Evaluation: Question 1

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

After extensive research into the drama genre, we were able to incorporate multiple conventions and signifiers, that help to identify the genre, into our film opening. An example of this can be found in the lack of vibrancy throughout, within both the park setting and the character's costume to embed an element of verisimilitude and also establish quite a depressing tone for the audience. With the character wearing black and white colours, it is in itself quite dramatic because it has connotations of good vs. evil (binary opposites) and therefore implies that he's conflicted with contrasting aspects within his character, already making him more enigmatic and thus interesting; this is another common convention of the drama genre, with all the films we researched into having in-depth character development.

 We wanted our opening to appear as professional and legitimate as possible which is why, in regards to the title sequences, we stuck to the expected and traditional forms and conventions. With dramas such as 'Gone Baby Gone,' we noticed that the titles consist of a majority of the cast and crew. This is contrasting from the generic conventions of an action film, with examples such as 'Die Hard' only showing the film title and then going straight into developing the narrative. Having an in-depth cast and crew list therefore helped to establish our film as part of the drama genre, while it also gave us a good opportunity to consider framing and where the titles would go in correlation with the shot type.

To make our film more distinctive, we incorporated a non-diegetic voice over in our final cut, as it also provided context to help entice the audience in our narrative. Because our main protagonist is first seen sitting down and then concludes standing on a bridge, it displays a sense of emotional progression within his character, suggesting that this aspect of development is seen in the rest of the film's narrative.

Depending on which specific signifiers are used, it can suggest a different sub genre within the main element of the drama. For example, the main protagonist wears a suit and when that's put into the context of this film being a drama, some audience members may interprete this as linking in to organised crime syndicates, which was intended, as we wanted to touch on that as a main theme within our narrative.

Some of the themes that we include in our opening, as well as the narrative style, could be compared to the film 'The Town,' as they both elaborate on the elements of the lose and contemplation of the main character.