The document discusses how the media product, a film trailer for a social realism genre film, uses and challenges conventions of real social realism films. It provides examples of shots from the film trailer alongside similar shots from well-known social realism films to show how conventions like certain shots, locations, fonts, and focus on issues like drugs and youth are employed. It also notes one way the film trailer challenges conventions by having a female protagonist rather than the typical male protagonist in social realism films.

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

2. Social realism
I chose to create a film trailer under the genre of social realism.
Social realism films look at everyday social issues such as youth and rebellion.
In my film trailer I have followed the conventions of this genre, using urban
environments and focuses on challenging situations

3. During my research I looked at the film Project X which Is a comedy but has similar
conventions as a social realism as it has a narrative of drugs, alcohol, violence and
youth. I took a screen grab of both a shot from the film Project X and from my own
film trailer which are both close- up shots of a female character presenting drug taking
in what seems to be a dark party scene.
In my shot I wanted to highlight that this protagonist has turned to drugs after her
accident. In this shot I wanted a dark background to symbolize the dark period which
the character is in, and only her face and body lit, these images both have sharp
lighting on the characters face. This references drugs which is a convention of the
social realism genre and is commonly used in social realism films.

4. This is very similar to my shot of a crowd with hands in the air
where my character has been at a dodgy scene. My shot is similar
to this as it is only aw few seconds long to give a fast pace to the
trailer. The use of the shaky camera, the flash lighting and the
dancing crowd create the idea that this is from the characters point
of view and some element of distortion by the un-clearness of this
shot as to what is happening.
Establishing shot / location shot
This is a screen grab of a shot from
the film Trainspoting which is a
Social realism with a focus on drugs.
And here is a screen shot of a shot
from my film trailer. In both shots the
audience may be in the characters
point of view in a dancing crowd
with arms in the air. Both shots are
dark and the lighting shines through
the arms and hand of the crowd. In a
social realism we are lead to believe
this could be a club a rave or a large
party. This presents the conventions
of someone who leads a party
lifestyle. Both are dark and unclear
shots.

5. This is a shot taken from Kidulthood where a teenager
is outside smokingin an urban environment.
Outside smoking mid- shot
Another convention I used was the rebellion of youths. To make my genre
clear I presented the young character smoking in what seems to be a
hidden location. I wanted the audience to see the character smoking alone
to show her loneliness and sorrow, I wanted the character to appear to be
reminiscing her actions and thinking, this then leads into a series of
flashbacks. From Kidulthood I then found a similar shot of a troubled teen
outside smoking alone in a more urban environment

6. Challenging the conventions of
the social realism genre
In Social realism films it is
considered the norm for
the protagonist or male
character to me male. In
many social realism films
such as Trainspotting,
Submarine, This is
England and My name is
Joe.
There are very
few social
realism
following the
narrative of a
female
character. I
think this will
attract a larger
female
audience and
help my film
stand out,
making it more
unique.

7. This shot shows how I have used and
conformed to the traditional
conventions of a social realism film by
showing a drug deal. Although it can
be a risky topic to focus on, it is largely
focused on in social realism films.
This is a similar shot of a
drug deal, this I got from 21
Jump street, which is a
comedy, but has a narrative
of young teenagers being
involved with drugs which
follows a similar storyline as
to the storyline of my film.
I could not find a shot from
a real life media product of
a drug deal in the same
frame of shot of mine which
I think makes my social
realism more original and
challenges the forms and
conventions of social
realism.

8. Here is one screen shot of a shot from the social realism film Fish Tank and
also a screen shot of a shot from my film trailer. Both show female characters
on a balcony/ high up and looking down, the denotes sadness, loneliness and
possible signs of depression. This is a convention of a social realism film as it
deals with and focuses on hard hitting serious topics.

9. Here is an example of how my media product uses the conventions of a social
realism film. Here is a shot from the film Fish Tank and a shot from my film
trailer, both are simplistic shots portraying the characters emotion, this is
important in a social realism as of the strong emotions and emotional
storylines in this genre so the portrayal of emotion is important when filming
this genre of film.

10. Include some form of montage
In most social realism’s there is some presence of
montage of clips. This could be to introduce characters,
as in Trainspotting, or to recall a series of events.
My trailer was in the form of a montage as it had no
chronological order to it. The trailer was a series of
flashbacks from the characters life before and after the
accident. This is an example of how I used conventions
of real life media social realism.

11. Use of text in my media product
In my film
trailer I wanted
the text and
font to fit with
the story line of
the film and
suit the genre
so I looked at
the font in
other social
realisms such
as
trainspotting.
Both mine and
the text in
trainspotting is
very neutral
and straight to
keep a
naturalistic feel
to the genre.

12. I then went on to research the ‘Typical’ font of the social realism genre
“Font
The font of social realism is nearly always sans serif. Social realism deals with the
working class, and a serif font would be far too professional and middle class. Serif
fonts are also usually used because it looks like less effort has gone into it, and
laziness is a stereotype of the working class, especially in films.Some films will take
this a step further, and add their own style to a sans serif font. For example, ‘This is
England’ has titles which are made to look like graffiti, an issue which is shown in the
film. This also matches the stereotype that the lower classes take part in vandalism.”
http://scottlampon.wordpress.com/2010/11/05/conventions-of-social-realism-
titles/

13. Setting and location
Here are both shots from my film trailer and from Trainspotting. Both show
location which follows the conventions of a social realism. A social realism is
normally set in a relatable location in today's society, the location being
somewhere that the audience can relate to. Although, my location my social
realism is more middle class than the conventional grungy rural locations of social
media films, making my film a bit different and slightly challenging the forms of
social realisms. My film varies from this as it is set in a large country home and
focuses largely on horse riding and eventing before the downfall of our
protagonist happens leading her to drugs and an outcast rebellious life.