Eavaluation question 1 (1)
- 1. Q1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?
- 2. Titling, Common convention As found through my research, films tend to put their titles over a black background in order to give full attention to the titles. The use of white writing over black screen is very common as it makes the titles stand out. Titles on films tend to take 2-4 minutes on average. The man with the golden arm is a film we researched and it uses white font over a black screen as you can see, left. As you can see from the drive opening sequence, white font over black screen is not the only common convention. Recent films tend to put their titles over a series of play which perhaps doesn't carry much value. In the film, The drive, the opening titles are put over a sequence that doesn't have much action in it.
- 3. Our titling. In our opening sequence, we more or less followed the convention shown in the film, The Drive, which is classical and thriller type. Due to many reasons, we could not adopt the more common convention of white font over black screen as we have restricted amount of time. We also favoured the titles over a series of play as it looks more upto date and better for the viewing. The film, the man with the golden arm opts the old fashion white on black which is no surprise to us as the film is quite old it self, 1995. We feel the way we titled our film is more dynamic and common these days whilst supporting the common convention shown in, The Drive. As you can see, our film and the drive are almost like a mirror image due to being inspired by how the titles shown in the drive carry more emphasis as well as looking attractive.
- 4. Camera work Through the researching process, we have learnt that camera movement and angles can shape the type of convention you illustrate. The common conventions are that certain camera work can give the film its thriller feel as different camera angles create different senses of emotion and body language. Close ups demonstrate emotions of characters whilst low and high angle give power and inferiority to actors in the film. It is very common to have the first shot as a establishing shot and we stuck to this convention in order to set the tone of the film and the environment surrounding it. As you can see, our shot is almost a mirror image of that shown in the film, The Drive. Both the films are of the same genre so it only made sense that we copy the style set by these films before us in order to give it the most common feel that the audience are familiar with.
- 5. Camera movement Camera movement is very essential as they shape up the viewing experience the audience get. It is predominant to use low angle shot when it is a point of view of a child and a high angle shot when looking down at an object beneath. Our short film sticks to this convention because camera movement is one even if you alter slightly, the outcome can have a major impact on the viewing of the audience. We used pov shot of the villain looking for a escape. The use of pov puts the audience in his perspective and adds a bit of realism to the content. In this part of the chase scene, we have a tracking dolly shot which shows the two actors whizzing past someone, the audience. This makes it seem realistic.
- 6. Camera angles Through research and general knowledge, we have noticed that camera angles are very meaningful in terms of identifying characters as having power of being at the state of danger. Camera angles can help identify victims and killers as well as more dominant figures and less dominant figures. In our opening sequence, we use the general convention to identify Jimmy as someone with so much power and little or no fear. Low angle shot of Jimmy, giving him power over Frank, the villain High angle shot of Frank, making him less powerful and vulnerable.
- 7. Selection of mis-en-scene When researching action/crime thriller films, we were able to notice how certain settings were used to give the more recent thrill of everyday surroundings. We noticed how a panning shot over a city and shots of high security places can set the tone of violence and division within a film. We also noticed how the costume of characters can define them as who they are and represent. We used the convention of having a panning shot of the land escape of the local area at night to make it seem recent and modernised. However we challenged the convention that the villain wears a dark coloured clothes whilst the the hero dresses in bright colours.
- 8. Other conventions followed Enigma is a theory which portrays mystery to draw the audience in. We followed this convention to hide the reason why Jimmy got released from the police force, yet he troubles himself to retain the purse that got stolen. We want to keep the audience stay tuned and wonder why this proactive officer got sacked from the police force. All films generally start in a state of equilibrium which is then disrupted then restored at the end. Our film follows this convention very closely. ● Jimmy is in the cafe ordering coffee ● Purdon arrives and disrupts the peace ● Jimmy defeats the villain and wins back the purse We also followed the theory of Vladimir Proop. We have characters that perform certain function as mentioned by Propp ● The hero, Jimmy Olsen, seeks something for the near future as reward of his effort ● The villain, Frank, who opposes the hero's quest ● The princess, jess, acts as a reward for the hero