1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real media
products?
Reiss Langdon
2. Conventions of short films
One of the first aspects I looked when
developing the story for my short film was
narrative. Todovorovs theory involves a
cyclical style of story telling and this is what i
this style as the vehicle to create the story for
my media product. The two main characters
start off not knowing one another and end in
the exact same place.
3. As I looked deeper into this theory in regards to a story I
could tell through the form of short film I thought what
is the disturbance of normality with in my story.
In many ways “the girl” was used as the disturbance.
From the minute the film starts the audience are
presented with the male character as being a loner.
Almost being represented as a traveller was the sort of
effect I wanted to convey, and did so by making his first
appearance be walking through a field on his own. I did
this in order to make the audience have intrigue and
thus make the central character almost mystical in his
appeal. Also I did this to suggest a man looking for
something, perhaps love. However at the risk of losing
a element of comedy we added the fence gag in order
show the whimsical simple mindedness of the main
character.
4. His appearance in the film as a solitary character ends straight away
when he decides to sit down next to the young girl in the pub. Then
the resolution comes at the point when he finally speaks to her only
to realise she can’t understand a word he says because she's
French. This propels the main character back to the starting point at
equilibrium. This is shown from the comical ending, the film started
with a comical element and end on one, and also through the single
close up screen shot, he is back on his own almost frozen in time.
Both if which helps to establish that central character is in the same
position as he was at the beginning.
The only point where the film strays and breaks away from these
conventions is perhaps that there isn’t a particular happy ending.
However he isn't any worse off so in theory the film completely
submits to the conventional narratives.
5. Credits and ident
I felt like the film was expressing a style that
suggested independent cinema, especially of the
90s. Due to this simplistic and subtle style, I
decided to create and use fairly plain font and for
both all the credits even the company name ect.
This can be seen as going against the conventions
because I choose not to use a typical ident, and
instead felt the film should speak for it self.
Which perfectly suited the home – grown,
independent and honest feel I wanted the film to
have.
6. Conventional camera shots and angles
The two shot is a key convention the majority of films, the film shot to the
left is from the 1994 independent film “clerks”. This was much like the plot
to my short film not sensational, and featured low key realistic humour.
The two shot is used extensively throughout “clerks”, as there are only
really two main characters, and the film is based around there relationship
towards each other. Not much happens in the narrative throughout the
film so all that is needed is the two shot.
This was the exact same situation with fluent in love, by filming an almost
excessive amount of stock footage in order to cut back to, we created the
staple shot for the film. Although it is a simple shot we had to get the
perfect angle as this is where the narrative structure is created.
7. Extra -long shot
The most conventional and
common shots such as extra long
shot, long shot and medium long
Long shot shot were also used in order to
conform to the conventions of
short film.
I believe I used these to great effect
during the opening of the film, as it
made it look professional. I thought
the shots were also well framed in
regards to the screen, which is key
Medium-long shot convention of most modern film
making.
8. Medium shot
Similarly to the previous slide the
other staple shot sizes medium shot
and close-up were also used
throughout the film.
Close-ups generally set up as
reaction shots, so the audience has
an understanding of the sort of
Close -up emotions the character is conveying.
Medium shot is generally used
because it shows facial expression
and large portion of body language.
Much like the two shot I used this
shot in order to go back to a more
conventional shot after more
inventive or claustrophobic shots
such as close ups.
9. More inventive shots were also planned and
created throughout the process. The extreme close
up was used extensively throughout my film as a
signify of the awkwardness most of the time.
The tapping hand shot enhanced the suspense
and comically awkward atmosphere between the
two character, just as many of the other close up
on particular objects did throughout the film. A
filmmaker who influenced this style for me was
Quentin Tarantino who also uses this technique.
The close up of the two pairs of feet was also in
the same vain as this however this had significance
because it showed the male characters foot
tapping rapidly conveying he is clearly nervous.
This worked great in contrast to the girls feet
tapping calmly, further exaggerating the males
awkwardness.
10. The close up of the beer bubbles rising,
came up almost as a homage to the history
of cinema. In the film taxi driver the main
character Travis Bickle stares at his drink
watching the bubbles rise, and there is an
extreme close up of the bubbles. This
imitate the rising tensions within his own
mind. I thought id reference these shot in
my film, and so the bubbles represent the
awkwardness of the situation and the
tension building.
Although the crisp packet shot was
incredibly hard to create I felt it was needed
as it added to the playful light heartedness
of the film .
11. Editing was also used in a creative way in order to
add to the light heartedness of the film, just as
the crisp packet did. I used stopped motion with
the empty pint glasses mounting up to add
comedy and also make the film feel a little playful
and fun. Similarly with the last shot in the editing
process i manipulated the image and turned it
into a style image in order to capture the punch
line joke of the film. This emphasised the comedy
in the ending greatly. Both of these techniques
broke away from the typical convention of
cinema and the romantic comedy genre.
12. The diagetic sound through out the film also was used to
add to the mise en scene. Conventionally background
music is used a lot during films in order to add to the
atmosphere of the scene. In my film I felt the music
added to the comedic value as it was old unfashionable
music, which I felt linked in with the males sense of
being a little uncool and hopelessly awkward.
The one non- diagetic sound comes in at the end with a
song over the still framed shot of the main character
pulling a face. This music suited the situation perfectly
as it further expressed the light hearted style of the
film.
13. Conventional film posters for romantic
comedies generally use a two shot of
the couple the film is based around,
and uses romantic font and often the
colour red. This in order to represent
that it is a film about a man and a
woman and will be about love.
14. I followed these conventions with my own film poster using the colour red within
the font and using a two shot of the characters. There is allot of space between
the characters in my film poster to express the lack of communication in the film.
This is why the film title is funny because it sarcastic as the character are clearly
not “fluent in love” because they don't speak throughout the film hardly and
when they do they speak different languages.
