Q1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of

real media products?

Setting

Real media product (Shank)

As you can see from the two images above; we decided to use the convention of using an estate as our setting. Shank is another British urban thriller which also uses an isolated estate as their opening setting as it is a common convention when relating to gangs and violence. We felt that this was an effective way of portraying to our audience what this film may contain by using this setting.

Our media product

Mise-en-scene

Real media product (Adulthood)

Here you can see that we have chosen specific outfits for our characters to wear which mainly consists of hoods/coats. In comparison to real media products, you can see above a scene from Adulthood where both characters are wearing hoodies. We decided to follow this convention because we wanted the characters in our film to be represented in a similar way to those in Adulthood. The use of hoodies is a stereotype for youth in this generation as it is usually linked with negativity and mainly to do with crime which is the look we were going for.

Our media product

Mise-en-scene

British urban films generally use cars so we decided to use this convention because it usually gives the character status especially in relation to gangs. It can represent wealth from drug dealing and other illegal activity.

Our media product Real media product (Bullet Boy)

Titling

Real media product (Ill Manors)

Common conventions that British urban thrillers tend to use in terms of titling: -Bold font-Large text -Block capitals-Positioned in the centre of screen-Usually white text with black background or in scene as shown above. (The titling is placed over the shot in the film)-Titling stays on screen for about 8 seconds.We followed all of these conventions as it is clear and forces the audience to focus on the titling because it is the main attraction on screen.

Our media product

Camera work

Our media product Real media product (Kidulthood)

The effective use of camera work is vital if you want get a point across to your audience. (Medium) Close ups were popular when I researched British urban films and you can see an example of one in the image above which is from Kidulthood. We decided to use close ups because we felt that it would strongly illustrate in detail, the emotion and facial expression of the characters. in the image above, you can see in depth the expression on the characters’ face which triggers a strong reaction from the audience when they are watching.