IN WHAT WAYS DOES OUR MEDIA PRODUCTION USE, DEVELOP OR CHALLENGE FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF REAL MEDIA PRODUCTS? EVALUATION QUESTION 1

CHRISTY YEUNG

WHAT ARE OUR CONVENTIONS?

Low Key lightingEstablishing shots

Score/orchestral musicCamera shots

CharactersCamera movements

Editing techniquesCostume

Flash backChasing sceneTitle Sequence

GENRE : THRILLERFORM : OPENING SEQUENCE

INSTITUTIONS :20TH CENTURY FOX MASS MARKET STUDIO FILM

LOW KEY LIGHTINGLow key lighting

• Low key lighting is used in the first scene of the film where the police are searching in the woods where there is only a very limited amount of light used while we are filming this scene, the flashlights, as a prop, used in the scene has helped to enhance the lighting to give a clearer view of the focus to the audience, the main reason why we chose to use low key lighting in the first scene is to bring up the tension of the audience and to create a dramatic response and effect. Shadow is closely related to low key lighting, they are used to represent the inner darkness within beings, and can also add to tension and creepiness that is created, however we choose not to use shadow in our opening scene since we have chosen to complicate the character type by not telling the audience who the “hero” and who the “villain” is through the opening scene, shadow will be used later in the film to show who the “villain” in the film is.

• With the low key lighting, this is able to pleasure the emotions of audience as our targeted audiences are all female and the film genre of our film is thriller. The binary opposition can be used when comparing the lighting used in the wood scene and in the room scene as in the wood scene was using low key lighting and it was not used in the room scene and with the later contrast of the score of the end of the opening sequence further confirms binary opposition and also connotes that danger/enemy is close to the protagonist and with the setting of the room we are able to represent teenage life and as well by having it in a boarding school environment it is able to confirm the age of the characters.

ESTABLISHING SHOT• The use of establishing shot was being challenged instead it is being replaced by

a long shot of the woods and is being placed between the first and the second scene of the film, giving the audience a clear shot of the site where the character is and when did it the story happened, by including a long shot in the between two scenes this will increase the impression of the location, and through this it will create suspense which will lead the audience to think and guess what is going to happen in this location which satisfy the needs of problem solving in Maslow's hierarchy as well as social interaction of the uses and gratifications theory since the audience can discuss with each other, this also helps to interact with audience and to capture the audience's attention

• By replacing an establishing shot with a long shot has helped us to increase the continuity of the scene as we are able to have Ali to interrupt the straight when we are revealing the location, and if an establishing shot was used in this scene, this will lead to the tension of the audience being lowered as the entrance of Ali will need to be shown from another shot. And with the longshot we are able to slowly build up the pace of the scene as well as building up the tension of the audience at the same time.

SCORE/ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

• Scores are used in all scenes of the opening sequence, the score “From Under A Vision” is used in the first scene of the film, which has portrayed the dramatic aspect of our film and as well has shown suspend and to create a feeling of mystery, ambient sound was also used in this scene in order to create realism in the scene. The score “Elevate” is used in the second scene of the film, the score “Elevate” was chosen for this scene because we think that the drum beats in the background can be used to replace the breathing sound as planned in the before this is because the beating sound sounds similar to the sound of heart beat, but instead of the heart beat of the character it is used to portrait the heart beat of the audience, this has created suspense and build up the tension of the audience in this scene. A Sting is added when Ali turns back then flash to white before revealing the face of Ali and is followed by the reveal of the film title, this brings the audience’s tension to the highest point then quickly drops to back to a low tension due to the change in pace. In the third scene of our opening sequence the score “Lighter” is used to take out dullness of the scene and make it more conventional and interesting, at the end of the third scene, we faded in the score used in the second scene “Elevate” to create a link between both scene and emphasize the suspense.

• With the different pace of the scores, it helped to establish danger and safety of different scenes, the fast pace piece was used to connote danger and the slow pace piece was used to connote safety.

• I think that a sound track is more suitable to be used in the last scene of the opening sequence, as listening to soundtracks is what teenage girls normally do in their daily activities, and the lyrics of the soundtrack could also be used to bring out information in the film as well as connoting youth as they are usually more energetic.

CAMERA SHOTS• In the opening sequence of eighteen, different camera shots are used to highlight the main focus of the

shot, such as the movements and the facial expressions of the character and with these different camera shots audiences are also able to build up different feelings. Close up shots in our opening sequence are used to show reactions of the characters, this shows the most emotions of the characters it is as well used to show some details of the scene it is also used to connote danger to the character and the fear of the character. Over the shoulder shots are also used in our opening sequence, and these over shoulder shots are used for different purposes due to the different pace of the film, in scene one over shoulder shots are used to build up tension and to add suspense, however in scene three the over shoulder shots are used in a conversation of a slow pace, this lowers the tension of the audience compared to other over shoulder shots of different movies, the one in scene three is different due to the fact that both characters are facing the same direction while they are having the conversations instead of facing each other. Over shoulder shot of Ali looking in the mirror is also used to allow audience to have a different view of the character. Over the shoulder shot is used to show the distance between characters and what the character is observing.

• Other than that, medium close ups are also being used quite a lot in the opening sequence by having the frame a bit further away from the character helps us by not showing the feeling of the and this helps to connote danger and fear as well as connoting that Ali might not be able to be saved. In the opening sequence, we could have also used a worm’s eye view ( extreme low angle) which can be used to connote the disorientation of Ali as in the beginning the audience do no know what happened to her.

• In scene one and scene two there is an unreliable point of view where in the first scene we sympathise with Ali as we see her red heels, but in scene two we are only able to see that Ali is running in the woods but we are not able to tell if she is being chase ore if she is running away from what she did, so in this scene we have placed Ali in the position of the Killer.

CHARACTER• We have decided that our main character Ali and Lexi to have a

similar background as our target audience we choose, by having our characters in a similar age and behavior to our audience will be able to make the audience feel like they have a linkage in between and that they are related and this will satisfy the personal identity of the audience. Also in our opening sequence we decided not to show the character type of different character in the film, by doing this we have complicated Propp’s character theory, and as well confusing the audience, which then brings them to think and to predict who is the “hero”, “villain” and the “princess” of the film, as there are not enough information helping the audience to distinguish from who which character is representing and the audience might think that Ali will be the “princess” of the film, but instead she will be both the “princes” as well as the protagonist of the film.

CAMERA MOVEMENTS• Camera movements like tilts, pans and tracking are being used in the

opening sequence of eighteen, tracking is used in the scenes filmed in the woods where we first track behind and over the police to see the shoe, the second tracking is used to track Ali when she is running in the woods, both track is used to allow audience feel that they are a part of the scene as well as connoting danger in scene 2 where the tracking used in scene 2 was a fast hand held tracking. Tilt is used in the room scene when Lexi is texting Amy on her phone, tilt is used in this shot to allow the audience know what the character is doing, this also connotes that Lexi and Ali do not have a good relation ship as she prefers texting Amy and choose to speak behind Ali. Panning is used in the end of the last scene when Ali walks from the mirror to the Woodrow, pan is used to allow audience to have a clear view of the movements of the character and this also connotes the importance of the item that Ali is getting.

• The hand held tracking used has successfully brought the tension of the audience up as well as satisfying the emotional pleasures and the visceral pleasure of the audience.

EDITING TECHNIQUESUse of quick cuts, action matches and eye line matches in editing

• In the opening sequence of eighteen, quick cuts of short takes are mainly used especially in the first and second scene, it is used to create a fast pace for this two scenes and is also used to bring up the tension of the audience to make a big different between first two scene and scene 3. In scene 3 there are more long takes shot/reverse shot was used, this shows that this scene is slower and also connotes that they are more relax in boarding. Action match is used in scene 2 and scene 3 where there are more action shots to allow audience to see the movement of the character in a different angle. Eye line match is used in scene 3 where Lexi is texting Amy where it was a shot where she looks down to her phone then is cut to a close up of her view of the phone. Reverse shots are used in scene three where the conversation takes place, this give a different view of the conversation. Jump cut is also used in the transition of the first and second scene where the red heels was revealed for a short period of time then was interrupted by the entrance of the next scene, by playing with the jump cut, we are able to bring the tension of the audience up in the end of first scene then with the interruption of the entrance of scene two has also put the audience to a shock as well as bringing the tension up again.

• Continuity editing was also used in the first scene of the opening sequence in order to increase the continuity of the whole film and in our first draft of the film, we have failed to do this as cuts applied does not show continuity and has made the film longer as some not necessary shots was added in the opening sequence. And by trimming the shots as well as removing the not necessary scenes has helped to improve the continuity of the scene

COSTUME• We choose different costume of different character in each scene to highlight the

representations of different character of the film. For the cops, business suit was chosen produce the iconography of cops, this also able to connote the professional of the cops, by having Tiff with business suit this will break the representation of females where females usually wear skirts instead of trousers, on the other hand by having Phil with normal male business suit show the masculine of his character and connotes that he is a conservative character. For the costume of Ali in the wood scene, we choose a pure white dress with the red heels to go along with, the white dress connotes pureness of the girl and by having the red heels this has complicate the representation of the fact that Ali is innocent as red is normally used to connote power and strength, this accepted the stereotype of female since both white and red is normally used to represent female, and through the costume of Ali in the woods shows that Ali is heterosexual as her out fit shows that she is trying to attract the attention from the opposite sex. For the costumes for the room scene, we choose to have both character wearing casual wear while the costume of both character creates a contrast where Ali has a girly outfit and Lexi’s outfit is more unisex where Ail has a crop top with a pair of white jeans while Lexi’s outfit is a stipe shirt with a pair of blue jeans, these out fits are chosen to highlight their different personality in the film and having two comparison between Phil and Tiff as well as Ali and Lexi.

FLASH BACK AND CHASING SCENE

• In stead of flash back, we choose to do a flash forward where we show scenes toward the end of the film by doing this we are able to catch the attention of the audience since they would want to know what has actually happened at last in the film, the flash forward ended as the title is shown and the scenes used in the flash forward, has a fast pace where the “present” of the film has a slow scene this gives a big contrast of the two parts of the opening sequence. With it started with a flash back, this means that it started with a disequilibrium where there is a problem to be solved, and this is able to create suspense and this also help to satisfy the intellectual pleasure of the audience as well as able to satisfy Maslow’s problem solving.

• A “chasing” scene is included in our opening sequence of Eighteen, it is used to bring up the tension of the audience as well as catching the attention of the audience, in the “chasing” scene of the opening sequence we can only see the being chased and the person chasing was not shown, this means that the girl might not be being chased she might jut be running in the woods to escape from something.

TITLE SEQUENCEWhat we planned

1. Production company2. Distribution company3. Actor 14. Actor 25. Title6. Actor 37. Actor 48. Casting9. Costumes10. Music11. Producer12. Written by13. Director

What we did1. Title2. Studio company3. Association company4. Director5. Main actor 6. Supporting cast 17. Supporting cast 28. Supporting cast 39. Costume design10. Sound director11. Editor12. Producer

TITLE SEQUENCE CONT.• We didn’t follow the order of production details which we

researched during our research of the conventions of form, this is because we believe that putting the creditors before our title will break the tension that we have set up in the previous scene, and by placing it in a slower pace scene will not affect the tension of the audience when they are watching the film. All the people mentioned in the title sequence will be our main roles in the entire film but not only the opening sequence.

• The font of our title works perfectly as it shows mystery. The title Eighteen is chosen, because as the incident happens, both Ali and Lexi is 18 years old, and it happens at 18:00 of the day, curls is added to the font to connote that the friendship between Ali and Lexi is very complicated, and we also created a symbol of infinite on the left of the title, this connotes that their friendship is everlasting.

INSTITUTION CONVENTIONS

• In the beginning of our film the 20th century fox production logo was added, this allows the audience to know that the film is produced by Fox, and this will also give credits to Fox production.

• Our film provided definite British identity of upper class boarding school, and this stereotype appeals to the American market, and it is believed that a British production company such as working title will be more suitable for our film, where it is able to create a global appeal as well as maintaining the British identity. However, as our film is going to be a Hollywood film, I believe that Fox will be a better choice as a production company, other than that, as Working title is owned by Universal, this means that there will be a chance that Universal will choose not to fund our film.

APPLYING THE THEORETICAL RESEARCH Auteur Theory

• By Auteur theory, this means that the film is trying to show camera shots or styles of a specific director uniquely. Our film started with a flash forward and with scene of different part of the film interrupting each other, which has made the audience feel confused in which part of the story that they are in. This style can be used as the auteur of our film, by beginning the film with the recognition of an enigma.

• Other than that, by playing with the types of the character in the opening sequence of the film can also be classified as on of our auteur, as we confused the audience by not clearly telling who the protagonist and who the antagonist if the film is, as well as leaving space for the audience to think and predict.