Evaluation Question 1

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

My initial research included looking at the codes of conventions of short films, and how different they are to full length/feature films. Firstly, the length of a short film is usually between 3-20 minutes, but can go up to half an hour. My short film applies to this convention as it is just under 5 minutes long. The storylines of short films are simple and easy to follow, as it is a short period of time. Most short films have a moral to the story, for instance in ‘Strangers’ by Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv, the two main characters have different religions, but have to work together when conflict comes their way, showing that people are people at the end of the day. In my short film ‘Salience’, the moral of the story is to show that somebody with Schizophrenia isn’t always ‘crazy’ and ‘mad’ like most films show them to be, they are shown in a positive way through my film to create awareness of this illness. Also, short films tend to have 1-3 main characters, to allow the audience to relate to these characters in the short amount of time. This applies to my short film as I have only included 1 protagonist, as for the theme of mental illness this is important because the focus needs to be on the main character so the audience can connect with them on a deeper level. Some short films include a ‘twist’, and this twist can tell a short story in an interesting and creative way, making the audience engaged. In my short film there is a little twist, whereby the protagonist is seen to be talking to someone, a therapist, however it turns out that his so-called therapist is actually his hallucination, showing that he can cope with this illness himself and that he is a normal person able to cope with everyday life. Themes of short films are important to the audience they are aimed at, therefore as my theme is mental illness, people with mental illness would be able to relate to my film, especially as it is truthful, but also people who don’t know much about the theme would learn about it further. Short films have a very niche audience: people who watch short films are usually artistic and independent people who go out of their way to watch them. Even though a lot of people come across short films, there is a niche audience of mostly film makers and fans of independent films, usually middle class, more cultured and open-minded. My short film is aimed at these people as it is a melodramatic film with an independent feel to it, however it is also aimed at mature teenagers, which is challenging the usual short film audience. This is because mental illness is most common in teenagers going on adults, and I also think they need to be educated on the subject more. I have tried to reach out to both young adults and adults up to 50 so that this mental health stigma can be tackled in the generations. From analysing the short film ‘Hallucination’, I was able to see how Schizophrenia was looked at in a short film. My own film has some similarities to it. In this film several close-ups are used on the protagonist with Schizophrenia, making it more personal to the audience as though they are talking to us and makes us therefore sympathise with them. Close-ups are used in my short film a lot for the same reason: getting up close and more personal with the character so that the audience can sympathise with them easier. Low-key lighting is also used a lot throughout this short film, which represents the mood of how the character is feeling. This is used in my short film as well to represent the protagonist’s feelings, but also to give it a more melodramatic feel to it, creating a little tension/mystery.

Film posters are used for advertisement of the film. Firstly, they usually include main characters. Both of my two film posters include the protagonist in my film, to show that the story is about them and that they are the main focus. The title in most film posters are big, bold and noticeable, for obvious reasons, showing what the film is called and standing out to the audience. My own posters show the title clearly; however, it isn’t really bold. This is because my short film is a subtle drama and I want it to have a more independent feel, therefore not a big bold statement title as this doesn’t suit the theme of my film. In the poster for ‘A Beautiful Mind’ the colours are quite dark, to show the serious manner of the theme of the film. This is similar to my posters as they are less saturated and a little dark, to show the realism of the film and that it is a serious subject matter. The poster for the independent short film ‘To Be So Beautiful’ has a very central, symmetrical image. This looks effective, and so for my posters I have tried to make my images central and symmetrical to have the same effect. However, most posters include a slogan, including both of these posters I researched, whereby the slogans portray the protagonist in a positive light. My posters on the other hand do not include any slogans, and this is because I wanted to show my protagonist in a positive light by imagery and cinematography of the film, so that the audience can see this point themselves.

Magazine film reviews provide information about upcoming films which are about to be released. A key part of a film review is to provide the synopsis of the film in some detail, without giving away the whole film to the audience. Therefore, I have used this convention in my own review by including my film’s synopsis in small detail. The physical aspect of a magazine film review is very important as it needs to attract the audience. The title is usually bold and positioned at the top of the page, being the main focus of the article. In my own article, I have decided to include the name of the magazine and have that bold at the top of the page as I thought it looked effective, especially when edited with the line across the top of the page as well. I added ‘review’ next to this to show the page is about a film review. In the earlier stages of my project I analysed a film review for ‘Salt’, and the colour scheme in this review was very subtle and simple, quite clean looking. This made the page look very modern and professional, targeting to an adult audience. As my film is targeted for young adults and older adults, I wanted my colour scheme to be simple as well, especially as it is a melodramatic short film. Therefore, I used black, white and a light grey to give it a more professional look to it. These colours also match the pictures included in my article. Pictures are also a key convention in magazine film reviews as they hint to the theme/narrative and takes up most of the article. The images should be eye-catching as they are attracting the audience to the page. In my review, I have included a few images that show the protagonist and the colours in the pictures link well with the colour scheme of the rest of the page. Another convention of most magazine reviews is the verdict. This mentions the overall feel of the film, suggesting whether the audience should watch it or not or if it would interest them. I have included a verdict in my review in the corner to give an opinion of the film to attract the right audience to watch it. Film reviews always use a lot of interesting and intriguing words to attract the audience and talk about the film in a way that grips the audience. From researching this, I made sure I included these persuasive adjectives to attract the audience. For instance, “hard-hitting, thought-provoking, eye-opening drama.” In addition, film reviews usually mention other films that are similar to the film being reviewed to attract the audience, as if they like a film being mentioned they are probably going to like this one. I named other films in my review to have the same effect, I used ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and ‘The Soloist’ as both films give a positive representation of a protagonist with Schizophrenia.