Q.1 Evaluation

Q1. In what ways dose your media product USE, DEVELOP, or CHALLENGE forms and convention of real media products?

My film is about a young female which is addicted to drugs since a very young age; at the tender age of 18 she had a child. She loved her child dearly but she couldn’t obtain the responsibilities of a mother. Her daughter died at the age of two due to an accident on the mother’s part, which has led her into deep depression and her at the brink of suicide. She later kills herself. The main genre of my film is drama. The codes and conventions within my film which conspire with those of a drama are normally drug use, relationships, love, disappointment, happiness, even realism or some sort of dilemma etc. The aspects of the genre drama that my film includes are drug use throughout my film and the opening sequence, also the relationship between the mother and daughter, the dilemma is in that this girl has been addicted to drugs since a very young age and is now having detrimental effects on her life, also in my film there is sense of realism how this women is a drug addict and is depressed theses sorts of things happen in real life but maybe not to this extent. So I feel my film follows the codes and conventions of a drama, more specifically dramas about drug use.

In my film FORSAKEN the main themes are drug use, a loss of a loved one, depression, heartache, suicide, abuse, a bad child hood and many others. From my opening sequence you can gather these themes. The heavy use of drugs suggests they person had a bad childhood because if they didn’t they would probably know the implication of heavy drug use. The character within the sequence also looked comfortable with the environment which leads you to think this is not the first time she has taken drugs. The whole sequence points to suicide in the sense of her surroundings, and the amount of drugs and drug related objects on the table. Although the fact that she actually kills her self as she overdoses supports my suggestion of suicide as a theme. A loss of a love one is another theme related to my film, from an aural point of view you can hear crying through most points of the film which suggest there is a baby involved. As the actress goes to kill herself we see pictures of a child, which links in with the noise of a baby. Also at the most vital part of the sequence where the actress is in the process of killing herself we see pictures of the baby which means the baby is very significant and important. So you can gather that the child has died because she is not with her mother and because the mother commits suicide.

My film FORSAKEN challenges the codes and conventions of a drama, in the choice of gender for the main character Lauren, which is heavily involved with drugs from a very young age, is a female. In most films this kind of character is normally played by a male. Like in the film 1 DAY which is also a drama, Dylan Duffers one of the main actors is a drug dealer and user. Or in another British drama Adulthood directed by Noel Clark, Adam Deacon is also a drug dealer which proves that our character personal challenges the codes and conventions of a drama. In this production there is a young child, who dies due to lack of care by her mother, but in most dramas the child wouldn’t die but in our film the baby dose, this challenges the codes and conventions of a drama.

Our film starts from the end and then goes back to the beginning, the form of my opening sequence is of most films it begins with the production name, then it goes on to the establishing shots, thirdly the actress/actor is introduced and the basic narrative, finally we then see the credits and the producers name. An example of this is in ‘WATCHMEN’ a Warner Bros and Paramount production; it follows the basic form of an opening sequence.

In my production the main actor Reka Samuel is a drug addict. In drama’s to keep with the dramatic themes most directors have there actors exaggerated in there roles. We followed this convention in that my actress’s character was over exaggerated in the sense of her clothing, facial features, and hair to make her more believable and fit the role of a drug addict. In the film ‘TAKERS’ Marianne Jean-Baptiste played a role similar to this a drug addict, this is how I perceived my actress Reka Samuel as. Mrs Baptiste character is much exaggerated. Through this acting she made the film more of a success, and her character was really interesting, and I feel this is due to the exaggeration of her character. My film ‘FORSAKEN’ challenges the codes and convention of a drama in that the main actress is a mother and you wouldn’t really associate mothers with drugs, because a stereotypical views of a mother is someone who’s neutering and a provider, but in this case she is a young defenceless mother whom is addicted to drugs. In addition to this you would assume a drug addict would be contemplating on her next fix and funding her drug habit, not harbouring a juvenile.

The format of a narrative normally starts with a equilibrium, then disruption, followed by resolution, and then finally the new equilibrium. But our film is very different, from the beginning of the narrative disruption occurs throughout. Our film is also very different in that it is in a non linear format, because the ending is the beginning the film and then it flows back from there. This is similar to Quiento Tarrintino’s famous ‘KILL BILL’ in how it is constructed, and it is why we had the confidence to portray our story like this, especially in that ‘KILL BILL’ was such a so success.

We used many sounds in our film such as the backing track, natural sounds, and special sound effects such as a baby crying and a flat line monitor. In drama genre related films and programmes you get a lot of dramatic sound effects such as flat line monitors because there are a lot fights and accident that keep us interested, which may lead in going to a hospital where subsequently you might here such sounds such as in drams like Eastenders and Holby city, and also in films like Kill Bill were Cameron Diaz in a hospital bed. A baby’s cry in a drama is a symbolism of exaggerated realism so babies cry is very drama related and follows the codes and conventions of a drama.

Regarding Mise en scene I followed the conventions of a urban/drama in how I used the black and white effect for the majority of the sequence, but then put highlights on the photographs of the child to show the importance of the photo and how pivotal this character is the main characters life Lauren Ealing .I also made sure the viewers couldn’t see the whole of the actress’s face to create mystery and enigma one famous example of enigma was in Queintin Trarrintino’s Pulp Fiction with the golden breifcase. This is a very common drama based technique to create mystery in a scene. It is also used in soap opera’s like Eastenders. My opening sequence also challenges the conventions of a drama through Mise en scene because there children’s toys on the table of the basement. You would normally find children’s toys in family films and fantasy films but in this case it is in an urban/drama.

To conclude my media production ‘FORSAKEN’ mostly uses the codes and convention of a drama in how we presented the main character, and how we used dramatic sound effects such as a flat line monitor. Although it also challenges the codes and conventions because I used a female actor instead of a male and also we used a lot of children toys which would traditionally used in fantasy’s and family films.