Evaluation

1. EVALUATION – IN WHAT WAYS
DOES YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT USE,
DEVLOP OR CHALLENGE FORM
AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL
MEDIA PRODUCTS
EMILY GAUNT

2.  Throughout media there are many different forms which challenge the which
we think and is influential on our ideas and our expectations of todays society.
The products, their forms and their conventions have an importance displaying
example of products, in giving simple ideas to build on and developing research
to then expand on own creative ideas. We had to know what was good and
what was bad, to then follow on in creating Behind Closed Doors which
challenged and developed for and conventions of real media products.
 A common ideology of today’s society is the romance between a male and a
female. The expectation that when a man meets a woman she will fall instantly
in love with him/or visa versa and they will live happily ever after like a fairy-tale,
there are many media products such as films from Disney which portray this
ideal for the youngest generation to see and its carried out throughout time
through more recent films which portray an unrealistic idea of love. Tis is from a
strong influence of media product which are suggesting love is easy, therefore
when it comes too real life there is expectations which cannot be met. Therefore
from the start of this process to the end result we tried to challenge that ideal
that media has influenced and try to encourage life to come as it is and if love
or romance happens to face it by themselves not have expectations that
they’re going to fall at their feet and that there will be a happy ending. Once it
was clear of our goal, the production process started, therefore keeping real
media product by our side to make sure we knew what worked and what didn’t
in the creation of the short film, this being beneficial for us.

3.  To be able to get a grasp of the forms and conventions of short films, research into the common forms and
conventions is key. This should be looked at in greater detail, as we found out. From looking at typical conventions
it was apparent that when creating the script, the use of a small cast is key in the audiences interest in the
narrative. This is because the audience tend to relate to a casting which has two – four character rather then a
huge range where they cannot relate to them. When watching real media products myself I find from some
which I like I relate myself to a character and if the audience has 5 or more to watch in a short amount of time
then there isn’t a way in which they can relate therefore losing interest in the short. What is also clear is that the
actual duration of a short film. For an audience who know they’re watching a short fil if it expand on for more
than 10 minutes, it becomes uninteresting and they start to get bored because the story isn’t as capturing as it
was at the start therefore a typical convention of a short film should be less than tend minutes to keep the
audience on the edge of their seats.
 One of the most important aspects which we discovered was the narrative of a short films, tends to start with
having an equilibrium, it is then discovered that there Is a problem or threatening situation which changes the
balance of the equilibrium creating, the disequilibrium. It then becomes the purpose of the film to restore the
equilibrium to its normal state. This theory comes from Tzetvan Todorov and is apparent in most of the short films
we watched. This then gave us the idea to build into the script something which created the equilibrium to fall,
but when it was to be restored, soon after it was to be broken again therefore challenging the convention.
 One of the media products which came into use was the feature length film Devil. This was a film which was in the
genre of horror, and filmed in the confinements of a lift. This film was useful in showing of how it was filmed within
the lift and how all the characters were able to all be filmed with each character being introduced.
 Along side the most common narrative we also used other narratives too, such as Levi Strauss Binary Oppositions
therefore creating a more interesting narrative and being able to use this to then challenge typical conventions.
Although the over complication of the film would have then resulted in the disinterest of the audience and
confusion which isn’t our aim.
 A final point when looking at common conventions is the scares budget which is used in low budget productions,
a students producing a short film we too had a low budget, this meant keeping to using the basics in the most
creative way possible, typical technologies like CGI which is used in more feature length films is relatively
expensive therefore it isn’t normally seen within a short film. Therefore as not to distract or put off the audience we
refrained from using any special effects because we found that Edius7 was just as beneficial in creating the
scenes we wanted.

4.  Through various watches of media product and the depth into genres, we came to like the idea of a romantic drama. This
being a genre which stood out too us throughout all media products. Where romance is displayed and drama challenges
its forms. It revolves around an obstacle, which creates a path for romance, emotive music is employed with this, and the
ending doesn’t indicate whether their relationship progresses or not.
 Example of this come from Wuthering Heights (1939) Gone with the wind (1939)
 This is a genre which is widely explored by todays modern society and is popular in many recent and future films of the
century. Romantic drama explores the romance between two people and the situation which bring them there. However
doesn’t display the outcome of their relationship. Within a lot of the typical romantic film thy display an unrealistic
expectation which becomes a ideal and is expected in the real world however romantic drama challenges this because
of the element of drama it gives a more realistic outlook on the ending and what our expectations should be.
 The short film the nice girl is a film In which a girl who has finished her day at work is walking to her car to go home. Where
she has parked her car is quiet dingy and dirty and as she is walking she spots a man next to her car. She asks him if he
needs money or anything because she start to become worried about his presence and he asks her is he can drive he
home. At first she refuses and tells him she doesn’t live far, he asks her where she works and she tell him she doesn’t she just
got fired for standing up to her boss something she doesn’t normally do because she is too nice. Whilst he is driving her
home to conversation continues and she starts to relax in his company, Once they have pulled up at her house she thanks
him for taking her home and is about to ask him for her keys back when he tells her he is stealing her car. This completely
changes the story and we see that she has entrusted him when his whole intention was to take her car.
 This film was a film we looked, we looked at how the narrative change so quickly, as well as the main location of the shots
was filmed in a care therefore it was influential to us on thinking how we could film like that and be able to keep our
narrative as close so that it is unsuspecting for the audience. This is then why we went on to look at filming in small spaces
and how we could do this effectively.
 Our main priority within the creation of the film was to make it look as professional as possible. Therefore when filming shots,
making sure we kept with the continuity and didn’t have any shot which felt like they jumped or didn’t fit in with the scenes.
This was made possible in the editing as I made sure to keep checking and progressing with the editing to make sure to get
the best possible outcome. An example of this would be from the shots which were filmed mainly in the lit. when the scene
faded to black, making sure that when the scene came back in there was a difference in the shot, so a different stance or
jacket taken off etc. ###which then showed the change din time as they were stuck in the elevator.

5.  Being able to challenge the real media products was our key aim for the
production. We wanted the film which we produced to be different in relation
to some of the media products which we see today. However for the audience
to relate to them we had to make sure there were similarities to real media
products for them to watch it. We wanted people to perceive it as a romantic
short film because that’s what the audience would assume when they see the
opposite sec engaging with each other. Challenging this convention in our film
came from the ending. E had not seen other than The Nice Girl there weren’t
any chich we came across which had a completely different ending to the
narrative than expected.
 When challenging typical conventions also the role of the female protagonist is
often thought to be no where near as popular as a male protagonist is. We see
in todays society, most films have a male role – model who plays the lead this is
mostly sexualised by the enjoyment of the male viewer. Therefore women are
greatly underestimated in some lead roles which they play, this then not giving
the true expression of talent from many female actresses. This is therefore an
unfair representation of women in many media products. Within our short film
the challenge of the is slightly evident as the female protagonist brushes off the
male protagonist when in conversation and seems to portray a woman who is
of higher status than he is whenever in conversation. As the film continues there
are glimpses of the film where the male protagonist over shadows the female
protagonist therefore thus not challenging the convention fully.

6.  From the creation of our narrative and the feedback given, it clear that our
simplistic narrative had an effective ending. For this to have been different
from common we had to challenge this. Therefore this is why we didn’t just
spend the duration of the film within the lift. For it to challenge we had to use
different locations which would shake thing up so the audience didn’t get
bored of one location. The location which we used the most is the lift, for our
group to be able to film within the lift there was a lot of preparation that
needed to be done. When looking at the table we created for the time
management, we needed to make sure wee kept with it for most of the time
that we could because it was crucial that we got the lift at times when the
area was quiet, so there was no background sound. We also had to make
sure we weren’t taking up other peoples time because of the location we
were in. It was also very trick to be able to use the office space when it
wasn’t at its busiest times. Therefore there was a month long display where
we couldn’t film shots in their because of the spaced being used all the time
justifying why some of the shots which are in the office at the beginning are
relatively bright.

7.  We were able to develop the real media products which we viewed to then give
us guidance for the production of our film. This was from taking inspiration from clips
and scenes we have seen through the different varieties of short films and building
on those ideas. What was most influential was the change of narrative we did to
create a twist in the film towards the ending. We wanted to created our own
change in the narrative and by creating something which is original meant the
audience hadn’t seen it before so it came as a surprise to them, therefore it was
more significant than others we had previously watched.
 We also made sure that there was a clear indication where the music came from
and that there was no breach of copyright laws and everything was kept in line. Y
finding someone who produced music which we could use by tagging his name
we were able to create emotive scenes which the audience could relate too
therefore compelling them to want to watch more.