Evaluation: Question 1 Short film

1. Q1: In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?

2. Setting
Real media product (Shank)
As you can see from the two images above; we decided to use the convention of
using an estate as our setting. Shank is another British urban thriller which also uses
an isolated estate as their opening setting as it is a common convention when
relating to gangs and violence. We felt that this was an effective way of portraying
to our audience what this film may contain by using this setting.
Our media product

3. Mise-en-scene
Real media product (Adulthood)
Here you can see that we have chosen specific outfits for our characters to wear which
mainly consists of hoods/coats. In comparison to real media products, you can see above a
scene from Adulthood where both characters are wearing hoodies. We decided to follow
this convention because we wanted the characters in our film to be represented in a similar
way to those in Adulthood. The use of hoodies is a stereotype for youth in this generation
as it is usually linked with negativity and mainly to do with crime which is the look we were
going for.
Our media product

4. Mise-en-scene
British urban films generally use cars so we decided to use this convention because it
usually gives the character status especially in relation to gangs. It can represent wealth
from drug dealing and other illegal activity.
Our media product Real media product (Bullet Boy)

5. Titling
Real media product (Ill Manors)
Common conventions that British urban thrillers tend to use in terms of titling:
-Bold font
-Large text
-Block capitals
-Positioned in the centre of screen
-Usually white text with black background or in scene as shown above. (The titling is placed over
the shot in the film)
-Titling stays on screen for about 8 seconds.
We followed all of these conventions as it is clear and forces the audience to focus on the titling
because it is the main attraction on screen.
Our media product

6. Camera work
Our media product Real media product (Kidulthood)
The effective use of camera work is vital if you want get a point across to your
audience. (Medium) Close ups were popular when I researched British urban films and
you can see an example of one in the image above which is from Kidulthood. We
decided to use close ups because we felt that it would strongly illustrate in detail, the
emotion and facial expression of the characters. in the image above, you can see in
depth the expression on the characters’ face which triggers a strong reaction from the
audience when they are watching.