Evaluation question one

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 
We spent a lot of time looking at the forms and conventions of the romance genre in order to conform to some but also to challenge and develop them in some ways.
We have used the typical conventions of the tragic romance genre in that our plot follows this idea:

In Todorov’s terms the narrative is structured as follows:

1. a state of equilibrium at the outset
2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption
4. an attempt to repair the disruption
5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium

Thesis > Antithesis > Synthesis

We have a clear beginning, the state of equilibrium, where Alice and George are happy; there is then a disruption of the equilibrium, caused by George's car accident, resulting in death; there is then a recognition of this disruption, where Alice spends a long time unhappy; Alice then attempts to repair the disruption by pursuing the dream George had for her; there is then a clear reinstatement of equilibrium when Alice gets a job working with her clothing designs. 

In this respect, our plot conforms to the conventions of the genre in real media. Our trailer reflects this.

For our trailer we made sure we clearly followed the conventions of a romance movie trailer. This included having a light hearted mood which is demonstrated through the use of saturated colours and sunny weather which relate to cheerful, romantic ambiance. We checked the weather forecast in advance to make sure we filmed on an appropriate day. We also chose light hearted and cheerful music that would help encourage the audience to experience this mood;  we used Noah And The Whale, Five Years Time. The camera movements used are very quick with the transitions between clips also being fast; the camera is positioned mainly at mid-height, showing a comfortable viewing image for the audience; the two characters share the same amount of screen time, showing they are equal and equally important. This all helped to build on the romantic genre allowing the audience into the characters relationship, but most importantly showing them that there was a relationship.

The swiftly changes which we showed by changing the colours and speed of the film. The colours become de-saturated which creates a dull and depressing mood. We slowed down the speed of the camera movements as well as slowing the speed of the transitions. This would dramatise the situation within the trailer to the audience. There was also a slight change in the camera angles of me, they were positioned more above, looking down on me to demonstrate the low emotions I was feeling because of the death of George.

Nearer the end the mood reverses back to positive and therefore we changed the colour back to being lighter and saturated. We filmed me using more mid-shots and long-shots as I began to overcome the situation within the film. 

We felt it was highly important to use a voice-over in our trailer to make sure in conformed to the conventions of a romance trailer in real media. After reviewing other romance trailers I felt it was best to use a deep but soft male voice to speak; we decided the end of the trailer would be the most appropriate as I found this most occurring in other romance trailers. 


As well as romance conventions we also incorporated conventions which aren't particularly associated with a romance trailer. For example we included the use of hand-held shots which are usually related to the horror genre, used in films including 'The Blair Witch Project' and the 'Paranormal Activity' trilogy. However we chose to use it as it illustrated the relationship between me and George and involved the audience in this. 

When producing our poster we found that our picture suited a landscape view; this challenges the typical conventions of romance film posters within media as they are usually in a portrait view. We felt that using a landscape view will also make it stand out within media for this reason and therefore decided to keep it in this format. We aimed to make George and myself positioned in the centre of the poster, to make it the focal point to the audience.


George and I are pictured in an embrace which strongly conforms to the conventions of a typical romance poster; all the romance posters we looked at involve a couple embracing or having some kind of obvious romantic contact. By using this position of me and George with us clearly happy this allows the audience to acknowledge they're in love which is clearly involved in romance.

We made the title of the film the largest font on the poster to make it stand out, and black to contrast with the background image, enabling the audience to remember it. We chose to release our film around valentines days as this would be appropriate for our genre and could potentially draw in a bigger crowd of couples going to the cinema; this date was included on our poster to allow the audience to perhaps plan or remember this. We further included the names of the directors, the actors a quote from the film and a quote from the magazine on our poster. The quote was a significant part of the romance genre and including it conform the conventions of a romance poster in the media. It is significant as it often becomes a slogan or catchphrase of the film which would be recognisable by the audience. We used the computer programme Adobe Fireworks to blur the background so that Alice and George and the writing would be the focal point. In this respect we have followed the conventions of a romance genre.

We have mainly conformed to the forms and conventions of the romance genre with the magazine cover. The main feature is a picture of the main character from a scene in the film.

After looking at other posters we followed a basic layout of a generic film magazine. For this the magazine name is at the top with different sections of information placed around the character. We felt that as we were promoting a romance film we would further include romance genre related topics for our sections of information. This included an interview with the director of 'When Harry Met Sally' which is a well known romance film. We also included some free promotional gifts advertised which you would often find on a magazine cover. It isn't often that film magazines promote romance films which made it difficult for us to establish and then follow the conventions of a romance magazine cover. But after analysing other film genre magazine covers we were able to create our own knowledge of what would be required to make it look correct and advertise our film effectively.