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

2. In order for me to ensure that my film trailer is
effective in the sense that it conveys and uses forms
and conventions of a real social film trailer, I had to
ensure that my film was produced and distributed by
a production company that has previously created
social realism films. I have chosen to use BBC films
and National Lottery films as my production and
distribution institutions as they have previous
created and distributed social realism films such as
Shifty and Kidulthood. By ensuring that I used BBC
Films I believe that my media product uses real
media products as it as well has used a production
that is familiar in social realism film, as well as this by
using this image at the beginning of the film trailer I
have also ensured that the audience is
spontaneously able to see that the film is not only a
British film but more importantly it shows that it is a
social realism film and they will identify with it
immediately before the trailer even starts.

3. When creating the trailer I had to ensure that I was able to
analyse social realism films carefully and configure what was
most repetitious and what was conventional throughout the
films. In most, if not all, social realism film trailers consist of
violence and a key way to portray this is through police cars,
stations or officers. I believe that my media product uses forms
and conventions of real media products through the use of the
police car as the police are used throughout a high majority of
the productions. As well as this I have used the police car as a
symbol of violence I wanted to ensure that I used an image that
would portray what the trailer would consist of. However,
through this scene, my trailer also challenges forms and
conventions of real media products as a large number of media
products use one set of equipment in this case cameras, a large
number of social realism films tend to use one camera where as
I have used two different cameras to ensure that I was able to
create the best media product. Also, by using this symbol of
violence, my target audience will know what to expect from the
film from the onset.

4. Another way in which my media production uses forms and
conventions of real media products is mise- en- scene. Mise-en-
scene is what makes social realism films what they are and I have
adopted this theory through the use of a knife. The knife is a key
representation of social realism films as young people are
notoriously known for either using or carrying knives and this has
been displayed and used throughout various films for example
Kidulthood (2006). Throughout the film the main actors Trevor,
Mooney and also Jay are all seen carrying a form of weapon. By
me using this form of mise-en-scene in my trailer I have clearly
shown that I have conveyed with the codes and conventions of a
social realism film.

5. Again, after watching a variety of social realism films and trying to
understand their codes and conventions there is a high number of mise-
en-scene that is used to show and give a representation of young
people as violent and juvenile; I have adapted this by ensuring that I
was able to use a form of mise-en-scene that would allow me to show a
clear representation of youth. As well as this, the use of the gloves was
importantandI had to ensure that I was able to use a specific camera
angle that would allow me to show the importance of the gloves, that is
why I ensured that I used a close up shot to as it shows the importance
and the link that the gloves have to the trailer. Close-up shots are used
quite a lot in social realism films as they allow the audience to see
clearly what is going on (especially if the action taking place is against
the law). By carrying this out I have ensured that I used and followed
the codes and conventions of a real media product.

6. A large number of real media texts follow Laura
Mulvey (1975) theory of females being a male
gaze; through a lot of social realism films females
are seen as the male gaze and objects or trophies
for the main male actors. I have chosen to
familiarize my trailer with this theory and I have
ensured that I was able to use a “pretty” female
character, this would not only help to raise
awareness of the male audience but also idolised
by the female audience as the is well behaved and
throughout the film she is created to be the
character that always does the right thing. This is a
clear use of the forms and conventions of real
media texts as they all use female characters to be
of some support for the male characters and plan
an influential role. Without her in my trailer it
would be male heavy and I wanted to ensure that I
was able to include female characters as the trailer
is also targeted at a female audience.

7. In this particular shot I have chosen to create a
mysterious character that also follows the forms and
conventions of real social realism films through the
use of his clothing. All social realism films ensure
that their characters dress in a particular type of way,
I have chosen to use black hoodies as part of the
mise-en-scene as a high number of social realism
trailers follow these forms of conventions and the
“bad” characters are created to dress in this
particular way. “Hoodies” are heavily associated with
teens, as they created a moral panic within society –
and this is what I intended to do with my character.
As well as this I have researched what kind of
branded clothing a large number of real texts make
their characters where and “NorthFace” is one of the
designers that a large number of trailers ensure that
their characters wear. Wearing designer clothing is
also another stereotype of teens as they like to
appear more wealthy than they actually are, and this
empowers them. I have clearly demonstrated this by
ensuring that my main character also forms with the
codes and convention of a social realism film.

8. Having credits at the end of a trailer is rare in
mainstream films trailers, however; in social realism film
trailers, the credits are included and used within trailers,
as I wanted to ensure that I was able to come up with a
way in which I was able to conform with the conventions
of a real social realism film I decided that using the
credits at the end would make the film trailer more
realistic and help to make the trailer more attractive and
more of a social realism film trailer.

9. Background music is essential in all film
trailers but when researching social realism
films, it was evident that they all use music
which is very fast and very up-beat,
however my film trailer uses very slow
music and is only an instrumental; I chose
to do this as it fit in well with the story. In
this sense I have challenged the forms and
conventions of a social realism film. I chose
Adele’s ‘Hometown’ because the
instrumental has been used in UK hip hop
music videos (Krept and Konan –
‘Hometown’) throughout the song they
talk about working class society and how
they live and I know that my trailer is
aimed at the same audience that they aim
their music at. Both of these artists are
British, and therefore are rooted and
established with my target audience. By
doing this I have also ensured that I
familiarise the background music with the
target audience in the same sense that
social realism films do.

10. In this particular shot the main character (Omar) is
seen going up stairs in the flat that he lives in. Flats
are associated with social realism films as it’s seen as
geographic statement that social realism films are
filmed in deprived location associated with low or
working class. However, as you can see throughout
the trailer the flat is very clean and they even have
signs saying ‘no smoking’, this is a clear indication that
that he lives in a well looked after flat which is clean
and well founded. By doing this I believe that I have
challenged the forms and conventions of social
realism films, however suggests that you can still be
involved with crime and be deprived without living in
bad locations.