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

2. Titling
Pink, girly titles are part of our film's generic convention. We used
bright pink titles including a very girly font as we had noticed that this
was common in other RomComs and Chick Flicks that we had
previously analysed such as "Legally Blonde“ and we wished to
replicate this. Pink is very much associated with girlyness and is a
convention we used giving our audience a clear insight into the genre,
as they will be able to immediately relate it to other Romantic
Comedies they have seen.
We had noticed that another convention of films of this genre is to
place titles over action. We wanted to stick to this convention as we
thought it would help our opening sequence run smoothly instead of
cutting through the action and putting a title up on another coloured
screen. We placed the titles over the action and some panning shots
as we had seen in “Legally Blonde” and this gives the audience time
to read the titles as well as acknowledge what is being shown on the
camera which gives an insight into the protagonist.

3. Girly Title
Camera over
action –
panning shot
Example: The Naked Truth
Legally Blonde (our film)

4. Camera Movement and Shots
We found that in the opening sequence of “Legally Blonde” where Elle is getting
ready, there are various panning and tracking shots as well as extreme close ups
and medium close ups as she is getting ready. We decided to incorporate this
camera movement and idea of shots into our opening as they are both of the
same concept.
We have an extreme close up of Naomi applying her makeup which adds fine
detail into the opening sequence and we see her every move.
We then have a tracking shot as the camera follows Naomi’s hand putting her nail
polish brush back into the pot.

5. Mise-en-Scene
We thought the mise-en-scene would be key because if we chose the right props
and things in the background, it would help the audience to distinguish our genre
a great deal. Pink, makeup, fashion magazines and book collections such as “The
50 Shades of Grey” are all props that we used to help set the scene and mood of
our genre so that it could be easily recognised. The panning shots helped to
highlight these props which helped to reveal more about the protagonist, allowing
the audience get to know her more before the main story line unravels. Little dogs
are highly associated with girly girls and so we decided to use this as another
convention as seen in “Legally Blonde” and “High School Musical”. Naomi’s clothes
were also carefully picked to help match her character and in a way, we have
developed conventions here as she is not wearing pink clothing or anything quite
so girly but instead she is wearing a leather jacket and leopard print heels which
suggest promiscuity, recklessness and a wild side to her. Nevertheless, the heels
still show her femininity.

6. We also used props to create a sexual innuendo such as Sam’s cream “Glow Job”
and Phoebe’s mascara “Thick and Fast”. The audience can relate to these products
as they are common and girly however they also battle and develop the ordinary
conventions because they are suggesting that our protagonist is not innocent and
shy but flirtatious and out going. In addition, we also thought that our innuendos
would add a sense of humour to our opening sequence which is part of our genre
and we found that we were successful as the people who watched our opening did
notice these products immediately and the majority of them laughed!

7. Sound
We knew we needed to have an upbeat, catchy pop song for our opening
sequence and we managed to find our track and edit it on Garage Band. However,
we decided to develop this convention. Normally, the song playing throughout the
opening sequence of a RomCom is non-diegetic. Therefore, we played non-
diegetic music at the start which stopped shortly after. Nevertheless, we decided
to have our main soundtrack as diegetic sound and were able to do this by getting
Naomi to press a single button on the iPod dock which was the queue for the
music to begin. We put in bits of other diegetic sound too to add realism, e.g the
writing on the foggy mirror, the squeaky door. We had noticed that in other
RomComs, there were voiceovers above the non-diegetic sound such as the
cheering and talking in “Legally Blonde”. As we only had one character in our
opening sequence, we made use of our surroundings and her movement by
adding mirror and door squeaks. There was also a sound bridge at the beginning
which the audience can hear as the company logos appear.

8. Our Developments
We decided it was best to stick to the majority of the conventions for our genre as
we wanted guaranteed success and challenging forms and conventions can be very
risky. However, I believe the sexual innuendos did work very well because even
though they are usually not seen in typical RomComs, it gave our film another
edge and we still managed to keep the balance so that our genre was clear by
using other props and techniques.
We also took away the idea of having an instantly likeable protagonist by adding a
sense of promiscuity and recklessness to Naomi. The things in her room such as
her Valentine’s cards and the pictures with boys show her confidence and big self
esteem. By making Naomi more mysterious and edgy, we have moved away from
the idea of a cute American girly girl and have made Naomi fit into a more British
category which will make her more popular for teenage girls here to relate to.