Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
When researching and planning for our 5 minute short film we discovered our best interests were in action and thriller. One of the key reasons we felt this genre was appropriate for us was the ability to conform to their codes and conventions both through narrative and through the use of digital technologies to provide a real media product. One key example of our project adhering to the convention of the action genre is the location or setting that the scenes are based in.
Location
In the above images, we can identify that the scene has been based in an urban, yet neglected area. The idea behind this is that it is able to conform to both that of an urban environment for action and still be able to build sufficient tension within the scene. This is done using the alley way and the lack of movement and population present. Not only does this provide the audience with an amplified amount of tension, but also develops this inferior aspect to our main protagonist.
Another setting we used to conform to the conventions of action was directed in the car chase. This location is less urban but provided a suitable location for filming, in addition to a location for having a car chase. In larger budget films you would expect to see urban car chases, but within short films or lower budget films often action packed scenes are located in the studio or in more remote areas. One example we reflected on when designing our production is the film “The Sweeney.”
Mise-En-Scene
One area where we both conformed and challenged conventions was the use of mise-en-scene and how it was conveyed. In our film, items such as the bag full of the money is never shown on screen. Not only was this done as a result of not being able to realistically reflect that with verisimilitude, but also because it builds a rise in suspense for the audience. Often larger budget films will seclude the audience from the details of a story and withhold important elements to provide a bigger, more satisfying enigma resolution. One example of this is the film 'Taken', where Jason Statham’s character does not reveal the ‘package’ until almost half way in to the film.
Narrative
Another obvious element we included in to our production was the car chase scene. The vehicle selection was quite thoroughly thought out and the relevance of each vehicle plays a strong part in the story. Adhering to conventions, our protagonist, a lower class character is reflected through his older 2004 Vauxhall Astra. This vehicle was chosen as it is one of the most popular vehicles from 2004 to 2009 and is a basic vehicle. In addition to that its popularity mean we were able to easily source another when we had green screening in production as our original vehicle owner was unable to attend.
The Audi A6 on the other hand is used to reflect this ideology of a wealthier, drug money run businesses man. The car is used not just to create an element of juxtaposition, but to represent each individual character. The Audi compared to the Astra is far superior in the same manor to that of the characters, portraying the characters strengths and backgrounds. This idea is used in many action sequences of both full and short action films. Some examples are 'Transporter', the 'Jason Bourne' films and 'The Sweeney'.