Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

In my short film, I have only used one character that the audience will be able to see properly as a character in the film. This challenges the forms of other short films, which usually rely on other characters to help the story and the protagonist’s character development. I chose to do this for a number of reasons: To get the audience’s involvement of the film solely on the main character and to reinforce the idea of the faceless over lording government.

I use an internal monologue which is fairly commonplace in short films as it’s a great way to have the protagonist speak directly to the audience about their thoughts and feelings, some of which they might not be able to say out loud. This works well in the short film as it’s a world where saying things about the government will have you arrested or worse. By having an internal monologue the protagonist has a way of explaining the situation he’s in to the audience, which in turn makes the audience empathise with him.

Usually short films are set in one general location, sometimes the whole film will be set in one place or room. I challenge this by having a range of different locations, each with a different atmosphere. I have done this as it brings out an emotive journey for the audience and doesn’t let them relax whilst watching, keeping the audience constantly interacting with the film.