1. Our short film will have elements of different media conventions; these different conventions will
bring the piece together. The first of the different aspects we will use are the conventions of a
documentary. This means that it will follow a non-linear narrative. A non-linear narrative means that
the work will be out of chronological order. We have used this because throughout the short film
there will be interviews as there is in a featurette, therefore they will be edited together and certain
fragments of the piece will be put into the short film where they fit in, this may not necessarily be
the order in which they were filmed.
Other conventions that will be used are those of a parody. This is because the featurette we produce
will be mocking the stereotypical views of people within the film industry and parodying the movie
production process. The use of stereotyping also adds to the conventions of a drama/mystery
because there is the element of clichéd heroic and villainous characters.
Our production will have iconography of conventional silent movies. These will be things such as
black and white scenes, which will make it look authentic and like it is something from the era that it
is supposed to be set (1920’s). It will also feature chase scenes. Which are iconic in many silent
movies, these scenes will be sped up to make it more comical which is also a technique that is often
used within the silent movie industry. Within the short film we produce, there will be meetings
between male and female characters. In silent movies there are usually both male and female
characters, these scenes are usually slightly exaggerated.
The featurette side of our product will have iconographical elements to it. These will be aspects such
as interviews with the cast, showing a pair of actors together discussing the film, their role within it
and talking about things that happened behind the scenes. There will also be interviews with the
director which is another common thing in a featurette. Another thing that is done in a featurette
that we are also going to do is show behind the scenes shots of production while the interviews are
taking place. Doing this allows the audience to see how the actors interact with each other.
We will also feature the crew of the film as characters within the featurette. The crew members will
appear in different camera shots throughout the behind the scenes stages of the product, this is
conventional fora featurette as it shows them working on the actual film. The director will appear in
an interview, giving the audience information about the film. He will be a comical character and
appear to be naturally funny; this is unconventional for a featurette as directors are usually very
serious. However because the director will be male, it is a stereotypical representation of a director.