Question 1

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

Short Film Typical conventions of a short film are: • Not lasting more than ten minutes• Not many characters • Usually a low-budget• Distributed via the internet• A twist in plot to make the audience• Editing is usually at a minimum (no high budget special effects and CGI)

Our film follows these conventions as our short film is just under five minutes, so is therefore typical of a short film. This is a good time I believe as it is able to tell a story and also keep the audiences attention at an all time high. The film also only includes two main characters, this is good as the audience have time to get to know them and not get confused like they would if there are a lot of characters.

Like any other typical film short, ours was low budget. We were made to work with what we had, and were only given the camera and tripod. Our film was also only put on YouTube and was therefore links with the idea that short films are usually only distributed by the internet and more specifically social media sites.

Film poster examples

Film Poster

Just like the previous posters seen, my poster has many similarities. I believe that my film poster resembles real life film posters and includes typical conventions and ideas that other poster use.

Like many Hollywood blockbusters, my own poster includes the main characters on the front and clever thought out mise en scene. In this case, the calendar, which when watching the film you are able to tell it links in as the character, George is counting down the days on his calendar and both of the characters birthdays are coming up.

The poster also includes key details that is has to such as the cast and the release date.

Like many other films, the film has a tag line, in this case it is ‘Wish, wish away’.

My poster also sticks to a very strict colour scheme.

My poster however may challenge typical forms and conventions of a film poster as the forenames of the cast are in lower case with no capitals whilst the surnames are in bold and are capitalised.

My poster also doesn’t include a credit block which is typical of film posters.

Film Review Examples

Film Review

I believe that my film review is typical of any other film reviews as it contains all the main forms and conventions of real media reviews.

Just like any other review, mine uses specific film language and gives a truthful account of the film and own opinions.

The layout of my review is the main similarity between mine and that of the reviews in the ‘Little White Lies’ magazine. The rating system links in with this idea as it is a typical feature of reviews from this magazine.

My review also includes typical features of a review such as the cast, director and release date.