Q1. In what ways does your media product develop forms & conventions of real media products?
In our film we have used a combination of two different worlds, the real world and the alternate world of which has subtle differences, for examples that time is not linear and contains glitches and the surrounds of the colour are almost cartoonist. We took examples of worlds from Narnia and The Matrix. We took their ideas and developed them to enforce the post-modernism theme and improve upon them to make them more modern, due to these films being made a while ago.
Lighting
One of the main aspects that we have developed is the lighting of the alternate world, where we have developed this to make it clear to the audience that this is not the real world as it is a lot brighter and the surrounding are shown to be different. The difference between the alternate world may create a positive connotation to some audiences as everything is a lot more brighter and colorful and everything can be seen. however it may create negative connotations linking to death as people imagine seeing 'bright lights' when they are about to pass away. The use of the bright lighting also re enforces the idea of bright lights and super powers like in the film Narnia the witch has super powers and can freeze objects including people, and has connotations to brightness.
Another way we have developed our lighting is when Lucy is kidnapped, however this is done in broad daylight and the kidnappers identity can be seen by her. Compared to The Martix, they have done this at night to create a more edgy feel for the audience, as darkness has negative representation as humans cannot see in the dark and so Neo's kidnapper is remained hidden, However, we have applied this to our own, as the identify is kept hidden throughout the whole trailer as we can only see their shoulders and feet while the kidnapping takes place. we have kept some similarities but we have developed this in ways.
Location
We developed our location through different perspectives, for example the CCTV camera and the point of view shot when she awakes, these brought the audience to a new location changing the scene and the tone of the shot. For example the CCTV shot caused tension in the audience as someone was watching them and the characters were not safe. The point of view shot meant that there was confusion as the audience did not know where the character was. We developed this from The matrix trailer when the people in the city are being watched as they are 'slaves' however it is shown as a regular high angle shot, still making them seem small and weak, but not as in danger compared to how we have presented it. We needed to enforcing the danger that the characters are in to show the audience that their is a antagonist present.
Another way in which we developed our location is through the location of the antagonist lair, of which compared to 'The Matrix' where they have lots of technology and scientific equipment, compared to ours we have used the one computer, which is all the technology that the antagonist need due to the advanced development in technology that we now have.
Editing & Credits
We developed our credits from conventional black and white background to a glitching background to matching the glitches in time which are presented in our trailer, normally the background behind the text will be still and the text will be moving with a transition in some cases in may grows towards the screen like in the matrix, however in ours the background glitches with a variety of shapes and letters that disappear every millisecond however it is still readable for the audience. The background remains subtle enough so the attention of the audience is still drawn towards the words.
We developed our editing techniques by recreating a traditional method of portals. When our character gets taken to the alternate she is taken through a thunder storm which has a negative representation, and is snatched in thin air, so fast that the audience cannot see this happening. However, in other post-modernism films physical portals that can be seen by audiences are used, For example, in The Chronicles of Narnia, the portal is a wardrobe which is isolated from everything else in the house, and is the only item of furniture in the room, which is also covered by an old sheet, making its appearance seem suspicious to the audience and the young girl who discovers it, Lucy. Compared to Avatar and The Guardians of the Galaxy, they travel around space through the major advancements in technology that we do not currently have, they use space ships and various IT equipment to make it happen. And so, we subverted this by not having a visible portal for the characters to travel to, as the audiences start to think about possible solutions of how they were transported to an alternate world, it also creates less hope for Lucy and getting home as she does not know if it was nature or technology and so she is left with limited information to complete her quest.
Here you can see the flash of lighting about to kidnap her into thin air. Of which the audience then see the items that she was holding fall to the ground.
Another feature that we have developed is the coloured filter that have applied to the alternate world. We have taken this idea from The Matrix where a green tinted transparent filter has been used as feature which has been applied to create connotations of nature, energy and electricity which link to the themes of the film. We have chosen to developed this with editing the filter that we applied to it. We applied a high contrast, high brightness and a filter that made everything seem like a cartoon almost, creating a significant difference between the real world and the alternate world.
Props
Our main character, Lucy, wears a locket around her neck which contains a photo of her younger self and her Nan. We have developed this from being just an ordinary locket as if serves a purpose for when she is taken to the alternate world and helps her to choose who she should trust in the alternate world as it is all new to her. Unlike in Memento which helps him in the present which he makes for himself to use and know who to trust. In our trailer we have developed this so that the answer is with her throughout her whole life so that it would e there the day that she needs it the most, which is when arrives in the alternate world.