media evaluation question 1

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

2. For our genre of social realism, these were the conventions that we wanted
to either adhere or to challenge:
•Locations are either mainly urban or in the suburbs
•Use of debut actors/stock actors
•Music from the era or similar genre films
•The plot should have a realistic approach/perspective to lives of those
concerned
•Having characters especially the main character to appear to b in the working
class (e.g. Income bracket-E)
•To expand on to other social problems through the emotional or dramatic
stories of characters
•Possible erosion of regional identity
•Maybe some inclusion of humour however doesn't need a new equilibrium to
make it more realistic

3. Generally our locations did meet the conventions of our
genre due to us using locations like train stations and
urban locations. Thus, we were able to optimise our use of
mise-en-scene to adhere to the narrative convention of
young people living in deprived areas.
Another point is that a majority of our actors (except for
Josh Macqueen and Nick Heywood) do not have a lot of
experience in acting. All of our actors haven't any
experience in filming though. Thus as they are not
professional actors we have met this convention. Through
choosing our actors we hoped to emulate using
inexperienced actors to create more realism.

4. In addition, as the majority of our main characters are school
aged (16+) this reflects the process that our production
company would have to undergo in the real life. For example,
our actors would have to first audition for their roles, similarly
how Shane Meadows did when he found the actor Thomas
Turgoose, after auditioning kids in Nottingham school for his
film ‘This is England’ (By Warp Films)
Our actors have not been used through the use of cross media
which we know has been done before in independents as for
example Olivia Coleman feature in Warps Film’s film
‘Tyrannosaur’ but then has also has a television and theatre
career. We again see this with hip hop artist Riz Ahmed who
appeared in the film ‘Four Lions’, again a Warp Films film

5. In addition, Shane Meadows would have to have undergone the
process of gaining stock actors. This would be a process that our
production company would have to adopt, if our product was in real
world media.
Furthermore, we used music that was from another independent film
called ‘Irreversible’ and changed it a bit to make it more suitable to our
film. As this type of music isn't really associated with the convention to
the genre of using music associated with the time and setting. This
means that we lose a level of verisimilitude.

6. The effect that our song had was how it slowly built up a slight effect of
suspense as the audience had little idea of what was happening however due to
them being more sophisticated they would have the intelligence to not worry and
try to crack the many enigmas. This was also effective as it doesnt give anything
away to the audience.
The song starts off quietly and eventually gets louder and faster this connotes
the life of Ethan as his life starts off quietly and with little notice, however this will
change as he has to uncover where his dad is and why he left him. This will
attract the audience as they will notice this connotation due to their superior
intelligence as they are in the A/B income class.

7. The soundtrack would create verisimilitude as the
themes and build up of the song are relatable to
many of our characters and members of our
audience. However this song would not
conventionally be heard by a young teen so that
would mean the verisimilitude is only reflective for
the audience and not on the characters in the film

8. In addition, I feel that our narrative has adhered to the
convention of it being realistic, especially due to the rise of
young teens having to leave home due to being left at a
young age or being abused. As Ethan leaves his home due to
him being depressed which is a rising occurrence in the last
few years. Ethan stole money from his carers which is
against the law and is stereotypically associated with the
working class. However, as our production is a sophisticated
product, we have questioned stereotypes which relate to our
present political climate, which we ask our primary audience
to question. For example whether stopping a parent from
seeing there child is the best option as it changes the child
and may lead to depression like it did with Ethan and could
lead to drugs and alcohol which again is another leading
problem that we have today in our society.

9. However, I think that we may have possibly
have got a bit carried away with the editing
process, as we might have been almost too
stereotypical in representing the working
class. Thus, via hegemonic process we may
in the long run actually put-off our
sophisticated audience. For example, the
stereotypical representation that the young
teen working class being seen as not smart
and untrusted, which was conveyed with
quite long takes, such as the one were Ethan
is struggling with work and gets annoyed, as
this shows how it is a regularly re-occurring
thing by young teens in the working class.

10. Therefore this is evidence that subconsciously, we fell in
a trap where we almost started accepting the media
representations that we are trying to challenge. In
hindsight, perhaps the use of more short takes to
connote the build up of Ethan's feelings and how he has
to do this. However even though I feel the facial
expressions Ethan uses to convey this some a bit more
time on editing could have meant we could convey this
even more.

11. Although we may have done too much editing
it could be argued that we still followed the
convention of social realism films including
minimal editing techniques in order to
establish realism and verisimilitude. However,
due to the nature of our narrative, having
flashbacks meant that we had to find a way of
distinguishing between the various time
lapses. Therefore we decided on using a shot
filter to show that it is back in time.

12. What’s more, I feel that our narrative/opening sequence
explores the wider social issues within society quite
well. The inclusion of abuse, drugs and alcohol are
common issues that arise and are experienced by
people from all walks of life and therefore, I believe that
Ethan in our narrative is relatable to many people as
well, as our audience are able to decide whether to
actively consider their viewpoint on these issues for
social interaction, or simply gain personal identity from
Ethan/ the opening sequence (according to Blumer and
Katz’s uses and gratifications

13. Finally, I believe we have shown people
from various classes as according to
the income bracket, if the characters
were actual people, then Ethan would
be categorised as someone in the E
income bracket and the businessman
for example would be seen as a higher
class (A/B income class

14. •Most opening credits follow this common convention order:
•Name of studio
•Production company
•Producers/directors
•Starring..
•Film title
•Casting director
•Music
•Production designer
•Film editors
•Directors of photography
•Producer
•Director
•(Based on... True story/events, the novel etc

15. An opening sequence is designed to instantly
engage its audience and should introduce, genre,
narrative and characters. This is particularly evident
with our use of conventional establishing shots of
out train station location.
In terms of institutions, it is also fairly conventional
that independent production companies seek the
support of other companies in co-production and
distribution, particularly where the companies lack
vertical integration.

16. The script was fairly limited due to us not
wanting to give much away, however we
added in speech during the flashback to
show how his past is violent and
unpleasant. Most of our opening
sequence is speechless due to the use of
the soundtrack playing on top with also
the diegetic surrounding sounds. I think
the use of the script was good due to it
giving little clues to the audience so that
they can crack the enigmas.

17. Perhaps we made a mistake about our
sophisticated audience and the conventions of a
sophisticated media product could have improved
our use of conventions further. It could be argues
that our production enforces dominant ideologies
about the working class. Consequently, the
audience may accept these representations of the
government parental care being safe and
reassuring so they think that society is looking
after them opposed to enforcing divides. We
could have further challenged dominant
ideologies on our production more by using more
violence during the flashback scene as this would
reflect the political issues of social care and status
within society.

18. Here are the two main theories that applied best with ‘Reflux’
AUTEUR THEORY: As this theory derives from the idea that a film
reflects a directors vision and that an auteur has their own visual
style, this is reflected in our production. For example, in our opening
sequence we tended to use long shots with close ups to show the
type of area that he is in and then to show a the sudden emotions he
is feeling so that the audience get a more realistic affect. This was to
make our sophisticated audience more tense when watching the
film, whilst simultaneously outlining social issues within the working
class. These lengthy shots also connote how generally and
stereotypically, issues within the working class are almost over
looked by society. We have shown our own visual style and our way
of challenging convention by having a more emotional main male
character which is stereotypically not seen in the working class.

19. HEGEMONY THEORY: Due to the nature of
our narrative, hegemony is also relevant to
our production, particularly as we have a male
character showing more emotion than most
teens in the working class stereotypically
passive audiences would initially believe the
dominant ideologies present in the film, such
as men can have emotions as well just like
women.