Evaluation Question 1 Answer (Blog Post)

In what ways does your media product use or challenge forms of conventions of real media products?

Our production was based on an 'agent' transporting a package to a certain location. We wanted to provide specific emphasis on this particular package, this itself is an example of the MacGuffin affect.   (I have previously blogged on this -hyperlink here).

We started with a training scene, this was because, we wanted to use match cuts during our chase, and to help and improve the narrative we decided during our production to incorporate a whole training scene. This proved affective, helped our narrative and allowed us to work with music more closely and use more variation in camera shots and techniques.

In our production we used a protagonist and antagonist in our film. This was a key convention we found, and made it materialistic, so they both wanted the same thing. We used the bag to focus the viewer on that particular 'prop', however this lead to a plot twist, which was noticed when by the reaction of the antagonist, and that the bag was used as a 'decoy' and was empty all along. The protagonist (good guy) then gets away with the memory stick, and his mission was a success.

I looked at various films when researching common conventions including:
- Mad Max
- Casino Royale
- Captain America Winter Soldier
- Arrow (season 1, 2, 3)

Along with these, I look at various other films including: 
- Bridget Jones' Diary
- Pretty in Pink
- About a Boy
- Le Donk and Scor-Zay-Zee

(I looked at films outside of the genre we chose, so I could later compare the conventions on film openings in general, and action film openings.)

So what is a CONVENTION?
Conventions are commonly used; frequently occurring elements which when combined help to determine the genre of film to the audience.

When watching the film openings I looked at the following:
-Company idents
-Titles
-Opening shot
-Final shot of the opening sequence
-Shot types and variation
-Continuity editing
-Focus on main character (protagonist)
-Mise en scene and verisimilitude
-Sound, diegetic and non diegetic
-Editing
-Narrative

(Common conventions of general film openings)

Company Idents

These are four examples of company idents; Universal, Miramax, Working Title, Studio Canal.
Universal // 20 seconds
Miramax // 15 seconds
Working Title // 10 seconds
Studio Canal // 15 seconds

At least three of the films I researched had 2-4 company idents at the beginning of their film, including Bridget Jones's Diary, About a Boy and Ali G Indahouse. They individually lasted between 10 and 20 seconds, and in total no more than 1 minute.

Bridget Jones' Diary is as follows...

-Universal Studios // 20 seconds

-Studio Canal // 16 seconds
-Miramax Films // 14 seconds

-Working Title // 10 seconds
Altogether 60 seconds

About a Boy is as follows...

-Universal Studios // 20 seconds

-Studio Canal // 15 seconds

-Working Title // 10 seconds

Altogether 45 seconds

Ali G Indahouse is as follows...

-Universal // 20 seconds

-Studio Canal // 15 seconds

-Working title // 10 seconds

Altogether 45 seconds

In our production we have a total of 4 production company idents...

The Brief (our production) is as follows...

Alex Hey Productions // 13 seconds
Watt Films // 9 seconds
Shot Type Studios // 16 seconds
Westgate Studios // 7 seconds
All together 45 seconds

As we were set to produce a 2-3 minute film, we as a group decided that we didn't want to use up up to a third of the time on our idents, and instead, allowed ourselves more time on the film itself. The dents weren't significantly shorter than that of the convention but 2 out of 4 were shorter than the minimum time on average. In total however our dents were 45 seconds, this was the same as 2 of the 3 films I researched, therefore it is common, however not a common convention. So in conclusion, we didn't follow this particular convention so that we could allow more screen time for the main body of the films



Titles
The titles I found were before the main body of the film. In Captain America Winter Soldier a non-serif title is used in the bottom right corner, displaying the location of where they are. We replicated this in our film.

As we were set to produce a 2-3 minute film, we as a group decided that we didn't want to use up up to a third of the time on our idents, and instead, allowed ourselves more time on the film itself. The idents weren't significantly shorter than that of the convention but 2 out of 4 were shorter than the minimum time on average. In total however our idents were 45 seconds, this was the same as 2 of the 3 films I researched, therefore it is common, however not a common convention. So in conclusion, we didn't follow this particular convention so that we could allow more screen time for the main body of the film.

The titles I found were before the main body of the film. In Captain America Winter Soldier a non-serif title is used in the bottom right corner, displaying the location of where they are. We replicated this in our film.

Mad Max











Mad Max















Captain America Winter Soldier

















The Brief (Our production). As you can see I took a similar approach to that of Captain America Winter Soldier. I used animated titles in the bottom corner of the screen. I also found this in Fast and Furious 7 which was one of the most successful action films in 2015. It works really and helps address the audience.


Opening Shot

Mad Max

Casino Royale

Captain America Winter Soldier

Arrow Season 1

Arrow season 3

Typically the identity of the protagonist is hidden in action films. All these films follow that. Although the protagonist is visible, in Mad Max, Casino Royale and all 3 seasons of Arrow, the facial features are all NOT visible in the opening shot. We followed this convention, as the first shot was an extreme close up in focus shot of our protagonists head and shoulders, as seen below. Throughout our training scene although you can see the protagonist, there is no direct focus on his identity, but more the exercises he is doing. This follows the common convention of action film opening shots.


Final Shot of the opening scene

Mad Max

Casino Royale
















Captain America Winter Soldier

Arrow Season 1

Arrow Season 2

Arrow Season 3


There was no real common convention for the final shot of the opening scene. In general, a short high impact, fast paced scene takes place, and ends on some sort of cliff hanger with the protagonist getting away. All these films follow this, however the final shot before the main title varies. As you see in Arrow, they always end on a front shot of the protagonist, this also occurs in Mad Max. In Casino Royale however, shortly after a close up of 'James Bond' a large explosion occurs and he gets away, leaving the final shot of the mise on scene to show the destruction left behind. In our production we didn't follow a convention for our final shot. Instead we focused on the narrative. We used voice dialogue through a phone call, to somewhat briefly explain to the viewer what has happened, but not why, allowing us to leave it as a 'cliff hanger' and feed into the main title which is what commonly arose in many action films we looked at.

Our final shot in our film opening. The Brief.


Shot Types and Variation
When looking through these 3 films and the various seasons of arrow, I noticed that there were many of the same type of shot. I think this comes down to the fact they all involved a high speed chase by foot, or some sort of impact or activity. Some shots are better at displaying this than others, which is a possibility for as to why many of the same shot types occurred, for example a tracking shot.
Here is a list of shot types I found throughout 3 or more of the films I researched in the action genre:
-Long shot
- Over the shoulder shot
-Close up
-Tracking/Moving shot
-Establishing shot
-Various panning shots

In our production, we tried to follow as many conventions as possible, along with making the cinematography as best as possible and keeping the narrative clear throughout. Example of shots in relation to conventions include:

Over the shoulder

Close up

 Long shot










Establishing shot


Focus on main character (Protagonist)
In our production we focused on having two characters, the protagonist and antagonist. We wanted to entice the audience to be on the side of the protagonist, to do this we focused on the protagonist (good guy). We incorporated a gym scene focus on movements that would be used in the chase, so we could use match cuts. The film opening starts and ends with the protagonist. In the films I researched, Casino Royale, Mad Max and Arrow all focus on the protagonist, but use an antagonist. Therefore we DID follow this convention.


Mise en Scene and verisimilitude
We used regular pedestrian areas in our film opening to provide a sense of verisimilitude, we also didn't have any large destruction stunts which was a common convention we didn't follow. This is to achieve a sense of verisimilitude (realism). When shooting, we made sure to go out when the weather was similar to that of the last shoot. This is to help the narrative and help it flow successfully. Along with this, the shot below for example, was framed to make it look as though I was cornered. However we intact framed the shot and focused on the mise-en-scene to make it look like it was.

We framed the shot and made the mise en scene show that the protagonist was cornered

You can see just over the wall where we shot (the white wall) and that it isn't infact a corner.
The wall only goes half way back, and there was space beyond. The shot provided good
effect and proved successful.

Sound
When researching common conventions of film openings in the action genre, I noticed each and every film had both diegetic and non diegetic sound. We also followed this convention. We predominately used non-diegetic sound as we wanted to focus on the chase, and specifically use that as our introduction to feed into the main body of the film. But were also used diegetic sound with dialogue, we did this to improve the narrative and to follow this convention.


Editing
The common convention in relation to editing is fast paced, quick and sharp editing. It also likes with sound, and the music fits the scene and speed of the shots. This happened in all 4 films I researched. Along with this cinematography proved very important in the various films I saw. We tried to follow this also, by using a range of shots, out of focus to in focus shots (pull shot), tracking shots etc. The route we used in the chase was actually in various different parts around Ilkley, where we filmed. We used editing to link these together and make it seem as though it is one continuous route, allowing us to maintain a clear story and continuity. The editing was vital in doing this.


Narrative
We finished our final cut, and watched it back through, and noticed that it didn't quite make sense. We took it back to the story board and made some adjustments. We added a whole training scene almost doubling screen time, changed all the music to fit the scene better, and worked on match cuts. Along with this we added dialogue and altered the storyline slightly. Once we completed this, I personally noticed that it didn't quite make sense that the protagnoist would be transporting a package, get caught and for nothing to be in the bag and to get away, it wasn't a convention of action film openings. So I put forward the idea of the use of a memory stick. Something small, which can be perceived powerful and realistic, reaching a sense of verisimilitude, which could easily have been in the protagonists pocket the whole time. We re-shot the final clip with a close up of the protagonist walking away with the memory stick, using slow motion to prove importance, and using dialogue to say 'decoy complete'. Overall the adjustments on the narrative proved a success and we are much happier with the outcome. While doing so we managed to follow some key conventions.

There are many types of successful action films, including:

-Robin Hood

-Star Wars

-The Three Musketeers

-District 13

-James Bond... Casino Royal

Common Conventions:

Most action films adopt a fast pace and continuous high energy to maintain the speed and flow of the film. Stunts and activity is used to emphasise the genre of film. They include chase scenes, rescues, battles etc... they use these to increase the adrenaline of the audience so they are 100% focused on the film, and stunt scenes for example come to full effect. When the two main characters meet (antagonist and protagonist) fights and martial arts for example are used, at this point, tense music is used with sharp editing to get the audience to feel the speed and pace of the fight, and keep them engaged. And finally, huge plot twists are common, usually from the use of a huge disaster which remove one of the vulnerable yet well liked characters, to change the emotion of the audience, and again keep them engaged. All of these are used in many many action related films including the samples above.

The History of Action Films:

-The '40s and '50s saw many 'Cowboy and Indian' and 'warfare' related films. 

-The '60s introduced 'spy' films, for example James Bond. These films normally include high speed car chases to really engage the viewer, and soon became an icon of James Bond, with the Aston Martin.

-The '70s brought 'urban crime dramas' and martial arts.

-Hollywood then took over the film industry in the '80s with big time actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone who was in 'Rocky', arguably the greatest boxing film ever produced.

-And the '90s saw sequels of many films. The success of many film sequels proved successful as a franchise. It also proved how marketable films had become, with toys and video games spiralling of for the film itself, opening a new gap in the market.

Having done this research, as a group we felt confident this was a good genre to go with, it allows us to have fun with music, camera shots, editing and a great storyline, it also eliminates the use of too much dialogue so that what we have is emphasised.

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