The document provides details about the student's short film "Faces" and how it uses various conventions of the drama genre. Some key points: - The film uses conventions like dim lighting, different music during tense scenes, realistic characters and situations for the audience to relate to. - It challenges some conventions by having a female antagonist rather than male, and by being a silent film. - The student created a branding strategy using consistent black and white theme, fonts and imagery across the film, festival invite postcard, and webpage to effectively promote the film. - The target audience is teens aged 14-25 who can relate to the film's portrayal of issues with fake friendships.

1. MOVIE: FACES
BY AYLA ZAMAN TAREEN

2.  Through out the making of my movie “faces” I
have used a number of conventions in order to
show the Drama Genre. I have shown his through
the use of various camera shots, music, storyline
and I have also used a reverse video effect in the
climax of the film. Conventions of the drama genre
include having stories that show real-life situations
with realistic characters and the purpose of such
stories is to present something which the audience
can relate to. I have used many conventions of the
drama genre such as using dim lights to symbolize
the darker period of a fake friendship, and have
shot the first half of the movie in day light to show
the period when everything seems alright amongst
the two main characters. Furthermore I have used
different soundtracks everytime the situation

3. changes. This further builds tension In the
movie and keeps the audience engaged with
the movie till the end. It wont be wrong to say
that my short film as an element of the thriller
genre as the mystery through out the movie
attracts more attention. One keeps guessing the
story till the very end.
I have also used a one worded title for my short
film “faces” which describes the main idea of
the film which is to show how everyone has
different faces and may not be what they seem
like. I have used a one-worded title similar to
movies like taken, The revenant, Heat, Zipper,
Waves etc.

5. Futhermore, I have used the conventions of the
drama genre by using dull lighting, close ups,
low-angle and high-angle shots to portray the
strengths and weaknesses of the characters.
Such low angle shots are also used in many
movies like spiderman.

6.  Typical props of the drama genre are drugs,
alcohol, cigarettes which I have shown in my
short film, which is again a use of the
conventions. A drama film is typically a drama
film because of the way it makes the audience
relate to the story and I think that my story is
something everyone will be able to relate to as
everyone has faced this problem of fake friends
in their lives.
 The soundtracks in my short amplify the whole
situation and makes It more interesting for
people to watch. However usually in such
movies the antagonist is a male but in my short
film the antagonist is a female, here I have
again challenged the conventions.

7. I have used the reverse video effect to create a more
dramatic look and have shown the past with a
black and white effect. This is again a use of
conventions.
I have used the fast forward effect as also used in
many drama thriller movies like wicker park,
paranormal activity, final destination etc to create
a more dramatic effect. There is a lot of suspense in
my movie as the plot takes an uncertain twist
towards the end, which is also similar to what
happens in the drama movies. However I feel that
the use of masks to symbolize different faces of
people is a unique and new idea which may serve
as a unique selling point for my short film.
Like other drama movies I have used music which
further creates suspense leaving the audience
curious to watch the movie till the very end.

8. All in all I think that I have both used and
challenged conventions in my short film. Used
them to attract the audiences who are a fan of
the typical drama movies at the same time
challenging conventions to keep the audience
engaged with the film till the very end. Also
since my storyline is extremely realistic, people
will relate more to it and hence I hope the
storyline will appreciated as well. Fake
friendships are so common nowadays and my
short film gives a social message to everyone
about being careful while choosing friends, and
to be aware of two faced friends as they may
backstab you.

9. The protagonist in my movie is a character with
whom a lot of people will be able to relate to,
this is also a convention of the drama genre.
Plot twists, realism, emotional peaks are some
other conventions I have used in the movie.
An important element of a drama movie is
suspense, giving the viewers uncertainty and
adrenaline rush making them more curious to
watch the movie. My movie scene is a
combination of mystery, curiosity and realism.
My short film basically shows a normal Asian
teenage girl dealing with the problem of
friendship in life and how to overcome her
loneliness she gets blinded by how her friend
kept poisoning her.

10. Having said this, I can say that my short film not
only portrays the problem of two faced people
but also shows the basic problem faced by all
teenagers, as they are innocent and immature
they must always be very careful. Further I
have used extreme close ups as used in many
other movies to show the expressions in a
better way.
Also I have challenged the conventions as my
movie is a silent film unlike other movies.

11. Branding is an important element for the success of a
particular media product. I intend to create a
synergy throughout three of my production works
a short film, a film festival invite and a webpage in
order to market my short film ‘faces’. The role of
post cards in the marketing of a film is extremely
important. The post card is an invite of a film
festival where my film will be screening. Te invite
is for the Toronto international film festival and I
have used a specific picture in every element to
market my movie in a unique way. Through this I
have created a sense of branding as I have used
that particular image as a USP to promote my
short film. The connotation behind this image

12. Is that its bright, lively, attractive and also covers
the main idea of my entire short film ‘faces’.
This is also portrayed in the webpage and the
postcard.
Furthermore I have mainly used black and white
colors and Cambria font for the movie name
and descriptions in the short film, webpage
and the post card.
As I made my website I wanted to continue
linking my elements hence as backgrounds for
the webpage I used stills from the short film
itself, and continued with the same black and
white color theme, this further created a link
amongst my production works.

14. When creating my products I made sure to create
a brand for the audience, In order to promote it
in a more efficient manner. That branding style
will serve as a unique selling point for my short
film, marketed through the post card and the
webpage. To do so I have used similar color
themes( black and white), similar pictures, and
similar fonts in my production works so that
they all are somehow linked together and can
be promoted in a more effective style. I feel that
this brings a sense of branding in the
promotion of the film and when everything is
linked like this products can be promoted and
marketed in a more efficient manner.

15. The storyline for my short film is something which I
have made so that people can relate to it easily. My
story revolves around fake friendships and two
faced people which is such a common problem
nowadays and as most of the people, specifically
teenagers undergo this issue, my target audience
will be people aged 14-25 as I feel that people of
this age-group will relate to the story more easily.
However I wouldn’t say that its not suitable for
younger or older people as it is a drama movie and
has such explicit scenes, but I do feel that it might
destroy the outlook of friendship on the younger
lot hence I would prefer teenagers to watch it. My
short film also has no dialogues hence it may be

16. Difficult for younger people to understand the
main purpose of the story.
If I were to pick a distribution company I would
like universal studios to distribute my film as I
think they are ready to distribute both high
budget and low budget films, and are very well-
known. Their name alone is a big way of
promoting a film as it is one of hollywoods big
six production companies.

17. I would also like to distribute my film through
DVDs as I feel my movie targets a wider
audience and I’ll be able to cater that audience
more easily through DVDs. Furthermore I
think that as my movie is meant for a wider
age-group the risk for failure will be rather
limited as some age group will definitely be
able to relate to this since I have exhibited a
very common social issue people face hence I
would prefer a medium accessible to more
people. However being distributed by
universal studios has its own pros, its name can
be used as a promotional strategy itself hence
we may be able to cut down on our marketing
budget.

18. I feel that I have really developed my production
skills through out the making of this short film
“faces”. Firstly I learned about properly using
technical stuff like a tripod, how to pan, how to
zoom the camera while panning the tripod,
how to properly use a digital camera with
different features. I learned about editing the
movie through windows movie maker, how to
use different visual effects, fast forward effect,
animations etc. I created a reverse video effect
for the climax of my video through
stupeflix.com. I learned how to make a blog

19. Through websites such as blogspot, wordpress. I
learned how to upload videos on vimeo,
youtube etc. I used different sound effects
through mp3 skull, sound bible and audio
micro for my short film as I feel that music is
the soul of a movie and adds more energy to it.
Furthermore I created a post card for my short
film in order to promote it through an app
called photogrid. I used the same theme colors
for all my production pieces and linked them
through similar pictures.
I also learned how to make a webpage for my
shortfilm, I had never created a webpage
before so it was something entirely new for me

20. I created a website through wix.com. It was
complicated at first but eventually I got
through it and again created the webpage with
a similar theme as of the postcard and the short
film, I also used pictures from the short film as
wallpapers and background pictures for the
webpage.

21. I used google and dailymotion to search for
soundtracks that best fit the scenes of my short
film. My film didn’t have any dialogues hence
it was crucial to portray the scenes with the
right type of music hence I used google to
search for the soundtracks that best fit the
scenes so that their meaning can be easily
portrayed.
What I have learned through out the making of
this film is that everything I interlinked to
create a final project . In order to execute a
movie in a proper manner you need to
integrate all the technologies, first shoot a film,
edit it, research for music and then execute it.
In my work I have also made a webpage and

22. A postcard which gave a clearer idea of how films
are promoted and marketed through such
mediums and how one must make use of all
such mediums in order to make a successful
film.
Sites like wordpress, vimeo and blogspot not only
helped me upload and submit my projects but
they also helped me keep track of my work.