Chloe Lashley

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1: In what ways does your media product

use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media
products?

Production company: Enigma Studios

Idealistic Distribution company: Future Shorts
Director: Sophie Laxton
Cinematographer: Elise Thompson
Editor & Sound Person: Chloe Lashley

We produced a media product in the form of a short film; this lasted for
approximately 5 minutes. Our group executed a cross genre as our
original idea seemed to apply to more than one genre. Also, it is beneficial
for us as we are able to target a wider audience; both fans of the drama
and thriller genres. In Replica, we use, develop and challenge the
conventions of both genres which are as follows:

REAL-
LIFE

SITUATIONS:

Our production Replica

reflects real-life
situations. It focuses around a teenage girl that suffers from a mental
illness; girls of this age suffering from mental disorders are becoming
increasingly common. This suggests that we have successfully used this
convention of the drama genre. To add, Replica includes a case of
domestic violence in a relationship between a male character and his
girlfriend. It is apparent that the amount of domestic violence cases
reported to the police has increased as the issue is dealt with more
seriously by the police than in previous years. As Replica showcases
problems that exist within our society, it can be argued that our
production contains real-life situations that are faced by our characters.
Due to this, Fiskes theory that states that films reflect the zeitgeist
(society at that time) can be applied.

REALISTIC CHARACTERS/SETTINGS:

Leading on from my previous point referring to the realistic nature of our

production, all of the characters can be considered as realistic. The
 Chloe Lashley

following two can be considered as the most realistic characters within our
film:

Eve An ordinary girl in her late adolescence stage of life who struggles to
face her true identity which is similar to other teenage girls due to
insecurities and lack of confidences/self-esteem. Eve also adopts extreme
methods of coping with her stress as she resorts to taking pills to try and
stop the pain that she feels. Admittedly, this may only reflect the minority
of teenage girls with serious issues but it still proves that Eves character
reflects some truths.

Myles A black male with an aggressive and violent nature that he cannot
control and takes his anger out on his girlfriend Emel. Myles is a realistic
character as there are several people who need anger management in
order to channel their energy into positive actions within society. To add,
black boys are often portrayed negatively across all media platforms so
Myles can be considered as an exaggerated version of the representation
of black boys. This is because they are often depicted as violent but Myles
takes this a step further by showing his violence onscreen.

FOLLOW THE JOURNEY OF A CHARACTER:

This is one of the most used conventions of the drama genre as the
audience are typically exposed to the development of one character. We
decided to follow this convention as we were inspired by Gone Girl (2014)
which follows the journey of an emotionally disturbed female protagonist.
Using this film as an inspiration meant that we were able to draw some
from the characteristics of Amy Dunne to include within Eve, making it
easier for the audience to follow her individual journey. We decided to
follow this convention because we only had five minutes to tell our
audience the narrative and therefore, it is easier to depict the journey of
one character as opposed to several at once. To add, this provided us with
the opportunity to delve deeper into the struggles of Eves character and
incorporate another aspect of the drama genre. Although we had a total of
four characters, we achieved this by ensuring that the audience were
exposed to Eves character the most and even allowing them to see her at
her lowest, in a place that is supposed to be associated with comfort, her
bedroom. Using this particular convention enables the audience to see
whether her emotional state worsens or gradually gets better whilst
feeling connected to her character.

INNER/OUTER CONFLICT CAUSING THE MAIN CHARACTER TO

STRUGGLE:

It is apparent that the main character struggles due to the conflict

between what she aspires to be and what she currently is. Her struggles
begin to dictate her life and actions which is why the audience witness her
downfall occur at the very end. Therefore we have used this convention,
but it can be argued that we have also developed this convention as she is
 Chloe Lashley

not the only character that suffers within our production due to inner and
outer conflict. Damion has an inner conflict as what he does and what his
mind is telling him to do are on two different sides of the spectrum. This is
shown in the bathroom scene when Damion is staring at his reflection and
his hands take control of his face. The struggles of both Damion and Eve
can be seen as they walk towards each other in the park; it can be said
that they are doubles as Damion externalises the erratic state of Eve.
Therefore, we used and developed this convention.

The conventions of the use of climaxes to keep the audience

emotionally attached as well as a sense of realisation at the end
were not heavily applied to our production. These can be linked as there is
a mild climax towards the end as the protagonist appears to take the pills
before a sense of realisation occurs and she realises that her life is worth
living. We decided not to have such a dramatic realisation at the end
because we wanted to incorporate elements of the thriller genre and allow
some mystery into the narrative.

As a group, we decided to reject the main convention of having a battle

between the protagonist and antagonist simply because we wanted to use
the convention from the drama genre regarding following the journey of a
single character. Not all of the conventions of the thriller genre were
appropriate for our production which can be considered as more of a
drama.

A SENSE OF ENIGMA:

From the very beginning, the audience are exposed to an enigma. Our
production opens with an over the shoulder shot of the protagonist who
has her hood up, so immediately questions surrounding who she is are
raised. This over the shoulder shot is repeated throughout our production
as the audience are never introduced to the real Eve. This is ironic as this
shot allows the audience to follow a character that they never get the
 Chloe Lashley

chance to really understand. The biggest mystery that is not answered is

the condition that the protagonist suffers from. This allows the audience to
develop their own interpretations based on what we choose to expose
them to.

Replica ends with a cliffhanger as the audience are left not knowing how
her story ends. Does she jump? Does she find peace within herself? All of
these mysteries allowed us to develop our narrative as well as this
particular convention.

LOW KEY LIGHTING:

In the Thriller genre, low key lighting is used to create a chilling

atmosphere for the audience to endure. We challenged this convention
because as we filmed, we used over exposed lighting in order to ensure
that the characters were visible. The only scene that can be considered as
having low key lighting is the final one, this is because it takes place
outside. Throughout our production, dull colours can be seen over the
footage; this was added as part of the post-production. As the editor, I
changed the colour of the clips to create a dark, thrilling atmosphere.
Therefore, we challenged as well as developed this convention as thriller
films such as the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) maintain low-key
lighting throughout.

TENSE MUSIC:

Tense music was not used throughout. It was incorporated in Damions

scene to heighten the onscreen action. The tense music was sourced from
YouTube and was used to create a thrilling atmosphere for our audience to
endure. As it was used for this purpose, it complements the convention of
keeping the audience members on the edge of their seats.

PLEASING OUR AUDIENCE We tried our best to please our audience by

allowing them to formulate their own opinions on our characters. Many
aspects of our production are open to individual interpretations and can
be considered as ambiguous. For example, the cliffhanger enables them to
create their own ending for Eve, whether it is happy or sad.