In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge

forms and conventions of real media products

For our genre of social realism, these were the conventions that we wanted

to either adhere or to challenge:

•Locations are either mainly urban or in the suburbs

•Use of debut actors/stock actors

•Music from the era or similar genre films

•The plot should have a realistic approach/perspective

to lives of those concerned

•Having characters especially the main character to

appear to b in the working class (e.g. Income bracket-

E)

•To expand on to other social problems through the

emotional or dramatic stories of characters

•Possible erosion of regional identity

•Maybe some inclusion of humour however doesn't

need a new equilibrium to make it more realistic

Generally our locations did meet the conventions of

our genre due to us using locations like train stations

and urban locations. Thus, we were able to optimise

our use of mise-en-scene to adhere to the narrative

convention of young people living in deprived areas.

However we went against this due to us using a fairly

large kitchen, this wasn't due to us trying to

challenge stereotypes but because we hadn’t

properly though about that location.

Another point is that a majority of our actors (except

for Josh Macqueen and Nick Heywood) do not have

a lot of experience in acting. All of our actors haven't

any experience in filming though. Thus as they are

not professional actors we have met this convention.

Through choosing our actors we hoped to emulate

using inexperienced actors to create more realism.

We went through the same process as a real production company

would as they would also have to find the correct actors to portray the

characters.

Our actors have not been used through the use of cross media which

we know has been done before in independents as for example Olivia

Coleman feature in Warps Film’s film ‘Tyrannosaur’ but then has also

has a television and theatre career. We again see this with hip hop

artist Riz Ahmed who appeared in the film ‘Four Lions’, again a Warp

Films film

Having Josh was very useful for gaining actors as he does acting

himself and helped us get Nick onboard who also does acting, this

made our opening sequence more professional and our characters

with complex stories were portrayed very effectively.

We first wanted to use the score from the film ‘Irreversible’ however

we were unable to acquire it. This led us to getting Bruno who does A

level music to play out his own version of a classical score we found.

We thought this score was effective because it connoted Ethan’s

sorrow very effectively. We got Bruno to make it slower and build up a

bit more which then connoted the build of sorrow in Ethan which

shows why he has left for some reason. As this type of music isn't

really associated with the genre. This means that we lose a level of

verisimilitude. However you could argue that the sophisticated

audience will enjoy the use of it as it gives us a way of seeing what

type of person Ethan is at this early stage of the film.

The effect that our song had was how it slowly built up a slight effect of

sadness and builds up emotional pleasures leading you to gain personal

identity from it. However due to them being more sophisticated they would

have the intelligence to not worry and try to crack the many enigmas. This was

also effective as it doesn't give anything away to the audience. The sound is

most effective in showing the representation of how is life is out of control.

The song starts off quietly and eventually gets louder and faster this connotes

the life of Ethan as his life starts off quietly and with little notice, however this

will change as he has to uncover where his dad is and why he left him. This will

attract the audience as they will notice this connotation due to their superior

intelligence as they are in the A/B income class.

The soundtrack would create verisimilitude as the

themes and build up of the song confirms their

impression of the problems those in deprived

areas face. This then connotes their primary

experience is one of sadness and isolation

relatable. However this song would not

conventionally be heard by a young teen so that

would mean the verisimilitude is only reflective for

the audience and not on the characters in the

film.

In addition, I feel that our narrative has adhered to the

convention of it being realistic, especially due to the rise of young

teens having to leave home due to being left at a young age or

being abused however mainly due to them not being educated

well enough leading to those previous points I said. As Ethan

leaves his home due to him being depressed which is a rising

occurrence in the last few years. Ethan stole money from his

carers which is against the law and is stereotypically associated

with the working class. However, as our production is a

sophisticated product, we have questioned stereotypes which

relate to our present political climate, which we ask our primary

audience to question. For example whether stopping a parent

from seeing there child is the best option as it changes the child

and may lead to depression like it did with Ethan and could lead

to drugs and alcohol which again is another leading problem that

we have today in our society.

However, I think that we may have possibly have got a bit

carried away with the editing process, as we might have

been almost too stereotypical in representing the working

class or even the upper class with the businessman being

obviously shown as sophisticated. Thus, via hegemonic

process we may in the long run actually put-off our

sophisticated audience as we may have made our

narrative too hard to follow and meaning that our

audience may not be interested in finding out what

happens next. For example, the stereotypical

representation that the young teen working class being

seen as not smart and un-trusted, which was conveyed

with quite long takes, such as the one were Ethan is

struggling with work and gets annoyed, as this shows

how it is a regularly re-occurring thing by young teens in

the working class.

This then shows how we almost started accepting the

media representations that we are trying to challenge.

To change this we could have, perhaps used more short

takes to connote the build up of Ethan's feelings and

how he has to do this. We should have made the

narrative a bit more easier to understand and maybe

make sure our audience can actually know what type of

income class they are.

Although we may have done too much editing

it could be argued that we still followed the

convention of social realism films including

minimal editing techniques in order to

establish realism and verisimilitude. However,

due to the nature of our narrative, having

flashbacks meant that we had to find a way of

distinguishing between the various time

lapses. Therefore we decided on using a shot

filter to show that it is back in time.

What’s more, I feel that our narrative/opening

sequence explores the wider social issues

within society quite well. The inclusion of

abuse, drugs and alcohol are common issues

that arise and are experienced by people

from all walks of life and therefore, I believe

that Ethan in our narrative is relatable to

many people as well, as our audience are

able to decide whether to actively consider

their viewpoint on these issues for social

interaction, or simply gain personal identity

from Ethan/ the opening sequence (according

to Blumer and Katz’s uses and gratifications

Finally, I believe we have shown people

from various classes as according to

the income bracket, if the characters

were actual people, then Ethan would

be categorised as someone in the E

income bracket and the businessman

for example would be seen as a higher

class (A/B income class

•Most opening credits follow this common convention order:•Name of studio

•Production company

•Producers/directors

•Starring..

•Film title

•Casting director

•Music

•Production designer

•Film editors

•Directors of photography

•Producer

•Director

•(Based on... True story/events, the novel etc

An opening sequence is designed to instantly

engage its audience and should introduce, genre,

narrative and characters. This is particularly evident

with our use of conventional establishing shots of

out train station location.

we could have used co-production with our

institutions to make it more conventional as normal

independents join up so they are able to fund the

distribution, production and exhibition of a film.

The script was fairly limited due to us not

wanting to give much away, however we

added in speech during the flashback to

show how his past is violent and

unpleasant. Most of our opening

sequence is speechless due to the use of

the soundtrack playing on top with also

the diegetic surrounding sounds. I think

the use of the script was good due to it

giving little clues to the audience so that

they can crack the enigmas.

Perhaps we made a mistake about our

sophisticated audience and the conventions of a

sophisticated media product could have improved

our use of conventions further. It could be argues

that our production enforces dominant ideologies

about the working class. Consequently, the

audience may accept these representations of the

government parental care being safe and

reassuring so they think that society is looking

after them opposed to enforcing divides. We

could have further challenged dominant

ideologies on our production more by using more

violence during the flashback scene as this would

reflect the political issues of social care and status

within society.

Here are the two main theories that applied best with ‘Reflux’

AUTEUR THEORY: As this theory derives from the idea that a film

reflects a directors vision and that an auteur has their own visual

style, this is reflected in our production. For example, in our opening

sequence we tended to use long shots with close ups to show the

type of area that he is in and then to show a the sudden emotions he

is feeling so that the audience get a more realistic affect. This was to

make our sophisticated audience more tense when watching the

film, whilst simultaneously outlining social issues within the working

class. These lengthy shots also connote how generally and

stereotypically, issues within the working class are almost over

looked by society. We have shown our own visual style and our way

of challenging convention by having a more emotional main male

character which is stereotypically not seen in the working class.