye colour on the image.

From my research I found that all real media products include a large image. ‘New Moon’ and ‘Suspect’ the two drama magazine reviews I research include two characters, this will support the drama genre as it usually based on real life situations. However I was inspired by the horror genre magazine review ‘The Cave’ I researched as it included a close up picture of a female character. I thought this was effective as it meant the audience were unaware of who she is in the film. I used this in my product which meant I challenged drama genre film magazines as I feel my target audience will be still intrigued to read my magazine article with an extreme close up of my protagonists face, as I feel it looks effective.

Another convention which I used in my magazine review is a star rating. I was inspired to do this from two magazine reviews I researched which were ‘Suspect’ and ‘The Cave’ as I noticed they had theirs at the top of the page, I challenged this as I decided to put my star rating within my production information, as I feel confident that my image will make a viewer want to read more about it.

In the real media texts ‘The Cave’ and ‘Suspect’ they include extra text in the corners of the images. I too have followed this convention as I feel it is something extra for the viewer to read and become enticed and want to read the review.

‘New Moon’ and ‘The Cave’ both include a short quote underneath the title. I have used this however challenged this as I have used three questions which are within my voiceover. I feel this is effective and the audience will be intrigued to find out why these questions are being asked.

In conclusion I feel I have used developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media texts in different ways to produce my final products.