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

Genre and how the opening suggests it

 My media product is part of a cross-over between two genres - Art House and Drama. Art House is described as "...canon of films and those formal qualities that mark them as different from mainstream Hollywood films" and a Drama is ''in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes''. I feel that my main character comes across as small parts of both of these and that it is hard to determine which definite genre the film opening would fit into.

The things that make it a Drama is the letters and photos being burnt, which automatically suggests to the audience that something dramatic has happened and they either need to be burnt for security reasons or for emotional reasons.

Also, the paper crane is a connotation as they symbolise hope which links to the character and the story directly due to what she wants and also things that will happen later in the film. The film relys heavily on this connotation which is also shown at the beginning in the animation, which gives the audience a clue that it could mean a lot more than just a folded letter. This also links back to the preliminary task we did on 'Albatross' and creating a second meaning. 

Film Titles

Obviously the film titles relate to the film and the genre it is in yet I have gone against the conventional block capitals for the titling and have gone for a more intricate font that is quite hard to read. For example, I have found many film titling that are in block fonts and most are in the same genres as my piece.

Regardless of formation and colour, all of these film titles are in block capitals, something I have completely gone against. As these are all real media products I have ignored the typical conventions and have done something completely different.

My titles are very simple and I think they fit with the mood of the piece, if it was fitting I would have done something like the titles for Napolean Dynamite (below) but I feel this would not set the tone of the opening at all.



I only included the name of my film and the actors name in my titles as I felt that they were the only appropriate things. These are shown below. If compared to the above pictures of the conventional titling there is an obvious difference.

Setting and Location

In most films, live footage scenes are used to establish the setting. In my film opening, this is the same. I have not gone against this convention as it is probably the most difficult one to do so. Below is the opening of Control, which sets the scene with the main character Ian sitting in his room.



The shot is properly established about fourty seconds in, to the point where we can see his surroundings which is unlike mine. Straight away I have shown the main character and where she is which I did purposefully as I was only given two minutes to convey what I wanted to and I found that doing it straight away was more effective.

Above is the first shot that shows the surroundings in Control. Underneath that is the first scene from my film opening which also serves the same purpose. Many films present the setting differently, such as American Beauty which shows the audience the flying over the surroundings without the main character there to begin with (below).




Costume and Props

These are a hugely typical media convention and it is almost impossible for them not to be used. They are very important aspects of portraying a character and also taking the focus away from the character at some points.


My main character is very stereotyped as 'indie' and this is reflected in her clothing and the way she acts. An underground band t-shirt and bright red hair makes her different from others and also fits with the stereotype I have given her. She is also wearing boots which can make her seem unlike the normal stereotyped girl as well, yet she is wearing a Vivienne Westwood necklace which is very mainstream and typical. This gives the audience the sense that she has a very unique style which also reflects on her personality. Below are the pictures of her costume.

Props were also used as well, an abandoned crate, old letters, photographs and a lighter. Ideally I would have liked to use more as it would have made it more interesting but at the same time I think there were enough for the opening two minutes as any more could have made it confusing. Here are photos of the props being used.

Crate

Lighter and letters

Photographs

As it is hard to break away from the typical media conventions in this part of the opening, I don't feel that it was necessary to as I feel it portrays my character perfectly but leaves a lot to be interpreted.

Camerawork and Editing

 The editing I have done for this is very simple yet effective. Between most shots I have put fading transitions in to make it flow smoothly and show continuity, yet cutting out small parts that the audience can guess which is called ellipsis. I used this because it allowed me to use a variety of shots of the same action, making it more interesting and does not change the fact that what is happening is continuous. I kept it simple by not zooming or editing the footage any more. Also, cutting clips was a vital part of the editing as things went wrong all the way through and some good shots could be saved. I also edited the saturation of the footage which I felt would fit the mood more appropriately. I left colour in but I toned it down a lot which had a huge effect on the mood of the film, making it seem more sad and dull. A good example of this is Control, which is all filmed in black and white which also changes the mood yet fits with the period of time it was set in. In a way, I have challenged the normal form of a real media product as most films are filmed in colour and show a lot of discontinuity. However there are examples of black and white films e.g Good Night, and Good Luck yet films like this are becoming less and less common.

Story and how the opening sets it up

My film opening leaves a lot to be judged by the viewer, as I found out in my feedback by comments like:
"Not really sure what the story is about"
"Narration is quite bland and doesn't reveal much about the storyline"
"Storyline is a bit vague"

However, I felt that this was a good thing and that it would make the audience want to watch more as there was an air of mystery to the storyline. From my audience research I found out that most people enjoy a slow and simple start to a film which is what I aimed for, and believe I succeeded in doing. I also think that the way that the character acts is also an indication that it is not a happy film, as she does not smile at all in the opening two minutes and her stance (hunched over) and presence is not a colourful one.

Not smiling - upset

Hunched over giving the impression that the character is upset

I don't feel that this particularly challenges real media products as there is such a huge range of emotional films and considering the genre my opening is in, many of them begin like this. I think the opening sets the mood and tone of the film but definitely not an obvious storyline, just one left open to interpretation.

How characters are introduced

In my opening there is only one character. I felt that this was the best way to introduce her as later in the film we find out she has a very complex personality. I think this fact is only mildly displayed though, her actions are a bit odd in the opening scenes, but as there is no dialogue I think that what she is doing is very strong and shows what could be there in dialogue, but isn't. She is also addressed alone, which says a lot about her personality and how she is socially. I think this is a good way of introducing a character so that it a while before her personality is properly released to the audience. I think that this challenges the way that characters are introduced in most films, the protagonists main traits are nearly always introduced properly within the first few minutes either by dialogue between them and another character, or by a short paragraph about themselves either read by said character or a voiceover.