EVALUATION QUESTION 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products?

In the recorded interview above, we speak about the conventions of our film and how it relates to other modern day films that would feature within the same genre. We talk about the conventions, such as the soundtrack that we used within our film, and how the camera angles reflected the genre that we were aiming for. Due to our film being a psychological thriller we decided to share what inspired us, such as actors that we had scene in similiar roles/films. We were asked how we had used our time to create this film, and how our film had changed over the course of this time. 

Since films can be promoted on a variety of different platforms, I will be explore the different codes and conventions, and whether my short film conforms to them.

To start off I created my short film for the fictional film THE FOLLOWING based on the forms and conventions of existing films. I have seen a variety of different films that share the same genre as intended for my film. Prior to constructing my short film, I spent a large amount of time on research and planning as you can see from earlier blog posts. I researched into the different sound, camera shots, mise en scene and atmosphere that can be created within film. I looked further into the chosen genre that I wish to replicate. My film's genre will be a psychological thriller and I will look further into more of these films, learning the techniques and conventions these films follow.

Below are some film trailers that I feel we have took inspiration from and have took certain conventions and given them a different twist so that it would meet our plot line and cater for our target audience.

                                       

 

                                       

Conventions of a short film

As seen in earlier research and blog postings, I have looked into short films and the conventions and codes that they follow. Below are the key conventions that I have aimed to replicate and include within my short film.

• Key characters - protagonist

• Propp's theory of characters - e.g. there always has to be allocated roles in films such as a hero and a villain

• A genre is needed for the narrative

• Clear plot - Todorov's theory is what most plots follow

• Effective techniques (flashback/flashforward, cliffhanger's, separate narratives)

• No budget - needs to be professional

• Steady shots

• Scripting, storyboard, location, props, costumes

Key Characters-Protagonists
When planning our short film, we decided originally that we were going to use two established drama students within our sixth form. However there was a large demand for these specific students since they had done other productions and the fact they have a passion for this industry shows why they would be first on a directors casting list. So since our original choices were already dedicated to a number of films/trailers while also having school productions and school work that had to be produced, Myself and Jack decided that we would instead act the roles ourselves as we thought we would have the knowledge and could represent these characters the way we wanted to. When researching films and just watching films in general, you will see sometimes that a director will also act within their film, as they believe that they can portray a character the way they want to without needing to guide someone else or give advice/criticism on how it should be done. I felt as though this was the case with us, we didn't want to use actors that didn't have any experience, as they would of just been in the same position as us. So we took it upon ourselves to present these roles.


Propp's theory of characters
In propp's theory there always needs to be a hero and a villain within the film. We have applied the solipsism nature to our main character. The solipsism nature allows our protagonist to be the antagonist to himself as he is fighting himself mentally into what is right and wrong. Throughout the film the audience can see the guilt in our protagonists actions, that he knows he is mentally unstable. I believe that this replicates the psychological thriller, and I believe the audience watching the film will be able to see and deem this film within that genre.


A Genre is needed
As said throughout this blog, I believe our film falls under the psychological thriller genre. We have followed the conventions of this genre, by incorporating different elements that would fall under the psychology field. Our main character within the film suffers from post dramatic stress after killing the student. We have left it ambiguous as to whether the dead student does return or whether it is just within the protagonists imagination. This being seen in many psychological thrillers, to name a few such as fight club, and the more important inspiration to us being shutter island.


Effective Techniques
When telling the story within our film, we thought of a variety of ways in which we could portray the plot and how it could be presented. We decided to use edits such as quick transitions and fading in and out effects. We thought with the use of these effects it would represent the film in a better way then if we were to just record the footage and then not use these transitions. An effective way in which we used transitions were during the car hit and run scene. We decided to use the fade out effect on our victim, however we still allowed the audience to view the reaction shot before we faded out. Also we then introduced an audio file of a car thumping, as if were to have just hit the victim. More importantly as the film progresses we then showed then shown the interest of time taking place. This effect being seen in films such as Paranormal Activity to show the lapse of timing from the start to finish.

Showing the lapse of time

Opening BBFC Certificate
In order to follow the conventions of short films we needed to include either the green screen, a graphic used within the beginning scenes to indicate which age rating the film has been deemed by regulators. The certificate/green screen also indicates the authenticity of the film that it is real, short films not being recorded by a professional studio or not having a budget, may not use a form of greenscreen/certificate, however because we are trying to follow the conventions of professional short films, we needed to include this screen within our opening sequence. Our created BBFC certificate replicates that of an authentic one, us keeping the key conventions and key information that would ideally be found on any professional certification. Also with us keeping to this convention it creates verisimilitude as the audience will be able to recognize and identify this and it establishes whether it will be appropriate or viewing or not.

The green screen, commonly shown at the beginning of trailers.

The created BBFC certificate that we made for our short production.
We had kept to the key conventions found other film certifications.

 Creating the BBFC Certificate for my short production

The screenshot shows the first step in creating the BBFC certificate for my short film. I found the certificate image on Google images and then saved the image, in order to import it into paint.

The screenshot above shows me editing the BBFC certificate in paint. After importing the image into paint, I used the text tool to insert the title of my short film “THE FOLLOWING”. Due to the text box being white and black I will need to invert the colours in order for the font to be white, and the background the match the rest of the BBFC certificate. I have incorporated the BBFC rating logo onto the certificate, and as this example used a 12A I needed the find a 15 rating and use this instead. For this process I used Google again and copied and pasted the logo onto the certificate.

The screenshot above shows an image of the 15 year rating. I found the image using Google images. This allowed me to find it with ease and is convenient in keeping within my time constraints.  I then copied and pasted the logo into paint, to which I then cropped the image, and changed the background to black so that it matched the BBFC certificate.

The final screenshot above shows the finished BBFC certificate that I will be using within my short film. The certificate will keep to conventions by being present in the beginning of my short film. It looks authentic, and with this it allows my short film to replicate key conventions found in movies and short films. The BBFC age rating can be seen in the right hand corner, warning the audience of the age of audience viewing.

Film institution logo
Along with certification, another regular key convention found within short films and teaser trailers are the film institution to which it was created by. They will regularly be shown after the certification has been shown, appearing within the opening scenes of the film/trailer. This is simply done as both a representative of pride and ownership within the product. It allows the audience to see which film institution created this piece of filmography and then allows them to conduct further research into this studio and then perhaps if they enjoyed the film, they could then in future look at other films made by the same film institution. Institutions are recognizable and can then be established/recognised by fans. Below I have shown how our film institution will be represented in comparison to a leading established institution such as MIRAMAX Films.

Our film institution. We decided to call ourselves M&M Studios simply because
there were two of us in our group with the surnames being McGrath and Maguire.

We drew inspiration from MIRAMAX films because although it looks simple
it still reflects a strong bold font making it stand out the target audience.

Varying iconic camera shots and angles
As we all know, camera angles and shots can make or break a film. All good films will use a varied amount of camera angles that fit that particular genre. We have used a variety of different camera angles, these I will show below, also showing comparisons to inspiration that we had took from films we had seen that implemented these angles.We used our chosen camera angles to create suspense and tension and give our short film the pace that would be seen in other thrillers, Please look below to see a variety of camera angles we used within our film production. As our film consists of five minutes, I couldn't possibly show every camera angle that Iv'e used, however I have shown the angles that I feel replicate our films genre and create the suspense and tension found within film. Also please bare in mind that some screen shots below may lack in quality as we change from different hardware, however the intention and aim of individual camera angles remain visible and intact.

Establishing Shot

This was the opening to our short film, as you can see we also show the film institution appearing within this camera angle as we felt this would be a good camera angle and establishing shot to show or foreshadow the films plot. As after seeing our short film you will see how the travelling cars will foreshadow that they could play a significant role within our film. There's also the fact that this camera angle could be seen from an omniscient perspective, could it be the ghost watching the travelling cars ? this could be questioned after viewing our short film for the first time.

Medium Long Shot

So with this camera angle you can now see the character being introduced. The fact that we have included our films title THE FOLLOWING over the scene, highlights that he could be the follower. This camera angle shows our victim walking towards his inevitable death, and once again you can see the parked cars being present within our setting linking in with our first establishing angle.

Third Person (Omniscient) Perspective

 The camera angle above being a third person perspective,would show how our scene would look like to a third person watching this occurrence.Within our plot there were no witnesses to the scene, and therefore we just included this scene as a benefit to the audience, the quick transition allowing the audience to see more, creating tension and suspense.

First Person Perspective

The first person perspective is always important within filmography, and it is no different in this particular case of us creating our short film. We needed the audience to get a realization of how our victim saw the car travelling as it creates a greater understanding, while at the same time creating suspense. It also allows the audience to see that our victim is standing in the middle of the road, witnessing his untimely death.

Driver's First Person Perspective

As with the same camera angle above, I felt it was important for the audience to view the driver's perspective of events. This angle in particular allows the audience to see the victim in full view, also with the addition of the windscreen wiper, it gives it a realistic effect as to which we tried to achieve. The weather also allowed us to achieve this angle as without the rain, the setting and atmosphere wouldn't have been the same.

Eye Level Shot (Victim's Reaction)

Medium Long Shot (Killer's Reaction)

Above are the reaction shots for both leading actors. As you can see both camera angles aren't within the first person, and would be represented from a third person (the viewers) perspective. When using the eye level shot with the victim, it allows the audience to get a full image of the victim's face, notice the headphones being present within the mise en scene, it allows the audience to question Was the victim not paying attention ? Looking at the killer's reaction we felt it was better overall to show the interior of the car, as it would give it a more realistic approach, show our actor driving as it would fit with the plot.

Tracked out Long Shot

With this camera angle we wanted to achieve an 'isolated' atmosphere, that our character felt out of place and divided from everyone else at school. I believe this scene does our aim justice in the sense that there is a barrier between the conversational students and our character walking alone.

Pan Right

Low Shot

Over the shoulder

 The three scenes above show the suspense and tension within our film. This scene consists of a variety of camera angles, shots and transitions. The three above are examples to show how we have tried to keep it conventional, as in horror films you would see these camera angles being present throughout. Our film contains elements of horror, notably being in this scene and another which I will talk about further below.

Low shot for both, the camera was kept in a consistent position.

The scene above was definitely the trickiest to film as we needed to position the camera in an angle which wouldn't catch the victims character either walking into the scene from their current position, or the fact that the camera would have been viewable in the mirror, this would have ruined the scene and would have looked very unprofessional, thus not challenging forms and conventions.

Summary Of  Key Film Conventions Followed
So as you can see the within the following post, I have included the key conventions that would deem this short production acceptable to be labelled a short film. It contains the conventions that would challenge the audience as to whether it was professionally made, this being apparent with my designed BBFC certification, it would be hard for someone to label it 'fake' when compared to an authentic one.
My Short Film Includes:

• The BBFC Certification 
• Film Institution
• Production company logo
• Credits

Did my short film break away from any codes/conventions ?

I felt as though my short film followed and challenged conventions within film, however there was an issue that may have slightly lowered the impact/familularity of a film. This convention being audio and soundtrack. As we had no budget when creating this production, we simply had no right to use any copyrighted audio files. In many films or trailers you will see familiar music and songs so that the audience would be able to recognize it and relate to it. As we were unable to use established audio, we then needed to use customized audio made by a third party, bearing in mind that this music had not been heard by others or may not have been used before within a short film. Luckily we found an uncopyrighted soundtrack that met the aims of our film, and didn't diminish the impact we aimed to achieve. However if given the option to use copyrighted audio, I would have chosen to do so, as I already know a variety of established soundtracks that we could of used within our film that arguably might have given it a better edge in terms of atmosphere and tension.

Film Magazine Review

As you can see from earlier blog posts, I had researched into current film magazines with the UK industry, in order to view and replicate the key codes and conventions. I would say that I am familiar with key magazine conventions, and as with creating a magazine last year for my AS foundation Portfolio this wasn't the first time in creating magazine elements. However that was music, and with film there is still a significant difference. I read a variety of film magazines, so I already knew most of the conventions found, but with my created film magazine review I would still need to expand my knowledge.

Empire magazine and UK Film magazine were the two that I had taken most inspiration from when designing my house style and colour scheme. I had also looked at the way in which elements had been layered out. Please check my bog posting on Ancillary Tasks to see how I evaluated my film poster and review, in comparison to established media products.

Did my magazine break way from the codes and conventions ?

I felt as though I had challenged the forms and conventions of film review magazines. I had included the key conventions that you would find when reading a film magazine. I included a contrasting colour scheme of red and yellow as it would be striking and would stand out to the audience. With the chosen colour scheme it would also be easily visible, this being important as a film magazine would not cater to one specific target audience. I had chosen an appropriate image to go with my film review, the image being a screenshot taken from my film during a suspense and tension building scene. This would attract the audience into watching the film as it portrays the genre that I wished to achieve. The key conventions that are found in every established film review are and were present in my production:

• Main image (usually from the film)
• Highlighted part of the article
• Overall view and star rating
• Main article (review)
• Film Tagline
• Release Date, Certificate, Director, Cast, Running Time, Plot Summary

Film Poster
In leading to creating my film poster, I had spent a large amount of time researching posters, looking at the key conventions they implemented. Although I had a brief understanding on the key features included on a film poster I still needed to make further research, so I had made sure my research was detailed. As you can see from earlier blog posts I had tried to replicate a (film noire) effect for my poster, as I felt that my film reflects that particular genre or mystery and suspense, while at the same time not including over the top action scenes, instead relying on story telling. The key conventions that are found within every film poster, and also incorporating them into mine are:

• Title of film
• Leading actors names
• Central image of characters
• Billing block
• BBFC age certification

Below are two examples as for my main inspiration for my film poster. With film noir there is always a black and white colour scheme. However with my poster I decided to add a red colour scheme to some of the font, in order for it to be acceptable within the modern day film. As you can see I have replicated the lighting effects having the spotlight focused on the two leading actors.

My Final Film Poster

Example One- Spotlight Lighting

As seen in the example above, you can see the similar conventions that I have tried to use within my created poster. In this example you can see both leading characters being clearly visible within the poster. What you will also notice is how the lighting effects, will make it appear as though a spotlight is being presented on the actor/actress only. Another typical convention would be that the background will be plain, and it usually doesn't feature scenery. The lighting then creates a dark background which represents the sense of mystery as only the characters within the film will be visible.

Colour Scheme- Lighting Effects

Both examples us low-key lighting, this being the scheme of film noir. The colour scheme is associated with stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning, this style is known as chiaroscuro. Once again you will notice the spotlight being presented on the leading characters only. I feel as though my film poster reflects these conventions and colour schemes, however I have tried to make it appear more modern with the use of a red font, and the use of colour within the BBFC age rating.

In conclusion I believe that my media products do use and challenge the conventions of the film industry and real media products. I have featured all the key conventions that would be found in a film review and a film poster,  I am pleased with the final results of my media products, how they turned out in the end and believe that they represent a high level of professionalism .