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

My media product use, develop and challenge different forms and conventions of media products such as film openings. I did this by doing extensive research into other media products and then combining our ideas with there's to try to produce the best film opening.

This is an in detail look at the nine frames in the film.


Typically action films start fast to get the audience gripped from the start, we wanted to do the same in order to build up tension. The camera work and editing would have to be sharp, to do this we used as many shots as we could fit in to give the opening variety and to prevent the audience getting bored. The editing also had to be good we achieved this by making the shots short lasting no longer than 3 seconds by doing this it built up the tension whilst adding an element of unknowing to the film. We wanted to do this because it would make the audience feel uneasy about who was the good guy and who was the bad guy, this would make the opening more open. In the opening of the film we had to make the genre clear and the story clear again this is important to stop the audience losing interest.


The setting for our film is the woods we chosen to set it there because it adds an element of mystery to the film it also is impossible for the audience to work out where the film is set again adding to the mystery. Other films such as James Bond and the Bourne trilogy start with chase scene but they tend to be set in city areas. I think our location/setting is very appropriate to the style of film we produced as it has key features such as a train line on the outskirts ideal for the train explosion also it has the perfect paths to run down with lakes to jump and dodge. All of this makes the film very realistic for the audience so that they can feel part of the film.


Choosing the costumes was a difficult part of the film making process because they had to be true to the character whilst being very realistic we eventually settled on dark colours like navy blue and black teamed with smart trousers for the good guy and old jeans for the bad guy. we felt that it was the best decision. However in our audience feedback it was a criticism that the costumes weren't as realistic as they could have been and that we still looked like teenagers instead of adults. We tried to overcome this by making the good guy married. We took inspiration from characters such as Jason Bourne who wears dark and smart clothes. On balance i thought the costumes were appropriate for the film.


The editing of the film was crucial to making the film look as professional as it could. The editing had to be quick and short we only wanted 3 second shots at the maximum this is to create speed whilst keeping the audience on the edge of there seat. I think we achieved this using a combination of shots to keep the action moving it also introduced the genre for us. The shots we used, such as a low angle were to give the good guy power and dominance over the bad guy. We also used continuity editing when the good guy jumps the camera top show him running after the bad guy.


The title sequence used typically in action films tend to lay the titles over the top of the action we decided that we wanted the action to be the min focal point of the opening so we used simple and easy to read styles and font sizes this was to make it quick and easy for the audience to read meaning we could have more time on the action than the titles. After seeking inspiration from James Bond we realised we couldn't achieve what they do due to the amount of time we had available. James Bond tend to go in with the action followed by a 3-4 minute title sequence that is animated if we had attempted this it would have left us with little to no time left for action which would have made a load more problems like introducing characters and the genre.


The narrative had to be strong yet easy to get across in 2 minutes (the amount of time available). We made the story line strong by killing off the wife of the good guy, which is something that happens frequently in action films. We wanted this to happen because it sets up the good guy on his mission to seek revenge against the bad guy that survived the chase. We set this up by the good guy receiving a phone call from the bad guy saying that his wife's going to die this explains why the good guy is running after the train, also when the good guy says "you wont get away with this" sets up the good guy chasing him down on the rest of the film.


The genre we chose to make our film about was the action genre because it is our favorite genre, therefore we know alot about generic conventions of the genre. It was important to make the genre clear because the audience need to understand the film and what it is about. We tried to make it similar to other action films by seeking/researching other action films like James Bond this films is a franchise meaning the audience knows the genre before the film starts we didn't have this advantage so we had to do it another way. We tried to make the genre clear by having an explosion and a chase scene in the opening.