1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real
media product?
My media product has a variety of different elements which develop and challenge forms and
conventions of real media products. The types of codes and conventions in media products can
be verily divided into three distinct categories:
1. Technical (camera techniques & shots),
2. Symbolic (ie clothing, colours)
3. Written and audio (music etc).
Usually in most films of my particular genre and their trailers, the story
depicts heterosexual love interests, and that is the same with my film.
The relationship is between Zain and Noor. Zain is the guy and Noor is the
girl and they are each other’s love interest in this film. This is very clearly
displayed by my trailer.
With regards to the diegetic scores of my film, typically a drama romance combines ‘dramatic’
sounds (i.e. fast tempo leading to excitement and maybe a cliff hanger to incite eagerness to
watch film when it’s released) and ‘romantic’ sounds (i.e. soft and flirtatious sounds to signify
the love interest as well as the genre of the film). This is done time and again in my trailer to
signify the genre and conform to the conventions of my genre.
The colours of the trailers and films of drama are usually
bold and bright while romance ones have light, soft colours.
In this hybrid that I have tried to create, we see that these
two codes are combining to give us the best of both worlds.
My film uses bold colours but at the same time also has
touches of shades of pink and purple.

2. The story is about the inner conflict that the main character
Zain faces within himself, therefore focusing on his worries
rather than from a romantic angle justifies the use of bold
editing rather than editing which is more on the romantic side.
Romance film trailers editing also sometimes show nudity or
skin which is often a symbol for showing purity, love and
togetherness but this film does not do this. A convention that
my film challenges is the romantic part where the main couple
usually kiss or hug or engage in some sort of sexual act. My
film has a complete absence of any form of physical contact
I justify challenging this convention because my film is set in a high school environment and also
to stay in line with the PG ratings and guidelines stipulated by my movie.
As far as the technical aspect is concerned, there are generally a lot of fade ins and fade outs.
This helps form a more gradual transition, keeping the audience intrigued. Quick, sharp cuts
aren’t ‘soft’ enough for a romance and hence they aren’t used as much as the fades.
In my film the convention for Romance is fades and the convention for drama is quick cuts. But
if used right, even fades can properly incite a feeling of excitement and drama therefore more
fades have been used in my film than cuts.
We have often seen how most films and trailers along lines similar to mine follow
Todorovstheory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium, this theory has five distinct stages:
1. State of Equilibrium – When everything is
maintained and peaceful.
2. Disruption – When that order is
disrupted by means of an event
3. Recognition – When the characters in the
film have recognised the issue that has
occurred

3. 4. Attempt to repair – When the characters try to fix the problem that has occurred
5. New Equilibrium – When a new order has been established, but the characters know that
things cannot go back to how they were before/
In accordance with this theory, my trailer shows a state of equilibrium in the scene where Zain
and Kazim are shown to be playing football. Everything is fine in their worlds and everything is
perfect, hence the state of equilibrium, or in other words, a state where everything is in perfect
balance.
Then, with the arrival of Noor, the balance is unsettled and Zains life is thrown into chaos. Along
with that, his falling grades and the subsequent threat issued to him by his father to take him
out of school and freeze his trust fund also act as events disrupting the equilibrium found in
Zains world.
After disruption, recognition happens. Zain realizes the
state that his heart has found itself in after meeting and
spending time with Noor.
More disruption and realization takes place once Noor tries to end her relationship with Zain,
Zain further realizes that he has another problem and that is to get her back and to do that he
must come back to the root of all his problems, which is his grades and he must focus on
improving them.
Now the fourth phase starts, here Zain tries to repair the
problems. He starts studying and he works really hard. He
gives up playing football. Other than that, he also goes
through changes like that of dressing more formally and
getting a neater hair-cut, all of which are regular codes and
conventions of a character in a position similar to that of
Zain. Typically, in romance films, the girl is shown to wear

4. something feminine, like a dress, but Noor does not She does
however, repeatedly conform to using makeup, make up
that is modern to this time and age with black eyeliner and
lip gloss always present on her.
The ending is not shown as in accordance with the
conventions of a proper trailer which are such that the ending must not be given away,
obviously, or there is no point in making a film. This also serves to enhance suspense and
motivate the audience to go watch the movie itself.
With regards to the music, the music here is light in the beginning. You can hear birds in the
background, along with that, the normal school type environment can also be heard with
children playing and talking like they regularly would be in a school.
Then as the film progresses, it gets more intense and emotional, the sound having an aura of
suspense and drama, pulling the viewer in and to make the viewer feel more and more into the
movie. To make it not-too-serious there are add ins of sounds of a felt tip marker writing stuff
on a football, introducing the characters and along with that there are also other such sounds
which keep the movie on its casual yet serious track.
The font being used throughout the trailer is that of a legible
handwriting, nothing fancy, again going in line with a school
student type penmanship. The football keeps in tone with the
film by toning it down whenever needs be. The writing part is
set to a sort of fast pace, this makes it non-serious as well.
As for camera angles and shots, there are many close up shots
used, ranging from shots of Zain walking up many flights of
stairs to Noors facial expressions. As the trailer progresses,
with constant shots interspersed within the trailer of Zain
walking up the stairs, we see parallel editing of what has
happened, and what is happening thus informing the

5. audience of the current situation and also allowing them to stay interested with current events
that are about to unfold
Close up shots are also taken of Zain as he walks into the exam hall, pulls up a chair and sits
down, as well as his eyes when he starts the paper the music then is of a very dramatic ‘life or
death’ type of scenario.
To conclude, my media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real
media products in many ways and all of these ways are very evident in my trailer.