Evalutation Question 1

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

 My group were incredibly conscious of the effect that continuity can have on the audience, and we knew it was very important that we achieved great continuity throughout our film. Many student films I have seen have been let down due to their lack of continuity, which only emphasised how important it is to ensure the success of our film.

The use of a handheld camera within our film meant that it was exceptionally challenging to maintain the 180 degree rule, due to us always changing direction of the camera. Despite this challenge, we always made sure this rule wasn’t broken when we used a static camera. We had suffered from a few issues while filming, for example we found ourselves breaking the 180 degree rule when filming in the underpass, however, once we watched this back, we quickly realised this was an issue and we chose to reshoot this scene to rectify our mistake. We also had to reshoot a scene in Vera’s house due to her leaving without her briefcase, which was to be seen in the following scene. However we corrected this minor fault with a reshoot of this scene to ensure continuity was kept throughout our film. We also used a shot reverse shot in the office scene to show the  two characters in this scene having a conversation, we did this while adhering to the 180 degree rule. In this scene you can also see an eye-line match, which shows the audience what the character was looking at. Before filming we conducted a preliminary task based on elliptical editing, however this also helped us recap on different aspects of continuity so that we were ready for when we actually created our short film. 

 For our film we chose to create a sci-fi thriller. A Sci-Fi typically depicts of phenomenon that aren't usually accepted by the mainstream society, for example the idea of the playback tape in the case of our film. This and the fact that it is set in the future are the conventions of this genre that we chose to stick to in our film. However Sci-Fi thrillers rarely cast a strong female character as their lead. Therefore in that sense we have inverted the convention and we have challenged it. We got the idea to feature a strong female lead from the film Alien, which also has a very strong female lead. We chose to do this in an attempt to challenge the conventions of a sci-fi thriller genre, and to reach a wider audience, as Sci-Fi films are generally more accessible to male audiences. Therefore by following Alien's lead and using a female lead, we instantly make our film appealing to a female audience as well. The upbeat music and rhythmic editing helped us with the thriller aspect as the music made some scenes feel urgent and the faced paced cuts on the beat only reinforced this. Also our character suffers from multiple personality disorder, which can be seen through the use of the alter ego at the end. This is not typical of most sic-fi films or thrillers, however it can be seen in films such as Mr Brooks and Black swan. This plot device helped us explain why Vera was receiving the tapes, and why she didn't remember doing these things on the tapes. Despite us going against the convention of thriller films in terms of using a female protagonist, it is typical that it is a female to be shown with a mental health issue, as can be seen within films such as Black Swan, Three Faces Of Eve and The Ward. Such films helped us construct the character of Vera to accurately depict her disorder.

The use of Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites was used in our film in terms of the multiple personality disorder as Vera was portrayed as the 'Hero', while her alter ego was portrayed as the 'Villain', and the film is about her struggle to defeat her alter ego, however in the end the Villain wins, which is untypical of a thriller film.

 In our film we took inspiration for our title sequence from the title sequence for enter the void. The fast paced editing used in the enter the void title sequence helps create a manic impression which we wanted to imitate in our film, so the atmosphere was set from the title sequences. The Enter the Void  title sequence is very simplistic, with very little use of images, just writing to get the main points across.  The fast paced editing used within this title sequence  also portrays some form of unease, which is what we would like to create. It shows the audience from the beginning that the film is going to be disorientating, and it portrays that without giving away much about the film. This was a deliberate move on our part to create a title sequence which portrayed exactly what we wanted it to.


In the flashback scene, and the virtual reality scenes,  we over exposed the footage in an attempt to make it easier for the audience to differentiate between the scenes which were real and which weren't and to create a hyper reality. This is similar to the scenes in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, where the colours in the flashback are brighter than the ones in what is presented as the reality, therefore the audience can tell when the characters are in the middle of a flashback, which is what we aimed to achieve. We also added the timer effect on the bottom of the screen to emphasis the fact that these were recordings.

In our film we also created a storyline similar to that seen in  the film strange days. The idea that someones memories can be seen using some sort of connection to the brain was an idea we got directly from this film, and twisted to create our own unique version. We used our own creative ideas to create a completely unique and original short film, and the use of a female lead suffering with a mental illness allowed us to achieve this.  Also in the film we kept our own accents, allowing us to create a British independent film, with local, relatable characters.  We kept the idea that the 'virtual reality' scenes would be shot using a handheld camera to create a point of view shot. We believed that the uses of a handheld camera would allow the audience to be fully immersed in these scenes, allowing them to feel how we wanted to portray our main character as feeling.  We practiced these shots in a hope of attempting to not make our film look like a student film, and I believe we created the best quality scenes possible using the point of view shots. 

We didn't want the audience to really understand that it was Vera's alter ego sending herself these tapes and that it was her committing these acts. Therefore through out the film, we dropped subtle hints through out the film, for example the flashback scene in the underpass helped us portray the fact that Vera was some how linked to these tapes. However the reveal was left until the end. Our audience feedback confirms that this was clear at the end, however the rest of the film it was unclear as to who was sending her these tapes and why. Therefore I would say that this has been successful.

Richard dyers theory of entertainment argues that one factor of entertainment is utopianism. He claims that entertainment offers the image of something better to set against the day to day reality. So someones reality may be:

• Exhaustion
• Scarcity
• Dreariness
• Manipulation
• Fragmentation

and these would be the Utopian Solution's:

• Energy
• Abundance
• Intensity
• Transparency 
• Community

This theory can be applied to our film. For example the use of a chase scene shows the use of the Energy solution which is the solution to the audiences Exhaustion by providing them with the adrenaline through the use of fast paced editing and the music used to heighten the feeling of energy in this scene. 

Intensity can also be applied to our film, for example there are extremely graphic scenes such the murders and the rape scene. The audience may find these scenes entertaining and thrilling because of the graphic violence we have used.  Also the audience is allowed to feel a large range of intense emotions throughout our film as there are scenes where Vera is intensely scared, or confused.



Transparency is also used in our film, as we easily portray what Vera is feeling through a range of close ups of her face showing her emotions throughout the film. These close ups allow the audience to connect with Vera, and allow them to feel the same emotions she is portraying. The use of a cantered angle as vera runs from the underpass also portrays transparency as it demonstrates that she is confused and scared by what she has just experienced in the last flashback.