A2 MEDIA BLOG
Question 1:
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
We decided that we wanted to create a realistic representation of a quirky, creative teenage girl through our set design and costume. We used Hannah's bedroom as the bedroom of Finn and Megan and Hannah brought various in various items from their own rooms to use within the set in order to give it a sense of realism and relevance as both Megan and Hannah are very creative individuals, this allowed us to have a strong idea of what sort of props and design we would go for. To start with, we initially removed all objects and posters from Hannah's room that we didn't feel would have a place or purpose in the film, this resulted in a lot of transporting of many different objects from her room to elsewhere in the house. Here we worked as a team to sort out and tidy up the room before Megan and Hannah went to work on setting up the various props. My main role in the set up of the room was to move out the television and to clean the walls off after we removed the posters from them, alongside this I was there to assist in the fine tuning of the set up of the room in balancing objects on high shelves. The visionaries behind the set up of Finn's room, however, were Megan and Hannah who found places to put everything we wanted whilst still making it look aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, outside of set design I was in charge of contacting the owner of the reptile shop in order to request permission for use of the shop and also booking what days we would be coming and how long we would be there for etc.
Transcript
The research we conducted prior to starting our production helped us to further understand real media products. We researched into our chosen genre of comedy drama, and research into some short films that fit into this category. We analysed their forms and conventions in order to consider them in regards to our own film in order for us to emulate industry standards so it could find it’s place within the real media. We did not necessarily directly replicate any specific aspects of short films, rather we used them as influences as a starting point.
After looking into our chosen genre we discovered that many drama films make use of white text on a black background for the opening credits. We emulated this in our film, adding home videos to inform the audience of a small part of our protagonist’s backstory, this expositional feature is often seen within the drama genre.
We also chose to use a vibrant colour palette in our mise-en-scene which could be seen as a convention of comedy films; as it reflects a lighthearted tone. However, the bright colours of the masks juxtaposes the bleak landscapes that surround the characters; underlining the difference between both Finn and the mundane daily life she partakes in, and the contrasting conventions of the two genres we have made use of.
The main instance in which we showed the difference between the two genres was at the climax of the plot in which we deliberately placed a comedic moment during a dramatic scene between the mother and daughter to mitigate the impact of the confrontation. This is conventional of the comedy-drama genre as contrasting scenes are often placed after one another.
In editing, we chose not to use many special effects or transitions as drama films usually reflect a more realistic portrayal. Using transitions such as fades and dissolves would diminish the creation of the verisimilitude of our film. We also refrained from using a voice over, and instead told the story through shots, props and body language. A voice-over felt out of place for our film as Finn is a character who seems to find it hard to vocalise her discomfort and thoughts, and so having her speaking to the audience directly would have felt unnatural and out of character.
We followed the convention of having three main characters to aid in simplifying the narrative. This allows more screen time for character development, something that is typical for both short films and coming of age plot lines. The plot line of such a film usually focuses on the moral growth of a male teenager. We challenged this by using a female character, but gave her a masculine name; resulting in the entitlement that comes with the audience’s preconceptions.
Using female characters came from our initial production meetings where we decided we wanted to include the theme of feminism in some form - we wanted to have a teenage female character that wasn’t affected by romantic relationships or an unwanted pregnancy as these storylines are often overplayed in films with female adolescence. Finn is a character who is flawed, strong willed and opinionated, echoing the characteristics of her male counterparts. Women are often expected to fit into the traditional caring role, and when they don’t it can shock an audience. We wanted Finn to grow and become more appreciative towards her mother and friend without becoming a one-sided and uninteresting character.
Todorov’s narrative theory was followed to an extent in the making of our film. We set up a world, added a few areas of conflict, resolved the problem and then returned to a new equilibrium. Finn’s actions towards her mother changed, but she still didn’t seem to be attending school, returning to the hut we see in the beginning of the short.