Media A2 Evaluation

Alfie Mendoza

The most difficult part of my A2 coursework was actually trying to pinpoint a defined genre for my short film. The problem was that I had developed a strong idea behind the film, however the idea was the main force that drove the film forward. This meant the rest of my short films attributes revolved around the idea, which was to take gratification for ones memories. Eventually, after the production and editing stages of the film, I analyzed in detail the content and characters, coming to the conclusion that the most suitable genre to place it in would be social realism. This is because I portrayed members of the actual public in the first sequence, providing elements of realism, and then in the second sequence presented a morning routine that will be universally recognized with simple markers people can relate to like brushing teeth or eating breakfast. I also placed voiceovers throughout both sequences and the voiceover is addressing the audience, asking them to question what they though as normal to have memories for their whole lives, adding in another aspect of social-realism to the short film. Social realism is interesting because it is a genre that has developed very much along the development of cinema. The first social realism film recognized in England was film called Rescued by Rover in 1905. Social realism then began to peak in the 1930s and since then in line with developing technology and more and more exposure of social elements in society, audiences across the western world have become more interested in the genre. There is no denying that media strongly affects our culture or at least certain aspects of it, like what is cool and fashion, or even music. Social realism allows audiences to assess the contemporary social culture and where they fit within it, making it a very powerful genre. Challenging, using and developing conventions: Because the idea of the importance of memories is the crux of my film, I tended to often challenge conventions instead of meeting them. However, I wanted the idea to be taken in relatively easy by my audience, so I purposefully followed the convention of a general narrative structure under Todorovs theory.

As you can see above, the stages of the theory take up five parts. I followed this chronologically in my short film: Equilibrium- The stage of equilibrium encompasses a larger part of the short film than the rest of the five stages because it takes up the whole of the first sequence. This is emphasized by the calm music played in the background, a song by Buffalo Springfield called For What Its Worth. Its emphasized further by the tone of the voiceovers in which the voice remains calm and excitable about the idea of memories. The content displayed on film is also calming, with fast motion footage streaming through the streets of Notting Hill Gate, London at a steady pace, whilst the song and voiceover play in the background. Disruption- I emphasize the disruption in two parts. Firstly with a sense of foreboding created by the voiceover at the very end of the first sequence, questioning the audience what it would be like to have no memories at all. The second part of the disruption is done with sound. This is demonstrated through the stark contrast and transition from the Buffalo Springfield song in the first sequence to the harsh and loud sound of an alarm waking up Chris in the second sequence. Recognition of disruption- The recognition of the disruption if relayed to the audience through my voiceover, in which I describe how the character Chris now displayed on screen has an illness in which he can only hold 24 hours of memory in his head at a time, meaning every morning he wakes up an essentially starts afresh. The recognition of the disruption was also developed in this sense through editing in various parts of the short film with jump cuts. One example of this is when a crab shot is shown on screen with Chris walking by to the bathroom with his socks. Four jump cuts take place, and Chris walks by with the same movements each time, except with different socks on each different cut to show how he does the same thing every day.

The voiceover works to explain to the audience he his doing this without his own knowledge. Attempt to repair the equilibrium- This is done more subtly than the other stages of conventional narrative structure in my film. This is because the destruction of the equilibrium was carried out through the horrible and uncomfortable idea proposed to the audience of having no long-term memories. So the attempt at repairing equilibrium is in part triggered by the voiceover but has to be met by the audience itself brainpower. I mean this in the sense that my voiceover explains it is sadder to know about Chriss life than to live it. So in more detail, because he has 24-hour memory loss he doesnt realize he should be unhappy, as he wakes up everyday anew as if nothing has changed. This means if an audience member chooses to they can repair the equilibrium in their minds by understanding Chriss character serves the purpose to not just cause sympathy but to emphasize the importance of memories, the idea behind the film. The new equilibrium- This 5th stage is somewhat a continuation of the fourth. Hopefully towards the end of the film, based on its content, the audience will be thinking about the importance of their own personal memories and the greatness of memories in general. Therefore when the voiceover at the end of the short film states to be happy you even have memories, good and bad the new stage of equilibrium is established in the audiences minds by the fact theyre thankful they even have memories in the first place. The reason I make the point of cherishing the good and bad ones is because you wouldnt be able to know you had god ones endless you had bad ones. The reason why I didnt immediately pinpoint my genre as social realism was because thematically I made an unconventional choice. Looking at a film such as This Is England or a TV show like Skins. They both address conventional themes of social realism such as

drugs, sex, money, and growing up. + Differently, my short film focuses entirely on the idea of memories. At first It thought this could make the short film seem limited, however I also realized that because it has only one poignant theme, that theme is emphasized in more clearly than it would be otherwise. I did follow the convention for social realism of unknown characters. This is because like in Skins it allows the audience to relate more to what is on screen and also imagine themselves more easily in a similar situation. In addition to this I also portrayed recognizable social

dynamics, most prominently the relationship of a mother and child, which the majority of my audience will most likely recognize. Furthermore in terms of recognizable aspects of the short film for my audience in line with social realism, I portrayed a conventional morning routine people could relate to. POV shots are unconventional of social realism; however, I incorporated them a lot into my film to allow the audience to personalize more with what is on screen. The whole first sequence of the film is in POV as well as moments such as Chris getting out of bed in the morning, allowing the audience to go through the routine almost themselves and in turn make it a slightly more (social and) realistic process. Age is a very important convention in social realism. Most often characters are presented with ages between 13-20, the reason being for this is social realism often presents things on screen that could go wrong or need to be improved for the future, by demonstrating dangerous or unnerving social dynamics. This works to send a message to the younger generations since they are the age group displayed on screen and in turn could essentially affect the future. Furthermore older generations make take heed and relay morals to their children or grandchildren. I portrayed a 17-year-old character because I feel it is the bridge age for entering adulthood and in turn opens up a wider demographic. Young teenagers often want to be closer to that age and adults often look back fondly on the age, as poignant part of their life, making the fact that the character portrayed on screen has terrible memory loss even more sympathetic. There is not really a conventional age group for social realism because fortunately in lines with genre relating to real life it could relate to almost anyone depending on the content of the film. For example a film like a Billy Elliot is a feel good film following the idea of chasing dreams and the struggle of family dynamics, allowing its demographic

to apply to almost any age. However if one looks at a film like Kidulthood containing quite graphic and sometimes realistic aspects of teenage London life, the demographic would have a smaller range, most likely for young adults. The advantage to my somewhat unconventional short film was that because of the idea of the importance of memories at the heart of it, could relate to pretty much everyone. This keeps open the

opportunity of a large demographic for my short film.

Overall in terms of the ways I challenged or used social realism conventions in my short film is varied. Essentially, I tried to use as few conventions as possible, to emphasize the unconventional and distinct idea of the importance of memories. However I used the few conventions needed to mark the short film as social realism, such as cultural content, unknown characters and a narrative that could be followed to glue the effectiveness of my work together.