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

When analysing existing media products focused around the social realism genre, I noticed the continued use of conventions, such as, crime, violence and gang culture. This is an aspect that I have incorporated within my own media product as it is a factor that signifies the genre and allows the audience to be aware of what they are consuming. The conventions we have used are: gang culture (as seen on the left), violence, weaponry and controversy i.e. underage pregnancy and attempted suicide. By only including the themes within our trailer and giving a slight insight to what would be featured within the film, this has ensured that we haven't given too much of the story away. By revealing too much of the story can spoil the audience's viewing because through watching the trailer they feel they already sure of what would happen- this would decrease the chance of them watching the film as they feel they have seen too much of the storyline. Through the analysis of Adulthood, there was a dinstinct use of titles which broke up the imagery and told the audience messages about the film. I used this idea when editng my own product, the use of titles, such, 'One Council Estate' gave a clear definition as what my partner and I were trying to capture and portray.

When researching through questionnaires we found that audiences prefer fast paced editing; when editing my own media product this is something that was reflected, the editing begins slowly but the tension rose to a climax when it began to quicken- this gave a more captivating reaction as the audience were more inquisitive and excited as to what was happening. The start of the trailer draws the audience in by displaying location shots (as seen on the left) with the intense grime music gives an edgy feel, after this follows the themes found in the trailer and more dialogue is heard- this makes the audience recognise that the characters are involved in gang culture, use a restricted code of language and live in a dreamy reality as they are unsure as to what life can actually give them. I do not feel the audience would speculate the genre of the film as the conventions are easily identifiable, the target audience should be familiar with the conventions represented as they are seen in everyday life in some deprived areas of the UK.

In contrast, some aspects of trailer have subverted stereotypes as typically gang culture is male dominated; however within my trailer the gang only consists of females. I have also subverted the stereotyped traits of females, typically they are seen as caring, kind and timid; my female characters foster more male traits i.e. strong, independent, boisterous and rebellious. This is an area I feel strongly about as women are time and time again portray in a less independent way and are seen as more reliant on males; this is not the case in today's society, although not all woman are part of sub-culture and drawn to these conventions (e.g. crime) women are now independent and strong minded. Occupying more respect within the home and the workforce women have gained more respect in all areas of life and this is something that should be represented in film. Although our film trailer captures a more extreme view of women they are still portrayed in a stronger way.

Barthes Enigma Code suggests that a text, whether it being a film, television programme and poster, portrays a mystery to draw an audience in and pose questions onto the audience, such as, 'Why is a character crying?' or 'Who committed the murder?'- Using this as a reference I have mirrored this in my own production as within my trailer I have imposed questions such as 'Why are the characters disrespectful?' or 'Why is she self-harming?' The drastic scenes such as the attempted suicide pose questions and conspiracy from the audience because they are unsure of the full story. The element of mystery sprouts from the storyline of attempted suicide, this makes the audience feel edgy as to what might happen and also does not give the storyline away from the way we have filmed it. I took into consideration how the camera angles could portray a meaning, for example in the shot to the left you can only see part of the character this shows mystery towards what will happen and reflects her insecurity. The centred picture is of the scissors which portrays the seriousness of the situation and what it may entail. Through the mise en scene, costume and body language represents how child like the character is within this serious situation, for example her costume is teddy bear patterened night wear which allows the audience to be aware that the character is young and naive; this suggests that she is vunerable and may make mistakes when making decisions and create further anxiety to what may happen to this character.

With reference to our film poster and magazine cover we have used common conventions that are usually found in existing medias so that our products are easily recognisable to the audience and do not look of a poor quality. With this in mind we researched existing film posters and magazine cover to fuel our ideas. As seen in the slideshow below.

Film poster and mag comparison

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Therefore, in my media product I have used previous conventions found in existing medias through the use of gang culture. I have developed coventions by using a Enigma Code, posing questions on to the audiences to make it more secretive. I have challenged conventions because we have suberted the character traits found in females by portraying them with male traits.