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

Challenging and developing the codes and conventions of our chosen genre (comedy) was key for us. We were targeting an audience of 12-21 years of age, so it was important that we carried out research into similar genres to make sure that we captured the comedy aspects correctly.
At the start of our long process , we were given a stimuli in the form of a film , the film was called 'The Fall' and is directed by Tarsem Singh. Although the genre was different to ours (Action/ Drama) , we found that the scenes which did contain comedy in it were genuinely funny. What made it funny was the relationship between two characters , one young and the other middle aged. The difference in views and understanding between the two constantly made you laugh, and especially the innocence and confusion of the younger character. Even though the director did not intend for the film to be a comedy , a comic duo is born through the the two characters. You could compare the characters relationship to other legendary comic duo's such as 'Del Boy' and 'Rodney' from Only Fools and Horses , or the two Ronnie's. They follow the codes and conventions of a typical comedy duo , and this is where the idea of creating a duo for our film stemmed from. We saw how effective they can be and so thought it was the smart and logical choice of creating one for our production. Saying that we did not just want to copy what we have seen , and so started to think about ways in which we could challenge the codes and conventions. The first thing we developed was the gender of our comic duo, which we decided should be female. This was a massive gamble as comedy is very 'male' dominated and there are not many female comic duo's out there. Although after researching this I did find one duo who had achieved great success and the tiles of the queens of comedy. They are French and Saunders who have been creating comedy sketches for over 20 years. We believed that by making our comic duo female we would be challenging the bigger male duo's , which could appeal to a wider audience. We also created our characters so that one took a more leader role, and the other would follow. We took this decision after watching films such as 'The Hangover' which contained two types of characters , ones which lead and others that follow. We took this idea , but changed it so that the character that followed would rebel, which you see in our production. The reason behind this was that we thought it would create more 'funny moments' if the two characters were against each other at points within the film. You wouldn't expect the less assertive character to stand up for them-selves , challenging the conventions again and at the same time creating comical moments within the production as they argue.
We knew from our brief that we would be creating a silent film, and after deciding on our genre , we started to focus on how we was going to make the audience laugh without using dialogue. To do this we started research into to king of silent comedy , Charlie Chaplin. Charlie Chaplin is known throughout the world for his cheeky comedy , and has created such films as The Tramp and Making a Living. When looking at his films , I noticed something that was consistent through out, and that was the piano soundtrack. The music was quick and kept up with the speed of the film which complimented it well. It also made you laugh , which is he most important thing about a comedy. This taught me that I was going to have to pick a soundtrack which complimented my production , was funny at points , but not so over whelming that it took your attention away from the production itself. At the start we picked at 4 different soundtracks which we believed could go with our production , after and review of them all we cut it down to two. One was a quick drumming beat and the other a violin remix. Each was comical and would have gone well with our production, but the drumming beat seemed to compliment the film better. The speed was perfect,t and in a way resembled a soundtrack you would hear in a Charlie Chaplin film. The reason for not wanting to challenge the convention was that we thought that it was code which was not worth changing , but instead embracing it. As they say , if its not broken then don't fix it.
Staying on the lines of Charlie Chaplin , while conducting research into his films , I noticed that his editing techniques were very unique. Obviously the technology they had was limited but the way in which he edited the cuts made the production even more funny. For example everything was sped up , making actions and movements more comical. This is a convention which has been followed for many years now , and more recently in cartoons such as scooby doo. We wanted to develop this and and dare to challenge it to break the normal convention. This is why in our scene which has been sped up we have purpose behind it. The meaning of it is to show the lengths the characters would go to just to be the one who holds the lottery ticket. Although we would still be keeping the comedy aspect at the same time , developing on the scooby doo research.
Overall I believe our production follows the codes and conventions to allow it to be classed as a comedy. Even though challenging conventions is encouraged , if an audience finds something funny then why change just to be different? Although there are points in our production in which we have challenged conventions , but this is so that we break the stereo-type of comedy films. What people expect is different to what people enjoy, and so for the example the decision to change our characters to females was based on the idea that it is not what the audience expect , but they will still enjoy it.

Simple and Short

Anyone who is involved in film making will know that an opening sequence is a vital necessity to a good film. It is what the audience first see's and hears , which they make their first judgements on. Just like the saying goes , 'You always want to make good first impression'. This applies to when your making a film, you want to grab your audience in the first minutes. There are many different and exciting ways to do this, but you want to make sure that you have a good mixture of excitement and mystery. You don't want to give too much away but you need to hood the audience so that they want to continue to watch.
A major learning curve for both me and my was our as media coursework in which we had to make an opening sequence. This meant researching opening sequences from around the world. World cinema allows you to compare different cultures and how they channel this through there films. More importantly it was interesting to see how different films would start. Some had massive explosions and other s had a more mystical and abstract feeling. An opening sequence can be shaped by its genre, but we want to step away from that an open ourselves up to a variety of different ideas.
For our film we want to create a comedy piece. After researching other comedic films such as 'White Chicks' we know we have to make the audience laugh within the first few minutes. Its like a rule which is followed thorough out comedic films. This is why we believe that our opening sequences will work. We have designed them so that the audience are laughing from very early on. This is most recognisable in our first opening sequence in which we have a balance of character development and comedy. We have the boys kick a car so that the audience know what type of characters they are , the cheeky grins on their faces is where the comedy aspect comes in. So overall , the audience get to know the characters as well as having a laugh. Even better our opening sequence is achievable , it has no high risk stunts , or impossible location, just simple shots followed by a simple idea.

Simple and Short

This past week we have been watching a collection of short films. In a couple of months we will be shooting our own shirt film so it is important that we look at other shorts. We had a DVD from the BFI of a collection of shorts , with a variety of different genres. Our short films have to be silent so we have to look for:

• Narrative
• Movement
• Editing
• Mise-en-scene
• Plot Points
• Soundtrack
  

The majority of shorts used minimum dialogue , which meant that the narrative had to be good enough to keep the audience interested. All of the shorts accomplished this with different techniques and each a different number of plot points. The number of plot points are important as you don't want to many , but you need enough to make the narrative interesting. Hard Labour was the first short we watched. I believed the narrative to be interesting , balanced and included a good twist. The main negative that the group picked up on was that there was too many plot points, and the final plot point ruined the short to an extent. Although we also thought that the idea was so simple that it worked , this along with exciting and interesting shots meant that you didn't want to take your eyes of it. The next short we watched was Stripes , a very hard hitting drama. With Stripes it was shot very well , but there wasn't enough variety with the shots. The narrative was again simple and didn't include many plot points, but this was ok as the plot points that where used let you interested. The movement of the characters as well created this contrast that helped you define who was the antagonist and protagonist. Dialogue was used but from the point of view of someone who was taking notes on narrative , it wasn't the main convention. Last of all we saw Hard Hitting, which was a comedy. I believed this to be the best out of the shorts as it used NO dialogue and was only about 5 minutes long, which was good as we could compare our ideas to it. The main convention for this short was the editing which dominated most of the film. The idea was simple , boy meets girl story with a funny twist. The variety of shots used meant you was not looking at the same thing for more then a few seconds. And more importantly the soundtrack ( fast rock music) matched the action , keeping that comedic sense.

Analysis of " Im British But ..."

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Best shots from Amelia

For me this is one of the best shots within the film Amelia. At first this shot can look normal and boring , but its the feeling you get from the shot which makes it special. From the simple choice of prop , to the comedic facial expressions , you gain a connection with the character. This type of shot is used frequently within the film where Amelia will look directly at the camera as if she is addressing the audience. Although no words are spoken to the camera , there is no need as her facial expression do enough to allow you to understand what she is feeling and thinking. The spoon in her hand adds emphasis to the innocents which is already being portrayed. Theses types of shots are what make the film unique and gives it that difference to other similar films. You gain a connection with the character , making you more interested naturally as you follow her journey. This is a brilliant technique as it keeps your audience interested. The colours used are also very plain but that suits the character herself , who may seem very ordinary at look. I believe this what the director could have been aiming for. As they make Amelia look normal , it makes her journey look more extraordinary. The contrast of the two is what the story is built around.

"Even we can make school look interesting"

In the past week we have been thinking of how we are going to make a shoots look fun and interesting. This is very important for our production as it is what will be what will earn us important and vital marks. We was given the task of taking pictures within the school that we thought were interesting , these are mine.

This is my favourite picture out the five. The reason I find this picture interesting is the spiral I have captured with the shapes. The picture reminds me of a fantasy scene where some one would be sucked into another world, although this was not my intention when I first took the picture. The colours of the metal ( silver) also adds that unique element to it as it contrast with the dark floor at the bottom. When I look at this picture I feel as if sharp blades are spiraling into a dark pit, and this is what I also got from eh feedback of my class mates; My fellow pupils were curious about where I had taken the photo and no one guessed the right location. This proves that you could capture something amazing and mysterious even if the location at first doesn't seem to provide it. I actually took the picture from the top of stack of stage legs which had been stacked together.

This is another interesting picture. What I believe makes this picture interesting is the juxtaposition of high and low key lighting. The contrast is obvious , with the light blue sky shining through black. This alone allows the picture to shine give it that sense of power. The circle shape allowing the light through is important as it creates that feeling of being trapped with the light shining through at the top. The circle is divided by lines which also plays an important role as they create symmetry and divide the clouds above. This could represent inprisoment.

This picture was taken by a tree in school. The angle of the shot is what gives it power and meaning. From the picture you can create story's and metaphors. When I look at it I feel that I'm looking at a shot from a love story. This is obviously due to the lock , but the close up gives it that much more importance. Everything else is left out of the shot which put the emphasis on the shot. The light is also shining of it so certain parts are shining, giving the lock that mysterious feel.

What makes this picture different is obvious, you can't make sense of what is it. This is ezacxtly why I chose to take it , the mystery behind it will kae the audeince think and try to figure out what it it could be. This is a good strategy to keep your audience interested , if you put somethig infront of them they dont understand , they will try and figure it out. Although you have to be careful you dont ask too much otherwise the audience will give up on trying to figure it out.

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