Our media product both challenges conventions and develops them of a real media product.

The editing firstly is to some extent a typical form of a musical which other films have also structured to be like, this is because of the range of quick cuts that have been edited throughout the opening sequence which work with the beat and pace of the song and can have an affect on the audience, this can work well for the final product when the audience watch it. Although the cuts are not done at a super fast pace which you may see in action films. There is also a range of mid to long shots and close ups to give a variety in the opening sequence meanwhile the camera also follows the protagonists throughout and the variation in camera shots and angles allow to make a match on action (Example to the right)From a high angle close to mid shot then cutting to a low angle close up.

In our opening sequence to have it based on a talent show opens opportunities for different talents to be shown e.g. instruments performed from characters and a competitive relationship to form between some is a typical convention of the musical genre but it does have a similar story to Hairspray, this is because they both follow through the protagonists morning routine and end the opening sequence entering the school, leading to the establishing shot beginning the full film. I also noticed that this musical and the likes of Grease are based on a group/particular member in Highschool, singing and dancing through there experiences, suiting the tone of song to the mood of the situation and hope the audience could relate. We would of hoped to of done this in our film using a cast from a working class background (which we did) and with time got the more musical singing/dancing aspect included but this didn’t go to plan, developing this convention of teenage girls being appealed to musicals that are based on teenagers in school like the groups product. Including working class students is a typical convention with the costume and setting representing this particular social class and most likely the background a lot of the audience come from, so they have some relation to the characters.

On the other hand my media product challenges other media products because my opening sequence does not present any heterosexual relationships that are typically included as a story line within its self but focuses purely on one character (Harmony) and her friendships; may these of been the few characters introduced in the opening sequence?

The font challenges forms and conventions of other media products because typically the editors design a font that makes the title of the film stand out and represent the era it was set e.g. colours depending on the style of characters etc, possibly also when seeing the font in other places brings back thoughts of that particular musical. An example of this is ‘Grease’, the colours connote a sense of class, this can be suggested to be from the characters by the mise en scene such as costume or the actions and activities the characters get up to that make them come across classy towards the audience. The way the title is designed to be structured into a shape of a car suggests that these vehicles will be involved within the musical.

However our font is much more simple and white not very memorable unfortunately with no bold letters or curved edges but hopefully our opening sequence such as the song would make up for that. I think the simplicity from the title leaves a lot of mystery for the audience, usually the colours or way the font is gives a positive or negative feel to the story but not using much colour can also be a good thing as bright colours such as pink may make it look quite tacky or seem more like a girly film, although our target audience is girls we wouldn’t want to completely stop this from being unappealing towards boys.

A Non diegetic soundtrack develops this idea that is typically thought of musicals to be happy and upbeat, and therefore conforms it. If you have seen the opening of musicals such as Grease or Hairspray, there tune has an instrument that begins the first few beats of the song which then becomes a representative for the musical and something if the audience listened to would think of that specific musical. The song we have chosen has this positive feeling about it as soon as it begins to be played in the opening sequence, however it also challenges previous media products due to the fact the main protagonist Harmony is not singing it herself, but this is because of technological difficulties and access to the technology which made it not possible, and if it was it would take quite a big block of time for our final product.