1. 1) In what ways does your
media product use, develop or
challenge forms and
conventions of real media
products?
2. Genre Research
I chose to research the drama genre so I can see what key
conventions are included that make a drama film what it is.
I found that the common codes and conventions included:
• Real life situations with real life characters
• Real life settings
• Real life stories that audiences can relate to
• A character’s journey/development
• Dramatic storyline that moves the audience emotionally
• Realistic struggles, difficulty and pain
• Narrative usually ends happily
• Sub-genres like: Comedy, Tragedy, Melodrama, Music,
Teen etc.
3. Genre Research
From researching this I was able to justify my film opening
as a drama film, and associate the narrative and characters
with those that are common in the drama genre. For
example, Danny (my protagonist) is practising for an
audition at ‘Rockstone University’, and is determined to
succeed in the music industry. This shows the character’s
personal journey which is a key convention in the drama
genre.
4. School of Rock Title Sequence
To further my genre research, I looked at the
opening of ‘School of Rock’ and it’s title
sequence, as it is a similar film to my own. I
found that all through the beginning of this film
that the genre is easily communicated and
introduces the different sorts of people who
are in the ‘rock’ industry. This was
demonstrated predominantly by the use of
mise-en-scene, therefore in my film opening I
will be using a lot of mise-en-scene to show the
genre clearly.
5. Have I done anything different that
challenges the genre?
My film is a Music Drama, which is different to
the typical drama film as most of
melodramatic or Comedy Dramas for
example. There is not a lot of Music Drama
films in the industry so therefore it is a gap
in the market which I chose to represent.