The document discusses conventions of short films, how the author's media product uses and develops some conventions, and challenges a few others. It addresses conventions like limited characters, inclusion of a twist, low budget, short length under 5 minutes, use of everyday situations and limited dialogue. The author's short film adheres to many of these, like only including two characters, including a twist, and being made with a low budget. It also develops conventions like use of an everyday situation and including only voiceover instead of dialogue. One convention challenged is not starting with the title right away.

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or
challenge conventions of real
media texts?

2. Conventions of Short films
• Limited characters
• A twist
• Low budget
• Length
• Everyday situations
• Not a lot of dialogue

3. How I have used these conventions
Limited characters - In a stereotypical short film there are normally 2-
3 characters so the plot doesn't get over complicated with
different story lines of each individual. I have decided to only use two
as my plot is rather confusing, in addition as I only have 5 minutes to try
and portray the characters I have kept to a small amount. Both of them
are protagonists however one of them is more important therefore the
audience can then create a relationship between them. Having too
many characters will make the audience confused and less engaged.
The two characters I have in my short film 'Through my eyes' are both
females at the age of 17. Although they are both in the same location
one of them does not know that the other exits so there is no contact
between them. I think that having three characters would
over complicate things so two was ideal to convey my idea behind my
short film.

4. Continued…
A twist - My short film has a confusing twist, a twist is a very
particular convention to have as only certain genres can have a good
plot twist. I decided to create a short film with this in as I believed that it
would be easier to film and edit together as it was interesting. I have a
twist in which the beginning is not as you seem, the pictures of the two
girls look happy and content however it has yet to be shown that one of
them has died and has been looking over her cousin.
Low budget - My budget is defiantly low and most short films tend to
stick to this as it is very difficult to create a professional looking feature
length film with a low budget. They manage to get the price down by
only using small amounts of characters and locations and even getting
some volunteers to act in the film. I managed to talk to two of my
friends who were willing to help in my short film therefore I didn't need
to pay them also I tried to limit myself to only use locations that were
free and easy to get to. My film is an independent one and I believe
that although I have got a low budget it does look professional
considering I have not spent anything on it.

5. Continued…
Length - My film is under 5 minutes which is a big convention of a
short film as having anything over 10 minutes would then not be
classed as a short film. I am glad that I have managed to make it
shorter than this as then my audience will become more engaged, also
it makes it easier to get everything that I need in that time as it can be
precise and to the point.
Not a lot of dialogue - Most short films do not have a lot of dialogue
and if they do have any speaking it is normally in the form of a voice
over which I have got. As I only have two characters in which they do
not interact then dialogue between them would make the short film
confusing. I decided to use a voice over as she is alone and this would
work as it is her thoughts whilst the actions are on camera.

6. How I have developed them
Everyday situations - I have developed this convention as I have tried
to put an everyday situation with many people around the world
of loneliness and even some deaths in the family. However the way that
the cousin is watching her is not realistic and doesn't really use the
convention. They try to take the everyday situations and add a twist to
them so it makes it more interesting which I have tried to do.
Dialogue- I have also adapted the dialogue as stereotypically there is
limited dialogue however with mine there is none, I decided that I would
only use a voiceover which is developing the convention.
A twist- I have developed this as I have got a slight twist however it is
not actually mentioned in the short film, whereas most short films
mention the twist and why it has happened. I wanted to keep this quite
so the audience can develop this themselves,

7. How I have challenged conventions
I have not really challenged a lot of
conventions with the short film as I wanted
to keep to them so my short film would
appeal to my audience, and I already know
that a short film with these conventions
would work.
There is one thing however that I have
challenged as at the beginning of my short
film I do not start with the title straight away,
there is a long introduction in which photos
are used instead of film snippets. This is
not normal for a short film as they want to
display as much filming as they can.

8. Conventions of a short film poster
When researching short film posters is was hard to find the differences
between the two, but when looking closely there are certain elements
that can be seen on all short film posters. They are both created using
the same editing technique so they both look professional and more
authentic. The film posters are what the audience sees first so this
attracts them to watch the film, most short film posters have less
information on them, a feature length film poster sometimes has a
tagline which gives some information away as they have so much detail
that it will be easier to understand. It does have a title and a billing
block, whereas a feature length film usually has a release date as well.
Some short film posters have a screen shot of a picture from the film
whereas a feature length film usually has a photo that has been taken
specifically for the poster and in a famous location. As short films
conventionally have limited characters the bill block will be smaller than
usual, in addition the fonts can tell the genre.

9. How I have used these conventions
Photo of the protagonist- I decided that it
would be easier for me to follow this
convention as it would then be easier for
me to get the audience to understand what
the film is about.
Big title- I have also used this as having a
bold title makes it easier to spot and
stands out.
Billing block- I had to stick to this
convention as it was then easy to spot that
it was a short film poster.

10. How I have developed conventions
I have not really developed the conventions of my film poster as it was
harder to change because there is only a certain amount of
conventions for the film poster.
Colour scheme- I changed the title as I couldn’t have the black on the
black boarder so I had to change the black and white to make sure that
it would be seen. However I had to develop these as I did use the same
colours for the billing block.

11. How I have challenged conventions
Full image on the poster- I have used a boarder around the image to
give it more depth, also the image that I have would not stretch to fill
the whole page. Also having the boarder allowed me to add the title so
it made it easier to read.
Billing block- I have challenged this convention as I decided that my
billing block would not look like a stereotypical one. Most people
created theirs online with a billing block generator however I thought
that mine didn’t look appealing with the title. Therefore I created mine
on pixlr and had a different name on a separate line instead of having it
all squished together.

12. Conventions of a short film poster
• Pictures of the short
film
• The title of the film
• A quick synopsis
• A release date
• A quote from the short film

13. How I have used conventions
Pictures of the short film- I have used these as I thought that it was a
must have because they have to see a glimpse into what the short film
is about. The three that I chose were of the beginning, the title and the
final scene, having these all together showed a quick insight into the
short film.
The title of the film- I have added this in the short piece of information
about the film before to make sure that they know that it called Though
my eyes.
A quick Synopsis- I have also added this in as well because most of my
audience are going to read this before they watch the short film, having
this before hand makes it easier to get my audience to watch the film
afterwards.
A release date- I have defiantly uploaded this as this is a key part to the
short film.
A quote from the short film- This I added a long the bottom to spice
things up a bit because there needed to be a bit of insight to the film.

14. How I have developed conventions
There are not really many things that I have developed because it was
harder to develop conventions for a double page spread.
First of all I have developed the colour scheme as it was easier for me
to fit various colours for the different aspects of the interview., people
could then easily follow what the producer has said. Normally double
page spreads have have only two colours that they use and stick to the
house style, I have used the same on the poster so it is easy to identify
however I added the green to make it more eye catching.

15. How I have challenged conventions
• Firstly I have challenged the idea that there is a boarder around the
article, sometimes the bleed is only small to make sure that
everything is located correctly and the writing is not off the page.
Having this allowed me to easily identify the title and add a different
aspect.
• I also added some stars to make it look more appealing and give it a
bit more depth.
• I also decided to go over the fold of the double page spread to keep
the article neat, having this made it easier to create and if I did
decide to create it in mind of the fold that would happen if it is in a
magazine.