Evaluation - Our product and real media genre conventions

Evaluate how your product used, developed or challenged the forms and conventions of real media products:

Title/Credits: 1 & 2

Font of the title fits with the conventions of a 1980s band poster – theme for all of the credit and fonts to follow the kind of font found on this kind of band concert poster

Suits the at times gritty feel of the genre, but also the dream like ambition of the band wanting to gain success – ambition and wanting to achieve something is a main feature within coming of age films

Written on garage door and brick walls – fitting with convention of backstreets and run down areas featuring in coming of age and social realism films

This is England

Name credits in block hand written styles – animation writes them out like being hand written, with an added ‘wobble’ effect, so not too static, to make credits appear asynchronous with music

These credits would also make for more complex genre representations – film insinuates a negative representation – credits however would help to add to the relief and light hearted aspects of the film to prevent this stereotyping

We originally intended to have really simple credits but these credits seem to fit better with the feel of the film being set in the 80’s, the plot of the film and the conventions of  coming of age drama – wanting to gain success (with the band in this instance)

These credits also help emphasis the juxtaposition of a solemn matter and atmosphere, to a flash back of a much happier and prosperous time

Characters: 3, 4 & 5

Characters found in coming of age films are typically teens that age coming of age themselves; therefore teenagers were used for the main characters

These characters appear to be from a working class background and this is important as their rise to fame would appear even more of an achievement as they have started on ‘the back foot’

The characters that face the problems in social realism films are typically male but we have broken the convention by making the main sufferer a female

Male characters in Stand by Me

The characters in the flash appear young and prosperous, something that is typically found in coming of age films as the aim of them is showing teenagers discovering life

However the film starts in the present day which reveals that something drastic has taken place to one of the main characters which is unusual for this genre to reveal so early on. This helps make the product interesting and attracts the audience attention.

Mise-en-scene: 3, 6, 7 & 8

Mise-en-scene is vital for our product as it is set in the 1980s

Therefore the house that ‘Jimmy’ is sitting in has 1980s decor and the props shown within the house (i.e Photo frames) were all from the 1908’s. This then created an authentic and believable atmosphere as most things appeared in place.

This creates a sense of reality and the cast of unknown actors achieves this as well as they are more believable in their roles. The casting of the characters also makes them feel like they are really from this time i.e. their hairstyles, again makes them appear authentic.

Mise-en-scene in This is England

The location for the filming outside for the news report, walking and conversation, also fitted as these outside areas are timeless and can fit into most modern decades.

The brick walls and garage door behind ‘Sam’ in the walking scenes, create a familiar back drop for social realism films fitting in with their conventions

The weather was always against us whilst we were filming but the rain on the day of the news report now actually helps to create a solemn atmosphere to match the news of Ruby’s death. This is something that some products would seek to create artificially to help create the ideal of pathetic fallacy, but our piece had it naturally. (!)

However the then needed use of an outside coast and umbrella took away from the sense of verisimilitude as they appear slightly too modern for the scene. On the other hand, having no outside coat or umbrella in this situation would have appeared completely unrealistic as it is not something that a news reporter would do.

The costume of the characters also fit in to the conventions of what would be worn in a 1980’s film to again make sure they appear to fit naturally in this decade

However the weather of the snow meant that one of the costumes planned for this scene, which contained bright colours and appeared overtly 80’s had to be covered. This was again by an overcoat, which took away from creating an 80’s atmosphere. On the other hand it also would have appeared unrealistic to have both of the characters outside in the snow with no overcoats, so the costumes had to be adapted.

Camera Work: 9, 10, 11 & 12

We used a lot of close ups to show the emotions of our characters, to allow the audience to identify the main characters and feel an early connection straight away

The coming of age genre relies heavily on the portrayal of emotion and emotional response and the close ups allowed us to show the necessary emotion. For example, we used many close ups on ‘Jimmy’ to show the depth of sadness on his face, inferring that he must be the brother of the girl who has died, showing why he is so deeply affected.

Similar use of close up in "Perks of Being a Wallflower"

A high angle at one stage is also used to show him as being vulnerable, something the characters of coming of age films often are, with this technique used to highlight it

We also used two shots to show ‘Sam’ and ‘Ruby’ together, to foreshadow the possible idea of a relationship between the main characters. Relationships are a theme that is often explored in the coming of age genre and is shown through the use of this shot.

Two shot from "Perks"

 Shot-reverse shot was also used to show ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sam’ a conversation which is something that is found in all types of film genre as the technique enables a conversation between to charters to be shown, whilst at the same being able to see the other parties facial expressions from the other characters point of view.

From the very simple close ups and mid shots in the first half of the sequence, which creates a demure atmosphere, this changes in the second where panning shots are used. This helps shows a change in time and is also a typical way of establishing the surroundings of the characters; the shots also show us that the character on screen is going somewhere as panning with the character we see he is obviously walking to a destination. It changes the pace of the sequence as well which helps create a new mood and atmosphere.

Editing: 14

Creating a new mood and atmosphere is also achieved by changing the pace of the editing. In the first half the shots are long, where as when we move into the second half, they become much shorter takes.

Cross-cutting is also used in both halves, with in the second helping to create a faster pace mood.

In the first half however the cross cutting enables the audience to see the news report and ‘Jimmy’ the brother so the audience can get a good idea of what is going on. This is a common technique to give the audience all the information they need and is also used to help create tension.

Ellipsis and Fade to black are also used at points to switch between times, the present day and flash back, as our film is a non-liner story line. The ellipse also enables the story to be moved along so we can see the conversation between ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sam’ to gain the sense of relationship.

‘Sam’ and ‘Ruby’ also gain equal screen time at this point between the walking and sitting on a bench and through shot reverse shot. This is a common way of showing how at this point they are ‘equals’ as people, something that would go on to change.

A filter is also used to change the colouring and saturation of the film to give it an older feel; this again helps create the verisimilitude feel along with the adding of logos and photographs for the news report

Sound: 15 & 16

Silence plays a major part in our sequence at the beginning as it helps to build tension and create a sensitive atmosphere.

The ambient sound helps to do this too as at times; this sound appears heightened due to the sensitivity. For example the sound of the rain can at points appear louder than it would normally to help show the state and emotions of ‘Jimmy’.

Dialogue is also essential as this, combined with a voice over, is what informs the audience of ‘Ruby’s’ death and the way in which we did this develops the forms and conventions of real media products as we chose to show this through a news report. We therefore tried to make this as authentic as possible by looking at research in detail, to make the product as verisimilitude as possible.

The sound perspective changes as well as we hear the news report as if it is coming out of a TV. This shows how it is being heard through Jimmy’s perspective, so is a way of letting the audience know he can hear it too.

The general ambient sound throughout the whole product also enables it to seem like a real media product as the hearing of natural sound makes it appear verisimilitude.

Dialogue is also used for the conversation between ‘Ruby’ and ‘Sam’ as it demonstrates how ‘Ruby’ appears to be keener on ‘Sam’ than he is on her. He is still seen to be a good person as he is willing to talk to her, however he does bring us ‘Jimmy’ at many points showing how he is loyal to his best friend.

A major sound point is where non-diegetic music starts at the flashback of the piece as this is a clear way of showing the time change but it also creates a completely different atmosphere. The product changes from something much harder hitting, to something more light hearted. This is something coming of age genres balance throughout.