Coursework Evaluation: Q1

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

My product is an opening sequence to a romance tragedy film. During the research process, I studied films such as The Notebook which contained elements I wanted to incorporate in my own film. These elements included primarily the romantic involvement of two people which also had hints of tragedy along the way. In The Notebook, Allie is banned by her parents from seeing Noah, the man she loves. The pair decide to break up, leading Noah to drive away. The next morning, Allie's mother informs her that they are leaving to go home. Allie frantically tries to find Noah, but is forced to leave without saying goodbye. Noah writes Allie a letter a day, but she never receives them as her mother hides them from her- meaning that Allie and Noah have no choice but to move on with their lives. I tried to give the impression of a tragic event such as being taken away from your loved one or a break-up. I decided to use a break-up as the tragic event because I did not want to do anything too similar to The Notebook.

My opening sequence shows the outcome of such tragic happenings in a relationship. You see the tears, the emotion, the throwing away of photographs. What you do not see is why this has happened. This suggests that the story behind the opening will be unravelled throughout the film. The idea of the romantic involvement of two people is portrayed through my actress and the photographs she is holding of herself with an ex-partner, and the idea of tragedy is portrayed through the facial expressions and the photographs being destroyed.  

I discovered that the central plot of a romance film often revolves around the romantic involvements between the two main characters (or indeed one-sided love stories - unrequited love). I believe my film uses this convention- The photographs my actress is holding shows the audience that she was at one point romantically involved with the other person in the photograph. The other person in the relationship is not shown in my opening sequence, but he is portrayed through the photographs. The film P.S. I Love You uses a similar technique. Throughout the film, the idea of the other person in the relationship is portrayed through letters. My film shows some similarities to P.S. I Love You in that both use a signifier- my film uses photographs and P.S. I Love You uses letters. This means that they become the most important and recognised thing in the film because they have some sort of significance to the plot line.