Evaluation 1 - Plan

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

- Film Directors - Ken Loach, Andrea Arnold

Conventions of the Genre - challenge or conform - Conform through - Camera Work, Editing, Mise en Scene, Sound

• Camera Work - Inspired by shots from films like Fish Tank and the dance shots from Chandelier and 'Take me to Church' 
• Editing - In the social realist genre, editing tend to focus vary much on continuity and creating verisimiliture through long-held shots, often stabilised hand held shots, sometimes similar to documentary style. Therefore I emulate there techniques in my own work.
• Mise En Scene - Fish Tank and I, Daniel Blake. It was vital that I established mise-en-scene with costumes, props, and setting exactly as they would be in 'real life'. Therefore, on location, I identified some boys who were riding their bikes and doing tricks in their coordinated Adidas tracksuits and side satchels and them to appear in my film as they were perfect 'archetypal male chavs'. My protagonist's outfit was inspired by the soap opera 'Eastenders', in particular Whitney who wears big gold hoop earrings, denim jackets and hair scraped back in a ponytail, as well as rather dramatic, thick make up with false lashes, eyeliner and lots of contouring.
• Sound - For my sound, I removed the diegetic sound from most of my clips and added non-diegtic soundtrck instead. This really subverts the conventions of social realism, where you might expect to have a much more 'naturalistic' soundtrack. However, I did this becuase to augment and add value to my sotry: the lyrics of the song i used reflected what was going on in the character's life. I also found when showing my rough cuts to focus grous that the audience really enjoyed the music and felt it made sense in telling a sotry in 5 minutes. For exmaple "reaching out fro something", "had another chance" and "i'd make things right" emphasis my key theme of survival and seizing opportunites in tough socio-econmoic circumstance, as my protagonist has suffered domestic abuse and poverty. 

Narrative theory - Todorov, Propp, Barthes Enigma Code, Barthes Semiotic Code - signs symbols, motifs

• In terms of Narrative, I knew my audience would be most comfortable if i conformed if my film conformed basically to Todorov's narrative pattern. However, in order to create a feeling of disequilibrium right from the start, i begin in media res as my character steals a chocolate bar from a shop. I feel this establishes an immediate sense that this character is from a very unstable background. This is reinforced by my non-linear narrative with flashbacks to the crisis of the narrative, where my protagonist is physically fighting with her parents. However, faced by this problem my protagonist is looking for a solution, which she find in the forms of a flier for a dance audition. My resolution occurs when a new equilibrium is established as we see Phoenix succeed at her audition, followed by a series for 'flashforwards' to her dancing on stage in a real show.
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Audience theory - Blumler and Katz: Uses and Gratification, Levi-Strauss Binary Opposite, Maslow's hierarchy of needs (satisfy top 3 - triangle)

Add clips from other short films/ music videos - Chanderlier and 'Take me to Church', Fish Tank, 'I, Daniel Blake', Whitney from Eastenders,