Evaluation Q.1

1. In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? I believe that the media changes everyday with its products. The massive change from even 10 years ago is extreme. This chain will still contain as the media progress as technology will do. This could also means there will be more different categorised audiences to satisfy. When watching films or general television you do want a good continuity and that the cuts connect smoothly together otherwise it would confuse the viewer then they’d forget what was happening in the storyline. Although there are different flows and cuts that do connect together but are for a reason within rules that are still within media as you don’t want it to be overwhelming. So a major rule is the nice smooth flow of continuity so it helps the enjoyment of watching whatever piece of media. So our film does have a nice flow about it, and it is continues throughout. Apart from one cut which is a jump cut but that is because we purposely put that in for the effort from a different point of view and I believe it does fit in well and doesn’t confuse the audience. For our film we tried to use as many different angles to gain all different kinds of perspectives but the audience choose their own. We always stuck to the 180° rule as if we were to go against this it would confuse the audience as the shots would looked flipped and everything in different positions all the time. So this is a general rule for everyone who is filming, unless there is a purpose for him or her to go against the rule. The 180° rule does help with continuity as it keeps the system organized by making the rule as it is when on a scene you can only stay to one half, you can move the camera around for different angles but cannot cross the 180° rule. So we have followed this rule in our film. Even when we did reverse shots in the first scene after the title sequence when it was the interview between Connor and the journalist. In the scene when Connor and Lucy are in the house in the dining room, his agent phones him and you then have a shot which is a match on action as Connor is answering the phone but doesn’t pick it up as he puts the phone on loud speaker. With the shot just showing the phone it’s almost as if the audience is Connor for a while as being able to here the conversation properly it’s as if the conversation is for the audience to be involved in. Well the genre our film is basically is a drama so this is what we need to follow with everything our film is based around. I think we kept our film reasonably in this category with the actions we used. Such as with the pace the of cuts they are reasonable but if for example it was an action film then the pace at times would be faster than others to address the adrenaline of what is happening. For drama it’s about the tension, about what you know as an outsider. Drama focuses on the actor’s emotions, what they are feeling inside. I believe we show this strongly in the situation where Connor is just about to take the drugs and he looks himself in the mirror to question him, question who he is anymore. Throughout the film you can see the strain on his get worse and it’s the audience who are along side him when this is happening. I don’t think there is anything we have done that is out of the ordinary of the genre. I don’t think there any moments when play with the genre we have been categorised in. Drama genre is serious and that usually connects with other genres but ours doesn’t really connect to a major different genres just sub versions. Such as there is addiction drama as this is the whole ideal of the story, around Connor’s addiction of cocaine and alcohol. This shows the real life side of what some celebs come to as a last resort to relieve of their worries and get out of reality. Although for Connor even taking the drugs and being drunk wasn’t enough to escape from his reality with the press constantly being outside his property ready to spring on him when he enters the outdoors. There are now celeb reality television shows in the media that are coming across (e.g Peter Andre Next Chapter http://www.itv.com/channels/itv2/itv2shows/peterandre/) , which has changed from over the years but there could be different reasons as to why some celebrities agree to do this. They could be for their good personalities and messages to come across to the audiences, to show that they are changing their lives round for the better from how they have been in the past. So on the reality television shows you can follow the celebs go to interviews and photo shoots, etc. In our film it’s like we are the audience of a reality TV show as we experience Connor attending a photo shoot and also him being in an interview. So you could say we took that idea from television media as well as film. Our audience is a 15 as we have agreed on that certificate that is guide lined by the BBFC; our film is not aiming at a specific gender. So we need to take into consideration what would interest this age audience, as they don’t exactly want kid stuff involved, they want something they can relate to. So to help pleasure our audience there are two theories that can be addressed and that we hopefully have some aspects of them that we have fulfilled. First of all I will look at the “Richard Dyer’s Theory of Entertainment/ Entertainment and Utopia”. As entertainment is a way to escape from reality, to put yourself in a position of pure enjoyment. There are 5 aspects, which are energy, abundance, intensity, transparency and community. At least one of these aspects has to be involved to create the entertainment for an audience. In our film I would say we have the aspects are first of all abundance; this is where the characters in the film have a lot of possessions and have lots of luxuries. This links to our film as Connor is living the luxury lifestyle, he actually point out certain possessions such as his house, car, phone, etc. This is to make the audience feel they are involved with being able to feel what the luxuries provide Connor to feel. Also the next aspect that we have provided in our film is intensity. This is where there are lots of emotions and strong emotions involved and big ups and downs. Although in our film there are more downs but at the beginning you see how Connor and Lucy are so happy together in the photo shoot and also in the interview Connor expresses that they are very happy in their relationship. But then after that the audience experience the down fall that the actor suffers, it’s like a avalanche of emotions throughout the film as things start off great but then just get worse and worse. So these will attract the audience, as it’s as if they are on the same life journey that Connor is going through. Another theory is “Laura Mulvey – Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”. There is a thing in this theory, which is “scopophilia” this is when the audience get an insight of the character that son one lese in the story know, so it’s a sense of pleasure for the audience as they know secrets and bits of information that the others in the story do not know. Such as in our film we the audience see Connor taking drugs which no one else in the story see, they accuse him of taking drugs but he never actually has until we see him do. There is also “narcissitic scopophilia”, this is were you identify yourself as a viewer to the character in the film, so they could be a sort of role model for you to be inspired by. So I believe we have achieved audience pleasure from presenting Connor as this big star and that he has the luxury that some of us would like but I is just a front and that he is really suffering emotionally behind closed doors, which the audience experience along with Connor.