Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

The task that we had been set for our UNIT G324 Advance Portfolio was to produce a short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which will be live action, together with two of the following three options:

A poster for the film; A radio trailer for the film; A film magazine review page featuring the film;

Our group and I had settled together by thinking about multiple ideas such as action, comedy, and thriller but we eventually chose a drama in the end. The narrative of our short film was that a disabled wheelchair user would go through his normal day to day life, while the audience watches his struggles as a wheelchair user and reminisces about his past, where he has a car accident and becomes ‘Broken’.

Setting/Location

The setting of our production was Daniels house which he would wake up to deserted and unclean. Other locations included a GP, train station and public roads. This was to emphasize on Daniels struggles and how his disability impacted his daily life, such as the only call he gets are from his doctor and is constantly neglected by the public.We had followed the general codes and conventions of the drama genre and used these locations so it created better verisimilitude, so that the audience could recognize what was going on.

Costumes & Props

We ensured that the costumes we used throughout suited the stereotypical conventions that came with our genre. Such as the doctor wearing a suit and white coat appearing to look smart and ‘typically doctor-like’. We also used a brown bottle to make it look like medicine that was supposed to help Daniel with his pain as normally disabled people took medication.We used a wheelchair to clearly point out to the audience that he was handicapped and again to create verisimilitude and to allow the audience to sympathize with Daniel.

Editing

Editing played a huge role during the production of our short film i.e. allowing the tension to build up using slow-paced editing or in opposition with fast paced editing seen during the flashback of Daniels accident. Also by using colour correction on the flashback scene, it allowed the audience to recognize that it was a flashback of Daniels past.

Conclusion

To conclude, I am extremely pleased with our final production. I believe it holds the typical codes and conventions od a drama and has a general storyline to match up to the standards.