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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.