Evaluation: Question 1

Question 1

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

Annotated Video

Annotations that are in the video

Before filming our final piece, it was important for us to do some research on the generic conventions that are used in sci-fi/crime/thriller films. We did this because it was a necessary or us to include those conventions within our film otherwise we wouldn't have been able to access high marks. Another reason why we did some research was so that we were able to get more knowledge on the genre and so that we were able to get some ideas for our film.

Titles

When deciding on what titles to have it was important that we researched title sequences before we actually started looking at different titles to use. This was because we needed to ensure that they were fit for purpose and went with our genre. It was also necessary for us to research the way in which the titles came in and the order in which they came on screen. For this we watched several different title sequences in order to work out the order for us to use when doing our titles. When looking at title sequences it was important for us to look at both mainstream and independent in order for us to look at both and the differences between them so that when it came to doing our titles we were able to show a difference between institutions. We also looked at the designs of institutional logos so that when it came to doing ours we had some ideas and again so we could make one fit for our institution (Independent). When doing our fonts for our titles we looked at Inception as the films genre is fairly similar.

The Product

Our media product uses the forms of generic conventions of real media products as it follows similar traits of real media products such as generic conventions in our chosen genre. For example we tried our best to find non diegetic sound that was similar to a sci-fi film opening such as Inception. We also looked at different camera shots with in our genre and used some of them in our film opening, such as the establishing shot like in Ant Man. Most film openings begin with an establishing shot and it is done to set the scene and inform the audience of the location of the film. One of our main aims for our film was to really bring across the futuristic aspect of our film as one of the genres we looked at was sci-fi. Our way of doing so, was to change the way in which people are able to communicate which would potentially upset a lot of people. From our protagonists point of view we were able to show that and bring across to the audience how the government law would affect people. A common generic convention for a thriller was to include close ups and therefore in our film opening we chose to use a close up as we felt that the audience would really be able to feel how the protagonist was feeling at that moment in time.

Challenge Conventions and forms of real Media Products

When creating our film opening we tried to ensure that we kept to the typical conventions and forms of other media products in order to make sure that our film delivered what it is supposed to and shows a genre and narrative that is easy enough to follow.

Influences from other films

I believe that the research we have done on film openings meant that we were in a good position to create our own film opening and use what we had learnt/research to make a product of good quality. By doing research on different topic areas within film opening it has helped us to really focus on what makes a good film opening  and then we were able to use some of these ideas and conventions in order to create our own media product. For example, by looking at the title sequence of Inception we were then able to use a font which we felt showed the genre well and looked professional and fit for purpose. Also with the title it meant we were able to position them appropriately and ensure that they were in the correct order to create something that followed the film opening guidelines. We made our own story line up and chose our own shots for our film so I feel that the only real influences from other films was for the titles within in our film opening.

Cameron Eade