Evaluation 1

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

In my opening sequence of my film i have in some ways followed the codes and conventions but also challenged them aswell.

These are some of the many aspects i have taken into consideration whilst talking about the codes and conventions.


The title of the film

The title of my film is ‘Roads to Fame’ I have chosen this title as I believe it is relevant to my film and the location. My film is about four teenage girls trying to achieve their dreams of becoming famous singers. All four girls in my film inspire to be ‘the next big thing’ like the beetles once were. The Abbey Road crossing has connotations of fame and recognition which is what the girls are searching for. This is their ‘road to fame’

Setting/Location

The opening sequence of a film usually establishes the location of the film I have followed this convention as the opening shot of my film is a close up of the Abbey Road sign. This straight away establishes the location of the film and gives the audience a hint that music may be a key element to it as Abbey road is a famous music landmark in London. Abbey road studios is the most famous studio in London- The close up of the sign above the door shows that this is also key to film. In the last few seconds of opening sequence you see four young females walking in a line across the abbey road crossing. This crossing is famous because of the beetle’s album cover where they are posing in exactly the same way.  The speed in this scene is slowed down so that it stands out this suggests that these four girls inspire to be like the beetles.

Costumes and props

The type of clothing the four girls are wearing are all different, this shows that there characters are all very different from each other. Maryam's character is wearing smart stylish clothing; this suggests that she is quite wealthy. Stephanie's character is wearing casual clothing and looks quite down to earth. She is holding an A-z which shows she is not familiar with her surroundings.  Charon's character is wearing urban looking clothing and big headphones. I have not used many props just headphones, An A-z and a car. The headphones suggest that Charon is into music which relates to the storyline of the film. The car gives us an insight to what Laura’s character is like; as the car looks very expensive we know she is wealthy. She is wearing pink and white, the two colours have connotations of a ‘girly girl’.

Camerawork and editing

The beginning of my opening sequences starts with close ups to establish the location of the film. There is also a close up on Stephanie’s face which gives an insight to her personality, her facial expression is confused and she is looking at the A-z which suggests she is not familiar with her surroundings. There is no transactions between the scenes it cuts fairly quickly between each scene this is to create a fast pace upbeat feeling to fit in with the music and to fit in with the genre of my film. The last scene is slowed down to give it a ‘slow motion’ this suggests that this scene is key to the film as it stands out much more than it would if it was at normal speed. The music fades to a stop at the end.

Title font and style

The font I used for my titles was quite simple looking. It is in the style of a female’s handwriting which establishes the genre of a ‘chick flick’. Whilst researching I noticed that in many films of this genre the typography is often white, black or pink. I wanted to use the colour pink for my titles as it has connotations of girls and anything girly. When I tried this colour out in my titles it did not look very good. The pink clashed with the colours in my scenes. For example the red bus. As my titles are white I have followed the codes and conventions in this aspect of my film. However, the order that they appear in does not quite follow the conventions as most other films the production company and studios appear before anything. Although those are the first titles that appear on my film they do not appear until the fourth scene as I thought that they wouldn’t look right before this. My first three scenes are of close ups of road signs, studio signs and station signs.

Story and how the opening sets it up

My film is about four teenage girls on their summer vacation who come to London to fulfil their dreams of becoming famous in the music industry.  The opening sets up the story line as the camera focuses on the Abbey Road sign and the Abbey Road music studio. Which suggests that music is going to be a key element to the story line.

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The opening sequence for my film is easily identified as a 'chick flick' from the music playing in the background. The four teenage girls we see in the sequence also give a suggestion that the film is aimed at teenage girls like the ones in the film itself.  Also the typography used looks like a female’s hand writing which reinforces the ‘chick flick’ feel to it.

How characters are introduced

The main protagonists in my film are all individually introduced in the opening sequence, showing elements of their personality.  When we first see Maryam she barges Stephanie turns around gives her a dirty look and continues walking this suggests she is the typical ‘bitchy’ character usually seen in chick flicks.  Stephanie drops her A-z and we see her scrambling on the floor to pick it up, this suggests that her character is clumsy and maybe a bit ditzy.