response

1. QUESTION 1: IN WHAT WAYS DOES
YOUR PRODUCT USE, DEVELOP OR
CHALLENGE FORMS AND
CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA
PRODUCTS?
By Megan Howden

2. Inspiration:
From this opening shot of Ferris Bueller’s
Day Off, we are introduced to a character
who is cheeky and disobedient. The shots
are vital in this scene as they give clear
clues to what the film is
going to bestow later on. The MTV clip
gives a year the in which this is filmed
along with a rough age of Ferris. The sky
is clear blue and as stated by Ferris ‘ How
can I possibly be expected to handle
school on a day like today?’ Therefore
reinstating that Ferris is mischievous and
that his day is not going to involve school.
Another valuable shot would be how he is
setting up his sound system. He clearly
has done this before and has no problem
setting it up to work how it should,
confirming he's up to no good. To point
out though at this point the audience
have no idea what he is doing, there is no
massive give away. I really liked that.

3. This montage of clips from my film
creates the same idea as the
opening to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
No words are said in which
indicate the holiday/adventure
ahead yet the actions are straight
forward and lead the audience to
believe that the normal routine will
not be happening today. My
actress Rosie who plays Hailey is
seen to open a blind, look out of
the window and say “let’s go” (this
relates to Ferris opening the
curtains of his room and giving his
speech on not going to school).
Tabby, who plays Abi is show in the
third shot sneaking out as her dad
goes to the shower. Again this can
be related to Ferris waiting till his
parents go to work and then
sneaking out. So I have conformed
to genre conventions establishing
characters which are mischievous.
(comedy)

4. This shot shows my title. I decided to place it at the
beginning of my film to indicate to the audience that from
this point the story begins. Typical forms and conventions
of title sequences introduce all the key people within the
film, but also gives an idea as to the genre. Therefore I
stuck to the typical form of a comedy which I researched
through two similar comedy films. The colour is a warm
yellow to suggest that the location is hot and sunny
further adding to the idea that this film will be about a
holiday and in a different location.
This shot shows the title font and colours I used. When researching
the movie 10 Things I Hate About You I learnt how the font matches
the sounds within the sequence and the colours change dramatically.
The form of my text is similar, I have used different colours which
blend with the surroundings and a font which is relaxed and slightly
pop-art to suggest a young audience and that the genre is comedy
and not Horror.
Costume for my film was very important. Each of my characters wears a different
style of clothing to show there personality. This is similar to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
– Ferris wears his beret when driving the Ferrari for comedy and Kat wears a
punkish look in the opening of 10 Things I Hate About You to show her personality.
Stan who played Nick, wears a Hawaiian Shirt and sunglasses in January on the
way to the airport to add humour plus the over the top nature of his personality,
Where as Jake, who played James is dressed normally to blend in, Helping Nick
stand out and not himself.
Titles

5. Screenshots
These screenshots to the left show a
clip from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and
my film Once In A Lifetime.
To create a realistic environment to a
film natural or bright light is used.
This plays a huge role within most
comedy films as lighting must fit
with location.
Here Ferris can be seen sat sipping a
drink out of what seems to be a
pineapple and wearing his
swimming shorts.
The lighting is warm so this gives a summery vibe. Considering just moments before this he was in bed
claiming to be to sick for school, this comedic change of clothing and lighting informs the audience of his
cheeky ways and how with the use of music, lighting, and costume this is the beginning of the comedic
adventure.
The location of a comedy sketch will typically be within a bright area, this could be outside or inside and
occasionally where social groups form. Within my shot I conformed to media conventions as Stan is seen
walking out the house in shorts, a t-shirt and a Hawaiian shirt. The lighting is cold which gives the
impression of the weather- it is definitely not summer. The humour can be taken through not only the
dramatic turn around of what Stan was wearing at the breakfast table to what he is now wearing, but also
that what he is now wearing does not go with his location this is important as it gives the audience key
information as to what the character is like and what to expect from the film.
Lighting and Clothing

6. Clothing
The clothing is hugely dependant on the type of film. Within slapstick comedy clothing can be used
as a prop (shoelaces) however clothing can actually be something which keeps your film in
people’s minds. Clothing has become iconic for many actors and in turn these films are
remembered. (By giving them funny haircuts and missing teeth helps create this reality for the
audience).
Within my film I stuck to media conventions as my costumes resembled my characters
personalities. I have used summer clothes on the actors in weather conditions that don’t justify
this. By doing so each individual character ( Mainly Nick played by Stan ) is remembered due to this
light comedy I created through the used of my clothing. It can be noted through the floral hawiian
shirt and shorts, typical seen in comedy film in hot tropical locations. The humour comes from the
age and location. An 18 year old character is wearing a non typical outfit; it presents summery
vibes January. I noticed when my audience saw my film, laughter occurred when Stan stepped out
in this outfit.

7. Music
Music within a comedy can be incidental music, to set a certain mood to a scene.
However I didn’t necessarily stick to this convention in my opening scene. I decided to
use and instrumental version of Galantis Runaway to open the scene which faded
down at more serious times within my film but came back at the end. The intention of
doing this was to keep the idea of excitement within my opening scene. This song is
current and is played often within clubs and on the radio, not only did this song appeal
to a large number of my audience, but also it brought connotations of excitement and
the idea of running away.