The document provides an analysis of how the student's media product uses, develops, or challenges conventions of real media. It summarizes that the opening sequence includes an establishing shot of train doors with the word "OFF GRID" to set the scene, similar to real films. It also uses a train station location commonly seen in thrillers and the main character is dressed in all black to appear hidden, challenging conventions by not immediately identifying the protagonist. Throughout, a bold, basic font is used for titles as seen in other media products, while the placement of titles on objects and masking of the actor walking in front of them does not conform to typical high budget film conventions.

1. EVALUATION
QUESTION 1.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. The first shot of the film is a relatively simple shot, it was a fade from black into a shot with the words
‘OFF GRID’ in a bold font, and capital letters either side of a train door. Many real media products use
big, bold lettering at the start of a film, and we use this, accompanied by an establishing shot of open
train doors.The establishing shot of the train doors behind the text sets the scene for the whole film.
Most real films start with the title of the film, over a shot of where the film will be set. It provides
context for the audience.
An example of a real media product using this is in the 2016Thriller ‘Nerve’.They use the bold letters
‘NERVE’ on a computer desktop, which shows that the film will be based around the internet and
computers.

3. The location we used for our film was a train station in Bristol. In thriller and action films train stations
and airports are common locations for filming.We chose this location as we wanted a busy place with
lots of general public.
An example of when a real media product has used a location similar to ours is in the 2007 mystery
crime filmThe Bourne Ultimatum.They have used the train station in the same way, as a busy location
where the protagonist can easily be lost.
Although we made sure nobody was against us filming, the main difference between a real media
product and our film, is that we did not pay or ask permission to film in this location, which obviously
would not be the case in a real media product.

4. At the end of this shot there is a long pan that tracks the protagonist as he walks up a large set of
stairs.This was shot using a tripod and the lever to turn the camera smoothly.This sort of shot is used
frequently in real media products and we did it to a standard that makes it look professional.
A hand held shot was also used, where the cameraman followed our character down a hallway.
We used these different types of shot to break up the use of still steady shots, however it is difficult
to say weather this fit with the conventions .This is because every film director has their own style of
film, and they can widely differ from each other.

5. The costumes that we used for our main character were designed to be the look of a ‘sketchy’ person.
We had him dress in an all black outfit, which included a hat, jacket, jeans and black trainers.
The aim of this outfit was to create the feel that the
characters identity was hidden, and that he was
attempting to move around out of sight.
The outfit we chose definitely challenged the conventions of real media products, as in most opening
scenes the main character is made obvious, whereas in our opening clip the main character was in
amongst the crowd, so he was not immediately pointed out to the audience.

6. We had decided that we wanted to not only show the genre, but also set up a story that could
be produced into a full length film.
The consumes helped with this as they allowed us to portray the main character as a sketchy
person.We also used a range of different techniques to show this, on being in this shot below.
In this shot we created a silhouette of the main character.
We did this by having him walk into a completely dark room,
with the lights outside that room on.
This created a completely black silhouette of our actor,
which we though portrayed the sketchy look we were going
for.

7. Excluding the introduction, the same font is used throughout the opening sequence.
This font was used as it is a bold, basic font that looks clean.This type of font is very common in real
media products, for example the font used in ‘Nerve’ is very similar, just a different colour.The use of
this font conforms to the conventions of real media products, and I think this is because the titles are a
vital aspect of an opening sequence.
The use of the bold and simple font was done deliberately, and I think it is so common because there is
no use using a fancy font as they are mostly too difficult to read.

8. The titles we used were simple, and to the point, however we placed them on certain objects
within the shot including pavements, walls, and doorways.
We also used masking when editing so that we could have our actor stepping and walking in
front of the titles.This part of the titles did not conform to the conventions of real media
products, as in high budget films you don’t usually see masking used, however you do see it
used in low budget independent short films or cinematic sequences.
I think that our titles were very original and were able to show a high level of skills, both in
positioning them to fit nicely into a shot, and in editing to make the actor step in front of the
titles.