Evaluation - Question 1

In our film opening, we incorporated generic conventions through the use of mise en scene, camera, editing and sound. Through the use of mise, we made sure that the lighting, location and costumes matched our main genre of action. Through low-key lighting it brought out the characters moods and personalities, we included this towards the end of our film as it would be when the protagonist met up with the antagonist. This would change the atmosphere between and would be able to feel that tension between the two. At the start of the film we added high-key lighting to clearly show to the audience that this was the good guy and can be connoted in different forms.

The location was small and under a tunnel when the two came together, this was to set the mood and the scene as it was quite dark and deserted building up to a climax of something about to happen. The costumes were chosen specifically for each character, they had similar costumes within the top half of the clothes. They both wore a smart blazer but with 'Pete' (Josh) he was wearing jeans to come across more casual. We made 'Sebastian' (Alex) wear a full suit to make him look more intimidating and more powerful in comparison to Pete. These aspects link closely to the genre of action, as all of these characteristics piece together the atmosphere and tension between the characters.

Through the use of camera, we included two establishing shots. The first one was to start off the film and understand where the protagonist was starting out, this was to create a dramatic scene for the audience and introduce the film. The second one was to set the scene, alongside with the non-diegetic sound it created perfect atmosphere for the audience to witness. We gave the protagonist a lot more prevalence through the use of editing and camera, as we wanted the audience to acknowledge he was the main character and his important role in our film. We did this by using him in the first half of our film by following him around until he made it to his destination. We used a variety of different camera shots to make sure our generic conventions linked to action. For example, we used a lot of over the shoulder shots to feel like someone was watching him, and made it a lot scarier for the audience.  The use of sound was the final but main aspect that brought the film together, for example, if we didn't incorporate the non-diegetic sound in our film, it would have looked very plain and simple, making the audience bored and not watch it. We implemented 3 different royalty free sound tracks that were tense and slow paced, to present our film in an atmospheric tone and so the film would be complete. Without this music, it would just be us following the protagonist but with no expression and meaning. We also added in small sound effects to finish off the final touch, for example when the phone vibrated we included a small text sound so the audience knew that the protagonist got a notification, hence why he picked up his phone. The last and final sound effect we included was the sound of a gunshot, to make it sound realistic at the end scene when the protagonist shot one of the antagonists. We didn't show who he shot to make it seem a mystery for the audience to find out later in the film, hence why we added a 1 year earlier frame at the end, making the watch the whole film to see the end shot of who he killed.
Comparing our film to other action films, they both have similarities and differences, for example the difference is we made the ending scene of our film at the start and then implemented a '1 year earlier' black screen transition. The similarities between our film and other films out there is that we made it so tension was built up throughout the piece through the use of sound and editing. We created this through non-diegetic royalty free music and use of transitions.