By Mourad H EL-Ghazili

From carrying out thorough and concise research into various professional media products, I believe that my media product has attempted to use, develop and challenge the conventions of real media products.

In one scene of my short film, I stuck to tradition conventions and used a low angle to present the antagonist “Medz” as a loud, intimidating character that is in authority in contrast to the character Omar Ahmed, who is portrayed as a shy, apprehensive character who fears Medz.

By sticking to tradition conventions that are used in real media products, I was able to distinguish the differences in personality between the characters Medz and Omar Ahmed, which helped highlight who was the character with more authority.

This is important within film as camera angles and other aspects of mise en scene help to signify the importance of a character in the story.

Low Angle Shot

Clearly distinguishes that the antagonist is in authority due to

the low angle.

Distinguishes that this character is not in authority. He’s not making eye contact

with the antagonist and he is also placed at a lower position.

I framed this shoot according to some research I did on the film Adulthood. Specifically, the screenshots below demonstrate the use of camera angles to signify authority and power.

Low Angle Shot

High Angle Shot

In my short film, I made developments to the traditional conventions featured in real media products through my editing. In one scene of my short film, the antagonist Medz slams through the door which is shot as a tracked close up of his face. When it came to editing, I decided to use slow motion to emphasize the aggressive facial expressions of the antagonist and the danger that the protagonist was facing. Also, by using slow motion, it helps to make the scene more menacing and terrifying, which helps to build tension within the audience. When filming it, I applied to the rules of thirds so that the character’s face was placed at the points where the audience would focus on most. By doing this, the audience’s attention would be attracted to the character’s face and would be able to see their facial expression.