In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real drama media products?

1. EvaluationQuestion1
In what ways does your media product use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions
of real Drama media products?
By AliceWestern

2. Costume
A significant convention to any drama media products, is costume.This is
because the clothing of characters is colloquial to the setting, time and other
themes of the film, thus providing a sense of realism.As my film opening is based
around everyday teenagers, my characters are wearing clothing suited for
different purposes. For example, Polly and Liam wore smarter clothes in
comparison to what Polly and Millie were wearing whilst on the phone to each
other.This implies that the costumes shown in my media opening relates to
conventions of real drama media products, as typical, everyday people in them
are displayed to be wearing casual clothes like we do in reality. However, it can be
suggested that Millie's costume in the burglar scene can challenge conventions
of how burglar are perceived in drama media products.This is because criminals
in dramas may be dressed to be wearing a better, more sincere disguise. Millie's
clothing in this scene adds vulnerability to her revealing identity. However, Millie
is only a teenage girl and therefore I imagined that her wearing darker and
concealing clothing to 'break into' her friend's house would make her and
her forthcoming actions more obvious, if put in a similar real life situation.

3. Setting
Likewise to costume, the setting of real
drama/thriller media products is based on the theme
of the film in order to stick to the concept of realism.
For example, the film 'Gladiator' is based in the city of
Rome as its storyline relates to Ancient Rome. If it's
setting was based elsewhere, e.g. in a forest, then
the setting will greatly affect the realism of the
overall film that it aims to submit.Therefore, in my
two minute opening, the setting of each scene uses
and develops typical conventions of drama media
products. For my work, we used Charlotte's house
and a restaurant to add realism to the phone call,
burglary and date scenes.This also helps the
audience relate to the content further as they were
filmed in everyday/casual places.

4. Lighting
Lighting is a very important factor of any media product, as it helps to create
a metaphor for the mood of the characters and other events in them.
Therefore, lighting can be exaggerated (especially in dramas) to highlight
the emotions of characters, as well as creating scepticism and suspense.Yet,
at the same time, the lighting in dramas needs to maintain the overall theme
of realism.The lighting in the phone call scene of my 2 minute opening is
bright so it adds focus onto Polly's and Millie's faces, as well as creating a
sense of clarity between the two characters and reflecting on the conviviality
of their conversation.Therefore, my opening uses conventions of real drama
media products to an extent because its lighting does refer to the realism my
opening aims to portray. However, dramas also include dark lighting to
heighten a change in emotion and prosperity. My 2 minute opening does
contains shots in which the lighting is low key and therefore creates a sense
of mystery and a sinister, unsettling atmosphere. For example, the burglar
scene is filmed at night with minimum light in order to emphasize a
realistic/stereotypical time someone burgles a house, but also to create
tension and uncertainty because the surroundings are difficult to
depict. Therefore, the lighting of my film opening does develop conventions
of real drama/thriller media products.

5. Narrative
In the majority of thriller/drama products, the narrative
is based uponTodorov’s theory. He stated that a story
begins with an equilibrium (where everything is content)
which eventually gets disrupted by a scenario and
attempts are made to restore the equilibrium. In
Dramas and thrillers, the equilibrium gets affected by an
emotional, moving and dramatic event – an example
typically being a death. It is impossible for the entire
narrative of my film to be exposed within its first two
minutes. However, my opening does relate toTodorov’s
narrative theory to a miniature extent. For example, it
can be portrayed that the equilibrium of my opening
was the phone call between Millie and Polly, and Polly
and Liam’s date in the restaurant – as from the
audience’s point of view, everything seemed ok.The
stage in which the equilibrium gets disrupted, is when
Liam writes Millie ‘the’ text and when Millie breaks into
Polly’s house.This supports narrative conventions of
drama products in which a dramatic, poignant turning
point is included.

6. Sound
In drama media products, dark and sinister non-
diegetic sound is often used to create anticipation
felt by the audience by being unaware of what the
music is leading to. Silence is also a common
aspect of sound in dramas as it relates to reality
and can also signify a powerful momentum, which
may not be as moving as music featuring in the
moment.The use of sound in my two minute
opening can support conventions of real drama
media products. My media product does include
silence/no non-diegetic sound in some scenes so
the audience can focus on what is happening. I
included monotonous music for the burglar scene
to heighten notions about what is about to
happen. My opening begins with silence and
dialogue so the audience can focus on what the
character is saying.This is a fairly standard
technique used by many directors in the
drama/thriller genre.