Here is a revised slideshare of question 1 of my evaluation :)

1. By Jack Archer
Evaluation Question 1...

2.  For our genre of social realism, these were the conventions that we
wanted to either adhere to, or challenge:
 Locations are either mainly urban or in the suburbs.
 Use of debut/ stock actors (who may have entered films cross media from other
forms).
 Music from the era (i.e. Present day).
 The plot should have a realistic approach/ perspective to lives of those
concerned.
 Having characters that appear to be in the lower working classes (i.e. In the E
income bracket).
 Evidence of the exploration of wider social issues through the emotional or
dramatic stories of characters.
 Possible erosion of regional identities
 The inclusion of both humour and seriousness and also triumph over adversity.

3.  Generally, our locations were conventional to the genre, as we
included shots in a high street environment and also a city centre
park. Thus, we were able to optimise our use of mise-en-scene to
adhere to the narrative convention of young people and ‘run-down’,
deprived areas.
 Also, the majority of our actors (excluding Liam Wilkinson and
Rosie Jones) do not have much experience of acting. All of our
actors certainly did not have any experience in filming. Therefore,
as they are not professional actors (i.e. Are not paid for their
service) and we have met this convention. In choosing our actors,
we hoped to emulate using inexperienced actors, or those actors
who might have entered film via cross- media.

4.  For example, actors such as Olivia Coleman featured in Warps
Film’s film ‘Tyrannosaur’ but then also has a television and
theatre career. Also, hip hop artist Riz Ahmed was featured in
the film ‘Four Lions’, also a Warp Films film.
 In addition, as the majority of our actors 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, like 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).

5.  In addition, Shane Meadows would have to have undergone the
process of gaining stock actors (i.e. Those that are associated
with a production company, like Paddy Considine with Warp
Films. This would be a process that our production company
would have to adopt, if our product was in real world media.
 Furthermore, we used modernised music to reflect the setting of
the film, as we produced a rendition of a rendition (!) of the song
“We Own It” from the film “Fast and Furious 6” (2013),
consequently keeping our opening sequence conventional to the
genre of using music associated with the time setting, thus
generating a high level of verisimilitude. This process in itself, is
conventional as we would , in the real world use synergy
marketing as Rosie played the main character (our protagonist
in our narrative) and also featured in our postmodern, non-
diegetic soundtrack

6.  The lyrics are quite poignant within the production as it refers to
various points in the film’s narrative. This in itself may also have
been a mistake, as we may have ‘given too much away’ for our
(sophisticated) audience(s) in just the opening sequence.
 Where Rosie/Laura sings/says: “I had high hopes but I was in the
wrong crowd” this suggests that although Laura had potential to
become successful in life, this was jeopardised by becoming part
of the gang. This therefore is relatable to our secondary audience
who empathise with the peer pressure and fear felt by Laura and
gain personal identity. This lyric therefore infers to the
beginning of the film.

7.  However, when Laura then sings/ says “I understand that actions
speak louder than words” this conveys the ideology of Laura
being an empowered female and therefore this connotes the
courageous act of Laura as she hands herself in to the police and
report the gang’s activity. However, this also foreshadows how
Laura will inevitably be convicted for the actions of the other
gang members as a result of the joint enterprise law. This lyric
therefore make reference to the end of the film.

8.  These lyrics/ the soundtrack would create a high level
of verisimilitude as the themes are relatable to many
members of our audience. Furthermore, verisimilitude
would be reflected as this would most likely and
stereotypically be the type of diegetic music heard by
the actors later in the film.

9.  In addition, I feel that our narrative has adhered
to the convention of it being realistic
particularly due to the rise of peer pressure and
bullying. As Laura joins the gang to initially
make new friends, she is then peer pressured
into committing criminal offences such as theft,
which is stereotypically associated more 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, at the end of our whole
narrative, Laura is sentenced to jail as a result of
the joint-enterprise law. As this law is currently
under discrepancy, this further connotes to the
injustice of the law as opposed to the reality of
working class young people. This is then further
represented by the shot of the Policeman at the
end of our opening sequence as this low angle,
depth of field shot connotes his dominance over
the lives of the working class.

10.  However, I think that we may have possibly got a bit too carried
away with the editing process, as we might have been almost too
stereotypical in representing the working class. Thus, via a
hegemonic process we may in the long run actually put- off our
sophisticated audience (who question media stereotypes).For
example, the stereotypical representation of the working class
being the instigators of crimes such as theft was conveyed using
quite long takes , such as the one with Laura walking round the
store looking for something to steal, to connote how this is
stereotypically is a regularly re-occurring crime committed by
people in the working class.

11.  Therefore this is evidence that subconsciously, we fell in
the trap of almost accepting the media representations
that we were trying to challenge. In hindsight , perhaps we
should used more short takes to connote how Laura was
forced to commit crimes such as theft as a result of peer
pressure and fear and therefore connote how she doesn’t
necessarily want to commit the crime (although I think
Laura’s facial expressions during these takes suggest this,
but improved editing would have portrayed this better.)

12.  Although we may have done too much editing (in my opinion) 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 the cold shot filter ‘vignette’, to connote the
stigma derived from gang culture.

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

14.  Finally, I believe we have shown people from various classes
as according to the Income brackets, if the characters were
actual people, the gang members and Laura would mainly
be categorised as those in the E income bracket (the lower
working class) and the policeman for example would be
seen as middle/ lower middle class (the B/C1 income
brackets).

15.  Most opening credits follow this common conventional
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 by etc.

16.  An opening sequence is designed to instantly engage its
audience and should introduce, genre, narrative and character.
This is particularly evident with our use of conventional
establishing shots of our inner city location and the police
station. This is an example of a binary opposition with locations.
 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
these companies lack vertical integration.

17.  For our production “The Longing” we in a way challenged the
convention of opening credit order. This is because throughout
our research, planning and production, we used the film “This is
England” for inspiration and subsequently, we used a similar
opening title sequence to “This is England”. This was mainly
because this film is of the same genre as our film.
 Despite this not following the convention, I don’t think that the
order is necessarily important, as long as the order makes sense
and ‘flows’.

18.  The script was limited due to the majority of the opening sequence
being overlaid with our rendition of “We own It”, and our production
company deciding in the end to remove the dialogue in order to
improve the continuity and ‘flow’ of the opening sequence, thus
enhancing our productions high level of verisimilitude. I feel that our
script could have been included and improved either by using less
dialogue and having more serious and/ or humorous text or even have
sections of semi- improvised dialogue in order to make character
interaction appear more natural and realistic, and more conventional
to the genre of social realism.

19.  Following on from this, through either the script, iconography or
shot type the opening sequence could have introduced more
political/ social issues such as those relevant to race and cultural
differences, as our production included people of different
ethnicities.

20.  Furthermore, I feel that we also should have included more hand- held
shots in order to promote the ideologies relevant to our female
protagonist such as the empowered female in particular, and aid to
connote certain emotions too, such as fear.
 Generally however, although I think that the genre social realism is
appropriate for our opening sequence, as our narrative includes
criminal offences driven by peer pressure, I think that the conventions
of the genre crime should have been considered as well, with its
conventions also.

21.  However, 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
argued that our production enforces dominant ideologies about
the working class. Consequently, the audience may accept these
representations of the police being safe and reassuring so they
think that society is looking after them as opposed to enforcing
divides. We could have further challenged dominant ideologies
on our production more by either using a female police officer or
even making the gang leader a female too, as this would reflect
the political issues of gender and status within society.

22.  Here are the two main theories that applied best with “The
Longing”:
AUTEUR THEORY: As this theory derives from the idea that a film
reflects a Director’s 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 have used takes showing Laura’s plight over longer shot lengths (i.e. Medium
shot/ medium long shot) this was mainly to make our sophisticated audience
more tense when watching the film, whist 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. In addition, we have shown our own visual style and our way of
challenging conventions (as part of our auteurship) by having a female
protagonist in a stereotypically masculine environment.

23.  HEGEMONY THEORY: Due to the nature of our
narrative, Hegemony is also relevant to our production,
particularly as we have a female protagonist passive
audiences (such as people in the lower income brackets)
would initially believe the dominant ideologies present in
the film, such as women can achieve triumph over adversity
like men can.