Angel Bird

Evaluation Activity 1: In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life
media products?
The task we had been set for our Unit G324 Advanced Portfolio was to produce a
short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which would be live action,
together with two of the following three options:
- A poster
- A radio trailer
- A film magazine review page
(Highlighted above are the options I chose).
When brainstorming before our project began we considered a wide range of genres
including: horror, comedy and animation, but we eventually settled on a fantasy with
elements of drama and adventure. We decided against comedy as this may not
appeal to a large target audience, whereas fantasy has a wide appeal to most age
groups and both genders. Our fantasy-drama hybrid was about a girl called Alexa
who hid in her wardrobe because she was being bullied. The wardrobe transports
her back into the 1970s where she meets a girl called Clarissa who listens to her and
shows that a true friendship is timeless.

What are Codes and Conventions?

Codes: within a media text, these are signs which have meaning and signify
something to the audience.
They can be split up into two types, technical and symbolic. Technical codes are the
ways in which media technology/equipment is used to create a narrative. For
example, camera shots help to tell a story. Symbolic codes are what can be inferred,
they show what is beneath the surface. For example, the score music can tell the
audience how a character is feeling through the instruments used, music or pace.
Some codes, such as music, can be considered both technical and symbolic.

Conventions: conventions are the typical way something is done. In relation to a

short film, conventions can be applied to different technical aspects such as
cinematography or sound. Additionally, the main conventions we adhered to were
that of the fantasy genre. Genre conventions are that which help signify what genre
your film is to the audience, as theyve likely seen similar texts with similar
conventions so recognise the genre almost automatically. The main genre
convention we used was that of travelling to a different world / time. This journey took
place at the beginning of our production, allowing the audience to almost
immediately connect it to the fantasy genre.

Forms and Conventions of the Fantasy Genre:

Angel Bird

Setting / Location:
The two main locations that we used was the area in and around Alexas house and
the garden in the 1970s. The strong contrast between the two allowed us to create a
conventional juxtaposition which helps the audience to identify the genre as fantasy.
We further emphasised this contrast as Alexas house was a built location whereas
the garden was a natural location. This helped us highlight the atmosphere as the
garden was the location in which Alexa was the safest. We conformed mostly to the
convention of high key lighting, however to connotate specific emotions of fear and
worry, we used low key lighting during the indoor scenes, when Alexa had run from
her bullies. As director, it was my job to create a verisimilitude for the audience and
in the fantasy genre, this involves a location in a different world or time period. We
developed this convention by setting our production mainly in the 1970s, but to
make this more realistic for the audience I found props, such as tapes and coke
bottles, and music suitable for the time period.

Built Location

Natural Location

Angel Bird

Costume / Props:
This was very important for our production as it helped me create a believable
verisimilitude for the audience within the garden scene especially. As we had tried to
conform to the conventional fantasy film, we had set part of our production in the
past and used the micro elements to help convey this realistically. The costumes for
our production had to be custom made so that they were authentic to the time
period, and contrasted hugely to the costumes that we had used in the present day
scenes. The bullies conventionally wore dark coloured hoodies to signify to the
audience that they played the part of our antagonists and carried bats which
connotate violence. This is a convention used in most films, regardless of genre, to
make the audience aware of certain character roles. Additionally, props were very
important as they helped us realistically represent the time period and carry the
narrative forwards. The main props used, such as the cassette tapes and radio, were
used as part of mise-en-scene to set the time period. However, arguably the two
most important props were the friendship bracelets worn by both Alexa and Clarissa.
These were the props which revealed the twist in our narrative at the end of our
sequence. By using props to reveal the hidden meaning behind our narrative, we
challenged forms and conventions as this is usually left to a character to reveal,
rather than the placing of a prop.

Editing:
As director, I had to make sure that the editing clearly reflected our genre- fantasy. To
do this, I tried to be as conventional as possible, however as the expensive CGI
equipment wasnt available to us, we had to find an alternative. Instead we used
after effects in the form of the portal when Alexa travels back in time. This helped
keep our narrative clear and easy to follow for the audience. Additionally, to highlight
the contrast between time periods we used a dream filter on the garden scene. Not
only did this help us connotate the dramatic change in mood from fear to happiness,
but it highlighted the change in location. This helped point out the fact that we had
conformed to the convention of setting our production partly in another time period.
Also, at the beginning of the sequence, we used a quick succession of shots creating
a fast pace and holding our audiences attention. (As shown below). This also
reflected Alexas panic and fear when she was being chased by the bullies. To create
a contrast, we slowed the pace during the garden scene to represent the change of
atmosphere. This often occurs in mainstream films- the change in time/location will
alter the circumstances of the protagonist.

Characters:

Angel Bird
The representation of our characters at the beginning of the short film was quite
stereotypical as Alexa - a young, innocent looking female, played the role of a victim.
We deliberately used our actress, Amys appearance like this as we hoped that it
would help our audience sympathise and feel sorry for her. Additionally, as she was
the age of a student, our audience may relate to being bullied at this age and will
therefore root for our protagonist. However, to counter this stereotype, we made the
bullies targeting Alexa a countertype as they are female. We did this to challenge the
convention in mainstream films that females are always the victim and generally
dont play violent roles. We didnt want to conform to stereotypes for all of our
characters as we thought that this would make our film boring and predictable for the
audience. The character of Clarissa was typically caring towards Alexa, but at the
end of the sequence showed herself to be a countertypical female character by
standing up to the bullies.

Titles and Credits:

At the beginning of our film, the first titles shown were that of our production
company. We decided to include this as every short film we had analysed had this
and we wanted our production to look professional. Directly following this was the
title of our film, Timeless. We had this in white text on a black background. The
white colour connotated the innocence and vulnerability of our main protagonist,
Alexa, whereas the black background connotated the dark situation she found
herself in. We considered leaving the titles like this as it would conventionally
represent the drama genre, however our main genre was fantasy so we knew we
needed to change something. Eventually we came up with the idea of surrounding
the text with a blue glow. This added an element which helped represent our main
genre, fantasy. At the end of our short film, we used the same font and colours for
our credits and had them move in a scrolling motion. This is conventionally how most
films present their credits. We didnt use any after effects as, at this point, we thought
it was best to keep it simple to let our audience reflect on the twist at the end of our
narrative.

Our matching
titles and credits.

Music / Voiceover:
The main music that we used within our short film were the authentic 1970s songs in
the garden scene. This was essential as it helped us accurately date our production
and create an old fashioned atmosphere. We only used score music in the present
day scenes. The two scores we used were instrumental and helped us to build
tension and represent the mood of the characters within the scene. Often the
emotion that the score music created was reflected in our camerawork. For example,
high angles were used to show the danger Alexa was in and vulnerability of her
character and the score music was slow paced and reflective of this. We used a
voiceover in our production to help the audience build more of a connection with our
main protagonist, Alexa. We decided to use a voiceover as it conventionally

Angel Bird
represented the genre of drama. We wanted to highlight the elements of drama for
our older target audience members, but mainly stick to the codes and conventions of
a fantasy to keep the wide appeal of our production.
Overall, I think we created a good balance within our production as in some ways we
conformed to the stereotypes of mainstream films, mostly to help convey the genre
to the audience. For example, by using high key lighting and after effects to
represent the change in setting and atmosphere. However, in some ways we also
challenged these conventions as we thought it would make the narrative more
unpredictable for the audience and may engage them more. For example, by making
Alexas bullies at the beginning of the sequence female, we subverted the audiences
expectations and made them question their expectations for the rest of our short film.