1. In what way does your
media product use,
develop or challenge forms
and conventions of real
media products?
For our short film, we
followed the short film
conventions of a real media
product by using 1 main
character, play with the
audience expectations,
have a catalyst that makes
the film intriguing, and use a
circular narrative to hint to
the audience that the film is
going around and coming
to the end.

2. Main character:
Real media product: in actual short films, there is usually 1 main
character that is developed and a couple of other characters to
add to make a story.
Our media product: The main character is Ahmed Jomma, he is the
character we focus on and develop the story based on him. He is
seen as an average office worker walking home and moping down
an alleyway kicking a can and minding his own business. The
audiences don’t really know much about him at this stage until the
catalyst comes up with a middle aged man with a briefcase in the
alleyway collapsing. This is where Ahmed takes the briefcase and
runs away leaving the middle aged man down. The audience at this
stage will realize that Ahmed Jomma has a greedy mind. They
would have thought that he would follow the moral dilemma of
helping the collapsed man and be a good Samaritan.

3. Audience expectations:
Real media product: in actual short film, the audiences expect
certain scenes to happen, this expectation is opposed at certain
times to shock the audience and go against what they thought will
happen. This can sometimes leave them with unanswered questions.
Our media product: When Ahmed Jomma enters the alleyways to
find the middle aged man collapsed with a briefcase, the
audiences expect Ahmed to do the moral decision and help the
middle aged man. However we see Ahmed opening the briefcase
and finding it full of money to where he shuts it and runs off leaving
the middle aged man down. This leaves the audience in shock
because they will feel sorry for the middle aged man that collapsed;
however we do not go into more detail on what happen to the
collapsed man and focus on what our main character Ahmed will
do with the money and what he starts thinking.

4. Catalyst:
Real media product: Every short film will have a catalyst. This is
usually someone doing something in a scene that develops
further on. This makes the audience feel more participating
and feel the enigma in the short film making the next scene
more interesting.
Our media product: In our short film, the catalyst was the
middle aged man collapsing the alleyway. This is because his
collapse was the cause of Ahmed finding him lying down in
the alleyway and taking the bag and running away. This
scene of him collapsing created an enigma code because as
soon as the middle aged man collapsed; the audience had a
feeling that something will happen. This made the audience
feel more interested and want to know what was going to
happen next.

5. Circular narrative:
Real media product: In most short films, Todorov theory is used where
the short film starts and the equilibrium rises until it reaches the peak
and then goes back down. This usually makes the audience more
engaged in the film and makes them on the edge of their seats
wondering what will happen next. Circular narrative is also used to
hint to the audience that the film is going around in a loop which
suggests its coming to an end.
Our media product: In our short film, we used the circular narrative to
show how the whole idea keeps going on and on, never ending. In
this case, we used Ahmed in the end of the short film going back to
the alleyway and collapsing with the briefcase exactly how the
middle aged man collapsed; and an unknown character picking up
the briefcase and leaving. This made it seem like it’s going round in a
circle and was also used to hint to the audience the film is coming to
an end. This would have left the audience with some unanswered
questions

6. Conventions of the genre:
Our short film was described as a drama with than enigma code to put the
audience on the edge of their seats. The main conventions of a dark
drama are:
 Has a dark drama storyline that puts the audience on the edge of their
seats wondering what will happen next
 Maintain a real life situation with reasonable acting that seems real
 A setting that matches the storylines idea to make the scenes look more
realistic
 Make the audience feel emotional and engaged
 Have a dramatic ending regardless if it was happy or sad
Our film pursued most of these drama conventions to make the short film look
very casual; this made it seem more realistic. When Ahmed Jomma walks
down the alleyway, judging people would know this is a drama; they would
be expecting for something to happen with the mood and scene of the
Ahmed walking home from work. This is where there is a dramatic start to the
film because people who be wondering how our main character Ahmed
react will react to a random passerby and they will be expecting him to do
the moral decision and help him. We bring the audience emotions together
when Ahmed’s greed pushes him to take the briefcase full of money and run
away. There was some suspense building when Ahmed took the briefcase
because the audiences were wondering what next? This made our short film
narrative seem very realistic compared to other dramatic short films.
