Question:In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media product?

Answer:

My media product has a variety of different elements which develop and challenge forms and conventions of real media products. The types of codes and conventions in media products can be verily divided into three distinct categories:

1. Technical (camera techniques & shots),

2. Symbolic (ie clothing, colours)

3. Written and audio (music etc).

Usually in most films of my particular genre and their trailers, the story depicts heterosexual love interests, and that is the same with my film. The relationship is between Zain and Noor. Zain is the guy and Noor is the girl and they are each other’s love interest in this film. This is very clearly displayed by my trailer.

With regards to the diegetic scores of my film, typically a drama romance combines ‘dramatic’ sounds (i.e. fast tempo leading to excitement and maybe a cliff hanger to incite eagerness to watch film when it’s released) and ‘romantic’ sounds (i.e. soft and flirtatious sounds to signify the love interest as well as the genre of the film). This is done time and again in my trailer to signify the genre and conform to the conventions of my genre.

The colours of the trailers and films of drama are usually bold and bright while romance ones have light, soft colours. In this hybrid that I have tried to create, we see that these two codes are combining to give us the best of both worlds. My film uses bold colours but at the same time also has touches of shades of pink and purple.

The story is about the inner conflict that the main character Zain faces within himself, therefore focusing on his worries rather than from a romantic angle justifies the use of bold editing rather than editing which is more on the romantic side. Romance film trailers editing also sometimes show nudity or skin which is often a symbol for showing purity, love and togetherness but this film does not do this. A convention that my film challenges is the romantic part where the main couple usually kiss or hug or engage in some sort of sexual act. My film has a complete absence of any form of physical contact.

I justify challenging this convention because my film is set in a high school environment and also to stay in line with the PG ratings and guidelines stipulated by my movie.

As far as the technical aspect is concerned, there are generally a lot of fade ins and fade outs. This helps form a more gradual transition, keeping the audience intrigued. Quick, sharp cuts aren’t ‘soft’ enough for a romance and hence they aren’t used as much as the fades.

In my film the convention for Romance is fades and the convention for drama is quick cuts. But if used right, even fades can properly incite a feeling of excitement and drama therefore more fades have been used in my film than cuts.

We have often seen how most films and trailers along lines similar to mine follow Todorovstheory of Equilibrium and Disequilibrium, this theory has five distinct stages:

1. State of Equilibrium – When everything is maintained and peaceful.

2. Disruption – When that order is disrupted by means of an event

3. Recognition – When the characters in the film have recognised the issue that has occurred

4. Attempt to repair – When the characters try to fix the problem that has occurred

5. New Equilibrium – When a new order has been established, but the characters know that things cannot go back to how they were before

In accordance with this theory, my trailer shows a state of equilibrium in the scene where Zain and Kazim are shown to be playing football. Everything is fine in their worlds and everything is perfect, hence the state of equilibrium, or in other words, a state where everything is in perfect balance.

Then, with the arrival of Noor, the balance is unsettled and Zains life is thrown into chaos. Along with that, his falling grades and the subsequent threat issued to him by his father to take him out of school and freeze his trust fund also act as events disrupting the equilibrium found in Zains world.

After disruption, recognition happens. Zain realizes the state that his heart has found itself in after meeting and spending time with Noor.

More disruption and realization takes place once Noor tries to end her relationship with Zain, Zain further realizes that he has another problem and that is to get her back and to do that he must come back to the root of all his problems, which is his grades and he must focus on improving them.

Now the fourth phase starts, here Zain tries to repair the problems. He starts studying and he works really hard. He gives up playing football. Other than that, he also goes through changes like that of dressing more formally and getting a neater hair-cut, all of which are regular codes and conventions of a character in a position similar to that of Zain. Typically, in romance films, the girl is shown to wear something feminine, like a dress, but Noor does not She does however, repeatedly conform to using makeup, make up that is modern to this time and age with black eyeliner and lip gloss always present on her.

The ending is not shown as in accordance with the conventions of a proper trailer which are such that the ending must not be given away, obviously, or there is no point in making a film. This also serves to enhance suspense and motivate the audience to go watch the movie itself.

With regards to the music, the music here is light in the beginning. You can hear birds in the background, along with that, the normal school type environment can also be heard with children playing and talking like they regularly would be in a school.

Then as the film progresses, it gets more intense and emotional, the sound having an aura of suspense and drama, pulling the viewer in and to make the viewer feel more and more into the movie. To make it not-too-serious there are add ins of sounds of a felt tip marker writing stuff on a football, introducing the characters and along with that there are also other such sounds which keep the movie on its casual yet serious track.

The font being used throughout the trailer is that of a legible handwriting, nothing fancy, again going in line with a school student type penmanship. The football keeps in tone with the film by toning it down whenever needs be. The writing part is set to a sort of fast pace, this makes it non-serious as well.

As for camera angles and shots, there are many close up shots used, ranging from shots of Zain walking up many flights of stairs to Noors facial expressions. As the trailer progresses, with constant shots interspersed within the trailer of Zain walking up the stairs, we see parallel editing of what has happened, and what is happening thus informing the audience of the current situation and also allowing them to stay interested with current events that are about to unfold

Close up shots are also taken of Zain as he walks into the exam hall, pulls up a chair and sits down, as well as his eyes when he starts the paper the music then is of a very dramatic ‘life or death’ type of scenario.

To conclude, my media product uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products in many ways and all of these ways are very evident in my trailer.