1) In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and
conventions of real media products?
In the planning stage of our production we had to observe the conventions
of continuity and make sure we had a thorough understanding of what exactly it
is. Continuity is a key aspect to consider when creating a film as it helps
keep the audience on track with the story and doesn’t confuse them. If it is
not achieved, it can have a major impact on the film. In order for us to not
break continuity in our film, we made sure that we maintained continuity when
filming our production. For example, once we had finished filming a scene on
a certain day, if the character was in the scene afterwards but in the film it
was still the same day, we used the same clothing and props and setting if
necessary. We also obeyed the 180 degree rule at all times when filming
and used establishing shots of the right setting of where the following scene
would take place.
We also made sure that we maintained continuity when editing
our film. During the editing process, we placed two shots together to
create a shot reverse shot and also an eyeline match. We also used
transitional effects such as fade ins and fade outs, in which all of this stuck
to the rule of trying to maintain continuity throughout our production.
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| Shot reverse shot (see below for other shot) |
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| Second shot used in our shot reverse shot. Both of the shots also show how we managed to obey the 180 degree rule |
We also used the fade in and fade out effects when editing
our time passing sequence which appears in the middle of our production
and shows the two main characters spending time with each other and slowly
falling in love. Although the two characters are seen in different types of
clothing, the setting for the time passing sequence takes place in the same location
which was at the lake. By using the fade in and fade out effects, this showed
that time had passed yet still maintained continuity and the audience were able
to follow and understand the narrative easily. We took inspiration from films
such as Beastly and A Walk To Remember, where an assortment of different shots
are used and edited together to show the male and female character falling in
love. For example, in Beastly, several different shots are used of the male and
female character spending time with one another and shows them falling in love
with each other. This is used to create certain positive, happy emotions
amongst the audience and make them feel like they can relate to the story, as
romantic drama films often tend to do by creating realistic characters and
creating a believeable storyline. When used in our film, the time passing
sequence is used to prepare the audience for the final scenes at the end of the
film and to create a dramatic impact. This clearly diverts from the happy,
romantic scenes at the beginning and in the middle of the film and generates
mixed emotions amongst the audience as they previously saw the montage of shots
of the couple having fun together and falling in love to them both committing
suicide due to not being able to face their problems. You can see here how our
production of Tea, Coffee and Cancer is similar to Beastly in terms of the time
passing sequence.
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| Kyle and Lindy are strangers and distant from one another at the beginning in Beastly |
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| Molly and Alfie are strangers and distant from one another at the beginning in Tea, Coffee and Cancer |
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| Kyle and Lindy spending time with one another, relationship growing |
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| Molly and Alfie spending time with one another, relationship growing |
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| Kyle and Lindy are now extremely close with female wrapping arm around male |
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| Molly and Alfie are now extremely close with female wrapping arm around male |
Our media
product uses specific conventions which are typically used in romantic drama
films and we were able to gain the right knowledge and understanding of what
certain conventions to use by observing other films which share the same genre
as our film. We noticed that throughout romantic drama films, there tends to be several aspects of the film which are all very similar such as the music, where during the romantic scenes between the two characters, soft, feel good music tends to be played and during the more dramatic scenes when a problem occurs, music which has a melancholy tone is played to emphasise the drama of what is happening in the film. Other factors such as the camera angles, title sequences, props, colours used in advertising posters and text of the title of the film also contribute to what makes a successful romantic drama film.
Whilst researching other romantic drama films, we noticed that a lot of extreme close ups of the two lover's faces is often used throughout. This is to clearly emphasise to the audience both of their happy and sad expressions which sticks to the genre of romantic drama. In our production, we
decided to use extreme close ups on the character’s faces portraying both the
romance that the two protagonists have and the drama that both of the characters
are going through. You can see how the use of extreme close ups are used in the
romantic drama film, The Vow, as shown here when compared to our production of
Tea, Coffee and Cancer.
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| Paige and Leo's happy expressions showing they're in love in The Vow |
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| Molly and Alfie's happy expressions showing they're in love in Tea, Coffee and Cancer |
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| Molly's sad expression as she realises she is dying |
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| Leo's sad/confused expression when his wife doesn't recognise him |
Our film also reflects the conventions of our chosen genre in regards to the typography used for the title of our film. We decided it would be a plain,
white, simple font which we felt would contrast well against our slightly
darker background and would catch the audience’s interest immediately when
viewing the film. We also felt that it would portray the softer side to the
film which is that of the romance the two characters, Molly and Alfie, both
share and we felt that the darker background would show the dramatic aspect
side to the film and show that both of the main characters in the film have
problems, Molly has cancer and Alfie is addicted to drugs and alcohol. This
technique of using a simple white font against a darker background is also used
in many other romantic drama films such as Romeo and Juliet and Titanic, all of which begin with the romance of two main characters and end
in some sort of tragedy with one of the main characters dying or in some cases,
both of them dying.
Once we had established a plot for our film, we researched in to other types of romantic drama films
in order to gain a thorough understanding of what these types of films include
in order to stick to the genre. We observed carefully how romance is portrayed and how the audience can
see the main characters meeting, spending time with each other and eventually falling
in love as the story progresses and the romance between them begins to grow and get stronger.
Throughout the research, planning and construction of our
production, we realised that our film shares many similar aspects from the
films Romeo and Juliet and A Walk To Remember, particularly with the storylines
being quite similar. Our storyline revolves around Molly who has cancer and
Alfie who is a drug and alcohol addict, two very different people who appear to
be the antithesis of each other. However despite all of this, they begin to
fall in love with each other. However their romance is not meant to be when Molly
discovers that she is dying and decides to end her own life. When Alfie
discovers she has terminal cancer, he too cannot come to terms with this and so
he also ends his own life. Our film reflects aspects of the storyline from
Romeo and Juliet with both characters ending their own life and also with A
Walk To Remember, with the main character Jamie also having terminal cancer and
does not tell the male character Landon that she has the illness. Due to these
two films being similar to our film in terms of the storyline, we decided to
incorporate some of the elements used in both Romeo and Juliet and A Walk To
Remember. Here are some examples of how we incorporated elements from A Walk To Remember.
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| Jamie and Landon becoming close in A Walk To Remember |
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| Molly and Alfie becoming close in Tea, Coffee and Cancer |
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| Jamie and Landon holding hands |
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| Molly and Alfie holding hands |
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| Landon's reaction when discovering Jamie has terminal cancer |
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| Alfie's reaction when discovering Molly has terminal cancer |
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| Jamie slowly dying |
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| Molly slowly dying |
Throughout our production, we wanted the audience's heartstrings to be 'tugged' at and for them to
experience both the positive aspects of Molly and Alfie's relationship; from spending time
with one another, having fun and falling in love and the negative aspects at
the end of the film; Molly discovering she is losing her hair, Alfie finding
the letter explaining Molly has terminal cancer and both of them committing
suicide. We wanted the audience to be able to connect with the characters and
really feel all of the emotions which appear in our production. Although they
appear like they are the complete opposite of one another, when they're
together, it almost seems like nothing else matters – Molly forgets about her
cancer and Alfie doesn’t depend on using drugs and alcohol, all they need is
the company of one another and for them, it feels like life is perfect for them
both. With our production being based on both characters falling in love and
being in a happy relationship with one another, this relates to Richard Dyer’s
Theory of Entertainment and Utopian Theory. He stated that Utopia is perfect and ideal place. The
Utopian Theory suggests real people watch/read/listen to fiction for escapism
and diversion from their everyday lives. They want to escape to a perfect and
ideal world. So by choosing to watch our production they are able to escape what is considered to be their reality and delve in to the fictional world of the two characters in the story and feel
the happy, positive emotions of the characters’ relationship as well as the sad, negative emotions which they will feel at the end. With our film’s storyline involving two contrasting emotions, this all
creates a sense of audience pleasure and I am very confident that we have
achieved this within our production.
