Media Studies A2 Evaluation

Jack Young

How does your media product use, develop and challenge

forms and conventions of real media conventions of real

media products?

‘Bail’

• ‘Bail’ is the short film that my group decided to make. It follows the stories of 3 young offenders; Nabs, Ash and Delroy, what they have done to end up where they are, and their opinions regarding what they have done. It is a part of the Social Drama genre.

Narrative• It could be argued that my short film ‘Bail’ follows

Todorov’s narrative theory which suggests that there are different stages of equilibrium in all texts with a narrative, and there are different character archetypes.

• For example, in relation to ‘Bail’, there is equilibrium evident at the beginning where the characters aren’t committing any crimes, or anti-social behaviour. This is then disrupted when each character reveals how they were arrested in the form of flashbacks. This disruption is shown through quick editing with simple cuts as transitions and fast paced rock music in the background, suggesting

• There are 5 characters in ‘Bail’ all of which are individual and have their own label. For instance, Nabs would be labelled a Villain, however, the other characters cannot be labelled by Propp’s theory, therefore ‘Bail’ conforms to Propp’s theory of narrative, but not the idea of character archetypes.

Poster• I believe that my poster conforms to

the forms and conventions of many film posters. For instance, the character in the middle (Delroy) takes up most of the frame, giving the audience an idea of the main character in the film.

• Another convention that my poster conforms to is the idea of a bold clear title that not only informs the audience of the films title, but also informs the audience briefly of what happens during the film.

• Another thing I have done to conform to forms and conventions of film posters is to include film reviews at the bottom of the page, that will influence people to watch the film under the belief that the film will match the reviews on the poster.

Double Page Spread

I changed my double page spread production piece several times as I believed there were no forms and conventions being conformed to/challenged, therefore it wasn’t an accurate representation of a double page spread article in a magazine. I specifically tried to make a quotation from the article stand out from the article itself, giving the audience an idea of what the article is about. Also I tried to conform to the usage of a large first letter of an article, which is used commonly in most forms of articles. Also, I used columns to separate the text in order to make it appear more tidy to read, and more interesting from a first glance. Furthermore, I used a clear masthead title and separated colours to provide a twist on the title on the film drawing the audience into wanting to read the article.

Finished Ancillary Texts

Overall, I am pleased with the end result both of my ancillary texts as I believe they both look professional, and are similar to possible double page spread articles published in real magazines. However, If given the opportunity to change my poster, I would take more photographs in order to have a greater selection to choose from. Also, I would attempt to place text around the photograph, as this conforms to the forms and conventions of existing film posters.

Film - Editing

I’ve conformed to the forms and conventions of existing media texts through film editing as well. This has been achieved through the usage of both text over the video displaying the name of the actors in the film, which is a common technique used in many films. Also, in order to portray a flashback scene, we have used both music and a monologue in unison to reflect a retrospective tone throughout the flashback.

Film - Titles

It was a deliberate decision to place the titles in different places, this way, our film doesn’t conform to some of the regular forms and conventions featured in films of the same genre, such as titles as they are all in different places, when usually films feature titles in the same place to provide continuity.

Film – Mise en Scene

Mise en Scene – continued• The circled items are ways that ‘Bail’ conforms

to forms and conventions of existing media products, in the way that all of the characters are concealing themselves in a form of way.

• This suggests that the characters are anti-social to the eye as they are attired in hoodies, implying they are villainous in one way or another.

• When making ‘Bail’ it was intended to portray these stereotypes to the audience as it conforms to the forms and conventions of the Social Drama genre, therefore enhancing the realism of the production.

Ashes dominance towards Delroy

Throughout ‘Bail’ it was the groups intention to portray Delroy as the week character, therefore showing Ash and Nabs bullying him to assert this power. However, the power was also portrayed through certain camera angles, such as placing him in the middle of the scene in the top left screen shot to show he is inferior to Ash and Nabs. I think this is relatively uniform of films from the social drama genre, for instance in KiDULTHOOD and AdULTHOOD, characters are seen being bullied by others to portray their lower status in the social hierarchy, but also their naivety presented in their character.

Setting the Scene

Setting the Scene continued• In all of the screen shots from the previous slide, the

scene of the film is being set through an establishing shot. For instance, during the scene where the MS-2 Scene is robbed, Ash and Delroy are seen quickly walking down a flight of stairs. This suggests an urgency about what they are going to do, and this is portrayed through quick cutting. Whereas in Ali’s flashback scene, the establishing shot is a low angle one, to build up tension in the scene and to suggest that something significant is going to happen. The music in the background reinforces this, as the intro to the song creates tension, and then the drums slowly build up to the point of impact. However, during one of the opening shots to the film, the shot that films the police station is effective as the camera is filming through a fence, giving the audience an idea a sense of imprisonment, an underlying theme throughout the film.

Challenging Forms and Conventions

The use of these black screens with white text are to portray the outcomes of each characters crimes. The reason the outcome itself isn’t shown is to challenge forms and conventions of existing social drama films. For instance, in AdULTHOOD and KiDULTHOOD, this form of behaviour would be portrayed in a stark fashion, however, I believe that if the violence isn’t seen, it is more powerful, as it leaves the audience imagining what happens rather than seeing it first hand. This is a theme explored in Batman The Dark Knight, in the scene where The Joker explains how he got his scars. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5rDVIUC9z4

Characters

It could be argued that ‘Bail’ conforms to Vladimir Propp’s theory which stated that there are different character archetypes. For instance, in the above screen shots, from left to right, the characters each have their own category.

For example; All of the characters in the first screenshot could be classed as villains, yet the character on the far right, Nabs would be regarded as the worst villain as he is presented to appear higher on the social hierarchy than Ash, far left or Delroy, centre. Therefore it could be said that ‘Bail’ challenges Propp’s character archetype theory, as the theory doesn’t contain main villain and alternative villain roles, roles that appear in ‘Bail’ through the characters Nabs, Ash and Delroy.

Ash’s flashback scene• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmA

aYYwIBOs @1:23.

• In this scene, Ash documents how he and Delroy got arrested, via robbing a corner shop.

• When filming and editing the scene, it was planned that there would be a monologue over the top of the film itself, in order to help explain what is happening during the scene, and why Ash has done what he has.

Nab’s flashback scene

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmAaYYwIBOs @3:57

• In Nab’s flashback, the same technique of placing monologue over film in order to create retrospect is also used.

• However, Nab’s flashback music is a lot more lyrical in comparison to Ash’s, and has a far shorter intro. This is done to reinforce Nab’s aggressive nature and enhance that the scene is key in explaining the events of the film.