Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

Continuity was very important for our production, and the impacts on our production if it had not been achieved successfully. After studying other films on various sites as well as other students from previous year’s films, we realised that continuity was an important concepts to place into our film.

An example of continuity in our film is the scene where Harry sees Hayley from atop a balcony, and then proceeds to go through a door, down some stairs and through another door and down to talk to Hayley. The continuity is shown as Harry’s action of going through the door is matched at the other side, then the continuity is same while going down the stairs, keeping the continuity in the scene. Some eliptical editing was used to cut out one part of going down the staris, as well as missing out on set of doors, to continue the pace of the film, and to reduce the drag.

Our film is delibarate in subverting the conventions of a romantic comedy genre, as the central character doesunfortunately doesn’t end with the girl that he fancies, and in a stereotypical romantic comedy, it is a conventional theme for the main character to end up with the girl at the end of the film, and live with a happy ending. Our film however is clear in showing that the main character is in fact heartbroken at the fact that he doesn’t end up with the girl, as the central plot to the film is that he has been trying to get her, and that the girl actually ends up with his best friend, creating a sense of betrayal. In turn subverting the conventions of the romantic comedy genre as it contrasts the stereotype of the genre. However, our film  does uphold some of the conventions of the genre through the use of music, design and high key lighting used throughout.The music in the film is lighthearted and gentle, reflecting the unrelenting optimism of the main character (Harry), which is another common theme amongst romantic comedies. Main colours used for the poster,title sequence and the actual title are purple, white and pink which are colours generally associated with the genre, as they connote things such as passion, love and romanticism, as well as connoting that there will be no violence in the film this advertises the film as very light hearted, and a low certificate rated film.

The story line for our film can be seen as fairly common, and similar to other films in the genre, having  what would be known as a ‘love triangle’ between three people, where one of the three ends severely disappointed and without the girl, however we have made this into our own adaptation by subverting some of the codes of the genre so the the main storyline is focused on the character who doesn’t get the girl, rather than the one that does, which is a contrast to that of the general convention of the romantic comedy genre is. We havent took this any idea from any film particular, but merely used a film idea and changed it around to suit what we intended for our film.

I am sure our film develops uses and gratifications, such as entertainment and complies with the entertainment theory. According to Richard Dyers theory, the film gives a sense of tranparency due to each of the characters feelings being understood by the audience towards the end of the film, and the end scene in-particular.