Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film genre was Crime drama therefore we tried to follow codes and conventions of the genre. Therefore are film has many conventions of crime drama (gangster). Are film is called ‘’Granted’’ are film was about two brothers living different life style one of them following the good path and other the bad path and the ending is very shocking so therefore it has drama genre conventions. So we tried to get the genre across just by watching the opening sequence however we tried not to give away too much of the narrative and leave audience with a enigma within the opening sequence. And by using the conventions of crime drama films attract the crime drama fans therefore we needed to have clear codes and conventions of the genre.

The opening Sequence of ‘’Granted’’ follows the same conventions as most crime drama films such as:

• Credits
• Soundtrack
• Statistics
• Characters Representation
• Setting
• Clues about the Narrative
• Themes
  

Our film uses the conventions of crime drama (gangster) films through the characters, narrative, sound, Mise en scene.

We used Establishing shots to show the setting the area in are opening sequence which by looking at it audience can start thinking what type of people live there and even some people can relate to it as they might live in the same for example the graffiti shot we used have connotations of poor area the ghetto; also to help audience understand about the genre. We also used Statistics about the crime levels such as: homicides, gun crime, and robbery, violence against person at the moment in UK which tells and sets up the audience for the narrative. The non-digetic sound track we used was also gangster type which gives audience the clue what the film is going to be about as are chosen soundtrack is a beat that has a fast tempo that features a couple of second pause. We chose this song because it represents the area and culture of the gangsters and the seconds pause could be used audience to focus more on the quotes seen through are opening sequence and also we gathered ideas about sound from a film ‘Notorius B.I.G’ as they had hip-hop/rap beats during their film and it is typical codes and conventions of a gangster/crime drama film. The representation of the characters with Hoodies represented them in the bad way we picked up examples from films such as ‘Adulthood’ and ‘Kidulthood’ as the both films were similar to are one so therefore we followed the typical codes and conventions of crime drama as their main character ‘Sam’ always was shown to be wearing a hoodie. The location used was poor and dirty which is conventions of crime/gangster film and it gives that atmosphere no money people committing crimes in order to survive the way we done that was by using rubbish as props to dress the set in order to make are cinematography to look more professional and not to be looking amateur. We gathered ideas from films such as ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Scarface’ as they used a range of codes and conventions of an crime drama film such as statistics, Sound the font colours in red, credits introducing the main characters, themes. The characters in are opening sequence wasn’t introduced in the film however we had a group of gangster in the alley way which they were represented in the bad way by wearing Hoodies and their body language shown as they don’t care about society and they look like people that rebel the law because of their facial expressions. The reasoning for not introducing the main characters of the film was because we showed a clear genre using codes and conventions such ‘based on a true story’ you can see these of the opening of the films such as ‘Scarface’ ,’Goodfellas’, ‘Notorious B.I.G’ and most recent film ‘Case 39’. Also the use of statistics they were used in ‘Scarface’ they are typical crime drama films with the key codes and conventions and also to get the audience attention to make them carry on watching it and leave an enigmatic feel in are opening sequence without the main characters. And by not introducing the main characters was unique as other films they introduce them straight away so we used creativity skills to not show the characters but deliver the genre in using other codes and conventions. I seen the characters being represented in ‘Adulthood’ with Hoodies so we tried to have similar representation to a crime drama genre which would the audience would want to see in terms of the characters. And the example for not introducing the main characters we saw in ‘Scarface’ opening as they firstly set up the audience for the narrative by using statistics also by using establishing shots and after the opening sequence they introduce their main character. We showed conventions in the opening sequence very clear therefore audience won’t be thinking which genre it is they will know straight away.

The narrative of film follows the conventions of a real media product. Are narrative is not really given away in the sequence as we didn’t even introduce the main character are films genre is crime drama because at the end we have a shocking end therefore audience would be shocked therefore is crime drama. In the opening sequence it look that the film will just have crime elements however it has many drama conventions such as two different lives of the two brother characters. However are narrative is about two brothers being separated at young age one is protagonist (Trey) and other is antagonist (Nicholas) as shown in the opening sequence the area which are main character Nicholas has been grown really changed him by doing crime because that is the way he makes money and survives where are protagonist Trey has been raised differently and not in the same environment that’s the reason they are both very different to each other. The setting has a very major part in are film as it shows how it can change the characters. In the film ‘Goodfellas’ the main character Henry changed because in the are where he lives and we have same situation in are film that’s why I would say are media project is similar to real media products.

Gun crime

Robberies

Murder

Life in poor places

Survival

Drugs

Lost brother theme is not shown till the end of the film but it is the theme that we have in are film. The gun crime is shown in the statistics therefore audience are aware of that and expecting to see that anyway because guns or killing is part of the crime drama convention. We also include robbery statistics therefore audience are also aware of that. We showed establishing shot of the place which looks poor and dirty therefore we showed one of the themes in are film visually and seeing the area and thinking back to the statistics the theme could be survival how do people live there and not getting affected by crime. We also showed the drug situation visually by having an exchange between two characters.

The sound we used in our film was non-digetic sounds such as gunshots which is typical to see in a gangster or crime drama films such as ‘Bad boyz’ they used a gunshot before the title appeared on screen; also a hip hop soundtrack beat which follow the conventions of our genre because gunshots tells audience that there going to be shoot out or even death. Also the hi -hop music quite fast and aggressive which audience could start stereotyping that black people be involved in film such as ‘Get rich or die trying’ uses similar soundtracks and also the character are all black in the narrative. The sound that we used also develop forms & conventions of our genre because after the soundtrack(non digetic) the next sound used is gun shots (contrapuntal sound) which could suggest that the beat of the soundtrack is the action and after that is the gunshots meaning murder or someone gets shot.

In terms of Mise en scene we show setting by establishing shots we also used props rubbish to make the area seem dirty and poor council estate therefore to create some ghetto place atmosphere which we could refer to ‘City of God’ showing a ghetto and a poor place which has crime elements. The costumes we used were hoodies to represent are characters in a bad stereotypical way just to know about how they are visually rather having a voice-over or dialogue from the characters. Facial expressions of the character were angry also like they don’t care and they are in power. We used props such as Cigarettes, Lighter, Bottle, hoodies to show they have nothing to do just smoke and drink and commit crime we also had a police line shot which has a connotation of death or big accident to show what is happening in the area. These props are typical in the crime drama films as they suggest they don’t have anything else better to do and this also connotes the social class the people could be in which in this care lower class people being poor and the area associates that. Characters we had in are opening sequence the body language we tried to show was in power very serious and we us audience expecting everything from them as we have a shocking ending this is very typical of the genre and most of the time we expect to see that in the endings most of the time we expect to see death so therefore we kind of follow the genres conventions, however comparing are film to ‘Get rich or die trying’ the film did not end in a death so therefore they challenge the audience expectations of the genre.