Monday 18 November 2013

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

 I have put together a nine frame analysis of different shots of my film opening to show how it uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of real media products.
1) The title of the film
The main title appears right at the end of my film opening. I decided on this so that it was obvious that the opening was over and to get the audience ready for what would be the rest of the film. My title is simple but bold. The font is standard and there are no background distractions. I think this focuses the audiences attention on the name of my film and allows for them to briefly think over what had happened so far in the opening sequence. The font is dark pink as this fits well with my genre and target audience. My target audience is teenagers, mainly girls, and so I think pink is a fitting colour. Also the overall look fits with a Teen Comedy as it is not dark or scary, instead it's just simple, bright and bold.

2) Setting/Location
In my film opening there are three main locations; the main characters bedroom, her bathroom and the school. The picture shown above is of the main characters bedroom. It is a typical teenage girls bedroom with pink walls, a flowery bed cover and a dressing table with makeup. This shows a bit about the main characters personality. It allows you get an idea of the age and lifestyle of the main character.

3) Costumes and props
The costumes I used are pyjamas, chav, goth and a casual school outfit. As my character was waking up in the morning, she was introduced in pyjamas. This make her morning routine seem normal and relatable to teenagers to would be watching. Amelia then talks about experimenting with new looks so it shows her trying out a chav and goth outfit. Trying out these looks was to add comedic value to my Teen Comedy film opening and to show different stereotypical social groups. Finally, She decides to just wear a casual outfit to school, consisting of a skirt and tshirt.

4) Camerawork and editing
I used a range of both camera shots and editing techniques. My camerawork included tracking and panning shots, along with basic closeups, longs shots and medium shots. The tracking shot is shown in the picture above. I used this to create the feeling for the audience that they are walking to school along with the main character. A close up was used at the very start to give the viewers a clear view of the main characters face.

5) Title font and style
I kept the font that I used very simple. It is called 'Coolvetia' and is quite basic. As my genre is Teen Comedy, using a big swerly font or a bold intense font would be inappropriate and misleading. However, to keep the titles interesting I matched the colour of them with things shown in the background of the shot. For example, in the shot shown above, the navy font colour matches the main characters skirt. Other examples are matching baby blue font with the mirror in the background of the bathroom scenes, and having white font to match the window frames and her bed cover.

6) Story and how the opening sets it up
The story of my film is the main character, Amelia, getting ready for her first day at a new school. The opening sets this up by showing her getting up in the morning and rushing around trying to prepare herself. Having the opening showing a first day at school or a big event in the main characters life is a convention of Teen Comedies. My film opening sets up the rest of the film narrative by showing her getting out of bed and ending up at school. It shows her struggle to get ready and be organised which will be relatable for my target audience. The ending of her walking through the school doors and then the sound of a bell ringing gives the impression that the rest of the film is about to start.

7) Genre and how the opening sets it up
My genre is Teen Comedy. Conventions of this are making the audience laugh and keeping an audience of teenagers entertained. I feel my film opening sets this up as there are comedic elements in it.  For example, Amelia accidentally eats her toast whilst trying to clean her teeth, forgets her school bag and walks into school with her skirt tucked into her tights as you can see in the shot above. To attract teenagers, I added in things that I feel they would be able to relate to. Such as swearing, stereotypical school groups like chavs and goths and being late for school. 

8) How the characters are introduced
The only character that features in my film opening is the main character. She is introduced in the first shot of my film opening. This is an aerial shot of her lying in bed. During this shot you get to see her face clearly and can link the voice over to her voice. Here she wakes up from her sleep, yawns and then looks directly into the camera. I feel that this grabs the audiences attention and makes it believable that the voice over is her thoughts.

9) Special effects
There were no special effects used in my film opening other than fast motion. I did this for some parts to help portray the rushed feeling that the main character was experiencing. As Amelia was in a hurry to get to her first day of school, she was quickly doing all the things that she needed to in order to get ready. Putting some parts of her morning routine in fast motion enhanced this and created the same hurried atmosphere for the audience. It also allowed me to turn what would have been very long and boring parts of the film into quick, fast paced ones. For example, the section of film that is shown in the image above is of the main character putting her shoes on. This is a key part of her getting ready but I put it in fast motion so it was not long and boring for the audience to watch. This keeps the audience interested and allows them to connect with the main character.

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