My first evaluation question for my Foundation production AS media coursework

1. Question 1
IN WHAT WAYS DOES YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE
FORMS AND CONVENTIONS
OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?

2. TITLES
• We decided to call our Foundation Production film “The Prodigy”
• The narrative of our film was exploring the life of an 18 year old girl who's father was killed
in a devastating car crash. The film follows her development from a small girl with
aspiring dreams to the woman on the cusp of success, following in her fathers racing
footsteps.
• We created our film under the instruction to create a car-action film. Beth and I took this
and incorporated in emotion enthralling features. The Prodigy infers that whoever the
protagonist is has great potential in their chosen field, however the title does not sound
like a typical car action film and therefore doesn't follow all the conventions we studied
prior to production.

3. HOW DID WE APPROACH THE TITLE?
• Months before the actual planning of the film, we researched the
openings of films and their conventions, car action films in
particular.
• We watched the openings for Rush, Fast and Furious 7, the
Avengers, Maleficent, Kingsman: The Secret Service and Bridget
Jones. We looked at how these films agreed with the conventions
of their genre or if they subverted them

4. • We showed the title of our film at the end of the two minute
opening. We used a sideways drift transition, mimicking the car
which later drives in the same direction which the prodigy’s car had
come from.
• We also used the the diagetic sound effect of a car passing, when
the title appears on the screen to add to add to the car action film
genre, in which our film is set.

5. IDENTS
• We used two different production companies idents at the beginning of our film
opening. We did this because the research which we have done shows that the
companies which had put money into the making of the film, are the ones who are
shown at the very beginning of any film, This does not just apply to films of a certain
genre. We chose to follow this convention.
• In the second ident which we showed, we used the same typography as the title of
the film, which is later shown. We did this to show a continuity throughout the film
opening. However, the transition used for the idents were different to the latter due to
the change in mood throughout the opening. It begins soft which mirrors the
transition used (fading), and then ends with the a race car speeding off and an abrupt
horizontal drift with the final title of the film

6. CREDITS
• The film openings which we found all had one thing in common:
none of them say ‘starring’ or ‘featuring’ anywhere in their credits,
some don't even feature the names of their stars in it. In Bridget
Jones, the actress who plays the protagonist is shown. We decided
to show our credits like this, without the word ‘featuring’ and part of
the actual shot because no recent films have shown this, especially
not as part of the motorsport genre.

7. • We decided to choose a rather unconventional protagonist for this
sort of genre of film. Stereotypically men are seen as the people
who major in films which are solely based on cars and racing. We
did this to mirror the changing times of equality and female’s
diversification into different fields, which were once only meant for
men.
• On the other hand we showed the
two stock characters in the film, as
being stereotypical males. Who were
dressed in suits, which are symbols
of power. They play a vital part in the
narrative, as they tell the audience
the context of the film: the father’s
crash.

8. • In the very beginning of Rush (2013) the only characters shown are
the protagonists of the film. However, a non-diagetic voice over is
played in the background of the scene, to tell the audience of the
context of the film.
• We did the same sort of thing as we used the voices of the
newsreaders, from the beginning of the clip, to explain the reason
behind what we were showing in the shot. For example, when the
protagonist appears in the shot, the voice over explains who this
character is: Lucy.

9. SETTINGS/LOCATIONS
• Obviously, car action films need roads or tracks, so that characters
can race each other on them, but we also took into consideration
what the actual locations were like surrounding the films.
• In the Fast and Furious Franchise, the setting for the films was
more of an urban setting: in towns or cities, bottom right.
• However in films like Mad Max: Fury Road, the locations of the film
is that of a very secluded and deserted nature, that of a desert,
bottom left.

10. • Other films, base their films around the access of a race track, like
Herbie, Rush and Speed Racer.
• As my college is actually located on the track of the Silverstone Circuit,
we were told at the very beginning of the planning of our films that we
would have access to the track when we needed to film.

11. • When we were first planning our film, we were not given a limit of where
about on the track we were going to be able to film, so we planned to film
underneath the Silverstone sign, which was shown on the last page, as
well as in the pit stops just opposite our college.
• However, as the filming day got closer, our group was informed that we
would only have access to Copse Tunnel, Copse Runway and the
surrounding stands. We would have liked to have filmed in proper pit
locations for the scenes which the protagonist was working on the car,
however we just changed the shots slightly so that the background of the
shot wasn't really on show.
• We also just filmed the Silverstone sign from the balcony of our college,
as we have a spectacular view of the circuit on the pits straight.

12. • Other limitations which we faced, was that we were only given 1 day to film, the
19th of January 2016. This was one of the coldest days of the year but was a
beautiful day none the less.
• As our filming day was in the winter months of the year, the sun was setting from
around 4 o'clock onwards. This meant that we had roughly around 6 hours to film
on our location.
• Our college also has a very wide catchment area for students. Beth and I live
around an hour and half away from each other, so this makes filming outside of
school very difficult, as we attend college 9-5 five days a week and we both have
jobs.
• We also had to deal with the fact that Beth was on crutches for the day of filming,
which meant that moving from different parts of the track and location took longer
than expected or as long as it took other groups on our course.

13. WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY…
• If given the choice to re film our opening, I would request that we
film in the summer season of the year. This is because the actual
Formula One and racing season begins in the summer months. I
could have shot the heat rays raising up from from the tarmac of the
track and this would have also created a warmer and happier
atmosphere for the film, rather than the frost which was shown on
the railings of copse tunnel in the background of one of the scenes,
as well the protagonists breath showing.
• It would have also been more enjoyable to film in a warmer
environment… I wore approximately 6 thick layers on the day of
filming however, still felt freezing.

14. COSTUMES
• So whenever anyone says car action films, I think racing. I think the
big racing suits with advertisements stuck all over them and a big
helmet hiding their identity. This is exactly what we based our
protagonists’ costume on for elements of the film.
• The other costume which our protagonist was shown in was that of
a sort of scruffy, hard working, labouring and baggy appearance.
We took this idea as shown below, from Herbie Fully Loaded,
where Lindsay Lohan is shown wearing blue overalls whilst working
on her car.

15. • This sort of attire, stereotypically is associated with the male gender, as is the
rest of the racing and motorsport world. Which is precisely the reason why we
decided to make our protagonist a WOMAN! Although the racing, motorsport
and Formula One world is still predominantly made up of males, Beth and I
wanted to encode into our film, the fact that women are also part of this world
and they can still be as successful in it as the rest of them. Women aren't
always just pretty blonde, make up loving, hair perfected, shopping lovers.
They can be whatever they want to be.
• Herbie, again, is an excellent example of this stereotype being subverted. As
well as the character Lettie in the Fast and Furious franchise, who is seen as
being as good a driver as the rest of the male characters.

16. • We did however, decide to portray the stock characters, the news readers, as being the
typical male power symbols. We dressed them in power icons, suits and gave them a job
which is predominantly done by males. The film Anchorman portrayed the horror which
was felt, by men, when a woman tried to become a news reporter. Thinking back, it may
have been an improvement to the film if we had casted one of the news reporters as
being female, as this would have further backed up our idea of equality for women.
• However, we did decide to cast one of the newsreaders as being of a different ethnicity
and background than the archetypical, ‘average’ English man. Which again shows the
diversity and changes which the world has undergone over the last 50-100 years.

17. CAMERA WORK
• The first shot shown in our film opening is the Silverstone sign. We used
an establishing shot to show this as in many films, establishing or long
shots are used to show the setting or location of the film. The audience
now know that the Prodigy is set in England at the home of British
motorsport.
• We also used establishing shots again later in the opening, which shows
more of the actual Silverstone track as we used a panning technique.
This draws attention to the location of the film, which fits with the
convention of the car action film genre.
• On the other side of the spectrum, we also used mid shots of the news
reporters. This showed the costumes which they were wearing as well
as their ethnicity.

18. • As far as the shooting of the protagonist, we used a range of shots to
film her.
Mid shot
Extreme long shot Long shot
Over the shoulder

19. • We also filmed our main prop: the car, in a few different ways as
well:
Long shot Long Shot
Close up
Extreme Long shot

20. • We got the idea for the close up of the car as it races away, from
the shots in films where wheel spins are shown.
• In our initial storyboard we planned to film a wheel spin as the last
shot of our opening, before the title was shown. However, on the
day we also filmed this close up and thought it suited the film better
when editing. We later used the long side-on shot of the car driving
away to simulate the wheel spin and speed of the car.

21. EDITING
• We used iMovie on my macbook to edit our opening. Predominately
continuity editing was used as we followed a chronological order
though out the film: working on the car, walking up through the
tunnel, walking to the car, getting in the car and finally driving off.

22. There however, are a few instances where other
editing techniques are used. For example the
flashback which is shown when a non-diagetic
voice is played which is taken on the day of the
crash which killed the protagonist’s father.
We also fast forward to make the car appear to
be driving past a lot faster than it had actually
been, fitting in with the racing and motorsport
world.
I also used a series of jump cuts to portray the
movement of the protagonist as she walks up
the tunnel towards her car. I did this to create a
quicker pace of walking, to insinuate a
determination within the character.
I also used transitions such as a cross dissolve
and fade to black throughout the film opening. I
used the cross dissolve when transitioning from
one establishing shot to another and I used the
fade to black when the car was racing off to
transition to the title of the film. They both fit
perfectly.

23. • When the protagonist was walking through the tunnel, I used a
series of short and quite abrupt fast cuts. Which shows Lucy’s
determination to be great and the connotes fact that she can be a
successful woman in motorsport.
• Which is different to the slow shot in which she walks up to her car,
puts her helmet on and gets into the car. I did this because it
juxtaposes the non-diagetic upbeat soundtrack which is playing in
the background as well as the scene before. It emphasises the fact
that she is determined and prepared for the race ahead but is at
ease with herself. Fast cuts, for me, would have taken the focus of
the audience away from the fact that this is a woman, following her
dad’s legacy and beginning her journey to become what she's
always wanted. This is the way in which we wanted Lucy to be seen
as throughout the film.