1. Conventions from Real Media texts
Using conventions fromreal media texts was challenging for my film as it is a
mix of genres including drama and comedy. ProtagonistRose Miller in We’re
the Millers has similar characteristics to my character, Sarah. This is because
they both play seductivecharacters, yet both havea maternal side.
At the beginning of We’rethe Millers, Jennifer
Aniston play Rose o Reilly, a stripper who lives in a
block of flats by herself. I took this convention
fromthis film and applied it to my own in terms of
making the audience think Sarah (my film
protagonist) earns money unethically. Both of
these protagonists areseductive and flirty.
Moreover, my main focus was how both of the
films finished; We’re the Millers ends on
transformed RoseMiller falling in love with David
Miller, giving the storylinea happy ending.
Similarly, I created a storylineso that the
protagonists would havea happy ending. Sarah is
caught in her bedroomwith her husband, unbeknown to the audience, until
daughter Laila walks in the house. Both the story lines build to a climax and
both end with a happy ending, backing up Todorov’s theory.
Throughoutthis film, I begin to observethe effect it has on the audience, the
main theme in the film being family, something I applied into my own film.
There is a particular scene in the film where the Miller’s family areon a journey
and all are singing along to a popular song, representing the theme of family. I
challenged this theory by using family in a different senseand making the
relationship between man and wife moresexual. I included role play in my film
to increase the seductiveness as it is in the feature film. At the end of my film,
all three characters are in one room to reveal the happy ending and shock to
the audience, representing unity to the audience.