1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge form and conventions of real media products?
In the opening
scene of „The
Night Before‟ the
viewer gets a
third and first
person
perspective of
what was
happening
leading up to the
events seen on
the rooftop.
This gives a
voyeuristic feel to
the scene that you are there as it happens. It can help you to relate to the character
as well as explaining why he may have lost his memory.
As the rooftop scene starts you see Dan waking up and checking his surroundings.
After he has got a rough idea of where he is, he stands up and puts on his shoe.
After this, he takes out his phone and calls people he can remember from last night
asking them if they know where he is and how he got there.
This show‟s our protagonist‟s weakness; he can‟t remember anything.
2. And the end of our opening, Dan is
on the phone to a stranger who
states that if “Tells [them] what
they want, no-one has to get hurt”
This puts the protagonist (and
others) in peril. The stranger
hangs up without telling the
protagonist what the statement
fully means, leaving Dan very
confused.
This is also a case of mistaken
identity. Dan has no idea what is
going on, yet people think that he
knows an important secret.
Because Dan is unaware of what he knows (or supposedly knows) the antagonist is
trapping Dan in an increasingly complex web, making him feel isolated and
hopeless. The fact that he also can‟t contact anyone - which the viewer can assume
is due to the stranger on the phone - means that he is already fairly isolated.
At the beginning of the rooftop scene Dan finds a piece of paper with a code on, it is
slightly obstructed from the view of the audience - This creates an enigma as the
audience would be wondering what it is because Dan does not appear to recognise
it. Towards the end of the scene the audience sees Dan notice a number that has
been scribbled on his arm that he was not aware was there. When he calls it a
mysterious voice answers, says something very suspicious and then hangs up. This
creates even more enigmas for the audience such as; how did the number get there,
who wrote the number, who is the voice on the phone among others.
![And the end of our opening, Dan is
on the phone to a stranger who
states that if “Tells [them] what
they want, no-one has to get hurt”
This puts the protagonist (and
others) in peril. The stranger
hangs up without telling the
protagonist what the statement
fully means, leaving Dan very
confused.
This is also a case of mistaken
identity. Dan has no idea what is
going on, yet people think that he
knows an important secret.
Because Dan is unaware of what he knows (or supposedly knows) the antagonist is
trapping Dan in an increasingly complex web, making him feel isolated and
hopeless. The fact that he also can‟t contact anyone - which the viewer can assume
is due to the stranger on the phone - means that he is already fairly isolated.
At the beginning of the rooftop scene Dan finds a piece of paper with a code on, it is
slightly obstructed from the view of the audience - This creates an enigma as the
audience would be wondering what it is because Dan does not appear to recognise
it. Towards the end of the scene the audience sees Dan notice a number that has
been scribbled on his arm that he was not aware was there. When he calls it a
mysterious voice answers, says something very suspicious and then hangs up. This
creates even more enigmas for the audience such as; how did the number get there,
who wrote the number, who is the voice on the phone among others.](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)