In what way does your media product use conventions

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

2. INTRODUCTION
• My film production originally was planned out to be reminiscent of the
action genre, using typical tropes and conventions explored by the myriad
of high budget action/adventure blockbusters throughout the decades.
However through multiple setbacks and re-envisioned ideas, the film
progressively shifted into a darker tone, with a slow theme. There are still
scattered elements of ‘action’ conventions within the film which are
primarily the remnants of my original idea or inspiration of my original film.
So in some ways my product could be viewed as a blend of 2 ideas, one
which was my original idea and the other which was a creation of
improvisation and adaptation.

3. CONVENTIONS-CHALLENGE
• One convention that I actually ended up challenging, was
the pacing of the editing and the narrative. Typically in
most general action films, whenever the action occurs on
screen, the editing will increase in speed and adopt a more
chaotic nature. The music will take on a fast and intense
beat while the volume of shots will escalate while declining
in overall length.
• However, the approach that was undertaken while filming
the production was to achieve the opposite. All the
conventions mentioned prior were basically flipped, the
editing took on a slower and arguably more menacing
tone while the speed and nature of the editing revoked the
‘chaotic’ feeling for a more methodical character. The
non-diegetic soundtrack still kept the slow but intense
beat and the lighting in the climax of the film was
extremely low key. These changes in the way that the
production was shot, helped alter the film from a
dedicated action film to an action/thriller with darker
elements.
My production adopted a slower
pace compared to other films
within the action genre

4. CONVENTIONS CHALLENGE
• Another convention that I promptly challenged
was the moral stance of the protagonist. In most
action films the protagonist is often viewed as
morally just while simultaneously ruthless and
unforgiving to those who deserve it (bad guys) to
establish a sense of ethics that the audience can
easily understand and follow.
• During the course of the entire film the
protagonist rarely strays from their moral
absolutes that align with societies current morals,
only during specific points but never during the
conclusion as that would tarnish their image as a
hero.
• I displayed the main protagonist as the hunted
which for a certain time period follows the
conventions mentioned above, however in the

5. CONVENTIONS-FOLLOWED
• Nevertheless, I still attempted to retain some
of the broad themes of the action genre,
utilising scenes that incorporated higher key
lighting and faster paced editing. One section
of the production in particular was when the
“Protagonist” is hacking an unknown
website/corporation. This scene borrowed
many conventions associated with such a
scenario such as repeated close up shots to
establish the fluctuating emotional state of the
character. These close-up shots were used
considerably to convey certain activities that
the character was doing such as typing,
reacting to what is on the screen etc. It should
be noted that these actions increase in speed
to simulate a growing intensity. Some
elements do not conform to the accepted idea
on how these scenes are normally carried out.
While many elements were clearly inspirited
my mainstream action films the soundtrack

6. CONVENTIONS-DEVELOPED
• One convention that I developed from the
action genre was the age of my actors, typically
productions within the action genre display
Young adult males at the key leads with the
female characters often filling up as
background characters or as a prize for which
the main protagonist strives for.
Even though my actors are entirely male, they are
between the ages of 15 and 18 which is a main
part of the age demographic in which I am
targeting. The change from young adults into
teenagers could be seen as an interesting twist to
the conventions of action films due to the fact
that such young individuals being involved in
forms of espionage is quite surreal for the
audience, but at the same time not 'weird' enough
to be considered a unwanted distraction.