The document analyzes how a student's short film follows conventions of the romantic genre in its storyline, camerawork, editing, sound, and mise-en-scene, such as including a love triangle, shot reverse shots, fade transitions, romantic music, and distinctive costumes for the main characters, while also challenging conventions through an unexpected plot twist. It provides examples from the student's film to illustrate how it adheres to and deviates from conventions found in typical romantic media products.

1. +
A2 Media Studies
Coursework Evaluation
By Megan Thorpe
A2 Media
Studies
Coursework
Evaluation

2. +
Question 1:
In what ways does your media product
use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?

3. +
Question 1:
Product: 5 Minute Short Film

4. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Storyline Conventions:
• The main storyline normally deals with
the triumph over a difficult relationship
• Romances generally take an optimistic
outlook on life although some do
contrast this by having a tragic ending
such as Titanic.
• Romances have predictable plots.
• Love triangles tend to play an important
part within the romantic film genre and
are now featured in many recent films
such as Mortal Instruments, Twilight,
Definitely Maybe, Titanic etc.
• The romances within each film tend to
be fast paced and progress unnaturally.
• Romances appeal to the need to
“escape the routine and anxiety of
everyday life” (Ramsdell, Romance
Fiction)
• Many of the stories deal with social
issues – alcoholism, the role of women
in society, abusive relationships, etc.
• The time frame of romances can vary.
Storyline/Narrative:
As part of our research and planning task, we used secondary
internet based research to discover the main codes and
conventions for a romantic storyline to coincide with the
romantic genre of our choice. This was predominantly through
watching romantic feature films and short films online. Our
production complies with the convention that the main storyline
deals with a resolution over a difficult relationship; however this
differs from what would be expected of a typical love story.
Normally, the resolution involves a happy ending where the
relationship becomes stronger and better for the disturbance
that comes between the two lovers. In contrast, the resolution in
our film involves a discovery of sexuality which does not result
well for Christian who wished to win over Gabriella.
This therefore goes against the storyline convention that the
plot is predictable, what seems as a „boy meets girl‟ story
turns into a complicated plot that involves two other main
characters and the effects they have on the original
friendship. However, the attraction between Gabriella and
Lucas does comply with the code that the „romance‟ is fast
paced and unnatural considering that in 1 day of meeting
each other they meet up and become very close and
intimate. This further supports the love triangle dynamic seen
in many professional teen romantic film (twilight etc.) which
in our production involves Lucas, Christian and Gabriella,
unbeknown to them Emily is at the heart of Gabriella‟s
emotions.

5. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Storyline Conventions:
• The main storyline normally deals with
the triumph over a difficult relationship
• Romances generally take an optimistic
outlook on life although some do
contrast this by having a tragic ending
such as Titanic.
• Romances have predictable plots.
• Love triangles tend to play an important
part within the romantic film genre and
are now featured in many recent films
such as Mortal Instruments, Twilight,
Definitely Maybe, Titanic etc.
• The romances within each film tend to
be fast paced and progress unnaturally.
• Romances appeal to the need to
“escape the routine and anxiety of
everyday life” (Ramsdell, Romance
Fiction)
• Many of the stories deal with social
issues – alcoholism, the role of women
in society, abusive relationships, etc.
• The time frame of romances can vary.
Storyline/Narrative:
Finally, our film deals with the social issue of sexuality
and the difficulty to understand a person‟s own sexual
desires. It is clear within our production that Gabriella is
unclear of her own sexuality, all that the audience know
is that she isn‟t in love with Christian, who clearly
adores her. When Lucas comes into the story, the
audience see their friendship blossom to potential love
from their stares at one another from across the room,
to their accidental meeting in the common room to later
in the production where they meet up outside school
and finally when Gabriella sticks up for him against her
own best friend Christian. Despite this, it is clear at the
end that Gabriella‟s relationship with Emily has silently
progressed in the background which could potentially
be due to an embarrassment of their sexuality and the
struggle of realizing homosexual emotions.

6. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Camerawork Conventions:
The main conventions of camerawork within the romance
genre involves framing/two shots, close ups of facial
expressions, eye line matches and shot reverse shots. Within
our production entitled „Gabriella‟, we included all of these
shots to express relationships, mixed emotions, unrequited
love and interest.
Two Shot/Framing – We included this convention to represent
a union between two people as it represents unity and close
relationship ties. Therefore, we added two shots in „New Boy‟,
„Close Encounters‟ and „The Fight‟. As Lucas, Emily and
Christian all had a two shot camera angle, this confused the
audience on Gabriella‟s love interests as it showed all three
candidates as potentials, with Emily being the less obvious
out of them all.
Camerawork Conventions:
• Framing mainly consists of
2 people to represent
relationships.
• Extreme CU/Close Ups
used to represent emotion
through facial expression.
• Shot Reverse Shot to
represent relationships/
growing relationships or
tensions. This is often
supported with an over the
shoulder shot.
• Eye-Line Matches

7. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Camerawork Conventions:
Close Up – We used this convention to show facial emotions
that helped the audience recognise the romantic ties between
each character and emotions expressed at significant
moments within our film. A close up is used in the final scene
„The Truth‟ after Christian discovered Gabriella‟s sexuality.
The close up convention was used at the end of this scene to
highlight Christian‟s facial expression of confusion, hurt and
pain. The audience would be able to identify with his feelings
of confusion as they would have seen the events unfold in the
same way that Christian did and would not expect the plot
twist at the end of the film. Subsequently, this close up would
evoke sympathy and empathy from the audience through
watching the progression of this character throughout the film
or by being able to identify with Christian‟s situation in their
own lives.
Camerawork Conventions:
• Framing mainly consists of
2 people to represent
relationships.
• Extreme CU/Close Ups
used to represent emotion
through facial expression.
• Shot Reverse Shot to
represent relationships/
growing relationships or
tensions. This is often
supported with an over the
shoulder shot.
• Eye-Line Matches

8. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Camerawork Conventions:
• Framing mainly consists of
2 people to represent
relationships.
• Extreme CU/Close Ups
used to represent emotion
through facial expression.
• Shot Reverse Shot to
represent relationships/
growing relationships or
tensions. This is often
supported with an over the
shoulder shot.
• Eye-Line Matches
Camerawork Conventions:
Shot Reverse Shot – We included a shot reverse shot
to display the affect of the main character Gabriella. By
including a mid shot of Lucas writing a note to Gabriella
and then showing her receiving the note and
responding to his flirtatious attempt, shows how she is
sought after by all the male characters in the
production. By providing a shot of Gabriella
subsequently, shows her love of the attention and
represents her as uncaring of Christian‟s emotions.

9. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Camerawork Conventions:
• Framing mainly consists of
2 people to represent
relationships.
• Extreme CU/Close Ups
used to represent emotion
through facial expression.
• Shot Reverse Shot to
represent relationships/
growing relationships or
tensions. This is often
supported with an over the
shoulder shot.
• Eye-Line Matches
Camerawork Conventions:
Over The Shoulder Shot – This convention is usually
used to represent conversation which is seen in many
romantic films for example „No Strings Attached‟.
Similarly, these shots are used to show a point of view for
one of the characters. In our production, we included the
over the shoulder shot to represent a conversation
between Gabriella and Christian but to also represent
Christian‟s intense focus on Gabriella and her dismissive
body language in response. This allowed the audience to
sympathise with Christian‟s clear unrequited feelings
towards his best friend.

10. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Camerawork Conventions:
Mid Shots– Although used in many different genres of
film we noticed that mid shots are used very frequently in
the romantic genre as it is used to determine the
characters body language towards each other. In our film
we used a mid-shot in the „Fight Scene‟ where Christian
sits next to Gabriella. Gabriella‟s back is slightly turned
away from Christian representing that she is reluctantly
sitting next to him without wanting to communicate. In
contrast, Christian looks over to Gabriella in a bid to
capture her attention without realising that she may feel
uncomfortable.
Camerawork Conventions:
• Framing mainly consists of
2 people to represent
relationships.
• Extreme CU/Close Ups
used to represent emotion
through facial expression.
• Shot Reverse Shot to
represent relationships/
growing relationships or
tensions. This is often
supported with an over the
shoulder shot.
• Eye-Line Matches

11. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Editing Conventions:
• Slow Motion effects
that help represent
relationships.
• Rose tinted/tinted
frames to indicate
emotion or
blossoming
relationships.
• Fade in/Fade out
Editing Conventions:
Rose-tinted frames are used to convey romance as it is a
method to show that the characters are being affected by
each other and connotes strong emotional links. We wanted
to include aspects of this in our short film to confuse the
audience but not implicate romance too strongly. Therefore
we developed this convention by including a black tinted
boarder for the scene „Close Encounters‟ where Gabriella
and Lucas first meet outside of school. We chose the colour
black to indicate that all is not what it seems and decided to
add this effect to represent a close friendship and further
emotional connections between these characters.
As a group, we wanted to convey the relationship dynamics in ways
that did not confuse the audience. In our production we used a slow
motion effect when Christian goes to embrace Gabriella at the start of
the film. This was to highlight her reluctance in returning the hug and to
portray how Christian feels towards Gabriella; the slow motion shows
that he never wishes to let go of her and the importance of that moment
to him.

12. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Editing Conventions:
• Slow Motion effects
that help represent
relationships.
• Rose tinted/tinted
frames to indicate
emotion or
blossoming
relationships.
• Fade in/Fade out
Editing Conventions:
Instead of applying a rose tint, we developed this
convention and added a red tint to the fight scene
between Lucas and Christian. Red connotes anger,
danger and passion, something we wished to develop to
present the anger of Christian which represented the
building up of his anger by Gabriella‟s interests. In
addition to this we applied a slow motion effect of the
frame where Christian witnesses Lucas‟ and Gabriella‟s
exchanging of notes to support this representation of
the red tint effect.

13. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Editing Conventions:
• Slow Motion effects
that help represent
relationships.
• Rose tinted/tinted
frames to indicate
emotion or
blossoming
relationships.
• Fade in/Fade out
Editing Conventions:
The use of fading and cutting out to a black/white
screen is a typical convention in romantic film. This
is because it presents a soft „flow‟ between the
events to symbolize happiness and love as
apposed to straight cut‟s in action movies that
presents the harsh nature of the events that unfold.
When looking at Qualitative research from case
studies and examples such as „The Notebook‟, the
use of fade in/fade out is shown throughout the film.
Therefore we decided to include this in our own
production to correspond with the editing
conventions.
We included the effect „Fade to White‟ in the
transition between the bedroom scene and the
meet up in „Close Encounters‟ to foreshadow the
happiness and romance that was to come in the
following scene as white connotes peace and
tranquility. However the following transition from the
meet up to the „Fight‟ scene has a „Fade to Black‟
effect which represented danger and violence. This
„Fade to Black‟ effect was also used in the last
scene „The Truth‟ after the close up of Christian‟s
face to symbolise the end of the film and to
represent the unhappiness that came from the
revelation.

14. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Sound Conventions:
• Soft music for scenes
that contain main
relationships and
relationship
development.
• Tension related music
for when the obstacle
in relationship
develops.
• Background non-
diegetic music in
between the prominent
scenes.
Soundtrack Conventions:
In our production, we followed all sound conventions we could source with the
addition of some of our own interpretation and creativity.
Opening scene/Friend-Zone: At the beginning we included an up-beat song to
indicate the positive relationship between Gabriella and Emily which faded and
transformed into a sinister, slow and deep piece of non-diegetic music with the
entry of Christian. This slowly faded in and became dominant in the frame where
slow motion was added to the forced embrace between Christian and Gabriella.
New Boy: In the scene „New Boy‟, as Lucas appears in shot, the music turns to a
more romantic, smooth yet prominent piece of music to highlight a potential
romance between Lucas and Gabriella. The lyrics also in this musical piece
connote blossoming love with the words „How would it feel to lose you my heart?
Guess I‟ll never know because I‟m the lucky one.‟ (Parallel Me)
Close Encounters: Within the bedroom scene we muffled a song called „That
Girl Was Fine‟ to imply that it was coming from a stereo in Gabriella‟s room. This
music was chosen to subliminally make the audience aware of the effect
Gabriella had on others and make it relatable to the discovery of Lucas‟ number
in her notes which showed that Lucas in turn was also enticed by her looks. Later
on in this scene, the audience see Lucas and Gabriella spending time together
outside of school. For this scene we chose another powerful love song that
included a soft and smooth tone and slow tempo; this was supported by the lyrics
stating „…With the ocean on your skin, with salty lips I stole a kiss.‟
Fight Scene: For the fight scene we used a compilation of 2 music pieces. We
used the same song from the scene „Friend-Zone‟ between Christian and
Gabriella to display the same level of awkwardness and tension when Christian
has to play messenger to the „two lovers‟. This was then supported by some
tension music we found on freesound.com and placed this straight after the first
piece to provide the audience with an „on edge‟ feel.
Closing Scene/ The Truth: In this last scene we played the song „Parallel Me‟
previously heard in „Close Encounters‟ to represent how Christian and Lucas are
the same as they have both been played by Gabriella. Moreover, due to its soft
tone, it makes the audience feel sympathetic towards Christian as the song
connotes love which goes against the events that are unfolding, instead of the
happy ending he desires, Christian still remains unrequited in his quest for love.

15. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Mise-en-Scene Conventions:
• EITHER: Main female protagonist
to wear „sexy‟ and „mysterious‟
clothing such as black etc OR
wear cute, feminine outfits
depending on the decade film set
in.
• „Bad Boy‟ usually wearing leather
jackets or dark clothing. Usually
talk dark and handsome.
• Boy best friend to wear lighter
colours to symbolize naivety.
• Other female characters to differ
from main female protagonist.
• Props
• Setting
Mise-En-Scene Conventions:
Gabriella: As our production was a contemporary romantic film our main female
character had to appeal to „The Male Gaze‟; so that the male audience and
characters would feel attracted towards her or at least acknowledge this attraction.
To do this, we dressed her in black/dark clothing with stunning accessories (such as
gold statement necklaces) to draw the audience to her aesthetically pleasing
features. Therefore we went against the cute outfits such as dresses and curly hair
seen in films such as „The Notebook‟. However, arguably this convention is based
on the decades each romantic film is set in and so is dependant on this era.
Lucas: We decided to also dress Lucas in black, to show his connection with
Gabriella with the combination of the same colour scheme. Moreover, to comply
with the „bad boy‟ stereotype he needed to wear black to present a mysterious and
dangerous feel to him which would represent the way that he disturbs the friendship
dynamic that is already in place before his arrival.
Christian: Throughout his whole time on screen Christian never wears any black.
This is to symbolize his lack of a connection with Gabriella where as Emily and
Lucas both do. However, he is seen wearing ordinary clothing such as hoodies and
jeans etc. to represent his basic appeal to Gabriella and appear more of a „cute‟
character as apposed to „sexy‟ like Lucas. This is further supported with the choice
of clothing in the final scene „The Truth‟ where Christian wears a white shirt that
connotes innocence and vulnerability.
Emily: Emily wears a mixture of clothing from daring leather jackets to khaki
parka‟s. She wears basic tops and jeans but with her dark make up appears more
mysterious and different to Christian. This is used to display her as a more
prominent character within the production. In each scene she appears in she wears
black clothing but more prominently at the beginning and at the end. This is to
foreshadow her connection with Gabriella that is revealed at the end of the film.

16. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Mise-en-Scene Conventions:
• EITHER: Main female protagonist
to wear „sexy‟ and „mysterious‟
clothing such as black etc OR
wear cute, feminine outfits
depending on the decade film set
in.
• „Bad Boy‟ usually wearing leather
jackets or dark clothing. Usually
talk dark and handsome.
• Boy best friend to wear lighter
colours to symbolize naivety.
• Other female characters to differ
from main female protagonist.
• Props
• Setting
Setting & Props Conventions:
Depending on the era they are set in, romantic films are
stereotypically set in places such as cities, schools and
holiday/beach settings. This is because they are places
where meeting someone and falling in love is more likely to
happen. Depending on the setting the main characters are
situated, the location is able to help the audience predict the
love that develops. In our film we used a school to represent
the age of our characters. Using a school as the main
setting was important to our film as for teenagers, it is
realistic location to meet and fall in love with people.
Within the romantic genre, props are used to signify love and a
proclamation of emotion. In our production we used flowers and
chocolates in the final scene to represent Christians strong unrequited
love of Gabriella and his final bid to win her over.

17. +
Question 1:
Product: Romantic Poster

18. +
Poster Analysis:
 (500) Days of Summer
This film poster was my main
inspiration when looking at
romantic posters. This was
because it allowed for more than
one photo and as my storyline
contained more dynamic
relationships it seemed like a
better option so that I could
represent all relationships. Due to
the film‟s sad ending I felt that this
mirrored the storyline of my film
and so the poster seemed more
appropriate.

19. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Poster Conventions:
• Photos of the main
relationships within the film.
• Backgrounds are normally
white/plain.
• Text is bold and simple to read.
• Includes credits of the film
towards bottom of page
• Enlarged title
• Prominent photo of main
protagonist
• Actor/Actresses names
• Slogan
My Final Poster:

20. +In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Poster Conventions:
• Photos of the main
relationships within the film.
• Backgrounds are normally
white/plain.
• Text is bold and simple to read.
• Includes credits of the film
towards bottom of page
• Enlarged title
• Prominent photo of main
protagonist
• Actor/Actresses names
• Slogan
My Final Poster:
Background: My poster goes against the white plain
background so that I could include a notepad background to
represent the age range of the characters and to represent the
setting of my film.
Photography: I went against the convention of having a main
central image that displays either a key scene or a main
relationship due to the complexity of my storyline and the
different relationships in my production. Instead I used a
montage of photos from my photo-shoot that showed the
different relationships in a way that looked like the main
characters had gone to a photo booth or collected memories
together. However to make it obvious who the main character
was I placed a posed photo of Gabriella looking up at the
montage evaluating her friendships. This represents her
awareness of the havoc she causes in the production and
presents her as a troublemaker.
Text: My main title text is in a playful handwritten font that
would normally be associated with a teenage girl implicating
that the „notepad‟ poster belonged to Gabriella. The slogan that
states „They say at High School you have to expect the
unexpected.‟ and the text saying that the film will be „In
Cinemas this Summer‟ are also in handwritten fonts, however
slightly differ from the title. This writing is supported by credits
at the bottom of the page and the text of Gabriella‟s actresses
name. In this section, I have complied with the normal
conventions expected of a romantic poster.

21. +
Question 1:
Product: Magazine Review

22. +
In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Review Conventions:
• Title- Usually placed in the top left hand
corner and is generally the largest text
on the page. The font of this text usually
reflects the tone and genre of the film
itself.
• Images - The amount of images can
vary on each review, however there is
always a central large image that can be
supported by both posed shots and stills
from the movie.
• Fonts - There are usually a variety of
different fonts that support the same
tone and genre of the film; here the size
can differ also, to draw attention to the
most important text.
• Anchorage Text - Placed near the main
image to add some context to the shot
that is displayed.
• Buzz Words -Such as 'exclusive' to
entice the audience and create an
excitement to the review itself.
My Magazine Review

23. +
In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Review Conventions:
• Title- Usually placed in the top left hand
corner and is generally the largest text
on the page. The font of this text usually
reflects the tone and genre of the film
itself.
• Images - The amount of images can
vary on each review, however there is
always a central large image that can be
supported by both posed shots and stills
from the movie.
• Fonts - There are usually a variety of
different fonts that support the same
tone and genre of the film; here the size
can differ also, to draw attention to the
most important text.
• Anchorage Text - Placed near the main
image to add some context to the shot
that is displayed.
• Buzz Words -Such as 'exclusive' to
entice the audience and create an
excitement to the review itself.
My Magazine Review
Title: In my magazine review I went against the convention of having the title
of our film on the magazine review. This was because after looking through my
secondary research, I noticed it was not imperative to include this convention
and that I could reference it in my review text and implicate it through the
anchorage text „This isn‟t a story of Boy meets Girl‟ . Instead, I made this text fit
perfectly onto the darker area of my enlarged still with bold yellow coloring and
block capitals to be noticed and eye catching.
Images: In my magazine review, I included two stills that showed Gabriella
and the two main male love interests within the film to represent the main love
triangle. I positioned Christian‟s photo to appear as if he was watching the
romantic still of Gabriella and Lucas – which shows the way Christian
witnessing the progressing romance between this couple. I also added a
banner that included posed shots from the photo shoot to help the reader
understand each character to help identify with the storyline better.
Fonts: For prominent text such as the Title and Anchorage Text I used a fully
capitalized bold font that would contrast the still it was placed on to appear eye
catching and easy to read which is seen in many magazine reviews I read in
Empire Magazine. The review text was a Calibri font that was reciprocated in
the main text within the banner as it was professional, simple and easy to read
and mirrored font from professional fonts I had seen in my examples. For the
banner character names I used a handwritten style font that relates to my
poster to implicate that Gabriella herself had wrote these names and to present
the age range of the characters.
Buzz Words: I went against convention and did not include any buzz words as
I wanted to keep the review simplistic and professional without cluttering the
page. Moreover from my research, Empire did not use buzz words in every
review so I did feel it was necessary for my review.

24. +
Question 2:
How effective is the combination of your
main product and ancillary texts?

25. +
How effective is the
combination of your
main product and
ancillary texts?
Fonts: Throughout my coursework I used a combination of different
fonts that represented a teenage girl‟s handwriting. This was shown in
the title sequence of my film, the title on my poster and in the banner of
my review. This was a prominent theme throughout my A2 Products as
I wished to portray the age range and main character through more
than just the photography.
Representation & Photography: In each product I have represented
the love dynamics that dominate my storyline for my short film. In my
film I have presented this love triangle in the use of close ups, mise-en-
scene, framing and soundtrack where as in my poster I have used a
montage of polaroid photos to show the different relationships and
Gabriella looking up as if to question her own choices. In my magazine
review I included two stills from the film where I positioned Christian‟s
photo to appear as if he was watching the romantic still of Gabriella and
Lucas – which mirrors the way Christian witnesses the progressing
romance between this couple. I also added a banner that included
posed shots from the photo shoot to help the reader understand each
character to help identify with the storyline better.
Colouring: In each product I have used two main colours; red and
pink. This is seen in the opening sequence of my film and in the heart
next to the title on the poster and finally as a an enlarged „S‟ in the
magazine review and on the arrows within the banner. I used this to
connote love and femininity of my genre and protagonist. I also used
bright colours in my poster to add a young feel to the poster to
represent the character‟s ages which is also shown in the magazine
review with the addition of a bright yellow that allowed text to stand out
from the main images.
Overall, I believe all 3 of my products are effective when presenting the
same genre, age range, plot and relationship dynamic between my
characters through the use of fonts, photography and colouring. Each
product reciprocates the main ideas of my A2 course and the research
that has gone into it.
Discuss:
• Short Film
• Poster
• Magazine Review
Themes:
• Fonts
• Love and representation of
characters
• Photography
• Colouring

26. +
Question 3:
What have you learnt from audience
feedback?

27. +
What have you learnt
from audience
feedback?
 Over the A2 course we collected audience feedback
at each vital decision we had to decide to make sure
that we were consistently relating back to our target
audience and to stay on task.
Audience Feedback over course:
• Questionnaire and results
• Interviews
• Peer Feedback
• Facebook comments on finished
products
The first feedback we received was from the questionnaire
we gave to sixth form students after coming up with our
main storyline for our 5 minute film. This primary research
was invaluable as it highlighted some issues we needed to
address before production. In our questionnaire we provided
a small synopsis of the storyline excluding the plot twist at
the end. We then asked a variety of questions such as what
the audience thought the genre was and what could the
twist be at the end of this production. An issue we found
was that only 60% of responses thought that the storyline
was from the romantic genre, with other suggestions
including Mystery, Drama and Romantic Comedy. Although
we did not alter the storyline, we decided that to portray our
desired genre, we would have to comply with the majority of
the romantic conventions during production to make sure
that the romantic genre was obvious to our target audience.
As a group, this highlighted the importance of the
conventions within production; something we were not
aware of at the start of the course.

28. +
What have you learnt
from audience
feedback?
Audience Feedback over course:
• Questionnaire and results
• Interviews
• Peer Feedback
• Facebook comments on finished
products
The second question that was asked in the questionnaire
was what the audience thought the twist could be at the end
of our film. We received a very mixed result with this
penultimate question; with answers from death, pregnancy,
to choosing either Lucas or Christian and homosexuality.
This was a good response for us as we wanted the
homosexual twist to not be too obvious but something the
audience could expect to make the production realistic.
After our questionnaire, we conducted more primary
research and interviewed two sixth forms students
about the issue of homosexuality. We questioned them
on the sensitivity of the subject and how we could
present this twist so that we would not endanger
ourselves by offending our target audience of sixth form
students when we wish them to be able to relate to the
storyline, no matter what character is more identifiable
to them.

29. +
What have you learnt
from audience
feedback?
Audience Feedback over course:
• Questionnaire and results
• Interviews
• Peer Feedback
• Facebook comments on finished
products
The Silent Convention:
At the beginning of our A2 course, we had initially planned for our
film to be a romantic silent film. Which we had incorporated through
the production of our first draft of the film. However, over the course
of our production we had focused more on a modern/contemporary
twist than the silent film genre, which resulted in the silent
convention not working with our storyline or romantic genre.
One of the main issues surrounding the silent convention was that
in our film the actors and actresses were moving their mouths but
this was muted so that the audience could not hear a thing they
were saying.
Originally we did not see this as an issue as this was a simple way
of adding a silent convention to our film with non-diegetic music in
the background to represent emotions and add to the atmosphere.
Once we had completed the first draft of our production, we showed
it to our teachers and target audience who pointed out said that the
film was simply a romantic film that was silent not a silent romantic
film as we had not followed enough silent conventions to class it as
a silent film. They also stated that they were keen to hear what they
the characters were talking about as the mouths were moving but
no sound was coming out from them. The audience had also
mentioned that the music was simply „nice‟ but failed to move them
instead the music was over powering and irrelevant.
After this feedback, we removed the silent element from our film
and dubbed voice over our camerawork; synchronizing them to the
characters mouth movements. As well as this, we decided to
change the music. Although the music was appropriate to our
film, we had placed it in the wrong scenes which caused the
audience to not be moved by our production. Therefore we moved
each song to better locations, layering it on top of the voice and
Foley we recently included.

30. +
What have you learnt
from audience
feedback?
 After the production and post-production of our film, it
was a success among all those we showed it to. We put
it up on to Facebook and YouTube and the comments
were all positive stating that the dubbing, storyline,
effects and soundtrack were excellent. The main praise
we received was that the film really moved the audience
and that they were able to identify with the characters,
which was what we intended to to.
 After the production of our film, I researched codes and
conventions for my poster and magazine review within
the romantic genre to make sure that they related to my
short film and represented to the romantic genre. I had
very little to develop with these last two products as the
feedback was very positive from the beginning, with the
only criticism being the lack of color on the poster. After
receiving this audience feedback, I decided to add bright
colours behind the main image within the polaroid photos
to make the poster attractive to the target audience and
represent the age of my main characters.
 Overall, audience feedback has been a vital process that
has allowed me to develop my skills, improve my work
and stay on task. Without it, my products would not be
up to the standard they are now and might not have
been as successful to the target audience as they were
when presented to sixth form students.
Audience Feedback over course:
• Questionnaire and results
• Interviews
• Peer Feedback
• Facebook comments on finished
products

31. +
Question 4:
How did you use media technologies in construction
and research, planning and evaluating stages?

32. +
How did you use
media technologies in
construction and
research, planning
and evaluating
stages?
 Prezi: Throughout the course, Prezi has been a vital media
technology that has helped us through the planning stage of our
production. We used this resource when compiling the music
playlist and soundtrack we wished to include in our film to make
suggestions of where it could be played in each scene. This
technology also allowed us to make a treatment pitch and help us
understand our genre and storyline in depth so that we could
portray this understanding on screen.
 PowerPoint & Slide Share: Although the most basic out of the
media technologies, PowerPoint has been invaluable during
research and evaluating stages. Providing easy to use features and
simplistic designs to make work look presentable. Therefore I used
PowerPoint for my magazine research and evaluation, as I was
able to import photos quickly and could use the layouts to provide
summaries in banners on the left hand side to remind myself and
readers of the point I was illustrating. Slide share made uploading
my PowerPoint's online easy and to a high quality. Using this
resource I was able to transfer these online presentations and
research on to my blog.
 Sony Movie Maker & iMovie: Sony movie maker HD was used as
our main editing resource during the production of our film. It
allowed us to add stabilizing effects and layer music and footage to
a high standard. The transitions were smooth which added to our
genre editorial conventions. However, we had to switch to iMovie to
re-edit our entire production after Sony Movie Maker failed to export
our film into a video file as the preview before exportation made our
footage jumpy and slow. iMovie, was easy and fun to use when re-
editing our work, it allowed us to add titles and transitions quickly
and easy with a wide range of choice. Layering was no issue and
adding music was simple yet provided us with a professional
quality. Without this software our film would not be up to the same
standard of quality as exporting our production and uploading it to
YouTube was no issue.
Media Technologies:
- Prezi
- PowerPoint and Slide share
- Sony Movie Maker
- iMovie
- Sony DSLR Camera
- Blogger.com

33. +
How did you use
media technologies in
construction and
research, planning
and evaluating
stages?
 Sony DSLR Camera: The camera we used was a
professional DSLR camera that gave us high quality
shots and footage that was easy to export onto our
iMovie software. Moreover it picked up the low key
lighting that made the footage more realistic and colorful;
footage appeared to be of a high definition quality
making it a invaluable media technology during the
constructing stage.
 Blogger.com: Over the 2 year course I have been using
blogger to record research, planning and evaluating my
work. It has allowed me to import YouTube videos, Slide
Share presentations and photography to a high quality
and large image size. More importantly, adding html to
each post to display Prezi presentations has been easy
to use and allowed me to broaden my knowledge and
skills to new media technologies. Without this software,
recording data would have been a struggle.
Overall, media technology has been vital in each stage of
this course as it has allowed my work to develop to be a
high standard and provided me with the resources to seek
secondary research whilst conducting my own primary
research to enable me to address my genre, brief and target
audience.
Media Technologies:
- Prezi
- PowerPoint and Slide share
- Sony Movie Maker
- iMovie
- Sony DSLR Camera
- Blogger.com