In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products?

Hafsah Zaman

Conventions

We analysed some existing films that are already out there and quite popular so we could see what the general conventions of a film were. This way we had an idea of what we need to include in our film to make it look as real and realistic as possible. The conventions were: camera work, sounds, text and mise en scene (costume, lighting, makeup, acting, props and setting)

Camera Shots When we were analysing the camera shots within the existing films we looked at the variety of different camera shots that were used and also the movement of the camera e.g. panning or if the camera was moving with a person who was running. We also looked at camera techniques such as shot reverse shot and 18o degree rule and also the types of shots such as close ups, establishing shots, long shots, medium close ups etc… By analysing the camera shots within existing films we were able to see how actual cameramen who make the film using different angles and techniques to put across their message. We used all the research we collated to make our film look professional and real.

SKYFALLWhile watching just the opening two minutes of Skyfall we managed to identify that many camera shots were used throughout the opening two minutes of the film. The main ones that were used were close ups, long shot and extreme close up. Many close ups were used throughout, this is because they can be used to create mystery and that is the feel that the whole opening of Skyfall had to draw the watcher in. Long shot was the one that was used most throughout the opening of the Skyfall. This was is to establish who the character was and also the setting around the character. However, the long shot that was used in Skyfall didn’t really establish the character well as it was of a silhouette rather than the actual character. This is also another aspect that made the opening more mysterious as the audience would not have been able to establish the character fully as they couldn’t see him. This film is not of the same genre as our film but I felt that if I started off generally then I would be able too see what every film contains no matter the genre.

OUR FILMWe knew that it was important to correlate the camera shots with what mood and effect that we were trying to create. The effect that we wanted to create on the audience was sadness for the characters within the film. The camera shots that were chose to use were a mix of long shots, medium close ups and close ups. We also used some establishing shots also. Another thing that we thought was important was how long we stayed on one shot before moving to the next one. To create the sadness effect we made sure that we did not jump from shot to shot too fast because this an effect that is apparent in films where they are trying to create tension. We stayed on a shot for a bit of time so the audience have time to take things in thus creating a sad effect.

TextWe then moved on to look at how text was used in existing films, this meaning the style of text the credits were and the title. We saw that the style of the text did reflect what genre the film was so that it is made apparent to the audience right at the stat of the film. We looked at different genres of films to see if this was a common convention that all films abide by. We looked at the film called ‘Kidulthood’ as it is the same genre as our film.

KIDULTHOODIn Kidulthood we noticed that the style of text for the credits and the title were not anything too fancy but very simple. Kidulthood is of the social-realism genre like ours, We thought that the style of the text did not really put across that the movie was of the social realism genre. This movie went against the convention of using the text to put across what genre the movie was

OUR FILMWe used what Kiduthood did in our film also. This is because we realised that it was hard to put across and portray the genre of social realism through the text and style of the credits and title. So, we used what kidulthood did an just kept our text simple and nothing fancy we did this because we were stuck on the idea of how we could portray our genre but after watching kidulthood we realised that is it quite hard to put across. We also challenge the convention of making our text reflect our genre just like kidulthood.

Sound There are two types of sound within the film industry that can make up a film, diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic are sounds that are natural which exist within the scene without any editing for example traffic an dialogue. Non-diegetic are sounds that are not natural and have been edited in to fit in with the scene such as sound effects and music, Sound plays a very important part in a film because it can be used to create the whole atmosphere of the film. I wanted to look at a film that used both types of sound so that we would know how to first of all enhance diegetic sounds if needed and secondly how to incorporate non-diegetic sounds if we needed to. I decide that I wanted to talk about a film that presented both types of sound, so I settled with ‘Seven’ this movie is not of the same genre as our film but it demonstrated both types of sound well.

SEVENThis film used both types of sounds effectively to create an atmosphere for the audience At the beginning there was no non-diegetic sound but there was diegetic sound that was natural to the scene such as you could hear the traffic outside as it was going past, However, when the credits started to appear there was non-diegetic sound as there was music in the background. The music enables the audience to know what mood the movie was trying to portray and also the genre of the movie. Music is the most important part of the movie as I feel that by the type of music it can create many effects and moods for the audience

OUR FILMWe used what Seven did in our film but not having sound at the beginning of the film but then having music when the credits started to appear. However, our film does not have diegetic sounds in it all as the diegetic sound of the film is blocked out because of the non-diegetic sound that we edited and put over the top of the film. Before the voiceover begin, we have music The music that we used reflected the mood of the film because it is of a sad, slow, solemn pace which the effect we are trying to portray so that the audience would have a sense a of sympathy for the characters within the film.

Mise–En –Scene The mise en scene of a film includes a lot of things such as: costumes, lighting, acting, makeup, props and setting. For this part of the analysis stage wanted something that was targeted at teenaged girls just like our film, so we were able to see what conventions would attract young teenaged girls in a film, so we chose to analyse Devil Wears Prada.

DEVIL WEARS PRADAThe mise en scene in this movie is specifically tailored so that they audience can differentiate between the two types of characters that are shown in the opening sequence, those who are of the upper class and those who are of the middle class. Costume played a big part in this because there was a clear difference. The girls who were of the upper class all wore fancy lingerie and took time picking out their outfits to make sure that they looked perfect, they are clearly worried about the way they look. However, the character who is of the middle class and is clearly inferior to the other girls, just throws on clothes that she first sets her eyes on, not even looking in the mirror to see how she looks. The lighting also helped us as the audience differentiate between the two types of people. The lighting in the apartments of the girls who are of upper class is much brighter and you can see that more filler lights have been used to create this bright effect. However, in the apartment of the girl who is of middle class the lighting looks more natural and is quite dim and dark. This shows that the girls of the upper class are considered more superior to the girl of the middle class, the effect of lighting helps us to see this. The acting also showed an apparent difference, the body language and movement of the girls who are of the upper class was very eloquent and graceful, the way they walked and put on their clothes. Whereas, the girl who is of middle class, her body language was much more laid back and ‘normal.’ For makeup, the upper class girls took more time applying their makeup to look presentable and nice. Whereas, the middle class girl just used one item and smothered it onto her lips, with no care at all. The props used link to makeup as the girls who are of the upper class looked like they were using fancy expensive products compared to the other girl who used one makeup item that looked cheap. The setting was also different, you could see that the girl of middle class lived in a apartment above a shop and the upper class girls lived in posh storey apartments.

OUR FILMWhen making our film we ensured that we thought clearly about the mise-en-scene because if this was not done correctly, the film would look like it wasn’t real and unprofessional. We had 2 characters that were both going to be introduced during the first 2 minutes of the opening. However, we were not trying to compare the girls to each other like Devil Wears Prada did, this is something we challenged. This is because the two girls that were featured are very similar and are both struggling with something. For costume we worked around the fact that the girls featured in the film are all teenagers, so the characters were all dressed in stereotypical clothes that a teenager would wear normally. The characters in the film did not wear clothes that had much colour generally, this is because we wanted the clothes to reflect the effect that we were trying to give off which was sympathy and sadness for the characters. We didn’t focus too much on the lighting because we were filming in places that the lighting was hard to control and we didn’t have studio lights, so this is a convention of a real film that we challenged. However, we did put an edit on a film during the editing process to fake the effect of lighting that we wanted to use. We wanted the lighting to be dull and dim because we felt that is represented sadness of the characters, it was almost black and white with a little colour to mimic that there was light for these characters at the end of the movie. The acting of two characters was as good reflection of the way they felt, the girl with the eating disorder walked around sloppily and never really smiling. The who was being bullied sort of sat solemnly on her bed not up right. However, the character who was bullying her sat up straight on the bed as if she is superior, we used this convention from the devil wears Prada. We didn’t use many props, but ones that we did use like the phone and laptop were used to show how bullying doesn’t need to be face to face it can happen over technology too. We used two settings, the school and Rakha’s house.