Friday 16 April 2010

Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The first image is taken from the movie 13 going on 30. The genre of this film is a rom-com and fantasy. This image depicts the conventional themes in this genre. For example, the lighting used is high key lighting. High key lighting traditionally conveys an atmosphere of happiness and love. Therefore this is effective for this film as love is a major theme in the movie. The characters look 'in love' and have smiles on their faces so the audience can see they are happy

The second image is taken from the movie Quantum of Solace. The genre of this film is an action film. As we can see the cars are in a car chase. Car chases are a common convention in action films. This scene is shot from a Point of View shot. P.O.V shots make the audience feel as if they are inside the film. This helps to draw the attention of the audience. The cars used are very expensive looking. Film makers use this intentionally to portray a certain lifestyle of the characters, most people watching this film are probably not as priviledged so this movie is a sense of escapism.

The third image is from the movie Bourne Identity. It is a spy drama. Spy drama's involve secrecy and a fast paced life. The prop in this shot, (the gun) connote danger. The male character seems to be a risk taker to the audience. These are all conventions in a spy drama.

The fourth image is from the movie A cinderella Story. Its genre is a teen movie/ and rom-com. This shot is a medium shot of both male and female characters. In this particular shot they are closely engaged to each other to display their affection. This is again typical of this genre. The costume in this shot are typical of American Rom coms and Teen movies. This is because film directors know that the audience can relate to the 'Jock' and 'Princess' falling in love.

The fifth image is from the movie Matrix, an example of a Sci-fi films. Instantly this shot illustrates the unconventional editing techniques when it comes to making Sci-fi films. Commonly, sci fi films use high key lighting with blue/silver lighting. This shot shows green key lighting. Sci-fi films also use characters who are un-human. This shot shows a human however the editing portrays him as a character who has super abilities to turn inhuman. Particularly in this film, the characters clothing are black and stand out. This film could be as an unconventional version of the original sci-fi films, as it does not involve the use of 'aliens' and in sci-fi films aliens are a common feature.

The sixth image is taken from the movie Mrs. Doubtfire. This is from a comedy movie. Comedy's usually use high-key lighting to create a relaxed feeling. In this scene, to the audience, the character looks very funny. This is because it is a man dressed as a woman putting our fire on her fake breasts. Film directors try to have a strong funny central character to keep the audience laughing and entertained at all times. This scene is extremely funny because of the absurdity in what she is doing. This is effective and it suggests that the film does not have any boring parts.

The seventh image is taking from the movie Se7en. The film genre of this film is a Thriller. The lighting used in this scene is low key lighting. This conveys an uneasy mood for this film. This is what film directors want to convey in this sort of film. Also, the opening of this film uses a lot of engima codes. Enigma codes show images yet not exposing to the audience what the film is about. In this shot the typography of the credits help to expose to the audience the genre of the film because the credits look very chilling. These effects are all traditional of this genre. Also the image of the crooked hands look very chilling as they looked disfigured this is also common for a thriller film

The eigth image of from the movie The Shining. This is a horror film. Instantly the effect of this scene is scary, it makes your hair stand on its ends, and it is shocking. Also the props establish to the audience the nature of this film because of the blood, the axe and murder. These are all popular conventions of a horror film.

The ninth image is from the movie Wedding planner. This is an example of a rom com. Again the popular use of high key lighting is used to establish to the audience the atmosphere of this film because it was low key lighting the audience would be confused. Also the positioning of the characters convey the typical 'damsel in distress' female character. This is because she is lying on the road apparently hurt and her lover comes to save him. The facial expressions are also apparent in this shot which the film directors establish to show the 'love at first sight' feeling, it is also similar to the image from A Cinderella story.



The first image is of our title of the film that appears at the end of the opening. As you can see the typography is in a slant and the colour of it is pink. We thought this is appropriate for our genre. This is because the colour pink is conventional of a rom-com and teen movie. People that watch this film will include the target audience of pre-teen girls this is from the age of possibly 9-12. We thought that the use of the colour pink would grab the this particular age group's audience. They could relate to the casual writing of our titles as it could resemble how they write in their notebooks, diaries etc. All of this was done intentionally as it is conventional for a Teen drama.

I chose the second image to as it is an enigma code. This image appears in the first few seconds of our filming. The audience does not know exactly what the film is about but when they see the pencils layed out on the table they may guess that the film is based in a school environment. This makes them realise that the location of the film is in a school. However, they do not know the plot of the film. However, this enigma code is unconventional of our rom-com/Teen movie as enigma codes are usually used in thriller films to keep the audience guessing. For instance, the enigma code in the movie Se7en of the disfigured hands.

The third image depicts to the audience the genre of the film and possibly the characters. This is because the use of pens being drawn out in a heart indicate to the audience that a young girl is involved. This is very conventional of rom-coms/Teen genre as the central character usually is preoccupied with her crush. However, the fact that the heart is drawn out with pens indicate the girlyness of the person who did it. The audience may now start to think perhaps the girl did this in her bedroom or in school. Also with the addition of the editing to make the credits 'bounce' on to the screen create a care-free atmosphere of the film. We did this purposely in the editing to make it look attractive to the audience.

The fourth image introduces a male character in the film. However, we used high key lighting in editing to make his introduction of a male character in a rom-com conventional for this genre. For instance, in A cinderella story and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging we noticed that the male character that the girl always liked was always introduced in high key lighting and appeared to be happy. This is why we made the character, Duane, first appear on screen in this high key lighting. This connotes to readers that he is a good person, he is attractive and always happy. Also high-key lighting is very conventional of rom-coms so we had to film Duane like this and our entire film with filler lights around.

The fifth image finalises that the film is taking place in a school. This long shot shows a school environment with a student nearby. However, we wanted to show Lisa from a long distance so that she came across as a loner. Like Angus, Thongs and Perfect snogging the central character stuck out like a sore thumb when she entered the party in an off outfit. We wanted to establish to the audience how much Lisa was alone.

The sixth image is a special effect we did during Editing. As you can see, Lisa's books seem to fly up towards her. We rewinded this part in editing. The use of Lisa and Owen looking to go back in time is funny towards the audience. Since our film is a Rom-Com/Teen Movie, we had to establish the 'comedy' essence into our filming. This is because our film has to incorporate features of its genre as it would be false advertising to sell our film as a Rom-com if there wasn't any comedy.

The seventh image is the first image that introduces the central character. As you can see it is a medium shot of Sara writing in her notebook. We had to make sure that Lisa was the first character that appeared in the film because she is the central character. The use of the voiceover also helped to convey the narrative of the story. Also the use of Lisa in her school uniform, writing in her notebook,and the voice also helps to either disproove or aproove the audience's ideas that they gained from the enigma codes. For instance, the enigma codes of the still images probably made the audience think that the film was about a teenage girl in love and the introduction of Lisa writing in her notebook approve this.

The eigth image shows the body language between Lisa and Owen. The camera movement focuses on the 'eye-connection' (said in the voiceover) that is made between Lisa and Owen. The camera pans upwards as Lisa and Owen stand up extend the time it seems that Owen and Lisa had a connection. We also zoomed the camera upwards towards Lisa and Owen to focus on their facial expression. We did this because we wanted to show the theme of love. Love is a conventional and obvious theme in Rom-Coms that we also had to get across.

The ninth image is an image of Lisa's notebook. The notebook is a typical prop used in Rom-Coms/Teen movies. For instance, the notebook conveys youth, fun and capricious nature. The atmoshphere in rom-coms/teen movies are always a fun mood which we noted in 13 Going on 30, Angus,thongs, and perfect snogging and A Cinderella Story.

No comments:

Post a Comment