The document discusses conventions of real media products in the genres of sporting dramas and film trailers/posters/magazines and how the student's media products developed, challenged, and conformed to these conventions. Specifically: The student conformed to conventions like including a sporting interest, relationship drama, costumes related to the sport (boxing), establishing shots, mid-shots of the protagonist, and links to the trailer in the poster and magazine. Conventions that were challenged included having the protagonist's issues occur at the beginning rather than middle, using black and white footage, and a landscape poster format. Conventions that were developed included using a homemade garage gym setting rather than a proper one,

1. Question 6
In what ways does your media product develop, challenge and conform to conventions of real media products?

2. Conventions of Our Genre
 The genre of our film is a sporting drama. These are hybrids that obviously contain conventions
from both of the genres. In these films there is often a sporting interest with a form of drama
story to accompany it. The drama tends to happen at either the start or the middle of the film
and the protagonist tends to overcome these issues at the end of the film via the help of their
sporting interest. Drama films tend to follow the journey of a certain character who usually has a
dramatic life. The audience tend to be able to relate to the character and feel a part of his their
journey. Conventions of a sport film include things such as: an athlete, there tends to be a
disruption within the film and there is usually some form of relationship between characters that
is portrayed.

3. General Overview - Trailer
Used Conventions
• Costume
• Setting
• Camera Work
• Music
• Font
• Themes
• Focus on Boxing
• Love Interest
Challenged Conventions
• Issues Occurs at
Beginning
• Use of black and white
Developed Conventions
• Use of garage gym
rather than boxing
gym
• Unsuccessful
Character

4. How I used Conventions…
 Setting – In sporting films, it is extremely common for the protagonist to be quite a rich and
successful sports star who is of the upper class status but came from a working class background.
In our film, the protagonist, Reiss, is from a working class background which can be established
via the use of setting etc. The setting we used included parks, a gym (in a garage) and a house.
 Costume – Films of this genre tend to use quite standard clothing for their characters. We
conformed to this as our characters tend to be seen in informal clothing such as t shirts and
jeans. Sporting films also have some form of sporting equipment represented within the
costume. Our character can be seen wearing boxing gloves as well as wearing tape around his
wrists.
 Music – Sporting dramas tend to have two soundtracks within the trailer, one of which is fast
paced and the other which is slower. In our trailer, there is a fast paces soundtrack to build
tension and engage the audience.

5. How I used Conventions…
 Camera Work (Establishing Shot) – A lot of sporting dramas tend to use an establishing shot
towards the start of the trailer. We conformed to this convention as there is a shot in our trailer at
the start which displays the setting of the protagonists house.
 Camera Work (Mid-Shot) – Sporting dramas also tend to use mid shots of the protagonist in
action. In our trailer there are several mid shots where the protagonist can be seen training,
skipping, punching and running. So we therefore conformed to this convention.
 Conventional Themes- We conformed to this convention as within our trailer, the protagonist has
a sporting interest (boxing) but also has issues within his life such as an alcohol addiction and
relationship issues. This is conventional for sporting dramas and we conformed to this as the
audience will be able to follow his life via the trailer.

6. Examples – Camera Work

7. Examples – Costume

8. Examples – Setting

9. How I challenged Conventions…
 Issues Occur at Beginning – Traditionally, sporting dramas tend to have the issue/tragedies
become present midway through the film. However, in our trailer, we portray the death of the
protagonists mother at the very start. We decide to do this as we believed it encaged the
audience from the very start of the trailer and they will be able to develop a form of emotional
attachment to the character. This may entice them to come and watch the film as they will be
engrossed in the trailer.
 Use of black and white – It is not a convention of sporting drama trailers to include scenes that
are black and white. However, we decided to do this in our trailer as it portrayed the protagonists
issues within his life. The audience should be able to identify the inner demons that the
protagonist is facing.

10. Example – Issues

11. Example – Black & White

12. How I developed Conventions…
 Use of garage gym – Traditionally, sporting drams films tend to have a professional sporting
arena as part of the setting. However, in our trailer we chose to use a home gym as it portrayed
to the audience that the protagonist is passion about the sport but also that he is of the working
class as he may not be able to afford a gym membership and a personal trainer.
 Unsuccessful Character – In sporting dramas, although the character tends to face issue within
their life, they tend to be quite successful. However, we challenged this convention as our
character faces issues within his life but he isn’t a successful boxer like the conventions would
suggest.

13. Example – Garage Gym

14. Ancillary Product - Conventions
Film Poster
Portrait
Large Title
Titles
Credits
Large Image
Link to trailer
Film Magazine Cover
Barcode
Striking Image
Stories
Plug ins
Large Title

15. General Overview - Poster
Used Conventions
• Large Title
• Large Image
• Credits
• Link to trailer
Challenged Conventions
• Landscape
• Use of black and white
Developed Conventions
• Colour Scheme

16. How I used Conventions…
 Large Title – On the poster we used a large title as it grabs the readers attention and conforms to
stereotypes of film posters.
 Large Image – The image we used fills the whole page and this therefore conforms to the
conventions of film posters. The image is also of our protagonist which is again, a convention.
 Link to trailer – We have created a direct link to our trailer as we have used the same font style,
font colour and protagonist. This therefore conforms to the conventions.
 Credits – It is a convention of film posters to include credits at the bottom of the page which tend
to be quite small. We have done this on our poster which therefore means we have conformed
to the convention.

17. How I challenged Conventions…
 Black and White – We made our poster black and white as this represented the plot of our trailer
due to the characters inner demons. This is unconventional as film posters tend to be in colour
rather than black and white.
 Landscape – Posters tend to be portrait rather than landscape. We made ours landscape as the
image we wanted to use would not have been suitable as a portrait poster. We are pleased that
we decided to challenge this convention as we believe our poster is highly effective.

18. How I developed Conventions…
 Colour Scheme – Film posters tend to use one or two colours to create continuity. We have used
three different colours: white, black and red as we believed that these colours went really well
together and they also represented the plot. Red signifying blood which links to boxing and black
and white signifying the issued the protagonist faces and the death of his mother.

19. Poster Comparison

20. General Overview - Magazine
Used Conventions
• Large Title
• Link to trailer
• Striking Image
• Barcode
• Portrait
Challenged Conventions
• Image Banner
Developed Conventions
• Quote and Title are
in the middle of the
page.

21. How I used Conventions…
 Link to trailer – We have created a direct link to our trailer as we have used the same font style,
font colour and protagonist. This therefore conforms to the conventions.
 Large Title – On the magazine we used a large title as it grabs the readers attention and
conforms to stereotypes of film posters. We used ‘Rockwell Extra Bold’ and ‘Copperplate Gothic
Bold’.
 Striking Image – The image we used is quite striking as it was rather big and is in the centre of
the page. Reiss is wearing boxing gloves and is in a boxing pose which grabs the reader
attention.
 Barcode- We included a barcode on our magazine as this is a convention of magazines and
therefore ours conforms to this.

22. How I challenged Conventions…
 Image Banner – Film magazines don’t usually have a banner of images going across the cover.
We decided to challenge this convention as we thought the magazine would benefit from this
and it would grab the readers attention due to there being several images and it being about
‘behind the scenes’.

23. How I developed Conventions…
 Quote and Title – The quote and title tend be positioned on the side of a film magazine rather
than directly in the centre which is what we have done. This is how we developed conventions as
sometimes you may see the title in the middle but not usually the quote.

24. Magazine Comparison