Advanced Level Media Studies - Evaluation Question 1 Misha Irfan

1. How do your products use or
challenge conventions and how do
they represent social groups or
issues?
EVALUATION QUESTION 1

2. GENRE
The genre I chose for my film is Drama. According to
popularity, films within the comedy,
adventure, action and drama movie genres
generated the most box office revenue in the years
between 1995 and 2016. Drama is a popular genre
across viewers all over the world for its realistic
approach and for it being able to relate to the
audience.
As Drama is a broad genre within itself, its
production is not isolated by one or two film
institutions. Out of the many sub genres that branch
out of ‘Drama’ I produced my short film along the
lines of Teen-Drama/Social-Drama.
Some examples of famous Drama films are;
Cyberbully, Kids (1995), The Perks of Being a
Wallflower, Titanic, Little Miss Sunshine etc.

3. About Teen-Drama
In the context of film, television, and
radio, drama is a genre of narrative fiction (or
semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than
humorous in tone, focusing on in-depth
development of realistic characters who must
deal with realistic emotional struggles.

4. THE MISE-EN-SCENE
When people think of a Teen-Drama film they would
usually expect to see settings that are associated
with teenagers/young adults (example: bedrooms,
schools, cafes etc). Since drama films are targeted to
present ordinary lives with a hint of exaggerated
drama, such settings are used to portray a realistic
and relatable atmosphere.
For my movie also, I chose the most casual locations
(bedrooms and high school). A high school was a
best location to film the lives of four different
students and how they cope with everyday
problems.

6. EDITING
Editing techniques play a key role in any film. For my short film I used Adobe
Premiere Pro for the editing.
• I used color balance to give a low key effect to some selected scenes of
the film to portray the time of the day more obviously and to create a
depressing atmosphere.
• I used video transitions in between certain shots as a symbol (for example:
To represent the passing of time).
• I used the software Audacity to work on the audio. I recorded my voice for
the narration separately to add a more dramatic effect to the short film.
Also, narrations can help the audience to understand a complicated story
better. I made use of different types and themes of music for different
parts of the film to compliment the already dramatic scene and enhance
the drama.

8. CHARACTERS
All four of my main characters were teenagers (Anna, Mike, Kai and Joyce).
The four characters had very different personalities from each other
however all of them portrayed a personality one would usually find during
high school.

9. CHALLENGES
I challenged a major stereotype that is stuck to
drama films, especially teen-drama, which is the
narrative and speech. Most teen-drama films
contain long and elaborated lines with a mixture
of teenage language, however for my short film; I
tried to make use of the least dialogues I possibly
could. This was in order to create an even more
dramatic effect in the five minutes by letting the
actors portray their characters’ story through
actions and the camera angles.

10. GENDER
Despite the fact that teen-drama films are mostly
watched and enjoyed by female audiences, I
wanted the film to be enjoyed by both the
genders. For that purpose, I created my film in a
neutral way with less feminine aspects. I also
made sure to add the equal number of female
and male actors to be able to satisfy both the
genders while watching my film. I also kept the
entire storyline very gender-neutral with the
main idea revolving around social problems that
could be related to both the genders and not
specifically male or female.

11. AGE SOCIAL CLASS
My film mainly targets
teenagers as it’s a ‘teen’-
drama. This is because the
story and characters can be
related to them and may also
help them get through
problems that they might face
during high school. However I
also kept in mind that my film
could even be enjoyed by
middle aged adults as they
could be parents of high
school students and would like
to know about their children
and this can be done through
my short film.
My film mostly targets upper
and middle class audience as
my film revolves around
middle class teenagers going
to an ordinary middle class
school. All of the characters
wear simple clothing however
nothing major that would
portray social class is shown.

12. ETHNICITY
My film does not intent to discriminate any race
or ethnicity and no such idea is represented
through any means in my short film.
My short film consists of 3 Pakistani actors and 1
Japanese actor; however none of the characters
are portrayed as any ethnicity specifically as it is
not needed.

13. THE END
MISHA IRFAN