Question 1

Question 1- In what ways does your media product USE, DEVELOP or CHALLENGE forms and conventions of real media products?

Our film ‘Let’s dance’ is based around the teenage drama genre. The opening sequence follows a young girl, who is dancing in her room, initially for which we do not know why. But as the sequence continues, we see intentions for the character that she maybe wants to be famous through mise en scene we have used. Then a further insight is acknowledged as we see that she is trying to hide her hobby. We constructed our opening sequence like this so in the short period, that we had the audience would grasp that our film and hopefully the target audience may similarly relate to their surroundings. We did this by using typical conventions of this genre which made it easily recognisable as a teenage drama.  We knew that there have been many films in this genre but we didn’t want to just copy their ideas although, we didn't want it to be like every the other Psychological thrillers which tend to make the most short films as we wanted our movie to be unique as we could make it having fit the codes and conventions of a teenage drama

After researching our specific genre, we realised that in our opening sequence we want the audience to see our clear themes of:

·        Romance

·        Jealously

·        Friendship

·        Self belief

·        Neglect

·        Obsession

·        Success

We wanted to pull out a variety of different themes which would bring out the best aspects of our film in having a variety makes a film more unique and more engaging. Also these films could be considered  as most girls are very interested in these prospects and also the ambitions in which many films told that they are not good enough in their ambition for example as these are the types of films that lead or result to the themes above to the audience more effectively.

Form of the opening sequence

The opening shots of the film shows the aspects of where the training and also the sport gives us the intention that the girl is interested in ballet through props. Close up shots of each prop that is being used by the character to give hints to show that she is dedicated to a chosen hobby which in our film is ballet. We see this in our film when she breathes a sign of relief as her sister doesn’t find out what she is doing. We did this to see her body language and how much she is dedicated and wants to be a ballet dancer. It follows the form of the opening sequence, this is similar to ‘Sister Act’ of where the character Lauren Hill is trying to keep her secrets from without letting her mum find out about the dream she wants to fulfil instead of education which is the same storyline as in my film. We see the camera work from Lauren playing the piano in her school as she is witnessed by the nuns in which they feel that she is really good. We see the close up to emphasise she is so relaxed and fitted when it comes to singing in comparison when at home the close ups of her are shown in a negative way in which follows the conventions and themes of our genre . It challenges the conventions by different locations as Emma the character in ‘Let’s Dance’ is at home in the opening sequence and Lauren it at school when she is discovered. Also the age Emma is a bit younger and doesn’t understand as she is portrayed as a vulnerable through camera, whereas Lauren is more bold and dominant through camera through the different shots of her in different locations.

In our first shot we panned down to the house outside in which the lighting was daylight. We did this to add significance to where the setting of our film is, but to also add normality and local presence to our film. We looked at ‘High School Musical 2’ where the opening sequence which their opening shot is also a panning shot of the school in daylight. It adds normality again and emphasises local locations such as a school, house that the audience can relate to. In which we have followed the conventions by doing this. Also the lighting suited the happy and exiting atmosphere where it’s all peaceful and relaxing where Emma is practising. This is similar here  again to ‘High School Musical 2’ as the lighting is sparkly bright almost as if the film is ready to burst into life, in which we then see fades to different locations such as the canteen, cafeteria etc. Similar to our film we have fades of the different props we have used such as tables, mirrors etc. We then researched the film and found out that the opening sequence is too predictable being about normal school teenagers and decided to do something different such as include family members to add a more personal and blood aspect to her life.

                                                                                           Lauren Hill

Characters

The character was the main important aspect of our film and also of how we present this character in our opening scene will enable the audience to understand what sort of character he/she is. Our character Emma has the obsession of dance while her mum wants her to focus on her education. This is similar to main influence of our film which is of ‘Billy Elliot’ which has the exact characteristics but instead of education it is boxing. Billy had the obsession of become a ballet dancer, however his father wants him to become a boxer therefore this gave us the similarities. So we have challenged the conventions of the film by changing the gender adding more of feminine perspectives in which we see films such as ‘Billy Elliot’ and ‘High School Musical’ they all have a masculine role overpowering the main character. In which we see leading to our primary target audience of girls by challenging the gender, however it applies to all genders to our target age group with the inspiration of these two films etc.

Narrative

The narrative for a teenage drama would be set in a popular place where in most films we see that there are different types of groups such as the ’pretty’ people, nerds etc.  Normally set in a public area such as school or college. There tends to be romance between two unexpected people that both like each other but just in denial.  Such as in ‘High School Musical’ the basketball player falls in love with the smart girl who can sing.  In ‘Step Up’ the dancer falls in love with the uneducated boy who has ambitions of playing basketball but finds dance more appealing. There tends to be secrets which unravel during the story. There is always an authority figure overpowering the characters in which we see this is ‘Goal’ and ‘Sister Act’. There also tends to be an undiscovered talent in which a big event will occur and will take everyone by surprise. In my film they definitely have some elements of what a teenage drama narrative would include in which not many will be revealed to the audience in the opening sequence. In the way we have followed the codes and conventions of the narrative structure in different films but different mise en scene aspects using colour, props, hair and makeup, sound, camera work etc. The main film of this concept is to present a girl who has the passion and the destiny of achieving her dream of becoming a star having the fame she always wanted. There are many films that has similar aspects where someone has the dream which they as films like ‘Charlie And The Chocolate Factory’ in which he dream was to go to the chocolate factory and ended up owning it, ‘Sister Act’ – Lauren’s dream was to sing in which she eventually did without her mum’s permission but paid off and ‘Karate Kid’ he wanted to win a trophy in which so long he had been training for in, in which with practice he became triumphant.  Similarly all these films always include a conflict that may occur between the route towards the dream they are pursuing and in this matter this is why we have changed this type narrative idea where a girl chases her dream of becoming a ballet dancer instead of the usual local issues.

Sound

The sound was going to be the most vital piece of equipment when coming to post production editing as using sound sets the mood for our opening sequence. At first it was very hard deciding what music to use to represent our characters emotions and the theme of our film which is obsession. Our initial music choice that we used for our film was too gloomy and feedback said it made our film come across as a psychological thriller which is what we didn’t want. Also as part of our feedback was said that our group should add more of a vibrant and happy vibe in the opening sequence to emphasise that she is in her own world in which would show the music matches she is happy with what she is doing. ‘Billy Elliot’ used opera type music is peaceful and created a relaxing atmosphere in which we decided as a group this would be the type of music that we wanted in our sequence. Also in the ‘Black Swan’ when the character is practising this type of music is also played.  At some point in an opera or ballet type music there is always high toned moments which add tempo towards the music. We then thought of Beethoven as this ballet opera copyright source free to use when the sister is coming up the stairs to show the sudden panic in which Emma reacts to would be a good way to end the scene.  By using this style of music I have followed the codes and conventions of a stereotypical ballet related film. I have also challenged the conventions of using different music that related to theme obsession by I haven’t used this type of music all the way through the sequence I have added more of an lively and vibrant music to add a more informal and hostile perspective which would relate to more teenagers instead formal music which would come across as boring.

Mise en scene

Make-up

This device was only used for our main character as she normally would of had to of worn eyelashes/mascara and also foundation cream etc. In addition we felt that we didn’t really need this because she was only practising in which the audience would see through her props.  However these make-ups are usually related to films that add feminism ‘Sister Act’ where we see the cast wearing make-up ready to perform on the stage in the closing scenes of the sing off between the other schools. This will later foreshadow in the later parts of the film but not in the opening sequence as it is not used for effect.  So in this film of aspects this challenges the convention of make-up where we only use no material.

Colour

In our film colour is used to presented by colours that belong to the feminine point of view so therefore the bedroom was used as bright colours to fit the gender and genre of the film so bright colours such as orange, pink, purple, white to add femininity .This can be displayed throughout the scene such as starting from the first shot from outside as it is very dull then fade in shots to the different props such as the pillows, teddies etc. Also further colour is used in our credits to emphasize the gender yet again. Before feedback we had plain subtitles in which our group was told to change because it wouldn’t get us that many marks to a dance movie such as step up the colours are used to match the film. We have challenged you may say that we haven’t used a variety of colours which may be bias to one target group instead of both audiences.

Costume

This was also an important material that was needed to use for our opening scene where Emma dresses up with leggings, ballet shoes and a plain white top. This is similar to ‘Billy Elliot’ where he always worn the same dress code when practicing which the audience get the sense that Emma will be the same.

 We challenged this by adding a prop of the wig to emphasize her immaturity in which she imagines herself being famous, as you know adults don’t usually tend to wear wigs for fun. As she is in her own world we can see from the different types of camera shots that she does as she pleases. 

Body language

 We used body language when Emma is stretching and practicing her ballet moves as can be seen by the different types of shots that are used and over props to show the type of person she is and how she reacts to them.  Also Emma’s body language can be shown through her eye movement. Throughout the opening sequence she is constantly looking around incase her sister see’s her. Therefore this film is also related to ‘High School Musical’ when Troy the actor misses basketball practice for the singing audition, in which we see very various close ups and medium close ups how he is reacting playing basketball and singing at the same time in which also he is constantly looking out encase he is seen which will therefore downgrade his reputation. Apart from that we have not really challenged the conventions of a teenage drama film we have followed them.