Question 1

Question 1

In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media product is based around the genre Drama that features the use of drugs. The use of drugs is a main part of our film as it is what causes disruption in our films equilibrium. Our films drama aspects comes from where the character in our film loses her daughter dramatically and is suffering and grieving because of this, codes and conventions are followed and challenged so that this genre is fulfilled in our media product. Typical codes and conventions of an opening sequence were also followed:
 Introduce briefly the narrative
 Introduce a main character
 Introduce a familiar setting
 Include titles of the production company, main actors in the film and the films title as well as a visual indication of the film title
 Signifying the themes of the film
 Appropriate music and sounds

In our opening sequence, themes were introduced very straightforwardly that led the audience to realising that the film is in fact of the drama genre. A main theme was death and this is seen and noticed in the opening sequence when the character injects herself with the heroin, and there is a slow pan panning down her arm slowly, highlighting that there is no movement of her body, which represents death. Furthermore, the death of her daughter contributed to this theme, as this is what has made her further unstable than she already was. The theme of drugs is presented in this opening sequence by the contrast of children’s toys, drugs and alcohol. This contrast is a visual way of representing the theme of drama that features drug use. In addition, health and safety has been shown to be another important theme which relates to this genre, as the audience are clearly able to see the living conditions of the character, and the lack of safety and the lack of concern that the character has for herself will make the audience feel uncomfortable and this will also draw attention to another theme, which will be her mental issues.

Our film follows the codes and conventions of a drama featuring drug use due to the form of the opening sequence. The opening sequence of the film has been very specific to the genre and has visually used a lot of techniques to underline this point and put it across to the audience. Similarly to the film ‘Requiem for a Dream’ the way the conventions are followed are both done in the same way. The lighting is very dark and there is not much light used in the scene and so the audience do not have any sign of hope and so they do not feel as though this film will be about hope of represent hope in any way.

The use of characterisation follows the codes and convention of a typical drama. The main character, Lauren Ealing plays a girl that has had a bad upbringing and as a result, has become a frequent user of drugs. However, she became pregnant and a couple of years along the line her child had passed away, so once again she had become unstable. We made the audience feel sympathy for Lauren as they at this point do not know whether or not Lauren has been in the wrong before and whether or not she deserves everything she is feeling. The film on a whole will be much different, as the character will then start challenging the codes and conventions of a character from a typical drama genre. This is because Lauren becomes eager to help herself and do what she can later on in the film (which is her past and the opening sequence is the present time. This is very comparable to Jim Caroll, the main character in the film ‘The Basketball Diaries’ as later on in the film, he starts trying to change with the help of his best friend which goes against the conventions as usually the character in a drama genre are always rebellious and their problems don’t tend to get solved, but get bigger and worse.

The narrative of our film is our character Lauren Ealing losing her child as she has always been unstable, but after the loss of her child, unstable is taken to a much different level. The film is about her whole past, and it leads up to the opening sequence, which is the present time. The way in which the chronological order of a film is presented is very similar to Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ where the order of the film is what draws in the audience the most. This challenges the conventions of a drama genre, as usually as drama is a build up of events leading to a big scene that the audience are intrigued to see. However, in our film the main event and the big scene of the character killing her self with the use of heroin has already been seen as the opening sequence and so the rest of the film is showing the past and answering all the questions that audience may have. Nevertheless, our film also follows the conventions of a typical drama genre as a main feature in the film is death, which is a typical feature in most dramas, especially when the use of drugs are involved, resembling the TV show ‘Skins’.

Sounds in our opening sequence follow the codes and conventions of a drama genre as all the sounds are very closely related to our narrative. At the beginning of our opening sequence our music starts, which is very soft and it carries on throughout our opening sequence and ends slowly at the end. Throughout this music, there are specific sounds that have been added that follow the conventions of a drama genre. Due to the loss of a small child our main character Lauren Ealing has suffered, we introduced the sound of the crying baby of about 2 years old starting from about 30 seconds of the opening sequence as the opening sequence graduated. In addition, there was also a heart monitor sound at the end of the opening sequence when there is a pan of the arm focusing of whether or not there is body movement, so the audience can grasp whether or not the character is alive or not. The heart monitor flat line that plays immediately after the heart monitor finalised that Lauren is now dead. This follows the conventions of the importance of the situation and makes it much more effective as it enables it to play on the audiences mind. This is similar to the heroin scene in Danny Boyle’s ‘Trainspotting’ where the character Spud takes heroin and becomes unconscious and is effected extremely badly, and the sound of the ambulance sirens are heard even before the ambulance vehicle is seen on screen. This enables the audience to always be one step ahead.

Mise en Scene is very important in following and challenging the conventions of a drama genre. In our media product, mise en scene is widely used, especially when using the pan shot to show the contrast between the drugs and the child’s toys. The very slow panning shot which starts from the childs toys and gradually pans over all the objects and over to the alcoholic bottles and the drugs challenges the conventions as it shows an extreme contrast which also represents the characters personality of the love she had for her child, and also, the love she has for her addiction and problem. Correspondingly, this is shown in Scott Kalverts ‘The Basketball Diaries’where we see the contrast between Jim Caroll studying but craving for heroin. However, the relevance of all crops follow the conventions just like the heroin scene in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ when the lighter is used to light up the syringe and the burnt spoon is shown with the substance contained on it, in our opening sequence, all the equipment needed for the use of heroin is clearly shown on the table with all the items. Costume in our opening sequence follows the typical conventions of our urban drama, as a female in todays society that is associated as a street girl wears a tracksuit of a dull colour to represent their dull personality, and our character Lauren is wearing a black tracksuit. Her hair is messy and has been backcombed to give the effect that she hasn’t been showered or cleaned for a while, highlighting the fact she doesn’t care much about herself and her health. Make-up hasn’t been used much in our opening sequence as we do not fully reveal her face, but the effect we wanted was for her to looked lethargic and ‘drained’ and we did this by making sure Reka (our actor) did not wear any make up. Her body language shows that she isn’t bothered about life as she walks down the stairs at the beginning of the opening sequence very carelessly, showing her attitude towards life and not valuing it. The opening sequence is set in dirty, dim lit basement, resembling the state she is in and how she feels. This follows the conventions of a urban drama as it shows how she has locked herself away. However, using a female as a main role of a film where drugs are used, challenges the conventions as it is usually a male who plays a part like this, and therefore the audience are intrigued.