Evaluation 1

1. Evaluation 1
I n w h a t w a y s d o e s y o u r m e d i a p r o d u c t u s e ,
d e v e l o p o r c h a l l e n g e f o r m s a n d c o n v e n t i o n s o f
r e a l m e d i a p r o d u c t s ?

2. This will be discussing the ways in which my final media product(s) including; the short film, the
film poster and the magazine review challenge or conform to the conventions of real media
products.This will involve the typical conventions of short films and the typical conventions of
the horror genre within film as well as typical traits of magazine reviews and film posters.
Challenging – challenging a convention means that we were aware of a specific convention
before creating our media product(s) but have decided not to use it in our/my piece.
Conforming – conforming to a convention means that we were aware of a specific convention
before creating our media product(s) and have decided to use it in out/my piece.
Developing – developing a convention means that we were aware of a specific convention
before creating out media product and have decided to develop it to give out/my own piece
maximum effect.

3. The conventions of real short
films
Characters
• Typically in short films, there is a pattern with the amount of characters that are usually in them.
This is because it is a short film, so introducing numerous characters would be complicated
because there is not enough time to develop character backgrounds and give them each a firm
identity.This means that most short films only use 1 or 2 characters so that the audience can
learn about and relate to that character.An example of this is the short film 'Hirsute' where both
characters in the film are played by the same actor.
• This applies to our short film because we conformed to this convention.We did this by using only
one actor, Danni, who we were able to fully focus on throughout the piece.This helped us to
present the mind-set of the teenager and show the way she cannot escape from the draining
demand of social media and the obsession to look, act and be perfect.With our initial storyline,
we decided to challenge this idea and have 4 girl characters but our film looked tacky and didn’t
show a lot of character development meaning that the overall view of the film with influenced
negatively. I feel that the decision to conform to this convention was beneficial for us in terms of
creating a piece that was professional and didn’t lack depth and understanding of our one and
only character. Just by watching out piece, viewers are able to recognise that Danni is a teenage
girl who is facing the troubles and pressures from the demand of society and the idea of looking
picture perfect.

4. The conventions of real short
films
Twists
• A high percentage of short films incorporate a 'twist' throughout the piece.This is to at depth and
ensure that the piece is entertaining as their is only a short amount of time for the action to take
place.Without a twist in a short film, it would be uninteresting and the audience would get bored.
• Again we conformed to this convention.This is because, as a our genre is horror we wanted to
build tension before the ‘big reveal;’ at the end.We done this by having a normal setting, which
showed the teenager behaving casually as if most teenagers would on a typical day in their life.We
built tension by showing the audience that one of the girl’s shoes was not appearing on the
screen of the phone but she could see it in real-life.Tension was built from this because it showed
something supernatural happening that is likely to be just as confusing for the audience to
understand (at first) as it was to the girl.The big twist in our piece was when the girl sees herself
through the camera lens being dragged on the floor, she slowly walks towards the kitchen where
she eventually sees herself pop up in the camera looking aged, drained and scary. I feel that out
twist successfully adds depth and meaning to our piece.

5. The conventions of real short
films
Budget
• Budget is a typical convention of short films, hence the fact that they are short. Short films are
usually created by people who lack the funds and resources to create a longer film of a high
standard.This often means that the film-makers are limited in terms of the production of their
film.As a result of this, they often resort to a cheap location that is not costly to travel to and
from, use a few actors so that they do not have to pay out a lot for people to act in the film and
use cheaper equipment.
• Again, we had no choice but to conform to this convection.This is because we are producing our
film for our A2 media coursework and being at a small sixth form institution, we have limited
resources in terms of filming, editing and research equipment and materials.This will have an
impact on the quality and professionalism of our overall piece because we do not have sufficient
funds to cater for better equipment.We also had to use our own group to act in the piece, Leisha
who was the main character which was beneficial to us because it means that we didn’t have to
pay for someone to act in our film.This is also the case with location, which was free of charge
and available to us whenever we needed it (because we filmed in Emma’s house).
•

6. The conventions of real short
films
Length
• Length is another typical trait of a short film. In order for a film to be classed as a short film then is
must last no longer than 30 minutes. However, most short films only last a duration of 5-10
minutes due to many aspects such as budget and limited equipment and resources. If a film lasted
longer than 30 minutes then it would be classed as a feature length film.
Situation
• Most short films use the situation of the storyline to make the viewer interested. For example, they
usually begin with a normal setting that the viewer can relate to and begin to get drawn in by and
then a situation or the focal point of the film (the disequilibrium) is shown to interest the viewer
and relate to the genre e.g. something humiliating happening to the main character to make the
viewer laugh if the short film was of the comedy genre.
• The length of our short film is a total duration of 4 minutes and 30 seconds.This shows that we
conform to this short film convention. In this space of time we were able to deliver our full
storyline and end on a disequilibrium in relation to Todorov’s theory. Some may argue that the
cycle of our film was not complete and doesn’t have a valid ending because it ends on a cliff
hanger but we thought that this was the best way the end our film directly after the audience get
a fright from the girl.

7. The conventions of real short
films
Length
• Length is another typical trait of a short film. In order for a film to be classed as a short film then is
must last no longer than 30 minutes. However, most short films only last a duration of 5-10
minutes due to many aspects such as budget and limited equipment and resources. If a film lasted
longer than 30 minutes then it would be classed as a feature length film.
Situation
• Most short films use the situation of the storyline to make the viewer interested. For example, they
usually begin with a normal setting that the viewer can relate to and begin to get drawn in by and
then a situation or the focal point of the film (the disequilibrium) is shown to interest the viewer
and relate to the genre e.g. something humiliating happening to the main character to make the
viewer laugh if the short film was of the comedy genre.
• The length of our short film is a total duration of 4 minutes and 30 seconds.This shows that we
conform to this short film convention. In this space of time we were able to deliver our full
storyline and end on a disequilibrium in relation to Todorov’s theory. Some may argue that the
cycle of our film was not complete and doesn’t have a valid ending because it ends on a cliff
hanger but we thought that this was the best way the end our film directly after the audience get
a fright from the girl.