eval q1

1. IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR MEDIA
PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS?

2. CONVENTIONS THAT WERE USED
In my production, lots of typical film noir conventions were used. When I was writing the screenplay, I
researched the conventions for a film noir and tried to incorporate as many as I could into my
production. The conventions I used are:
‣ Low-key lighting
‣ Black and white
‣ Detective
‣ Femme Fatale
‣ Alcohol
‣ Fedora Hats
‣ Shadows
‣ Set in an office
‣ Credits

3. HOW THE CONVENTIONS WERE USED
The main character in my narrative was a detective and it was set in a run-down office.
These are both typical conventions of the film noir genre. I placed conventional props
such as a gun, typewriter, a shot glass and a cigarette on the detective’s desk.
The credits were at the beginning of my production and I tried to use a font that was
similar to that of classic film noirs so that it would be conventional.
The filming techniques used in my production add to the conventional aspect. We
used harsh lighting to create shadows and also used low-key lighting to set the mood
of the film. As was the case with nearly all film noirs, my production was in black and
white as this is what makes a film noir.

4. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONVENTIONS
I developed my film noir by going against the typical
convention of having both the detective and femme fatale
appear in the opening sequence. In my production, the
audience only meet the protagonist, the detective. Although
they see a picture of the woman who is the implied femme
fatale, they do not meet her. I decided to do this because I
believe it establishes more enigma and because I wanted to
put a twist on the typical film noir narrative.

5. HOW WERE CONVENTIONS CHALLENGED?
My film noir production did challenge some conventions. I wanted my opening
sequence to challenge the typical film noir genre because I wanted it to seem
more modern and different to the classic noirs produced in the 1940s/50s.
One way that I did this was making the actor do his voiceover in an English
accent. Typically, the actors in film noirs are American and I wanted to challenge
this. Although the detective has an English accent, the film is still set in America
and I tried to portray this through the use of a run-down flat as the set and the
conventional props that I used.
As I mentioned in the previous slide, the audience never meet the femme fatale
in the opening sequence as this, as well as being a development of film noir, is
also a way that I challenged the conventions. I did this to establish more enigma
as it leaves the audience wondering who the femme fatale is and what she is like.