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

Chris Eldridge

What conventions does Lucid attempt to follow?

Our short film attempted to fit into two categories of conventions.

The two sets of conventions are; the conventions of short film & the conventions of dream sequences.

Although many argue short film as a genre, I do not agree to this based upon my research by watching many different types of short film such as Vincent (Burton, 1982) and Magnetic (Rabbath, 2012).

As a result, I argue that there are few things that dictate what is a short film rather than length (usually 3-10 minutes).

Short films can be any genre and I Lucid does not attempt to fit into any specific one, its rather a psychological reflection on the concept of dreaming, it is quite postmodernist in this way.

What are the conventions of Short Films?

However, there are a few common elements I have noticed throughout my research into short films which could be called conventions.

One convention is having few main characters, this is mostly due to the short length of the film but it is still a common element worth noting.

Another convention is a relatable everyday situation, however this often has a twist to it, for example in Magnetic where the boy experiences rejection which is relatable but then uses the magnetic wristband to try and attract the girl which is the un-relatable twist.

Another convention is plot twists. Although these do not appear throughout every short film, they are fairly common to keep the short narrative interesting.

Another commonly seen element is the use of narration or a voiceover, this can be seen within Vincent with the voice of Vincent Price narrating in rhyme.

What are the conventions of dream sequences?

When I say dream sequences, I also include products about the concept of dreaming.

Dream sequences are often very slow paced and ‘hazy’ and can combine scenes of past, present and expectations of the future. This convention is displayed in Vanilla Sky (Crowe, 2001), especially in the final sequence.

When a character enters a dream sequence, we often see scenes of them going to bed or being knocked unconscious which is also backed up by visual effects to display to the audience that they are in a dream, such as tints and a ripple effect transition, however sometimes a simple fade to black is used.

Ways in which Lucid uses conventions of real media products

The pace of editing of Lucid is quite slow and consistent, this is a convention that you would expect to see throughout many real media texts.

Inconsistent and fast paced editing is a convention usually observed throughout action scenes which Lucid does not contain so therefore we follow the convention.

The slow pace of editing helps give Lucid a very everyday feel and makes it relatable to the viewer.

This also helps Lucid to fit into the dream sequence conventions.

Ways in which Lucid uses conventions of real media products

We included the bunny to link each of the different ages of Will together so that the viewer knew that they were the same person and also to represent the concept of dreaming because teddy bears/cuddly toys are something most people associate with dreaming/sleep.

An example of this is in Inception where several of the characters carry around props called “Totems” which allow them to know if they are dreaming, these are carried around throughout the film much like the bunny in Lucid.

As a result, I think that the Lucid bunny fits in very well with products about the concept of dreams, however this does not help it to fit into the Short Film genre necessarily.

Cobb’s “Totem” in Inception

The Bunny in Lucid

Ways in which Lucid uses conventions of real media products

Throughout the dream sequence we follow conventions with our use of lighting.

Stereotypically in real media texts, a dream sequence would usually be presented using high key lighting and a possible glowing effect.

We have used this convention in our own product by using very high key lighting in the dream sequence as well as a blue tint to let the audience know that it is a dream.

When the 70 year old Will sees the younger version of himself with the girl, this shows the convention of blurring past with present, this is a typical element within dream sequences.

As you can see, the lighting in the

dream sequence is both high key and

has a blue tint applied to it.

Ways in which Lucid uses conventions of real media products

Lucid sits at just over 4 minutes which means that it fits into the conventions of short film length which tends to be between 3 and 10 minutes.

Lucid conforms to the convention of having a relatable plot, this is because everyone has experienced dreaming and all of our viewer base would have been the same age as one of the characters at some point. This helps to make the film easier to identify with and allows audiences to sympathise with Will more easily.

Lucid also contains a small plot twist at the final sequence which leads to a happy ending, this can influence audiences emotions and prove successful.

Ways in which Lucid develops conventions of real media products

One way that Lucid develops conventions is by the use of multiple ages of the same character.

Conventionally in a short film, there would be few main characters, in Lucid we do not break this convention as technically there are only two main characters; Will and his girlfriend, however we develop this convention by having lots of different ages of the same character.

This develops the convention of short films having few main characters

Ways in which Lucid develops conventions of real media products

Our voiceover develops conventions of short films. It is common for short films as ours to have a

voiceover, however the content of the voiceover is usually different.

Conventionally, voiceovers are used to explain the story by literally saying what is happening (i.e. Narration in Vincent).

Ours is also used to explain the story but it does this in a different way, by explaining the concept of dreaming which helps to explain to the viewer how Will dreams the future version of himself being lonely.

We enter this world of life, a human being with the ability.... – Lucid 2014

Ways in which Lucid develops conventions of real media products

It is quite common for a short film such as ours to finish with a happy ending.

We have developed this convention by ending on a happy ending but having the viewer not really sure whether it is actually happening or is in the dream.

This development of the convention helps us to reinforce our original message of ‘Is life a dream?’.

Ways in which Lucid breaks conventions of real media products

Many short films use a single actor to portray the main character or protagonist.

This helps to build up familiarity between the audience and the character.

In Lucid, we use 6 actors to portray Will at different ages, this breaks convention because it is very unusual to see this.

This idea is not used often as it could confuse audiences, however in the case of Lucid, we use the bunny to ensure that audiences are aware that each of the 6 actors are playing Will at different ages.

Ways in which Lucid breaks conventions of real media products

Quite often, short films will have a circular narrative or a linear narrative.

Lucid breaks this convention by having a non-linear and non-circular narrative.

It could be said that Lucid has a linear narrative because the sequence with the old man is in a dream, however I would not argue that this was the case as it acts as a view into the future regardless of the fact that it is a dream.

Lucid does not follow Todorov’s Equilibrium Theory very clearly, although it could be argued that it partially does.

Ways in which Lucid breaks conventions of real media products

Conventionally, a short film would have a large amount of diegetic sound such as dialogue.

In Lucid, the only diegetic sound is the sound of the mobile at the beginning.

We chose to break this convention because we wanted our film to be led by the soundtrack and voiceover as we thought this would give it the sort of philosophical style that we were going for, whereas diegetic sound would make it quite normal and possibly boring.

Conventions of the poster

Common conventions for a short film poster are;

A picture of the main character. Lighting and colour scheme to reflect

the nature of the film. Font and layout dictated by genre. Credits. Small amounts of text with bold fonts. Simplicity. Often portrait.

Ways in which the poster uses conventions

The poster features small amounts of bold text in the form of the title, the full credits and the names of our group. For the full credits, we used a font called SF Movie Poster which is common throughout many film posters.

Lucid is also quite simple, featuring only one large image and the lighting and layout reflect the film. The lighting is quite dark which represents Will’s loneliness at the beginning and the white faded title helps to reinforce the theme of dreams.

The Lucid titles

The Dark Knight titles

Ways in which the poster develops conventions

The poster develops the convention of featuring the main character on the poster because rather than doing this it features a main prop within the film.

This is unusual but develops the convention as the Lucid bunny is very important within the film and is seen many times, similar to a main character.

As you can see, the bunny is the main feature of the poster, even being in front of the title

Ways in which the poster breaks conventions

The Lucid poster is in landscape format, which is not different from every short film poster but the majority of short film posters are in portrait.

Although the poster mentions the production studio in the titles, usually a short film poster will feature some kind of logo or emblem of their respective studio(s).

Conventions of the magazine article

A magazine article featuring a short film will often include elements such as;

Screenshots from the film. Reviews of the film. Large quotations from the article. Interviews with makers. Film logo/title. Ratings (either /10 or /5 stars) Information on the film (genre, running time

etc.)

Ways in which the magazine article uses conventions

Our magazine article features many of the conventions of a magazine article, as found out in my research of them.

The article features the Lucid title in the SF Movie Poster font, this conforms to the convention of using the film’s logo/title.

The article also features screenshots from the film which is also commonly found and can make audiences want to watch the film.

It also includes an information box with information such as cast, certificate, length and release date.

The article also includes a quote “A philosophical interpretation of the question of reality” in bold which is a very generic element of film based magazine articles.

Ways in which the magazine article develops conventions

A convention of film reviews in magazine articles are to have some sort of scoring system for example a rating out of 5 stars.

Although Lucid does have a rating out of 5 stars it is incorporated into the text rather than being a visible diagram of the stars which is commonly used.

We decided against using physical stars because they would look out of place in the article.

Ways in which the magazine article breaks conventions

The magazine does not include interviews with cast members or producers, we decided against conforming to this because we wanted the article to be entirely review based.

Also the main focus of the article is the bunny rather than the fairly small screenshots of Will in the film, this is because we wanted to create synergy between our 3 products by use of the bunny.

As you can see, the bunny features much more important than the screenshots

Conclusion

Lucid conforms to many conventions of both short films and dream sequences, however it does not have any conventions which place in a specific genre such as action scenes or comedy.

The magazine article and poster are fairly generic however the use of the bunny across them in unconventional but helps the synergy between our three products and strengthens their marketing.