1. Question 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?
2. Genre
Titles –
We named the film ‘Driven’, this has a double meaning, it links to his career and
also to his mind set to get him to where he is, I think that the name links all
elements of the film together and also creates mystery for the audience. The
film is a motor sport film so the name links to the genre well. The designing of
the Title was influenced by audience testing, as a group we picked a few
individual fonts and presented these to a focus group along with a questionnaire
asking for their opinions, from this we figured out which fonts were the most
popular and why – this allowed us to make are final decision. The Title appears
at the end of our opening, this fits really well with the voice over and creates
mystery for the audience – I think that it is conventional of motor sport films
that the title appears later in the opening after establishing shots have been
shown.
3. Credits –
We choose to do the credits is quite a conventional way,
they fade out slowly – this is with in good keeping with
our narrative. I think that our credits are similar to most
films but it is the way that we found most fitting with our
opening.
4. Characters –
In our opening it is clear that our
main character is a protagonist this is
very stereotypical for a film of the
genre Motor Sport. I think that in
some ways we do have an antagonist
character however it is the same
character as the protagonist, I feel
that he is the only person that stops
himself doing anything.
Further on in the film the audience
maybe introduced to secondary
characters, currently there are a few
extras in the fan scene, these would
probably stay as extras rather then
becoming secondary characters but
there is that option.
Our main character is unconventional
of a motor sport film, this is because
he starts of disabled which subverts
the stereo type of racing drivers being
very active and energetic.
The opening of our film and the
characters in it can be compared to
the opening of ‘Rush’.
5. Settings/ locations –
When filming the opening to our film we stuck to the very conventional locations
of a race track/ environment, this is shown in films such as Rush and The Need
for Speed.
We are very lucky that the Silverstone UTC is located on/ next to one of the
most famous racing circuits and we were given the opportunity to use this
facilities.
When filming there were some limitations such as
• Timings – we only had 1 college day to film everything we needed to on the
track
• Locations – we had to get permission to use certain locations on the track
such as grandstands, we had to make sure that the circuit were contacted well
in advance so that we were able to do so.
• Distance – Working as a group meant that we had to find time and a place
when everyone was able to film and where everyone could get to considering
we all live in different villages and surrounding areas
I think that if were to do it again there is a few improvements/ changes that
could be made, I think it would have looked really effective in the flash backs if
the grandstands had of been full with fans – possibly with flags and posters, like
a really busy race weekend
6. Costumes –
Conventional costumes for a film of the
Motor sport genre can vary, there will
nearly always be a race suit, and some
sort of Fan/ pit girl. Stereotypically racing
drivers are wealthy so even when they
are not in a car they are seen to be
dressed well often with sunglasses on.
In the opening we subvert this stereotype
– our main character is seen in warm
layered clothing, this is used as a contrast
to when he is wearing a race suit – this is
used to show how his life has changed.
The costume of the character can also be
seen to encode his age and how this
accident has aged him and changed him
into a lot less active and energetic person,
the complete opposite to what he once
was.
All the other extras in the opening are
wearing casual clothing this is just their
own style, just like it would be if they
were out for a day watching a race.
7. Camera work –
As a group we used lots of establishing
shots – this is conventional of a Motor
sport genre film to set the location of
the film. The shots we used in our
opening help to show the narrative of
the film as well .
We used a range of shots and
techniques such as –
• Establishing
• Pan
• Track
• Close up
• Hand held shots
• Focus pull
These were used to help create mystery
and a fast pace for the audience
8. Editing-
We have used editing in the opening to create an atmosphere for
the audience for example a filter has been used on the flash backs
to make the narrative easier to understand, as well as the speed
of editing changing between the past and present to show the
change of speed in his life.
The present has a slower speed of editing to show how boring and
ordinary his life is, nothing exciting is happening.
The past has a much faster edit showing the excitement and
energy that his life use to be life.
The comparison between the 2 makes it clear to the audience that
something has happened.
9. Narrative –
The narrative has been created through the wide variety
of shots and edits, this makes the story line clearer and
easier to understand for the audience. Most of our
opening could be classed as a conventional Motor Sport
film however some parts of it could be classed as
subverting these conventions.
