By Jack Archer

In what way does your media product use, develop, or

challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

Evaluation Question

1...

For our genre of social realism, these were the conventions that we wanted to either adhere to, or challenge:

Locations are either mainly urban or in the suburbs. Use of debut/ stock actors (who may have entered films cross media

from other forms). Music from the era (i.e. Present day). The plot should have a realistic approach/ perspective to lives of those

concerned. Having characters that appear to be in the lower working classes (i.e.

In the E income bracket). Evidence of the exploration of wider social issues through the

emotional or dramatic stories of characters. Possible erosion of regional identities The inclusion of both humour and seriousness and also triumph over

adversity.

What were our conventions to start

with??

Generally, our locations were conventional to the genre, as we included shots in a high street environment and also a city centre park. Thus, we were able to optimise our use of mise-en-scene to adhere to the narrative convention of young people and ‘run-down’, deprived areas.

Also, the majority of our actors (excluding Liam Wilkinson and Rosie Jones) do not have much experience of acting. All of our actors certainly did not have any experience in filming. Therefore, as they are not professional actors (i.e. Are not paid for their service) and we have met this convention. In choosing our actors, we hoped to emulate using inexperienced actors, or those actors who might have entered film via cross- media.

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them?

For example, actors such as Olivia Coleman featured in Warps Film’s film ‘Tyrannosaur’ but then also has a television and theatre career. Also, hip hop artist Riz Ahmed was featured in the film ‘Four Lions’, also a Warp Films film.

In addition, as the majority of our actors are school aged (16+) this reflects the process that our production company would have to undergo in the real life. For example, our actors would have to first audition for their roles, like how Shane Meadows did when he found the actor Thomas Turgoose, after auditioning kids in Nottingham school for his film ‘This is England’ (By Warp Films).

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them?

In addition, Shane Meadows would have to have undergone the process of gaining stock actors (i.e. Those that are associated with a production company, like Paddy Considine with Warp Films. This would be a process that our production company would have to adopt, if our product was in real world media.

Furthermore, we used modernised music to reflect the setting of the film, as we produced a rendition of a rendition (!) of the song “We Own It” from the film “Fast and Furious 6” (2013), consequently keeping our opening sequence conventional to the genre of using music associated with the time setting, thus generating a high level of verisimilitude. This process in itself, is conventional as we would , in the real world use synergy marketing as Rosie played the main character (our protagonist in our narrative) and also featured in our postmodern, non- diegetic soundtrack

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them?

The lyrics are quite poignant within the production as it refers to various points in the film’s narrative. This in itself may also have been a mistake, as we may have ‘given too much away’ for our (sophisticated) audience(s) in just the opening sequence.

Where Rosie/Laura sings/says: “I had high hopes but I was in the wrong crowd” this suggests that although Laura had potential to become successful in life, this was jeopardised by becoming part of the gang. This therefore is relatable to our secondary audience who empathise with the peer pressure and fear felt by Laura and gain personal identity. This lyric therefore infers to the beginning of the film.

How is “The Longing” soundtrack significant?

However, when Laura then sings/ says “I understand that actions speak louder than words” this conveys the ideology of Laura being an empowered female and therefore this connotes the courageous act of Laura as she hands herself in to the police and report the gang’s activity. However, this also foreshadows how Laura will inevitably be convicted for the actions of the other gang members as a result of the joint enterprise law. This lyric therefore make reference to the end of the film.

How is “The Longing” soundtrack significant?

These lyrics/ the soundtrack would create a high level of verisimilitude as the themes are relatable to many members of our audience. Furthermore, verisimilitude would be reflected as this would most likely and stereotypically be the type of diegetic music heard by the actors later in the film.

How does this create verisimilitude?

In addition, I feel that our narrative has adhered to the convention of it being realistic particularly due to the rise of peer pressure and bullying. As Laura joins the gang to initially make new friends, she is then peer pressured into committing criminal offences such as theft, which is stereotypically associated more 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, at the end of our whole narrative, Laura is sentenced to jail as a result of the joint-enterprise law. As this law is currently under discrepancy, this further connotes to the injustice of the law as opposed to the reality of working class young people. This is then further represented by the shot of the Policeman at the end of our opening sequence as this low angle, depth of field shot connotes his dominance over the lives of the working class.

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them? (con...)

However, I think that we may have possibly got a bit too carried away with the editing process, as we might have been almost too stereotypical in representing the working class. Thus, via a hegemonic process we may in the long run actually put- off our sophisticated audience (who question media stereotypes).For example, the stereotypical representation of the working class being the instigators of crimes such as theft was conveyed using quite long takes , such as the one with Laura walking round the store looking for something to steal, to connote how this is stereotypically is a regularly re-occurring crime committed by people in the working class.

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them? (con...)

Therefore this is evidence that subconsciously, we fell in the trap of almost accepting the media representations that we were trying to challenge. In hindsight , perhaps we should used more short takes to connote how Laura was forced to commit crimes such as theft as a result of peer pressure and fear and therefore connote how she doesn’t necessarily want to commit the crime (although I think Laura’s facial expressions during these takes suggest this, but improved editing would have portrayed this better.)

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them? (con...)

Although we may have done too much editing (in my opinion) 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 the cold shot filter ‘vignette’, to connote the stigma derived from gang culture.

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them? (con...)

What's more, I feel that our narrative/ opening sequence explores the wider social issues within society quite well. The inclusion of bullying, fear and peer pressure are common issues that arise and are experienced by people from all walks of life and therefore, I believe that Laura in our narrative is relatable to many people as well, as our audiences are able to decide whether to actively consider their viewpoint on these issues for social interaction, or simply gain personal identity from Laura/ The opening sequence (according to Blumer and Katz’s uses and gratifications.)

Genre conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them? (con...)

Finally, I believe we have shown people from various classes as according to the Income brackets, if the characters were actual people, the gang members and Laura would mainly be categorised as those in the E income bracket (the lower working class) and the policeman for example would be seen as middle/ lower middle class (the B/C1 income brackets).

Genre Conventions…. Continued again!

Most opening credits follow this common conventional 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 by etc.

What were the Form Conventions??

An opening sequence is designed to instantly engage its audience and should introduce, genre, narrative and character. This is particularly evident with our use of conventional establishing shots of our inner city location and the police station. This is an example of a binary opposition with locations.

In terms of institutions, it is also fairly conventional that independent production companies seek the support of other companies in co- production and distribution, particularly where these companies lack vertical integration.

Form conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them?

For our production “The Longing” we in a way challenged the convention of opening credit order. This is because throughout our research, planning and production, we used the film “This is England” for inspiration and subsequently, we used a similar opening title sequence to “This is England”. This was mainly because this film is of the same genre as our film.

Despite this not following the convention, I don’t think that the order is necessarily important, as long as the order makes sense and ‘flows’.

Form conventions... Where did we meet and/ or challenge them?

The script was limited due to the majority of the opening sequence being overlaid with our rendition of “We own It”, and our production company deciding in the end to remove the dialogue in order to improve the continuity and ‘flow’ of the opening sequence, thus enhancing our productions high level of verisimilitude. I feel that our script could have been included and improved either by using less dialogue and having more serious and/ or humorous text or even have sections of semi- improvised dialogue in order to make character interaction appear more natural and realistic, and more conventional to the genre of social realism.

Where could we have used (or not used!) these conventions better?

Following on from this, through either the script, iconography or shot type the opening sequence could have introduced more political/ social issues such as those relevant to race and cultural differences, as our production included people of different ethnicities.

Where could we have used (or not used!) these conventions better?

Furthermore, I feel that we also should have included more hand- held shots in order to promote the ideologies relevant to our female protagonist such as the empowered female in particular, and aid to connote certain emotions too, such as fear.

Generally however, although I think that the genre social realism is appropriate for our opening sequence, as our narrative includes criminal offences driven by peer pressure, I think that the conventions of the genre crime should have been considered as well, with its conventions also.

How else??

However, 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 argued that our production enforces dominant ideologies about the working class. Consequently, the audience may accept these representations of the police being safe and reassuring so they think that society is looking after them as opposed to enforcing divides. We could have further challenged dominant ideologies on our production more by either using a female police officer or even making the gang leader a female too, as this would reflect the political issues of gender and status within society.

How else??

Here are the two main theories that applied best with “The Longing”:

AUTEUR THEORY: As this theory derives from the idea that a film reflects a Director’s 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 have used takes showing Laura’s plight over longer shot lengths (i.e. Medium shot/ medium long shot) this was mainly to make our sophisticated audience more tense when watching the film, whist 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. In addition, we have shown our own visual style and our way of challenging conventions (as part of our auteurship) by having a female protagonist in a stereotypically masculine environment.

What theoretical theories were relevant to research, planning and production?

HEGEMONY THEORY: Due to the nature of our narrative, Hegemony is also relevant to our production, particularly as we have a female protagonist passive audiences (such as people in the lower income brackets) would initially believe the dominant ideologies present in the film, such as women can achieve triumph over adversity like men can.

What theoretical theories were relevant to research, planning and production?