In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Q1

Narrative was the first subject we raised when working in our group. We had to allocate a genre in which we wanted our film to fall into. With all genre there are certain stock narratives, themes, characters and settings that need to be shown throughout the film.

Our Genre

Action Thriller

Why?

Our Genre

We wanted to include a fast pace film that would have the audience on the edge of their seats in anticipation. As a group we also had a good understanding of this genre as shown on our blog. (link to genre analysis). Our research allowed us to identify different elements we should include in order to make the film work for our genre.

Textual Analysis: How I Live NowIn my textual analysis of the film

opening “How I Live Now” (2012) I focused on the development of characters to set the tone of the rest of the film and how they acted as a feature of the genre. The hostile approach felt by Daisy in the opening sets the tone of the overhanging threat that is soon to disrupt the activity of this group of youngsters. This can be seen to have an influence over the opening of our film. Ava starts the film being relaxed and enjoying herself and is met with the earth shattering news that not everything is always as it seems and that everyone can just disappear in a blink of an eye.

Our Narrative

Within the first 2 minutes of our film we establish that there is a disequilibrium where nothing is as it seems or as it should be, and this remains for the first act of the film according to Sid Field’s three-acts. During the first 20 minutes of the film (the first act) these unanswered question will continue to stack up. The narrative is driven by attempts to restore the equilibrium.

Stock CharactersAva is the only main character that we meet in the opening. She is the stereotypical teenager at the beginning of the film and is thrown into the world of the unknown. The main protagonist then seeks out help from a much larger group that also have been landed in the same situation and share the same goals. This group then attempt to succeed at a much bigger target than previously thought about, much like in I am Legend (2007). Neville is devoted to understanding the creation that has developed after a bacterial plague that has infected everyone around him. His discovery of a cure which can heal the infected is in itself saving the whole world. 

These typical teenagers are thought to have everything figured out in their lives up until they are unexpectedly thrown into a world that leads them to question the very make-up of their lives. With this they find out that not everything is as clear as they previously thought it was. This is similar to the character Nathan in Abduction (2011), who discovers that his whole childhood is built on lies and he spends the rest of the film rediscovering who he really is.

Stock Setting

The storytelling starts out in a typical house in a suburban town where everything appears normal and content. The setting then continues to distort until it develops into a world that not even the characters can recognize.

Stereotypes MetWith the beginning of the film we wanted to paint a picture of a typical teenager and, to ensure this occurred, we had to consider many of the stereotypical opinions of a 16 year old teenage girl. The stereotypes we took into account where as follows:1. Teenagers are always on their phones – she is clutching

her phone on her walk home, it wakes her up and when she realises that everyone has gone the first thing she runs for is the phone.

2. Teenagers go out and drink – she staggers home late at night

3. Teenagers are reliant on their mothers – it is the first person she calls out to when she gets in and also when she wakes up.

It was important to develop a clear layout of all the repertoire of elements for our genre so that we could ensure that we either directly linked to it or challenged it.

SETTING• Urban cities• Suburbs• Darkness• Abandoned areas

ICONOGRAPHY• Car chases• Guns and weaponry• Explosions• Deserted building• Low key lighting

CHARACTERS• Ordinary citizen pulled into

danger• Powerful villain• Supporting characters – who

journey together, resulting in one of them betraying the rest of the group.

NARRATIVE• Focus on the protagonist• Hero must overcome the

problems• Good vs evil• Violence• Fast paced action• Unexpected plot twists• Uncertainty

What we developed in our 2 minutes of film

SETTING• Urban cities• Suburbs• Darkness• Abandoned areas

ICONOGRAPHY• Car chases• Guns and weaponry• Explosions• Deserted building• Low key lighting

CHARACTERS• Ordinary citizen pulled into

danger• Powerful villain• Supporting characters – who

journey together, resulting in one of them betraying the rest of the group.

NARRATIVE• Focus on the protagonist• Hero must overcome the

problems• Good vs evil• Violence• Fast paced action• Unexpected plot twists• Uncertainty

What we developed in our 2 minutes of film

SETTING• Urban cities• Suburbs• Darkness• Abandoned areas

ICONOGRAPHY• Car chases• Guns and weaponry• Explosions• Deserted building• Low key lighting

CHARACTERS• Ordinary citizen pulled into

danger• Powerful villain• Supporting characters – who

journey together, resulting in one of them betraying the rest of the group.

NARRATIVE• Focus on the protagonist• Hero must overcome the

problems• Good vs evil• Violence• Fast paced action• Unexpected plot twists• Uncertainty

We gained the abandoned and desolated look by positioning our main character on the very left of a wide angle frame. This camera positioning was also used later to give a continuation feel of abandonment as the character developed the idea that she was all alone.

What we developed in our 2 minutes of film

SETTING• Urban cities• Suburbs• Darkness• Abandoned areas

ICONOGRAPHY• Car chases• Guns and weaponry• Explosions• Deserted building• Low key lighting

CHARACTERS• Ordinary citizen pulled into

danger• Powerful villain• Supporting characters – who

journey together, resulting in one of them betraying the rest of the group.

NARRATIVE• Focus on the protagonist• Hero must overcome the

problems• Good vs evil• Violence• Fast paced action• Unexpected plot twists• Uncertainty

We gained the abandoned and desolated look by positioning our main character on the very left of a wide angle frame. This camera positioning was also used later to give a continuation feel of abandonment as the character developed the idea that she was all alone.

Using a typical teenager we hope that the audience could relate to Ava and therefore increase their emotional attachment to the film.

What we developed in our 2 minutes of film

SETTING• Urban cities• Suburbs• Darkness• Abandoned areas

ICONOGRAPHY• Car chases• Guns and weaponry• Explosions• Deserted building• Low key lighting

CHARACTERS• Ordinary citizen pulled into

danger• Powerful villain• Supporting characters – who

journey together, resulting in one of them betraying the rest of the group.

NARRATIVE• Focus on the protagonist• Hero must overcome the

problems• Good vs evil• Violence• Fast paced action• Unexpected plot twists• Uncertainty

We gained the abandoned and desolated look by positioning our main character on the very left of a wide angle frame. This camera positioning was also used later to give a continuation feel of abandonment as the character developed the idea that she was all alone.

Using a typical teenager we hope that the audience could relate to Ava and therefore increase their emotional attachment to the film.

Ava is the only speaking character that we meet in the first 2 minutes. With this we develop the idea of her as a leader and innovative thinker; she is the first to discover that not everything is as she thought it was.

Codes and Conventions that we Challenged

Most of the successful action films are based around strong willed fully grown male protagonists, for example James Bond and The Bourne series. However, Silence in the Streets follows a small teenaged girl as she fights to defeat a powerful government.