Evaluation one: in what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products?

Evaluation one:

 in what ways does the media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products? 

Our short psychological thriller that we named 'virago' not only conforms to stereotypical conventions of traditional short films; genre, mise-en-scene, editing and cinematography but it also subverts these too. We decided as a group to subvert these techniques as we wanted to produce a film that stylistic and that was able to capture reality in a sense were those watching would achieve emotional gratification i.e. we displayed mental health as a key theme throughout which is highlighted in the end scene on Edward self harming. Moreover we also wanted to not make the film overly generic to other short films, therefore we took inspirations from a variety of films that we all talked about as a group. Therefore our key influences are not situated to one particular film but are from a large demographic, consisting of independent, foreign, mainstream and short films. 

The story of our film follows the blurred emotional view of our biker protagonist 'Edward' and how he is coping with the loss of his wife that he continually has repetitive dreams and visions about. This torture leads him to abuse his body by alcohol and leads to his final death in the end scene. We decided to subvert traditional male protagonists as we wanted to highlight that males are able to show emotions in the same way as women and that it is natural! Therefore this gives the film details of verisimilitude. For instance the 2016 short film 'home' directed and wrote by Daniel Mulloy who brought to the light the issue of how 64% of refugees who were seeking asylum in 2016 were denied entry. Mulloy bought such a level of verisimilitude to the roar emotions of what the lives were and are for the refugees that he beautifully captured the real truth. 

Within the pre-production stage of the film, there were three key influences that aided us throughout cinematography; 'The Royal Tenenbaums', 'Drive' and 'The place beyond the pines'. They were particulary key influences as the films successful executed scenes of emotional turmoil and mutilation. Due to these factors being considered controversial, we wanted to both carry out the scenes with justice but also not proliferate in glorification to board along the lines of the horror genre. Whereas within the construction of our protagonist's character profile and costume we also took influences from; Patrick Bateman in American Psycho demeanor and personality, Mr Humbert Humbert from Lolita and Max from Mad max. Patrick is shown to be overly clinical a perfectionist within his profession. One instance is his 'morning routine' which is executed with vast detail. Edward will be adhering towards the clinical side of Patrick,  however flaws in his character start to arise within the contrast on his biker suit, which expresses all is not what it seems. Moreover we took Max's backline story and emotional battle he faces through the loss of his wife and son and then for Mr Humbert we took the obsessive side of him and displayed it with how Edward is with his bike. 

 

Edward with his bike that he named Virago, which is his last name. Takes possession over his property)

One of the most prominent influences in terms of cinematography for our film was 'The Royal Tenenbaums'. We tried to re-create the scene of where the protagonist appears to be slicing his wrist over the sink from a point of view high angle and shows how the act was carried out where he grooms himself. Within our film we re-created this scene but decided to just focus specifically on the knife and to not entirely take advantage of this beautifully created shot we also decided to using numerous jump cuts to subvert the scene and to almost allow the narrative to why Edward had chose to take his life through showing prior and present flashbacks. As featured below are two direct shots from the original film 'The Royal Tenenbaums' and how we decided to portray this within our film.

HIGH ANGLE SHOT FROM THE FILM ' THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

HIGH ANGLE SHOT FROM VIRAGO 

In the construction of Virago, we decided to keep to the 3 basic cinematography rules when filming: 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. Within films these techniques are used to allow for continuous continuity and to allow the audience to almost forget they're in fact watching a film and to reiterate the importance of verisimilitude so i.e if someone is having a conversation the camera will directly show the one who is speaking. Within Virago we displayed these throughout especially within both the staircase, whiskey scene and the dream montage.

match on action of Edward drinking

WHY MATCH ON ACTION'S MUST BE FOLLOWED I.E.... 

Within the whiskey scene, the scene begins with a wide-long shot of Edward entering the kitchen and heading over to the table to sit down on the left hand side. When Edward grabs the whiskey with his left hand, the camera then moves to a match-on-action of an over the shoulder shot of him drinking the whiskey. If the rule of match of action wasn't followed here and he picked up the bottle with his right hand and then drank from his left, it would not only break continuity but the audience would also be disrupted when watching the film as the shot began with the whiskey in his right but then some how appeared in his left. Therefore we felt the accuracy of the match-on-action was appropriately used here to achieve continuity throughout the scene and narrative and conformed to other short films use of cinematography.

Later on in the scene we cut to a montage medium-close us(flashbacks)of Edward with his wife in the church yard of their wedding day. We decided to show all the characters using the 180 degree rule as it gave them equal status and would disorientate the audience at all. Throughout the flashbacks we decided to stick to the 180 degree rule whenever two characters were in a shot, however we subverted the continuous use through numerous close ups of Edward and extreme long shots to reiterate the scene was a flashback/dream that Edward was having through being unconscious by the alcohol. This scene is also accompanied by non-diegetic score of that connoted a sense of an emotional arousal and infers that the scene is created to be emotional as Edward is coming to his final minutes on earth. This  score of incidental music also builds up throughout the short film.

Richard Dyers Theory of Utopia in relation to Virago

Outline of the theory: Audiences consume media products through their own desire(s) to escape reality. However it can also provide the means for the individual to diverge away from their ordinary, simplistic mundane lives and indulge themselves into how human life could have been. Essentially offering them a form of satisfactory entertainment through their gratification. According to Richard Dyer there are  Five 'Utopic' categories:Energy,Intensity,transparency,Abundance and Community . 

Within Virago we only able to reference Engergy, Intensity and transparency. 

Transparency: (character building) Due toVirago being a psychological thriller, it was rather key for us to create a rapport with the audience, due to the unconventional and niche narrative. We were successful in creating this are through the use of flashbacks, we were able to highlight Edwards past and allow the viewer to place themselves within his emotions and show remorse for his grieving state. Even though Edward is a fictional character we felt the themes that were conveyed were also a strength in portraying him as a real character.

Overall i feel our end film final product of the film Virago was successful in displaying our chosen hybrid genre:Psychological-thriller, even though it could be argued that we subverted from some traditional themes and conventions within that genre to more 'horror' (Elizabeth displayed in bandages, blood at the end) or 'romance'( wedding ceremony between Edward and Elizabeth, denoted by the vicar). We felt these were necessary to include as the specific inconography allowed the narrative to have space and highlight how they all played a part within Edwards final moments. We also felt they would allow the audience to feel empathy towards Edwards for the loss of his wife and how he felt he was suffering alone.  One could even say the short film is overtly saddening and emotional however we wanted to create a roar emotional film that we all can relate to in terms of loss, everyday situations and mental health. We felt the film was able to convey a fraction of what suffering from depression can do to someone and how it effects the outlook upon life. When we showed the film to a number of peers they reiterated that even though the film was emotional it was great to see a film that shined in natural human emotions rather than covering them up.