Question 1 In what ways does your media product use, develop or

challenge forms and conventions of real media products ?

Genre Titles – We named the film ‘Driven’, this has a double meaning, it links to his career and also to his mind set to get him to where he is, I think that the name links all elements of the film together and also creates mystery for the audience. The film is a motor sport film so the name links to the genre well. The designing of the Title was influenced by audience testing, as a group we picked a few individual fonts and presented these to a focus group along with a questionnaire asking for their opinions, from this we figured out which fonts were the most popular and why – this allowed us to make are final decision. The Title appears at the end of our opening, this fits really well with the voice over and creates mystery for the audience – I think that it is conventional of motor sport films that the title appears later in the opening after establishing shots have been shown.

Credits – We choose to do the credits is quite a conventional way, they fade out slowly – this is with in good keeping with our narrative. I think that our credits are similar to most films but it is the way that we found most fitting with our opening.

Characters – In our opening it is clear that our main character is a protagonist this is very stereotypical for a film of the genre Motor Sport. I think that in some ways we do have an antagonist character however it is the same character as the protagonist, I feel that he is the only person that stops himself doing anything. Further on in the film the audience maybe introduced to secondary characters, currently there are a few extras in the fan scene, these would probably stay as extras rather then becoming secondary characters but there is that option. Our main character is unconventional of a motor sport film, this is because he starts of disabled which subverts the stereo type of racing drivers being very active and energetic. The opening of our film and the characters in it can be compared to the opening of ‘Rush’.

Settings/ locations – When filming the opening to our film we stuck to the very conventional locations of a race track/ environment, this is shown in films such as Rush and The Need for Speed. We are very lucky that the Silverstone UTC is located on/ next to one of the most famous racing circuits and we were given the opportunity to use this facilities. When filming there were some limitations such as • Timings – we only had 1 college day to film everything we needed to on the track • Locations – we had to get permission to use certain locations on the track such

as grandstands, we had to make sure that the circuit were contacted well in advance so that we were able to do so. • Distance – Working as a group meant that we had to find time and a place when

everyone was able to film and where everyone could get to considering we all live in different villages and surrounding areas

I think that if were to do it again there is a few improvements/ changes that could be made, I think it would have looked really effective in the flash backs if the grandstands had of been full with fans – possibly with flags and posters, like a really busy race weekend

Costumes – Conventional costumes for a film of the Motor sport genre can vary, there will nearly always be a race suit, and some sort of Fan/ pit girl. Stereotypically racing drivers are wealthy so even when they are not in a car they are seen to be dressed well often with sunglasses on. In the opening we subvert this stereotype – our main character is seen in warm layered clothing, this is used as a contrast to when he is wearing a race suit – this is used to show how his life has changed. The costume of the character can also be seen to encode his age and how this accident has aged him and changed him into a lot less active and energetic person, the complete opposite to what he once was. All the other extras in the opening are wearing casual clothing this is just their own style, just like it would be if they were out for a day watching a race.

Camera work – As a group we used lots of establishing shots – this is conventional of a Motor sport genre film to set the location of the film. The shots we used in our opening help to show the narrative of the film as well . We used a range of shots and techniques such as –• Establishing • Pan • Track • Close up • Hand held shots • Focus pull These were used to help create mystery and a fast pace for the audience

Editing- We have used editing in the opening to create an atmosphere for the audience for example a filter has been used on the flash backs to make the narrative easier to understand, as well as the speed of editing changing between the past and present to show the change of speed in his life. The present has a slower speed of editing to show how boring and ordinary his life is, nothing exciting is happening. The past has a much faster edit showing the excitement and energy that his life use to be life. The comparison between the 2 makes it clear to the audience that something has happened.

Narrative – The narrative has been created through the wide variety of shots and edits, this makes the story line clearer and easier to understand for the audience. Most of our opening could be classed as a conventional Motor Sport film however some parts of it could be classed as subverting these conventions.