Question one for my coursework portfolio

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

2. Studio ident
• My short film starts in a way that a conventional
film would with the studio ident.
• I chose the name mainly because I decided to
work alone and the name fitted appropriately,
but also as the studio name fitted the character
of Stephen.

3. Other studio logos
• I have studied a variety of studio logos:
The MGM logo is the
studio ident I drew
my inspiration from
to create mine.

4. My ident
This is a picture of my ident
which I created. I have
styled it on the MGM
studio ident. However as
my main image is
completely different, from a
lion to a wolf. I have created
the ident using a black pen
and then scanned the
image into the computer. I
then made the image
clearer and turned it into an
animation much like the
idents of twisted pictures,
DreamWorks and Pixar, thus
keeping in line with
conventional studio idents

5. Opening shot
• The opening pan shot of my film is conventional as it instantly reveals the setting of the
film which is the school. The pan shot which shows a long ling of lockers which is a typical
mis-en-scene for a school and is how the audience instantly know.
• Although the shot is conventional as it sets the scene of my film, having a pan start for an
establishing shot isn't a conventional start to a short film. Before I began constructing my
film I researched a number of films and noted that the majority started with either a long
shot or an extreme long shot. However I wanted to challenge this convention because it
would start my film in a fast and quick way which is how I wanted the pace of the shots to
continue.
• Here are a number of examples of opening shots from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/

6. narrative
• For my narrative I was influenced by a number of
short films and scenes from feature films, however
the one that was instrumental was Gravity. I think
this was because this short film was aimed at the
same target audience as mine and also carried a
strong message. From this film and mine you can
draw a number of similarities however I believe
mine challenges the conventions of this film as my
message is about mental health issues also the
story told is at a much slower pace than Gravity

7. Characters
• The skill of Stephen and jack was present when I first
auditioned them. I have used them to follow
conventions of short films that small, unknown actors
are used a lot in short films. I believe the reason for
this is due to the low budgets that short films have. I
have followed this convention and I believe they have
made the film. I am so glad that I held open auditions
to find the perfect actors for the roles. Another
convention is that 2 or 3 characters are used in the
film, this is due to the time constraints of short film
and not being able to fully develop the characters due
to this. I have followed this convention mainly so my
target audience can relate to my characters.

8. Camera shots/ angles
• In my film pressure I believe that I have followed and
challenged conventions in this section of my media
product. This is because it is a convention to have a
variety of camera angles and shots in short films.
However I believe I have gone above and beyond this
convention as I have not only used a variety I have
continually changed the camera angle when I was
recording as I wanted to use quick cuts and fades from
each action shot in my scenes. I also have challenged
this convention as I wanted my film to have a faster
speed and pace to it, I believed that by using the
amount of shots and angles I could achieve this.

9. Edits
• I have followed conventions of short films in my film
while I was editing as I have used a lot of quick cuts to
build up the tension in my film. This is present in the
scene where the victim is being mugged that the
suspense and action are created through the fast cuts.
However in my editing I have also challenged
conventions by using a lot of really quick fading to
white edits to switch from different camera angles.
They are incredibly fast and are almost subliminal so
you don't see them, this I feel as improved the quality
of my film. Because it makes the film run smoother, I
also think it gives my film something different,
something special.

10. BBFC certificate
• By adding the BBFC film
certificate I have followed
conventions because certificate
or sometimes a green screen is
seen at the beginning of all films,
short or feature length. It lets the
audience know who can watch it,
as the 12A certificate means its
unsuitable for children under 12.
As well as following conventions
it gives my film a high level of
verisimilitude, making the film
more realistic and professional

11. Sound
• One way in which I have challenged conventions of films is
by not having sound in my film. By sound I mean non-
diagetic music that I have added over the top of my
dialogue and film. There were a number of reasons why I
didn't do this, one of them is because unlike major films we
couldn’t use copyrighted music. This limited a lot of the
music choices I would have originally made. However I did
start to produce a song with my friends in the music studio,
however I didn't like it and it didn't fit right in my film so I
decided to make the decision to not have music in
pressure. I could of course have had royalty free music but
when I was trawling through royalty free music websites to
find the right song none of them seemed right. None of
them really fitted the look I was going for with my film

12. Movie poster
With my film poster to advertise my film I think
I have followed conventions all throughout it.
For example I have followed conventions when
adding the actors names and the positioning of
them. I have also followed conventions when
you look at the image on the whole of my
poster. This is because I have drawn the
inspiration for it from a number of existing
posters. It also instantly suggests the
relationship of the two boys which is what I
was aiming for. Another way I have followed
conventions is by having the title is big letters
so if you walked past it in the street you would
easily be able to see it. Finally the text at the
bottom of the poster is following conventions
as all movie posters contain this information of
the stars, directors and producers of the film.
This is mainly because it could attract an
audience member who saw the poster and has
liked a lots of films already made by that
director, or star and could increase her chances
of going to watch the film