This document summarizes how the media producer's film "Nothing Lasts Forever" uses and develops conventions of real romantic drama films. Some conventions it follows include: 1) Using established institutions like Warner Bros. to distribute the film and appeal to wider audiences. 2) Following narrative conventions of popular romance films that portray true love, illness/disability, and dealing with loss. 3) Using common settings, camera techniques, editing styles and lighting seen in romance films to immerse the audience and tell the story effectively.

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
Rahmeen Shaikh
Media Studies A2

2. Introduction
• My media product has a variety of different elements which develop
and challenge forms and conventions of real media products.
• When considering the possibility of doing a romance film, I realized
that in order for my film to be successful I had to ensure that it was
similar to other well established romance films to allow for
connection with my target audience. I had a detailed look into other
romantic films so i was able to follow the convention found, in order
for my film to be deemed recognizable and acceptable within the
film genre. By using these conventions I was able to portray
romance and later conflicts in a different way.
• There are several popular international media products that are
similar to my own. Since my film is of romantic drama genre, it can
be compared to many notable films like “A Walk To Remember”,
“P.s I Love You” and “Sweet November”.

3. • The following conventions of this genre have been used in my media
product and other real media products.

4. Institution (Warner Bros.)
• Firstly I am going to talk about the Institution that I choose to make
my film titled “Nothing Lasts Forever”.
• Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (Warner Bros. Pictures) is an
American producer of film, television, and music entertainment.
Itself it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in
Burbank, California and New York.
• It’s among the major film studios of Hollywood and it has several
subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner
Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner
Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video,
New Line Cinema, TheWB.com, and DC Entertainment. Warner
owns half of The CW Television Network too.

5. • Warner Bros being one of the world largest distributors of films tend
to show ordinary people to which a larger audience can relate to.
Their films mostly portray the love and the friendship bond between
each other and how strong it can be through tough times. These
appeals to larger audience as they are tend to see the strong bonding
between relationships.
• I think Warner Bros can produce and distribute my film is because
my story also conveys the message of true love which would appeal
all type of age groups. Teenage people will be mostly attracted
towards it because their real lives revolve around friendship, love
and break-ups. I have tried to convey a universal message of love
and letting go to my younger audience out there.
• Warner Bros is a great institution to distribute my film on local,
national and even international levels. As it have Home Box Office
as its subsidiary and Warner Bros television would help my film to
be distributed even on television.

6. • As the Warner Bros owns half of the CW television, which would add extra
credits on my film. Time Warner being the biggest parent company would
find it a lot easier to distribute my film. They also have Warner Bros Home
Video market which would help in getting my film on DVD, HD-DVD and
even Blu ray disc.
• Some of Warner Bros produced and distributed films:
1. Gossip (2000)
2. A Walk to remember (2002)
3. Two Weeks’ Notice (2002)
4. Elephant (2003)
5. What A Girl Wants (2003)
6. Love Doesn’t Cost A Thing (2003)
7. The Notebook (2004)
8. A Cinderella Story (2004)
9. Laws of Attraction (2004)
10. The Sisterhood Of Travelling Pants (2005)

7. 11. Rocket Science (2007)
12. P.S I Love You (2007)
13. Another Cinderella Story (2008)
14. 17 Again (2009)
15. Going the Distance (2010)
16. Valentine’s Day (2010)
17. Crazy Stupid Love (2011)
18. New Year’s Eve (2011)

8. Narrative
• Narrative stands for a process of telling a story. When writers write
a story they tend to build the story based upon the common codes
and conventions of that particular genre.
• “A Walk To Remember” portrays meaning of true and eternal love
because after the death of Jamie, Landon was satisfied with their
love and that it can never fade away. Moreover it also illustrates the
value of looking deeper inside of people and finding the good. It
looks at showing mercy to those who might not deserve it instead of
judgment, forgiveness instead of wrath, and the beauty of restored
relationships.
• Similarly in my film I had also portrayed the concept of true love
and how one of them deals with imparities or illness of the other. In
my film the Scarlet (female protagonist) would be blind and the Eric
(male protagonist) will still love her despite of her visual disability.
My story would unfold itself by explaining that how they both
struggles in their own way between love and disability. Eventually in
the end Scarlet shows loyalty to Eric and she doesn’t want Eric to
suffer in pain or difficulties because of her.

9. • “P.s I Love You” conveys the message that even after the death of
Gerry (male protagonist) he is still supporting Holly (female
protagonist) by his letters that he wrote in his lifetime. Gerry cared
about Holly so much that he wanted to never leave Holly depressed
or sad. Gerry had already made a backup plan. This love story tells
that true lovers never fall apart and they always support each other
whether they are alive or dead.
• Likewise in my film, the story deals with human emotions and how
even after everything seems to be alright some mishap happens
which changes the life of the couple forever. It also portrays a lot of
emotions and striking moments which sets audience to get deeply
involved in it. As in my story Scarlett (female protagonist) becomes
blind after an accident but despite of this Eric (male protagonist)
decides not to leave her side and stay loyal with her.

10. • “Sweet November’s” main concept is somehow similar to “A Walk to
Remember” because in both there is a girl who is suffering from
terminal cancer and eventually will die. This story is about the
struggle of two lovers between love and illness. It tells us that Sara
didn’t want Nelson to be with her in her bad times because then
Nelson would not be able to remember Sara in good memories.
Nelson is deeply hurt by this and tries really hard to stop Sara but
she doesn’t.
• In my film titled “Nothing Lasts Forever” Scarlett doesn’t want Eric
to be with him as she does not wanted Eric to spend the rest of his
life in pain with her. Scarlett wanted Eric to forget her and leave her
side. Eventually after listening to the point of view of Eric’s sister
Hazel, Scarlett decides to leaves Eric in pain and only thing they had
were the lovely memories they had spent.

11. Treatment
Settings
• Settings refers to the decoration or decorative styles, comprising
mainly of the set and props used in a movie. Instead of just dressing
the set, the director must also emphasize upon themes, create
meanings, and provoke thoughts from the particular scene. In most
romances, there are stereo typical places that they are set. They are
normally set in an urban environment, a beach, and a school etc.,
places where a chance encounter would happen.
• When a romance film opens, it is likely that much of the setting will
be shown to the audience from the use of establishing shots and
wide shots showing characters and much of the setting and area
behind them. Depending on where they are situated, this can
sometimes help the audience interpret what they think is going to
happen in the film or where the action is going to take place.
Treatment of a movie contains a lot of things from camera movements to
editing and from Mise en scene to

12. • Basically I have used 3 locations in my film that are park, living
room and road. For example in the start of my film I have
introduced my location that is a park which shows that it is a quite
romantic place where a boy and a girl can meet. As the film proceeds
further my next scene is in Eric’s (male protagonist) home with her
sister Hazel. The setting was a common living room where both the
characters are seen comfortable. As Eric belonged to a well off
family so the setting of living room compliments this. In scene 4 I
have shown accident of both Eric and Scarlet which was shot on a
road at night time. A road was already a built up location so I did
not need to add anything in the screen.
• Moreover while doing my research and planning of the romance
genre it is most common that the films are mostly set in the city
especially big cities such as New York being perhaps the most
common setting for romance films. Also this allows the characters to
have a particular lifestyle and personality. Similarly in my film my
both the characters are well off and live in a big city that shows their
status.

14. Camera Angles & Movement:
• A romantic drama can consist of many angles shots and types of
movement. Mid shots, close up’s and panning shots are used quite
frequently in romance film. Romantic drama use typical camera
shots in order to keep the story simple and easy to understand for
the audience.
• Establishing Shot- This shot is used to set the scene and location of
the story; where everything will take place. In my film I haven’t used
any establishing shot in first scene. But in scene 4 when both Eric
and Scarlet are going for shopping I have started that scene with
establishing shot of Scarlet standing by the side of the road.
Moreover in scene 5 when Eric and Scarlet again meets after 1
month of accident I have used a establishing shot of the park to
introduce the location once again. Both the screenshots of the scene
are attached below.

15. Below are screenshots of establishing shots from “A Walk To Remember”
Below are the screenshots of establishing shots from “Nothing Lasts Forever”

16. • Long shot helps audience to be able see the characters entire body
along with some of the scenery. Moreover they can determine how
much space the characters have around them and how close the two
main characters are to one another which can be a good judgment
for an audience on how much they like/dislike each other at that
certain time of film. Below is a screenshot of long shot from the
movie “A Walk To Remember”.

17. • The long shot you see before is from the scene, which takes place
after Landon’s dad says he is the wrong type of doctor and cannot
help Jamie, Landon’s girlfriend, who has Leukemia. The use of the
long shot here, represents how Landon is dealing with Jamie’s
situation. He is sad that he cannot help her, he is sad that his dad
will not help him to help her, and he is alone. In this shot, Landon is
standing in front of open water, without any activity, showing
isolation. The high angle takes power away from the subject, it is out
of Landon’s power to help Jamie…at least medically.
• In another screen shot below
of “A Walk To Remember” we
can see both Landon and
Jamie dancing in the balcony.
This shows the status of their
relationship as they are very
close to each other. Moreover
the long shot of them on the
balcony also depicts that they
are comfortable in their
surroundings.

18. • In my film “Nothing Lasts Forever” I have used many long shots to
establish the location and character in that particular scene. The
screen shot below shows Eric and Scarlett walking which illustrates
that at this point in the film their relationship is growing as they are
walking together and both seems to be really happy. Moreover we
are also able to see the surroundings which is a park and it seems to
be really pleasant.

19. • Mid Shot- This shot is typically used to introduce the character to a
more personal connection towards the audience so they get a better
look at the protagonist. They can either be used throughout the
romantic drama or at certain scenes. These shots work well in
showing body language; telling us how the character fells without
them having to speak. Below are the screenshots from “A Walk To
Remember”

20. • In my film I have used plenty of mid shots to introduce my
characters in each scene. This helps the audience understand and
interpret where the characters are and who the characters being
shown are. In the screen shot below both my male and female
protagonist are talking to each other and both are in a pleasant
mood.

21. • Close Up- The close up shot are typically used in Romantic films to
show the central characters feelings and emotions. They allow
audience to see just the characters face in order to make a judgment
on what they might be feeling or thinking. In romantic drama, these
shots are usually used to show whether a character might be in love,
hurt or rejected. Below are the screenshots from “A Walk To
Remember”.

22. • In the screenshot of “Nothing Lasts Forever” we can see that Eric is
staring at Scarlet in a pleasant way which makes it obvious to the
audience that he has feelings for her. Moreover the close up shot of
Scarlet also shows that she is smiling and is comfortable with Eric.

23. Editing
• Editing is the post-production stage in which the sequencing or
joining together of camera shots, sound and/or text is performed, it
is basically how the individual shots are put together.
• Continuity editing is when the sequence is edited so that time seems
to flow, uninterrupted, from shot to shot; this is achieved by using
only straight cuts. This can also involve cross-cutting which is where
a sequence cuts between to different settings to make it appear as if
the action is occurring simultaneously. This editing technique is
used to make the film seem as real as possible and allow the
audience to be fully immersed in what’s happening on screen and
even forget that they are in fact watching a film
• The most common editing style in the romantic drama genre is
continuity editing. This is most likely because romantic films are
extremely focused on telling the story and making it seem as if it is
real, therefore they must make it flow smoothly and keep the editing
unnoticeable.

24. • For my film “Nothing Lasts Forever” I mainly used continuity
editing to stick to the codes and conventions of the genre and to help
keep my story linear and easy to understand, as this is what the
target audience wants. At first I used the razor tool to cut the video
clips from many places to eliminate extra shots, and then I applied
the Cross Dissolve transition in between. In the end of every scene I
have used Dip To Black transition which helped in giving a good
ending to the scene.
• I also used an audio crossfade because I used two different music
mp3s and to merge them and make them seem natural, I had to
make sure there was no awkward composition or gaps. I worked on
two audio layers which aided me in overlapping dialogues with
background music that I choose from royalty free websites.

25. Lighting
• Lighting is a very important aspect for shaping meaning in films.
Lighting plays an important part in creating the atmosphere in a
film.
• There are two types of lighting:
• High-key lighting simply refers to images that are mostly bright,
with a range of light tones and whites and not very many blacks or
mid-tones. In high-key lighting, tones that generally would have
been mid-range become much brighter, near-white tones become
white and white becomes, well, white.
• Low-key lighting relies on shadows, deep blacks and darker tones,
with very few whites and middle tones. The mood is opposite, too –
while high-key lighting is hopeful and optimistic, low-key lighting is
somber, mysterious and moody, dramatic or even ominous
depending on the subject. Low key images, tend to have a lot of
contrast, with the primary impact coming from the shadows.

26. • In my reference film “A Walk to Remember” mostly there is use of
high key lighting which depicts the brighter and romantic feel to the
film. The screenshot below from “A Walk To Remember” shows a
wedding scene.
There is enough use of lighting in this scene which gives the audience a
refreshing look to the film. As this is a wedding scene so through high
key lighting they have tried to create romantic feel to the scene.
Similarly in the screenshots of Landon and Jamie below shows use of
high key lighting. This denotes that during the romantic scenes there is
extensive use of lights to create the perfect Mise en scene.

27. • Most of my film is shot in high key lighting and I have used natural
lighting (sun) in most of the scenes. High key lighting shows the
happy and romantic mood of the film. In the screenshots below it
can be seen that in starting my both the protagonist are sitting on a
bench in a park where they seem to be happy.
• The above shot shows that Eric (male protagonist) is proposing
Scarlett (female protagonist) and both are happy so I have used high
key lighting to show the positivity of the scene. As it is an outdoor
scene so my main source of light was the sun and I did not use any
artificial light.

28. • In “A Walk To Remember” there has been use of low key lighting as
well especially in the scenes of pain and difficulty. The screenshots
below shows the scenes that made use of low key lighting.
• The screenshots above shows when Jamie tells Landon about her
illness and Landon gets really depressed after hearing it. In this
scene low key lighting is used to show sorrow and pain among the
characters. Moreover it gives the scene more dramatic and intense
look.

29. • Low key lighting was considered just once in the scene before Eric
and Scarlett accident. I have tried to portray that something bad is
about to happen through the use of low key lighting. I shot this
scene at night in car and the only light source that I used was dome
light. This was very minimal but was able to light my actor’s faces.
Below can be seen the screenshots of this scene.
• I shot this in low key lighting because shooting an accident scene in
such lighting makes it more dramatic and intense.

30. Music
• The music is always an important part of any film, no matter what
genre. The music is key element in the movie as it creates mood and
suspense to create the feel of the film.
• In my film I made sure that I use royalty free music so there aren’t
any copyright issues. I used both soft and light music in my film to
show the tenderness and sensitivity of the relationship and to
represent the characters personality. I have used both happy and
sad music in accordance with the scene.
• In the starting of my film my male protagonist is seen playing a
guitar. My actor did not know how to play a guitar so during sound
editing process I used an instrumental music of guitar from
internet. The use of it seemed to be really realistic.

31. • The soundtrack that I have used in the first scene is light hearted
and upbeat which adds on the soft and romantic feel to the scene.
The first soundtrack of my film is a combination of piano and guitar
which depicts the good and happy side of the scene.
• In my film there comes a point when Scarlet gets blind and it
disturbs both Eric and her. From here onwards I made use of sad
music which comprises of violin. The use of violin gives a soft,
romantic yet a painful feeling to the whole scenario. All of these
musical instruments can be used effectively through diegetic and
non-diegetic sound editing.

32. Challenges
• Nowadays in every romantic film we tend to see same old repetitive storyline
where a boy meets a girl, and then they fall in love with each other. The
disequilibrium sets in when they both are faced by a problem that a parts
them. In the end usually both the boy and the girl comes together when the
problem is resolved. This is a basic and repetitive formula used in romantic
films since ages and I think audience is bored of it and they want something
new.
• Even in movie “A Walk To Remember” The story starts with equilibrium and
later Landon and Jamie are brought closer and they fall in love. The
disequilibrium in the movie sets in when Jamie tells Landon about her illness.
To move the movie again to equilibrium we are shown that Landon realizes
that Jamie needs him the most at this time. So Landon makes every possible
effort to make her happy by fulfilling her wish list. Later Landon and Jamie are
married in the same church as was Jamie’s deceased mother, the event that
topped Jamie’s wish list. The movie ends with Jamie’s death and Landon
himself becomes a better person through Jamie’s memory, achieving the goals
he set out to do, like she did. Though it is a tragic end but Landon and Jamie
shared some beautiful moments and they said each other good bye in happy
manner. I think that the way they ended the film sets it back into the
equilibrium as we see Landon satisfied and smiling in the end.

33. • In my film there isn't any happy ending because I wanted my film to
look a bit unique and was not willing to use same storyline formula.
I believe in differences among codes and conventions of a particular
genre as it entertains the audience more and they are always curious
on what would happen next. This curiosity among audience helps
achieve greater success of film. So I intentionally challenged this
codes and conventions to make my film look a bit different and
happening one.

34. Rahmeen Shaikh
Media Studies A2
The End