Eval Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products.

Conventions are common occurrences we as an audience associate with specific media texts or genres.

The common conventions often associated with short films in general include:

• ·         A length around five to fifteen minutes
• ·         A smallish number of characters, usually between one and thirty
• ·         Often low budget
• ·         Often made by small independent film studios or individuals
• ·         Usually made for the purpose of web 2.0

After watching over my film, I believe I have followed most of these conventions. The length of my film according to the brief had to be five minutes plus or minus ten percent (thirty seconds). The actual length of my video was five minutes thirteen seconds, a typical length for a short film. To try and keep my film simple and make it easier to follow for the audience, I only used two characters, played by only two actors. This is also within the norms of a short film. With my film being schoolwork and not a funded film, the budget for my film consisted of whatever money happened to be in my pocket at the time of filming. This was usually less than £5 and was mostly spent on refreshments for actors. The main purpose behind the production of my media piece was for coursework for my A level media course. However for the benefit of my course and the associated blog, my video was placed on the web 2.0 site YouTube for people to see and leave feedback.

After a lengthy period moving from brief to brief I chose a short film along with a poster for the film and a magazine review. I then had another period where I went through different ideas for films, including different genres. I went for a thriller genre for my film as I enjoy the suspense you get from thrillers and I wanted to try to emulate that suspense.

With my genre decided as well, I asked my friends and family what they thought about the conventions of thriller films. Although not a convention in terms of the film itself, doing research in this way went against the norm of using a questionnaire. I decided to do my research in this way as the friends and family I asked, I believed would be more open, honest and willing to participate, compared to people id never met or didn’t know very well. Some of the key conventions my respondents picked out to me included:

• ·         Low key lighting
• ·         Range of paces for the film
• ·         Cliff hangers
• ·         Mystery, resolved towards end of film
• ·         Suspense
• ·         A villain and a hero
• ·         Urban setting

With these aspects in mind, I planned and produced my film.  For my film, I decided to challenge as many conventions as I could whilst still maintaining the feel of a thriller. This way my film would be recognisable as a thriller, yet still stand out from other films and be unique.

Although I used low key lighting in the film, a lot of the film has a brighter light level. I used the two to show the contrast between the night and the day in this new lifeless world. The film does use a range of paces as I believed that in this case, it benefitted the film to use them. The film is based over a 4 month period, the first two minutes goes through a period of about three to four weeks. The next three minutes cover about three months. The shots used also affect the pace as longer shots slow it down for dramatic parts and sorter shits to quicken the pace for parts without much dialogue to keep the audience interested. I didn’t use a cliff hanger for my film as I wanted it to have a conclusive ending and only having five minutes meant there weren’t many opportunities for a cliff hanger to be used. Although I did use mystery, I broke the convention by not resolving it during the film. Within my film, it is revealed that the human race has been almost entirely wiped out by an unknown illness. However, no details about it are given making the audience want to know more, however they are not told leaving them with a sense of longing for answers. I made sure to use the convention of suspense as this was one of the reasons I wanted to do a thriller in the first place. I tried to keep the focus on the characters as much as possible but left the rest of the film with more than one possible story, leaving the film open to interpretation by the audience creating suspense. It could be argued that my film does have a villain and a hero, the villain being the killer disease and the hero bring the main character fighting to survive it. However, I tried to leave the film without a sense of conflicting forces as this may drive it towards a more action like genre. I also broke the convention of an urban setting by basing most of the film in a rural setting (the woods) 

but having elements of an urban setting when the characters are walking through the town. The two main reasons for this were 1. To make the film stand out through the use of an unfamiliar setting and 2. To remove the difficulties of passersby interrupting the filming.

Another film of my genre and which is also a short film is the PurchaseBrothers production, “escape from city 17”. 





This is a short film based on the events of the half life 2 video game from Valve. The film uses low key lighting and varying shot types and lengths to alter the pace at different stages of the film. The film ends on a cliff hanger as the two main characters run from a helicopter that is trying to shoot them. Just as it approaches, the film cuts to black and ends without showing us their fate. There is a sense of mystery as we see people executing other people and other similar events without any real explanation behind it. The film carries an urban setting being based in a ruined city/city under attack. There is a clear differentiation between a hero and a villain, but both are a group of people rather than a single individual.

Another similar short film is the production “Portal: No escape” by Dan Trachtenberg.





This film also uses low key lighting however, the film maintains a fairly consistent pace right up until the end when the main character attempts to escape here confinement. The film ends on a cliff hanger which creates the suspense and mystery of not knowing the main characters fate. We also get a sense of mystery as we know nothing about the world of the film and nothing is ever revealed as there is no dialogue within the film. It is implied that there is a villain in this film. Although we never see them, it is implied the villain is whoever is keeping the main character contained, while the main character is the hero. The majority of the film is based inside a room leaving the setting to the imagination of the audience. Near the end we see the main character on the roof in what appears to be a city although we discover that it is an image on a screen used to trick her. 

For my production I also had to produce a poster and magazine review. Therefore I also had to look at the conventions of these as well. The conventions of a magazine review include:

• ·         The film title
• ·         A brief summary of the films plot
• ·         Basic info about the film
• ·         The review itself
• ·         An image from the film being reviewed

I got this info by analysing a magazine review for the film “push”. http://media-easden-h540.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/conventions-of-magazine-review.html

The typical conventions of a film poster include:

• ·         The main image
• ·         A cinema release date
• ·         A block of text with movie details at
• ·         Films title
• ·         Actor’s names
• ·         tagline

I analysed some film posters to get these conventions in the same way I did the magazine review. http://media-easden-h540.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/poster-analysis.html

For my magazine review, I decided to use as many of the conventions I had found. I did this as I felt using the same conventions found in professional reviews would make mine appear more professional. My review has the film’s title, an image from the film and the review itself. The info of the film and the brief summary plot are more or less contained in the review itself, where in other reviews, it has a separate section.

I took a similar attitude when it came to producing my poster. I made sure to include all the information you would typically see on a professional film poster.  I have the main image taking up the whole page with the text over the image. I placed the text, such as film title, bottom paragraph and tagline where they seemed most appropriate. I did challenge a convention in terms of placement as I placed the main title of the film towards the bottom of the poster when most films titles tend to be placed at the top. I also made the poster with a landscape orientation when most film posters use a portrait orientation.