Nayani Vijayaratnam
Evaluation Activity 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real life media products?
[Unit G324] As part of our Advanced Portfolio, we had to create a short
Dear Mum
film exploring our chosen genre, lasting approximately 5
12A
minutes. As well as this, to support our production, we had to complete two ancillary tasks out of the following three options: A Poster Radio trailer Film magazine review From this, I chose to produce a poster and a film magazine
Drama Duration
5 Minutes 26th March
review.
The planning and research process was vital to ensure the success of our production. We began by producing a brainstorm of ideas, considering a range of genres such as comedy, horror, adventure, yet eventually decided to produce a drama short film. Although comedy was our first choice we decided against this as we felt that it may not be appealing to all age groups whereas drama has a large appeal to both genders and age groups, attracting a wide target audience. Our drama short film is a Mother day special, which follows the life of a 23 year old, called Tanya Brooks who attempts to deal with the death of her mother, writing her feelings down rather than resorting to alcohol.
What are Codes and Conventions? Codes: These are signs, which are used to create meaning and signify a message to the audience. There are two types of codes, one of which is known as technical, which involves the use of media technology and equipment to depict a clear narrative. We have applied this within our production through the use cinematography to highlight Tanya’s loss, which we further supported through the second type of codes known as symbolic, which allows the audience to infer the characters feelings through motifs such as the use of alcohol and flowers. Conventions: This includes the societal expectations of something and is generally the accepted way if doing something. In relation to a short film, this can be depicted through the technical aspects such as mise-en-scene and sound. Furthermore, within a media text, conventions are usually adhered to depending on the genre of the film
Nayani Vijayaratnam produced. For our film the main drama convention we followed was the use of real life situations incorporated with realistic props, characters and settings, which makes it relatable for our target audience.
Mise-en-scene In terms of our setting the indoor locations we used were our protagonist Tanya’s house and her childhood home to clearly illustrate juxtaposition between her life now and in the past. Throughout the film we portray her childhood home as her ‘safe haven’ and place of comfort, where she is most happy. This is contrasted by the loneliness she feels in her home now, which the audience can infer from the fact that she is writing a letter rather than talking to someone about her loss. Furthermore, her messy kitchen and bedroom depicts her instability, as she has to rely on alcoholism to cope with the loss of her mother, this adds to the verisimilitude, as the audience would expect for her to struggle during a sensitive and hard period of time such as this. In order to complete the flashbacks we used the setting of a Park, which we felt, added to the realism of our character as our actress was an 8 year-old girl. We contradicted this positive representation of a Park by the location of a Cemetery, which insinuates that her happiness has been lost with the passing of her mother. This completes the drama genre which we have attempted as the settings we have used are realistic, which adds to the
audience’s understanding of the narrative.
The use of costumes and props was a significant aspect, which we considered in order to achieve accurate codes and representations within our production. Tanya’s appearance was important as it contributed massively towards realism of her distress, which is why we felt that her all black attire was fitting as the colour black possess connotations of death and mourning, creating a relevant imagery of a funeral, which is a clear reflection of her life. Her loss was further highlighted to the audience through her black smeared make up which symbolizes her volatile mind state and the grief, which she is feeling. The use of bright coloured outfits expresses to the audience Tanya’s youthfulness, which creates sympathy from the audience due to her innocence and naivety, which is stereotypically associated with a child. A binary opposition is created between her costume now and as a child, which reinforces the ideology that her life is incomplete without her mother Angela, as she was the light in her life.
Nayani Vijayaratnam Within our production there are several repeated motifs portrayed through the props that we have chosen. The main prop, which is integral to our entire production, is the letter, which symbolizes Tanya’s memories of her mother and ultimately carries the narrative, allowing the audience to comprehend the concept of our short film and shows Tanya’s journey of development, which is one of the codes and conventions of a drama film. This journey she makes is concluded with the symbolism depicted through the use of flowers, which she places on her mothers’ gravestone along with the letter as a means of achieving closure. The colour pink connotes the unconditional maternal love Angela had for Tanya, which adds to the empathy the audience feels. In addition to this, the use of empty wine glasses and bottles adds to the verisimilitude that Tanya is an alcoholic; using it as an depressant to cope with the agony she is feeling, as it provides her with a form of temporary escape, giving her a sense of instant gratification. The representations we depicted through our characters completed the drama genre, as they were realistic and relatable to our target audience. The main protagonist Tanya Brooks (23) is portrayed as a victim due to the emotional pain which she is going through, which contributes to the vulnerability and sense of not belonging, which she feels throughout our short film. We considered several different actresses, focusing closely on their skills and capability to depict emotions clearly, which we felt, was vital in order to create a realistic drama short film. We chose to cast Danisha Mahandru due to her extensive acting experience, which meant that she had a high level of skill and would be compatible to work with on set and with our other actresses. Also, her ability to use her initiative and adapt to circumstances was ideal and made us feel confident in that fact that she would be able to embody the character of Tanya accurately and develop an emotional connection with the audience, which is necessary in order to ensure that our production is successful. The supporting cast consisted of Becky Edwards who played the role of the mother, Angela Brooks, and Violet Woodland who took on the role of young Tanya. Although they are not seen as main characters, their presence is vital to the narrative and therefore we fully considered the representations we wanted to create. In order to portray a stark binary opposition (Levi Strauss) between Tanya’s life with and without her mother, we incorporated several positive representations, which contrasted the negative representations of Tanya now. Through their body language and facial expressions the audience are able to infer their happy and strong mother and daughter relationship, which the audience envy. This is further reinforced through their actions as they go to the park, do homework and play dress up together which are conventional activities the audience would expect to see between a mother and a daughter and highlights Angela’s love for her. This nurturing behavior of her mother is emphasized to the audience through her name, which symbolizes an
Nayani Vijayaratnam angel and insinuates that it is in her nature to be caring and provide guidance, which is expected of a mother figure.
Editing One of the conventions of a drama film is the use of a clear linear narrative, which we were able to achieve through the use of continuous editing which allows our target audience to follow the plot. We decided to aid this understanding by incorporating flashbacks through a fade technique to allow the audience to see the action, which matches the voiceover, making it easier to comprehend. In addition to this, we chose to add a white filter to our flashback scenes, to create a reminiscent atmosphere to highlight the fact that all Tanya has left of her mother are memories. The flashback scenes are constantly interrupted by shots of Tanya writing her letter to signify the importance of her mother and the events that have occurred in Tanya’s life while emphasizing her search for a sense of closure, which she attempts to gain through writing a letter. Furthermore to heighten the emotion within our production we used several jump cuts of Tanya crying hysterically when writing her letter, this reflects her mental state of mind as she struggles to cope without her mother, creating sympathy from the audience. Through our genre research we identified that most drama films had the title at the beginning to give the audience an insight into what it is that they were watching, for example ‘My sister’s keeper’ (2009). However we chose to challenge this convention of a drama film by showing the title of our film, ‘Dear Mum’, at the end in order to create an enigma (Barthes hermeneutic code) and keep the audience intrigued throughout. After trying the title at the start and at the end we felt as though it was more effective at the end after Tanya’s monologue in which she makes a final promise to her mother. The white coloured font further reinforces the idea that her mother is an angel as white possesses connotations of light and heaven, which is contrasted by the black background which symbolises the daily struggle Tanya endures and is learning to accept. In addition to this we felt the flower detailing was significant as it acts as a motif for the flowers, which she lays at her mother’s gravestone to reflect a sense of closure, and symbolizes a new equilibrium, which has been found. (Todorov’s theory)
Cinematography After researching common shots and angles within drama films we found that a vast majority incorporated close up shots and point of view shots, which we mirrored within our production to show the letter and Tanya walking towards her mothers’ gravestone in order to allow the audience to view the narrative from the protagonist’s perspectives as a means of engaging us. We felt that the use of a point of view was effective as it allowed the audience to imagine themselves in Tanya’s position and gain a sense of escape from their own lives. (Uses and gratification) In addition to this the use of close up shots and extreme close up shots allowed us to depict a personal connection between the characters emotions/actions and our target
Nayani Vijayaratnam audience, ensuring the success of our film as they are able to identify the symbolisms and motifs we have created, regardless of whether they are dominant or negotiated as they are able to encode the representations we have decoded. (Stuart Hall reception theory.)
Sound The sound was one of the final elements, which we focused on, yet was integral to the completion of our production. We felt that if we chose a non-diegetic soundtrack the lyrics of the song may divert the audience’s attention from the voiceover and therefore in order to avoid this we researched several different instrumentals. As well as this we knew that we wanted a piano instrumental due to the soft and melodic connotations associated with a piano which we believed would be suitable for the sensitive theme of loss which our short film is centered around. We chose ‘Lament’ by Lucas King, which was fitting, as a lament is a passionate expression of grief or sorrow, which interlinks accurately with the topic of our short film, allowing us to depict the emotion we wanted to, to our target audience. Furthermore, we were able to establish an emotional connection between the main protagonist and the audience through our non-diegetic voiceover, which narrates the events, which occurred in Tanya’s life in order to provide the viewers with a more in depth perspective, to what its like losing someone to cancer, allowing the audience themselves in her position and possibly learn something from her regrets and values. (Uses and gratification) We also included pauses and breaks within our voiceover to add to the realism of the film and conform to the drama genre as it suggests that she is struggling to speak, emphasizing the impact of her mother’s loss. Overall, I believe that due to our ability to conform and challenge drama-genre conventions we have been able to create an emotional and heartfelt production while still providing our target audience with a form of entertainment as well as providing our target audience with several gratifications. Audiences may use our production as a form of escape from the reality of their own lives, which may be worse than Tanya’s and to gain a sense of personal identity as the target audience may learn something from the values, which Tanya portrays.