Evaluation 1In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The Task and Preparation Our task for AS Level Media Studies was to create a two minute fictional film opening, including title credits. My group was made of two people, myself and Yahia. Together we created a treatment for the film and planned our opening sequence. Before we could produce the opening sequence we did individual research on existing films with an Action/Romance genre that follow a spy storyline. This research allowed us build our knowledge on the genre and create our opening. Once we finished our research and preparation we were given 2 weeks to film our opening, after 3 attempts at filming we were happy with the footage we had as we believed it was conventional to our genre.

Treatment • A woman called Jane has been talking to her pen-pal from “Sweden” called Ludvig for just about under 3 months through emails and skype. In fact, she is so excited that she decides to video vlog (record) her feelings for this person because she believes that he is “the one”. She does this for her slowly growing YouTube channel. But to her surprise when they come to meet she realises that he is quite different from his online persona but is blinded by love so still gives him a shot. But little does she know he is actually a Russian man called Nikolai that really works for the Russian secret service and just wanted a place to stay. Who only faked his identity to gain access into the country to try and find the rest of his comrades who has mysteriously gone missing but while with Jane he must stay completely in character to not compromise the mission while he still tries to find his fellow comrades and in order to do this he must fake a relationship with Jane to gain trust but soon gets feelings for her. She tags along on the adventure and also vlogs (records) it for her audience.

Setting and LocationFor the first two attempts at filming we had set our opening at a train station, however I felt this did not follow the conventions of our Action/Romance genre. I wanted the protagonist to appear mysterious to the audience, therefore we moved the location to a very small and isolated shed/den as it relates to how our main protagonist feels about having his comrades taken away from him. It also sets a mood for the overall film.After watching other movie openings such as James Bond, we learned that the main focus is the protagonist and title credits. Therefore, a isolated environment such as the shed/den I used would help to make the main focus the protagonist and credits. I believe this is more conventional to my genre than a scene featuring other characters and dialogue.

Costume and PropsThe protagonists costume appears very casual and is not conventional to the stereotypical spy character. The style of the protagonist is the stereotypical style of a heterosexual male as it is very masculine. We wanted to create a dark mood, therefore we chose dark jeans, a black jacket and black briefcase. I wanted our protagonist to appear different as he is undercover. However, the main goal of having a casual outfit rather than a suit is to make he character more relatable to an audience, I wanted the film to be different to its competitors.There were many props used in our opening such as padlocks, hammers, pictures, and a notepad. However, the main prop is the briefcase. Therefore, I made sure it was in a large amount of scenes alongside the protagonist as it is a recurring motif in our film.

Camerawork and EditingOur opening was highly influenced by the “Se7en” and “Skyfall” opening sequences. I believed a combination of these two openings would create the ideal opening for our genre. “Se7en” uses a large amount of extreme close ups on different objects which creates a mysterious mood for the audience, this is the same mood I want our audience to feel. However, we also wanted to exhibited our main protagonist Nikolai, therefore I took inspiration from the “Skyfall” opening as it focuses largely on the main protagonist.

The camerawork was key for our opening as we needed to capture the mood perfectly, therefore there are a large amount of close ups on our protagonist and objects. The goal for these close ups was to create a mysterious and ominous mood. When editing the opening we made sure we had a large amount of footage that could be shortened and cut to create a speed that would suit the music. We also wanted some shots to be a larger focus than others, especially shots which we wanted our credits to appear on, such as the shot with he padlock and the establishing shots of the shed/den.

Title font and Style For our title credits I wanted a font and colour that was clear and bold, due to the dark and blue colouring effects we used. However, we didn’t want a colour that would effect our genre and mood. Therefore, we used a bold white text as it contrasts nicely with the colouring of the clips and stands out without being too overpowering. The text used for the title of the film and title credits is different, we wanted two different fonts for this as we wanted our film to stand out so that it would catch the audiences attention immediately.

Does my opening follow the conventions of a Action/Romance.

• Lighting: The lighting in our opening is very dull and low throughout the majority of the shots, this follows the conventions of an Action genre and spy movie as the low lighting presents an ominous atmosphere but can be argued to differentiate from a Romance genre.

Setting: The setting of the opening definitely follows the conventions of an Action movie, however it goes against the stereotypical setting of a Romance film, which would generally be set in a romantic setting or home.

Characters: We only exhibit one of our characters in our opening, the main male protagonist. The conventions of a spy movie are followed with our character, as the protagonist in a spy movie is often male, however his costume and background story can be seen to go against the conventions of an Action genre and more towards a Romance Genre.

What are the generic conventions of a Action/Romance ?

• Action: Based on Inception, Batman, and The Dark Knight typical conventions of action movies are weapons, fights, missions, death or loss of loved ones, good guy and bad guy, dark and small location, breaking of windows, doors etc, and dark lighting, loud and dramatic music, a strong and mysterious main character and vulnerable female.

Romance: Based on Love Rosie, One Day and Me Before You the typical conventions are a voice over to introduce the theme of love, a boy meets girl plot, aimed at female audience, a single instrument song (such as piano or violin), both diegetic and non diegetic sound.

Does my film follow the generic conventions of its genre?• My opening follows a mixture of the conventions of each genre, it includes a voice over, boy meets girl storyline, both diegetic and non diegetic sound and a soft music with the use of piano and strings which can be linked to conventions of a romantic film. However it also involves violence, weapons, good guys and bad guys, and a dark and small location.

• The balance of these conventions sets the tone for the genre, and signals to the audience that the film is of an action/romance genre. Much like James Bond and Mission Impossible.

My opening compared to The Avengers

• The opening sequence for The Avengers builds up a large amount of suspense for the audience. This is done by the use of adrenalin building and intense music along with the contrast of light and dark. The sequence makes the main focus credits, to do this no characters are revealed. This creates a sense of mystery for the audience which is key for an action genre. Although no characters are shown the audience does see various parts of the costumes which helps to build suspense and excitement.

In my opening for From Sweden With Love, there is also a use of dark to set a mood for the audience, however it is not contrasted with light. A large difference between the two openings is The Avengers does not reveal characters, whereas our main character is one of the main focuses of the opening. Another difference is the music, The Avengers is an action movie and uses loud and dramatic music, whereas the music used in my opening is emotional and mellow.

My opening compared to Twilight: Breaking Dawn part II• The opening for Breaking Dawn part II is very creative and uses color to approach the genre and mood of the film. The emphasis of the color red indicates to the audience signs of danger and love. The music in the opening is a mixture of piano and other instruments, it starts slow and begins to gradually increase in speed, this implies that the film is of a drama/action genre. The opening does not feature a character until the end with an extreme close up of red eyes, this creates mystery.

The music used in my opening is slightly similar to the song used in the opening of Breaking Dawn as they both include piano and violin, they also both increase in speed. However, the lighting used is very different, my opening focuses of being very dark and mysterious, whereas the opening for Breaking Dawn is very bright and white using snow. Another difference is the amount of credits, my opening focuses on the institution, director, actors, music and editing. Whereas the opening for Breaking Dawn shows a wide range of title credits.

My opening compared to Good Will Hunting• The opening for Good Will Hunting starts with a kaleidoscope effect featuring mathematic equations, along with title credits. We are then introduces to two young male characters, this suggest that the film is not an action film, but maybe a drama or coming of age film. The opening also includes an orange/hazy coloring which creates a relaxing mood for the audience. There are also many establishing shots throughout the opening, this tells us that mystery is not being created.

Compared to my opening there are many differences, the aim of my opening is to create mystery, suspense, and tension for the audience. Whereas the opening for Good Will Hunting is much more open and allows the audience to meet two characters and their surroundings. There are also a much larger amount of credits in the opening for Good Will Hunting compared to my opening.