Question 1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions

of real media products?

The title of the filmThe title of the movie is displayed straight after our ident; this is because we wanted to start to tell the audience what type of genre the movie is. The title we made was made from a metal texture which symbolises action and I also used a blue lens flare. The colour blue is shown in action movies the most. We also included the director’s name which is shown in some professional movies therefore we decided to do the same. Also when the audience sees “A Vinay Bhudia Film” they will know that this is the opening of the film.

Setting/locationAs a group we decided we want to make the movie look as professional as possible therefore we picked famous locations which our target audience know and which they can relate to. Therefore we decided to shoot our movie in Central London, near the river Thames, we used an establishing shot to show this. We also have shots of our protagonist walking down the St Pauls Cathedral stairs. We decided to choice this location because in the voice over the protagonist explains how he was court marshalled in America. Therefore we needed to find a location which looked like an American court, so the initial idea was to go to Trafalgar Square and use those stairs however when we were walking towards Trafalgar Square we walked past St Pauls Cathedral and as a director I thought it would e better to shoot the scene there rather than Trafalgar square. All these locations are well known and when our audience watches the movie they will be interested as they are seeing scenery that they have seen in person. Also our American audience that haven’t visited London before will only know some locations which is Tower Bridge, London Eye, Big Ben and St Pauls cathedral. So by filming at these locations our American audience will also be interested in watching the film.

Costumes and propsAs a director I wanted the costume to be fairly simple but stylish. The reason for this is because is the characters over dress then the movie looks staged however if they wear normal and everyday clothing then it looks natural. There I made the protagonist wear a casual shirt with black jeans and casual boots: I made the antagonist wear dull suits so that they blend in with the crowd. Also CIA agents wear suits therefore we made the antagonist wear suits to make it look realistic. The Movie is called Dog Tag and through the opening scene the protagonist is holding a Dog Tag this is so the audience know that the protagonist was in the army. These types of costumes appeal of the target audience because everyone wants to be the hero (protagonist) and if the protagonist wears clothing that the audience wears then the audience can relate themselves to the protagonist. We done a survey of what type of costume and pros do you expect to see in an action movie and our target audience said suits, guns, and more therefore we included suits and we didn’t include guns because we shot our scenes in central London and it would be dangerous to be seen with guns therefore we did not use them.

Camerawork and editingThere are more shots in an action movie compared to a comedy. Therefore as the director of cinematography I felt as if there should be lots of shots so that when I edit the movie I can include fast pace editing. One type of shot we used that appears in most action movies was the pan shot. I walked across the road and attached the zoom lens, zoomed onto the character and then as he ran I panned across. The reason why this shot is really effective in a chase scene is because when the camera is zoomed in the background is a zoom in section and as the character runs the background becomes really blurry and the character in focus therefore it looks as if the character is running really fast. Also another creative shot was when the protagonist jumped over me and the camera moved with him. This was made up of two shots and then edited to be one shot. This shot is not part of the camera types however I felt as if it was a creative shot therefore I used it. Fast pace editing was used during the chase scene and also the audience get distracted is something in the frame is weird therefore I masked out certain things such as birds and people to the main focus is the characters in the movie.

Title font and styleThe font used was Tahoma was used because it looked the most professional but a stylish bold font. This font fits out genre because it is a bold font and through editing I made it look 3D to give it a bulky look because the target audience is 15 – 25 males. A males like big bulky things compared to females. The way the titles appear goes with the movie as the characters are running the titles fly in and then slow down so that the audience can read the names. This follows the conventions of an action movie because most action movie credits are edited in a unique way for example fast and furious 6 use text that fly’s in however others may shatter the text. In comedy movies the text is either animated or bubbly or it is simply just a fade in and fade out this is because the comedy movies have a different mood compared to a fast moving action movie.

Story and how the opening sets it upThe opening is set up calmly, all the shots until 40 seconds are the protagonist explaining what has happened and therefore it made sense to make the protagonist sit on a bench and reflect on his life and the voiceover looks like the protagonist is talking to himself in his head. After the voiceover finishes the antagonist begins to chase the protagonist. This is when it becomes tense because the protagonist is trying not to get caught. Later on to keep the audience interested we include a scene where the antagonist catches the protagonist this will make the audience feel sorry for the protagonist however when his begins to fight back the audience will begin to enjoy the movie more. Then as a director I wanted to confuse the audience before the opening ends so that they watch the whole movie. This twist is shown towards the end when the protagonist feels something strange happening to him and collapsing however when he falls the last thing he sees is the antagonist walking towards him.

Genre and how the opening sets it upIn terms of the genre its and action genre and this is displayed throughout the movie. The establishing shot includes text “LONDON” which is shown like a binary code. This is the first thing the audience will notice. After the protagonist is talking about fighting and killing which also tells the audience that it is an action genre. The protagonist is hold a dog tag which shows that he was in the army therefore he has skills that certain people don’t have. The antagonists are wearing suits which symbolises police, secret service and more. Also the mood is shown through the music; the music starts of with chords then slowly starts to become more dramatic. The music in the film sets the mood and genre of the film for example if our film had happy music the audience may think that the movie is a comedy however we have included dramatic music which tells the audience that the movie is an action movie. We also did a survey and we asked people what they expect to see in an action genre the one thing that was mentioned the most was “fights” so we included a fight scene towards the end which also shows action.

How characters are introducedThe protagonist is shown as an innocent, strong but hopeless character. The antagonists are shown as evil and heartless characters. The protagonist is shown sitting on a bench alone and the antagonist is shown walking trying to find something however their faces aren’t shown till the chase begins. One reason why the movie might appeal to a large audience is because people don’t know what happens in the military and CIA therefore movies like this show what happened. The movie shows things the news doesn’t show and therefore more people want to see what politics happens. People also enjoy watching the law losing because nobody likes cops or the law so when they get taken down the audience enjoys it.

Special effectsWe included colour grading and we also made the dimensions from 1920 x 1080 to 1920 to 816 this is the standard widescreen size therefore we followed this convention. In terms of colour grading I added a teal and orange look so that the movie looks more of an action genre. Through research I found that most action movies include the teal and orange look because it is the most appealing look. Therefore we added this look to make our movie look professional. Things like depth of field is used in all movies which we have used and we also used a vignette to make the audience focus on the movie. I also added a CCTV effect to make the movie look realistic.