In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Candy Stripped

Conventions of Social Realism

• Location Shooting• Wide Shots• Non Professional Actors• Semi Improvised Scripts• Wider Social Issues Explored• Triumph over Adversity

Location ShootingWe were able to use our surrounding area in our production through incorporating our own houses as well as the countryside. The location shooting fit with the conventions of our genre as well as enabling our setting to carry a more personal and relatable feeling for the audience. This is captured constantly in other films of the genre as it enhances the realism aspect of the production.

Wide ShotsFurthermore there was an incorporation of a variety of shot types; including wide shots linking again with social realism’s conventions. The wide shots allow the oppressive theme commonly threaded through numerous social realism film to be more clearly displayed. Our use equally represents this due to the way the environment belittles the protagonist.

Non Professional Actors

The convention of having a non-professional actor (due to the independent companies

lacking money to afford a professional) or at least less well known actually aided us;

because of the lack of availability of a professional one to us. Therefore the person

that plays the protagonist is non-professional and gives a performance that is more

personal to him. His possible nervousness of performing may have helped his acting as a

result of the character being more introverted and self-reliant, separated from the

normalities of society.

Semi Improvised Scripts

Consequently of using someone with no previous experience in acting we were unable to adopt the convention of a semi improvised script. However we were able to take inspiration from a particular independent British film, “Dead Man’s Shoes”. This production features a complete lack of dialogue during its opening and this break from convention allows it to present a greater impact. Therefore we too challenged this convention, solving a problem with the actor and producing a better result that what could have previously been achieved.

Wider Social Issues Explained

Our overall narrative discussed wider social issues, for example the impact on children growing

up in a more poverty ridden area but also the themes of isolation and depression and the effects

that it can cause to people. The narrative our production

contains is simple and basic but as a result of this the topics and

themes are much clearer and the issues suffered can be more easily noticed by the audience.

Triumph Over Adversity

Finally is a convention that our media product uses very strongly. Since the narrative is all about overcoming what seems impossible; as well as breaking down barriers and circumstances that the protagonist has created for him. It’s an obvious illustration of triumph in adversity that has been showcased in a large amount of social realism independent films such as Trainspotting and A Room for Brass. Our production concentrates on the effect the child can have on the parent, making in extremely relatable to the audience who are likely to have a family . Therefore will have experienced the strength a child can provide however possibly not to such an extreme.

How we could have done better

We followed a large proportion of the conventions and it may have been better

to possibly be more adventurous at certain points. This could have been done narratively by not having the positive new

equilibrium. Instead a more postmodern approach could be to have the protagonist

in an eventual worst state. This could be through crime or a darker approach could

be through such neglect his son passes away. The protagonist slips further into his

darker self and his life is not granted the relief that our productions narrative

provides.