Soraya Arghandawi

Evaluation Question 1: In what way does your media product use, develop, or
challenge forms and conventions of real life media products?
The task we had been set for our unit G234 Advanced Portfolio was to produce a
short film in its entirety, lasting approximately 5 minutes, which would be live action,
together with two of the following three options:

1. A film poster
2. A radio trailer
3. A film magazine review page

I decided to choose the film poster and the film magazine review page to
complete.

Whilst brainstorming for the production in the beginning, as a group we came up

with many different genres we thought would be effective for a 5 minute film
including thriller, horror and comedy but in the end we all decided drama would
be the best genre to go for as the codes and conventions for drama were a lot
more interesting. The general synopsis of our film was about a young woman
reflecting over her mother who she lost recently and how this struggle has
affected her life and how she has become dependent on temporary solutions to
numb the pain.

Codes and Conventions of the Drama Genre:

Real life situations with realistic characters, settings and storylines.

Close up of characters
Portrays journey of characters development
Intense social interaction
Audience can relate to characters (Stuart Hall-Preferred Reading)
A form of realisation at the end

What are codes and conventions?

A code is a system or sign which creates a meaning, they can be divided into 2
categories-technical and symbolic. Technical codes is how the equipment is used to
tell a story in a media text, for example the camera work in a film or editing
techniques used. Symbolic codes show the audience what is beneath the surface of
what we see, for example the way a character behaves shows you how they feel.
A convention is a general way of doing something, for example in a film conventions
can be applied to the different technical aspects like cinematography and sound. It
was very important in our production that we followed conventions of a drama film as
this is what signifies to audience what genre your film is. The main convention of a
drama that we followed in our production was real life situations with realistic
characters, settings and storylines, this was shown through the main protagonist
Soraya Arghandawi

Tanya suffering through losing a loved one to cancer which is a struggle that many
people face in everyday life.

Setting/Location:
The main location used for filming was Tanyas house, we also filmed flashback
scenes in Valentines Park, Tanyas childhood home and the cemetery which is
shown at the end. Filming in the house creates a contrast to filming in the cemetery
as the locations create 2 different atmospheres, a home is usually seen as
comforting and warm whereas a cemetery creates a gloomy dark atmosphere for
people, however in our production the protagonist Tanya is seen as more distressed
in the house and more reflective and happier in the cemetery which would be
unexpected for the audience. We mostly used high key lighting however in the
flashback scenes we used low key lighting as it was black and white.

Valentines Park and Barkingside Cemetery

Costume and Props:
Costumes and props were an essential part of our production to create a
verisimilitude for the audience, the audience had to believe Tanyas suffering not just
through the acting but also her appearance so making sure her costume was right
was vital. Tanya conventionally wore dark clothes, she was wearing a black top and
trousers, and we chose this as black coloured clothing is usually associated with
mourning and sorrow we made sure the clothes were plain and simple so the
audience could see Tanya was not bothered by her clothing so they could focus on
how emotional she was. Tanya in the flashback scenes as a young girl switched
between many different outfits however they were bright coloured and perky outfits
to show audience this was a happier and more youthful time in Tanyas life. The
props used were also very important in creating a verisimilitude, the wine bottles in
the kitchen show Tanya as dependant on alcohol, alcohol is symbolic as it is seen as
a depressant. The pink flowers Tanya places on her
mothers grave are also seen as effective as the
colour pink is seen as delicate and can be a sign of
maternal love.
Soraya Arghandawi

Editing:
We had to make sure the editing techniques used in our production were reflective of
our genre-drama. We used colour to tell a story, the use of the black and white filter
used for flashback shots show the audience a part of Tanyas life, because it is black
and white it connotes to the audience that the memories of this part of her life are
slowly fading away and becoming a distant memories. We used a jump cut when
Tanya is writing a letter to her mum, the jump cut shows Tanya crying and distressed
to hold the audiences attention, to contrast with this we showed flashback of Tanya
as a young girl her mum in the park laughing and joyful, in many mainstream drama
films they will show a lot of scenes from when the character was happy to contrast
the events in the current scene.

Characters:
In our film we followed stereotypical conventions for a drama film, Tanya an innocent
vulnerably portrayed female was the main protagonist in the film who can also be
seen as the victim as even though she is not physically harmed by anyone she is still
portrayed as suffering and dejected. We decided to use Danisha to play the role of
Tanya because she is the most significant character in the whole production and
Danisha has had previous experience in acting so we knew she would be best suited
for the role. Additionally, we knew the protagonist didnt have to be female in our
production and we could have easily made it a male character, however we knew
stereotypically females are seen as more emotional characters so the audience
could connect with her and sympathise for her. The
supporting cast playing younger Tanya and Angela
(Tanyas mum) were not seen as main characters
and were not shown in much detail therefore we
didnt consider many conventions for them to
follow.

Titles/Credits:
At the start of our film the first titles shown were for
our production company Starlight Studios and the
last titles shown was the name of our film Dear
Mum. We decided our title would look better at the
end of the film and more effective after Tanya
makes a final speech to her mum in the letter
promising to make her proud. We decided to use a
white font against a black background, the colour
white connotes innocence and the black background connotes trouble, we felt this
could relate to Tanyas life as she is shown as an innocence girl who has faced
issues that no person should ever have to experience.
Soraya Arghandawi

Music and Voiceover:

The only score music we used in our production was a gentle
piano piece which was played throughout the whole
production. This music was soft and gentle and created an
emotional atmosphere alongside the characters and the
flashback scenes making the whole film feel reflective. We
also relied on a voiceover for Tanyas character recorded by the actress Danisha, we
decided a voiceover would be more effective so the audience could feel as if Tanya
was directly talking to them and explaining her story, therefore creating an emotional
link between her and the viewers.

Overall, I believe our production was very effective because even though we
included the typical conventions of a drama film we also challenged these
stereotypes creating a good balance for the audience to appreciate. In my opinion, if
a film is too stereotypical it becomes very predictable for the audience therefore
making it seem boring so they lose interest in it. For example in our film, Tanya is
shown distraught and struggling with alcohol, it would have been predictable for us to
make her suffer throughout the whole film and not resolve her issues however we
decided she should have a more peaceful ending and come to terms with her mother
dying.