Evaluation question 1

Question 1 - In what ways does the media product use, develop or challenege forms and conventions of real media products?

Over the AS year, we developed skills to film to a professional standard, this included principles such as match on action, over the shoulder shots and the 180 degree rule. In the A level year we used these principles to put together a piece that was more professional but also making a film flow smoothly. During the production stage of the film we encountered some continuity errors which were eventually fixed for example, the change in weather in some scenes showed the film in some parts being darker than others to combat this issue we used editing tools on Premiere pro to change the colour of the scenes . Another example of a continuity problem was the main character (Played by Liam) and how we had to wait for his facial hair to grow back in order to film the re shoots to achieve continuity throughout the film. During the film, we had to adapt to certain shots that we found to be more challenging than anticipated. e.g. Title sequence, this included a pan shot which had to run in syncronisation with Ross walking down the corridor , after numerous attempts we completed this and chose to edit this shot to make the typing of the title quicker so there was continuity with the main character walking. Another example of a shot that we found difficult to film and edit was the train journey, this was based on the external environment such as people on the train and also the sound of the train which effected the voices heard on the recording, to solve this problem we decided to record the voice of Ross on another day using a zoom recorder specifically used for sound which will be put into a film on a later date.

The film supports the conventions of the dark comedy genre. For the audience to understand and recognise the genre we used generic terms and ideas ususally shown in a dark comedy. An example includes the suicide scenes where Ross attempts to take his own life in different ways but they all seem to fail showing a comic element to the idea while it is also dark through trying to kill himself.  We also edited in contrapuntal music to these scenes, eventhough the actions on screen were dark, the music is the opposite of the situation where Ross is wanting to die but the jazz music in the background implies the scene is not negative in anyway and helps with the comical element. Throughout the film we supported stereotypical conventions of office workers in terms of what they do as a day job, what they dress and how they interact with one another. There was an effective ending as the main incident happened but the credits rolled before a final scene occurs showing what resulted from the incident.

During the film, some darker elements of the film were important in showing Ross plotting revenege on Hooper , such as his him being his boss, the affair with his girlfriend and also asking him to come into work earlier than ususal. However, it only becomes apparent when in a conversation with Dr Parkes when Parkes reveals a scheme, but it drops silent as the events occur. There were many references to other films, one being the punch in the face on fight club during the main scene, there was also a reference from the film Hot Fuzz, this happens when Ross is on the train and the sweets are offered to him, in comparison cake is offered to the main character.

A wide range of shots throughout the film show the audience the sort of filming we achieved during this project. Reframing many shots to place the main image in the centre was important in some instances such as the first interaction between Ross and Hopper the close up on his face shows that he dislikes his boss strongly.