In what ways does your media product use,

develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Jessica Milverton - Advanced Portfolio Media Evaluation

Early Research..• The best way to research into the conventions and

expectations of short films I found was to watch as many as I could; I did this by using the video platform site: YouTube, I found this site highly relevant to me because it shows a vast range of short films including those created by students, amateurs and professionals.

Early Research..• By watching a range of different levels of short films I

understood what sort of quality I was expected to produce and I was able to see the difference between each level; I believe that this made my short film better as I had already recognised the flaws that other student short films had made before me such as being too ambitious with the equipment or trying to tell too complex a story in a short time.

Early Research..• The typical conventions of successful short films I found

were that they were typically no longer than five minutes in length, featured no more than two main characters and although they had a simple plot many carried an important message to be communicated to the audience.

Early Research..• Short films are typically created for advertising or

entertainment and the professional companies that create them are usually independents and the films themselves only appeal to a niche audience. Short films are typically live action or animation and fall into the genre of drama; the events shown in the films are set in everyday situation so that the audience find it easy to relate and are typically realistic, many can fall into the genre of social realism.

Early Research..

• Short films tend to have a twist in their plot as it makes them more appealing and rewarding to watch; sometimes some of the story is kept back to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.

Early Research..

• Equipment is usually quite basic such is usually only a single camera is used (due to small budgets) and there is not CGI. Often a voice over or narration is used in a short film to catch an audience up to speed, it is used like a prologue of a book or a preface of a play.

What I have done..

• After watching and analysing many short films I decided to create a film in the genre of drama as this is what I found to be successful when watching other short films.

• Many of the successful short films I watched had very simple locations and the producers obviously knew a lot about the subject that there short film was on – so I decided this was how I was going to make my short film and as a result I made a list of topics that I was familiar about and that were close to my heart.

Sound and Music..

• There was minimal speech in my short film – I decided to do this as I wanted my short film to offer support to anyone in the same sort of situation as my character so by making it very generic and ambiguous it meant that my audience could relate to the film more and were able to adapt it to there own situation.

• Short films typically don’t have a soundtrack or a score due to there nature and budget so when I wrote my script I keep this in mind but due to the fact that my short film had no dialogue I knew that the music and diegetic and non-diegetic sound I had in my short film would be very important; I got my music from website called http://www.beatpick.com/ that offers un-copyrighted music to use in films, I found this site after using the search engine Google.

Sound and Music..• In my short film I used two types of music – the majority of

the film is backed by sad acoustic guitar music and the final scene is back by more upbeat piano and strings music.

• I use both pieces of music to represent emotions that I want my audience to feel and the emotions that my character is feeling.

• The acoustic guitar communicates ideologies of sadness and because there is repetition of a lot of the same chords the music has connotations of hopelessness which is what a victim of bullying stereotypically feels; this contrasts with the music I have included in my final scene which is much more upbeat and happy offering hope to my audience.

Sound and Music..

• In most short films music is not seen as important, I have challenged this stereotype as I disagree with it. I believe that music can manipulate an audience’s feeling just as much as the visuals, sometimes more effectively as music has the ability to affect the audience subconsciously.

• I believe that the use of music has made my short film much more effective that some of the short films, specifically bully films that I have seen.

Camera work..• When filming I decided not to do anything to complex with

the camera as this is one of the biggest flaws that I have seen in student films. Instead I decided to use a range of shots and angles to make it interesting for the audience. I realised that the most important part of the visuals came from what you did in the edit.

• In my opening scene however I have used camera movement to represent time passing, this was also only partly represented by the camera work because I used a wipe effect in the editing process.

• My short film is mostly made up of mid shots and close up I made this decision as it shows much more emotion from the actor and it gets the audience more engaged and involved. This is typical of the genre that I decided to do and this is found effective in most of the short films I watched so I followed this convention religiously.

Camera work..• Throughout my short film I have avoided using long shot and

have used no establishing shots this is because I feel that I would have taken the attention away from the plot and what the character was going through and the audience would have concentrated on the location of the film.

• Throughout my piece the camera work is average speed with the exception of the section where the victim is getting bullied, this is because I wanted to create tension for the audience and create worry; I think that this was effective as it was realistic and relatable.

• Whilst editing this short film I have been quickly educated in the importance of capturing a lot of footage when you shoot a scene as I needed to re-shoot some footage for the scene where the victim is hit in the hallway by the bully and I had to remove a scene as I didn’t use enough camera angles or shots so it made it an impersonal and ineffective scene.

Lighting..

• In most of the short film I have seen there seems to be only a use of ambient lighting this is due to the budget of short films and the nature of their agendas and ideologies that they are communicated.

• Due to my location it wasn’t possible to use any light other than natural apart from in the bedroom scene where I used a blue filter to give an impression of night. I don’t feel that this affected the quality of my short film in anyway as lighting doesn’t seem to be very important in short films unless it falls into the genre of film noir, horror or thriller.

Mis en Scene..

• The Mis en Scene was very important in establishing the setting of my short film. The costumes we used were clearly school uniforms and the location was obviously a school.

• I was careful not to focus on which school that the events were occurring in and therefore I decided not to show a shot of the front of the school because I wanted to make it as ambiguous as possible so anyone could relate to it.

• The glasses that the main character wears also plays a very important part in the plot as it is the only thing that distinguished him from the bullies and other student at the school, this was intentional as it shows up bullies and the petty reasons they target the people they do – because of this and the opinions that this would draw from the audience it discourages appearance bullying on a small scale.

Editing…

• I found that there was a lot of work to do in the editing stage due to the nature of the piece I created. Most of my edits are invisible edits because I didn’t want to distract the audience with strange transitions and I believe that because invisible editing is a convention of short films it has made my short film look much more professional. However I had to use a dip to colour in my editing sequence to represent the passing of time between each clip.

• I converted the parts where my protagonist is getting bullied into black and white for several reasons it communicates the emotions that my protagonist is feeling and it also represents that these are thoughts that are going around the protagonist’s mind and are not actually happening.

• I am also pleased with my opening sequence particularly the wipes as I believe it adds contrast to my short film and it makes it seem more advanced because I have included this feature.

Conventions I have followed..

• I use a large range of shots but I don’t use complex camera angles and movements.

• My short film only lasts 2.12 which complies with the typical conventions of a short film.

• I have used only one main character.• I stuck to the genre of drama and create my film using live action.• I set my film in an everyday environment and it is about any everyday problem.• My short film is relatable and realistic.• It offers a slight solution to the problem my protagonist is facing.• I included basic titles and credits.• My short film only featured 1 main character and 3 secondary (undeveloped

characters) and a few extras.• There is one protagonist throughout the whole plot.• I have also use a twist in my short film.

Conventions I have developed..

• Short films sometimes have music included in there duration but it is typically not seen as that important and there is rarely a soundtrack or a score.

• I have developed this convention in my short film as my personal opinion is that music is very important in almost any film and it can play as much of a part telling a story as well as the visuals can. Therefore there is no dialogue in my short film but I still communicate the emotions of the protagonist to the audience through music.

Conventions I have challenged..

• In development to my conformation to the convention of having a twist in my short film I have also challenged the typical convention I found in most of the short films tackling bullying as in most films about bullying the typical plot line seems to follow a victim throughout the day and ends in the victim then committing suicide to create thought with the audience and highlights the possible consequences of bullying someone - although this is a perfectly good storyline I think that it has become expected at the end of short films tackling the issue of bulling and no longer has the shock factor that it is tending to have so I decided that I wanted to create something different.

• As a result of challenging this convention I believe that my short film offers support to everyone that is bullied and shows that there is an alternative to what the other films shows. By not incorporating the theme of suicide it has also widened my audience because it is kept relatively light hearted, an easy watch so it is watched for entertainment as well as social interaction, information and personal identity (Blumler and Katz Uses and Gratifications Theory)

Was your production an effective piece?

• There are obviously several flaws in my short film such as parts of the diegetic sound is sketchy and if I had more time I would set up another shoot to recapture some of the sound.

• However overall I believe that my piece is an effective piece as it communicates all the ideologies that I had when I started planning my piece such as, the fact that bullying is wrong but sometime you can help yourself. I also think that it is effective because it provokes thought from the audience which is the case with most successful short films whether the audience takes the dominant, negotiated or oppositional reading (Audience Reception theory).

• I think that the camera, sound, music and mis en scene as well as the research and planning were all of a relatively high quality making it technically effective too. Due to the large amount of research I conducted and the careful planning that went on my short film has turned out a successful piece as I learnt from other people mistakes.