Film - 'During the Riots'

Radio Trailer

Official poster

Filming

1. In what ways does does your Media product use, develop or challenge conventions of a real Media product?

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and your ancillary text?

The combination of the three products we have created are very closely connected with each other and reflective of our film.

The poster (ancillary text) was made in Photoshop using still images captured from scenes of the film in Final Cut.The poster is very simplistic and shows two significant pictures - an image of one of the main characters (Brad) expressing distress through his position and an image of the rioters in our film. These pictures in our film are significant as the storyline revolves around these two different groups of people - the working class poverty-stricken people, and the lower middle class, wealthier person. If our film was to actually be produced and showcased on the big screens this is the poster we would use to visually communicate our film to the audience.

The colours we use in our poster are very important. For instance, the font 'Ariel Black' which we made bold, is significant because we want the font to reflect the harsh reality of society today, when you look at the poster the font is very direct, there is no bright colours or designed fonts, making it clear that there is a problem which we can't ignore.

The title of our film is written in capitals with an ellipses at the end. The reason behind the capital letters was to again enforce that idea that in society there will always be the problem of two differing groups. The ellipses is a very important element in the title because it reflects the political ideology behind our film - the idea of a split society between the richer and poorer people but most importantly it resembles the fact that the split/problem will never be resolved, there is and never will be a resolution to this.

We also illustrate our political ideology as in the ending of our film we do not have a state of equilibrium/resolution. In addition, we created a split screen scene of the rioters lighting the fire and the main character(Brad) calling the police.

On the bottom right hand corner is our tagline, we wanted to keep this particular area very simple and with just the BBFC rating in the corner. The writing is not enlarged, it is relatively small and each word starts with a capital letter. This was to mirror the isolation of Brad.

We decided to use a split on the poster because we want to emphasise our ideology and hint to the audience what our film is about. Again it reinstates the idea of a split society and in some sense, suggests a theory behind the actual riots to the audience, even though it started out as a protest concerning the death of Mark Duggan, it later escalated with many motives behind it, one of which is portrayed in our film.

Typically, at the bottom of the poster we have the release date and the phrase 'coming soon'. These elements are vital in a film poster as not only all film posters include this, it also creates a strong link to the film and gets the audience excited about it.

What really makes our poster effective is the two pictures on each corner. One is of the main character Brad, with his hands on his head looking down (a typical expression of pain, worry or grief), the lighting is dim and his shadow is visible.This would appear intriguing to an audience as they would question why he is in this state. Furthermore, some or many will be able to engage with it because when the riots happened very many people were affected in terrible ways.The other picture is of the rioters speaking about what they plan to do next (after the incident of setting Brad's house on fire), the colours in the picture are very dark with just a light sky above creating a silhouette of the rioters, they are shot from a low angle. All these elements are deliberately done to make the rioters appear very intimidating and in some sense, powerful as in the actual riots they were exactly this. Also, the pictures depict the main characters which we want to hint to the audience.

For the radio trailer we used Audacity. We imported audio clips from the film of the rioters laughing and arguing with sirens in the background and of Brad screaming Emily's name. We also imported poignant music from 'Royalty Free Sounds'. Our trailer is very effective in promoting our film. We used a male speaker who had a very dramatic voice thus, when the audience first hear his voice they will immediately be able to recognise that it's a drama film. The speaker uses emotive language such as 'they took away his soul' and speaks at a pace where it is not too fast or not too slow. The phrase is metaphorical, by 'soul' we mean the Brad's daughter (Emily), and we tell the audience this as straight after we hear Brad screaming Emily's name. We did this because we want to let the audience know that Brad's daughter is in effect, his soul as he has no one else. In the actual riots there were family losses, for instance the father's who lost each of their sons in Birmingham. We use the phrase to make an impact on the audience so they can really feel what the riots did to those who lost loved ones. Also it reinforces the idea that our film is a drama film as drama film trailers include emotive language.

We also use the chaotic sound of police and ambulance sirens after the phrase 'anarchy invaded' to resemble the commotion in the actual riots.We also have the speaker say 'Join us on June 15th when we'll retell his story', this is said at a slow but dramatic pace and reels in the audience, getting them excited about watching this film.

Overall, creating the poster and radio trailer for our film was very effective because it allows two different ways in which the film could be heard about, so it would reach out to a wider audience. Also the elements in each product link with each other in terms of emphasising our idea behind the film. The three products together are very strong in making our film successful.

3. What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

During the beginning of our research stage, we used Survey monkey to learn about our audience viewing preferences for drama films. Most participants of the questionnaire indicated that they like drama films to follow the conventions and not subvert any traditional drama elements. 'During the Riots' mostly follows the conventions as our audience wanted twists, intense emotions and arguments. Our film is based on conflict and binary opposition. This is especially depicted between the split groups in society – the youth (demographic group E - unemployed, psycho-graphic - Aspirer's and definitely strugglers) and adults/the rich and the poor, including internal conflict and distress within the main character.

However, what the audience least wanted to view was death, and our media product includes the death of Emily (Brad's daughter). This is to exemplify the seriousness of the situation and depict a realistic version of the actual riots where there were a number of deaths and injuries for instance, the three fathers who lost each of their sons in the Birmingham riots. One of the answers in our survey was that people wanted to watch 'thought provoking issues about real life human issues', therefore we decided to build a story regarding a issue faced in real life that caused anarchy all over Britain.

Regarding the opening of our film, our audience wanted the tension to gradually build or begin with flashbacks. We have certainly achieved this as 'During the Riots' begins with a pre-title sequence, which includes a montage of discontinuity showing flashbacks of different shots of Brad in distressed positions and a television shot of David Cameron speaking. We wanted to create an atmosphere of tragedy, isolation and frustration which we wanted the audience to feel. The ambiguity of this montage reeled in the audience as they would question, what is happeneing or why he is in that particular state. After watching the completed film our audience reported that they would like to view more violence and display more of the rowdiness of the rioters. However, this was impossible due to the content they required, we simply would not have been able to carry out such activities. But more importantly, we didn't want to portray the violence of the riots in our film, we wanted to focus more on our political message (two opposing groups in society). In many films, the political message becomes lost in the violence and gore, and we ensured our message was clear throughout the film, expressing it also through the conversation between Brad and the rioters.

Regarding what our audience wanted, they wished to see more scenes of the rioters and Brad arguing, if we were to film again then we would definitely take this on board by creating more deep emotive speech for the actors to say. Also, if we did have a second chance, then we would make sure the scenes filmed in the kitchen and living room  with Brad and Emily is different. This is because when our audience watched it, they pointed out that the camera work was unsteady and the speech could not be heard properly, it was unclear. This is a very important issue as it could possibly affect the audience's viewing of the film, so if we were to film again we would ensure the camera is steady and the voice's are spoken loudly.

Overall, our audience, despite some problems they did enjoy the film, what was common amongst the people who watched our film was that it was very unique in terms of the storyline.

4. How did you use Media technologies in the planning, research, construction and evaluation stages?

Media Q. 4

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Health and Safety Risk Assessment

Below is our health and safety risk assessment we carried out before we started filming. Because we were filming in the staff house, there were not many hazardous objects around. It simply includes, what hazardous objects may be around or objects which may danger the safety of the actors, essectial telephone numbers and email addresses of important people we may need to contact especially in an emergency.

Location consent form

Consent form for location

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Consent form

Consent form for young actors

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This is a consent form for the young actors who will participate in our film.However, some of our young actors are in sixth form college and have told us they will not need a consent form for participating in the film in out of school hours. Regardless, we have printed a few just in case but the main reason for this consent form was for the young girl in our film who is in year 7 and thus she requires a consent form.

Actors contracts

Above is the contract we created for the actors to sign, this is the contract signed by our main character (Brad).

Props and Costume lists

Film production meetings log

Below is some of the rough production meetings log of all the thing we needed to to and did do in a very short space of time because we decided to film a few scenes again at the last minute.

Planning & production timetable

Film planning sheet

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Above is a production timetable and planning list of the things that my media studies partner and I had done or needed to do from the first draft of our film. Beside the responsibilities, in brackets I put the initials of which one of us were assigned certain jobs and whatever role we fulfilled and on what date. 

Below the first page is a list is responsibilities that we still needed to tackle and again beside the roles there are the initials of who will fulfilled those roles. This was useful as it helped us to organise our roles so we're not confused about anything and we clearly knew what needed to be done.

The below pictures are some of the rough production logs and things we needed to do. These lists were made whenever my partner and I met and discussed the production organisation with each other. To note these are production meeting logs/timetables that are from the first draft of our film.

Animatic storyboard images

                          This is our animatic storyboard, it goes in order starting from the top.

Animatic - During the Riots

We did create an animatic for our film using iMovie however due to last minute technical difficulties we could not upload it properly.

Poster Draft one

Above is the very first draft of our poster. It was meant to be based on the design of the poster of the film 'The descendants'. It was going to show Brad (in the bottom right hand corner) looking back on the event of the riots when his house was set on fire. Originally, we thought this was a good idea, the colours we were going to use were red/orange and grey to resemble the colours of smoke/fire. However later after discussion we decided we wanted our film poster to be very direct with not a lot of colours to reflect the 'gritty' and realistic problem shown in our film. 

Opening of our film - Narrative

Initially the structure of our opening was going to start with an equilibrium where Brad is sitting with Emily on the sofa, they are looking through a photo album of their family picture, reminiscing about Brad's wife, they are happy and content and the atmosphere portrays this mood between them (Originally scene 1). This was then going to go onto a rising action where Brad detects the rioters coming. However, later after some discussion we decided to change the structure of our film to make it more interesting. This would be by, starting off with the last scene (scene 5) where there is a panning shot of Brad alone in the kitchen, the atmosphere is dull and there is a sense of tragedy, isolation and frustration  that we want the audience to feel as Brad is reluctant to eat and pushes his plate away with a long sigh. The reason why we wanted to start the film off with this scene is because we wanted to challenge the typical conventions of Todorov's theory of equilibrium - climax - disequilibrium and solution, and start off with a montage of discontinuity,  we thought by doing this we would interest the audience more  as it would create suspense and ambiguity for the audience  making them question what's going on? What happened? What's going to happen? And why he is in this state etc.

From scene 5 it would fade into a fall in action where Brad and Emily are sitting on the sofa (originally scene 1) and from this it would go onto the rising action of the rioters coming and finally onto the climax where the house is on fire and Emily dies. After this there would be no resolution.

Sending scripts (Print screen)



This is a print screen of me sending the scipt to Tahmid. Tahmid is the head of a drama club at Central Foundation boy sixth form and has agreed to act in our film along with 6 other boys to be rioters in our film.

Script drafting

Above is a short video of during which we first drafted our script for our film "During the Riots" (November)
To help us create our characters who would act as rioters, we collected newspapers with articles and images of the 2011 rioters caught on CCTV, this helped us to understand how are characters should look like to make our film appear as reflective of the riots as possible.

Script

Script

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Review of drama film posters - Ideas for our film poster

Audience Profile

Audience profile

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Preliminary video - 'Caked'

Above is a film that my group members and I made in order to prepare us for making the actual film for coursework. The preliminary film is called 'Caked' and it's about a princess (Snow White - me!) who has an evil step mother who bakes her a poisonous cake! So Snow White eats the cake and starts to feel weak and faints! Only to be saved by the hug of life by her best friend Cinderella (Farjana).

Making the film was really good in preparing us for making the actual film, this is because it gave us experience of using a professional camera and the importance of having different camera shots and angles in order to make the film look more interesting. It also gave us an idea of the organisation that we'll need during filming because it takes a lot of work! Also filming as a whole was fun!

Audience Survey Link

Click here to take survey

Audience Survey

Survey Monkey - Audience feedback

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Above are examples of some of the results from our survey

1. A large majority of the audience (72.7%) like drama films to end with a twist however, our film end tragically which only 27.3% of the audience want. To try and satisfy both the percentage of the audience we will try to fit a twist in at the end.

2. There is definitely a lot of actions and emotions in our film which the audience want, however death is what they least want. But, we don’t want to change the death in out film because we want to shock the audience and finish with a dramatic ending.

3. A high majority of the audience want young adults to be in the film and just a few want over 25. our initial target audience was within the 18-25 year group which is what the majority of the audience want. 

5. Our film will have a lot of high drama moments or emotional moments, the main character won't cry very much at all because we want to show his internal pain.

6. We will work on maybe having a good twist in our film. We don’t know if we can bring in any comical lines because this film is based on a serious and horrible event. We also don’t know if we can fit romance into it. If we did the film would be ruined!The film will already be very emotional.

10. The majority want their main character to be male which our main character is. 

The white balance

White balance is a camera setting that adjusts for lighting in order to make white objects appear white on the screen.

The three main aesthetic rules

             
                                                                 THE HEADROOM

PICTURE 2 (my niece)

PICTURE ONE (my niece)

This is a function where there is space between the person's head and the top of the frame. As you can see, picture one has enough head room to give us focus the girl in the picture but without making her fill the whole frame. In close up's both the top of the head and the chin should be cut.

THE LEAD ROOM

                                                                                                 (my niece)

The lead room describes a function where the media text directs the audience's attention and control what they see in the frame. For example, in the above picture the girl is leading or directing our attention to what she is about to do next which is walk out of the door.

THE RULE OF THIRDS

This is where the frame is divided into a grid (3 by 3) and objects follow these line or at their intersections. It is important because if you are shooting a frame and want every shot to look effective, apply the rule of thirds to all important subjects in the frame.

Controversial film - A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Written by Anthony Burgess in 1962 and later produced by Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange is about a young boy (Alex De Large) whose only interests include classical music in the form of Beethoven, rape and ultra-violence. Alex leads a small gang with whom he carries our his interests but later is captured and is attempted to be rehabilitated via psychological conditioning. The film was very explicit showing very extreme violence and sexually violent scenes, it was given a 'cult' film status. 

The British Authorities and the Media found the film to be despicable for many reasons. The authorities claimed it inspired true 'copycat' crimes which means people copy the violence that was shown in the film. This is illustrated in a case in 1972 where the defendant (a fourteen year old boy) pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of a classmate after telling the police friends had told him of the film and 'the beating up of an old boy like this one'. The press had also blamed the film for a rape in which the attackers sang 'Singin' In The Rain'. However this film was a hit in the USA.

The film was rated an 18 after Kubrick's death when the film was re-released, so this meant despite the extreme violence and rape it was suitable for public viewing for those aged 18 or over. 

Our film 'During the Riots' is completely different from this controversial film because we have no actual violence or disturbing scenes which might spark controversy. Although our film is based on the disruption and violence of the 2011 riots over England we focus more on the political message of our film and everything in the film is suitable to watch which is why we rated it 12A. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Clockwork_Orange_(film) 

BBFC regulations.

Universal

• Suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

Parental giudance

•  A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

 

• The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work.

• The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12.

• No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

• No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• To be shown in specially licensed cinemas or supplied in only licensed adult film shops to adults only over aged 18.

The British Board of Film Classification regulations are overall quite appropriate, however I personally think the 12A rating of films if unnecessary and should be banned. This is because there should be a clear regulation of films. If a film requires a 12 year old to be accompanied by an adult this surely means that the content of the film is not suitable for a 12 year old. What difference would it make if a parent was there? A 12 year old would still see and hear things they're not meant to. An article from The Daily Mail argue many films that are rated 12A are 'full of swearing'. For example, The Ghost Town starring Ricky Gervais is a film rated 12A and features uses of two different swear words many times. The film Drillbit Taylor features swearwords more than 8 times. The BBFC argue the use of strong language in a film rated 12A is fine as long as it is 'infrequent' however the Daily Mail gives many examples of films that have swearwords used frequently. Below is the article from the Daily Mirror.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/3463215/Films-rated-12A-are-full-of-swearing.html 




Source - http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

            http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/3463215/Films-rated-12A-are-full-of-swearing.html

Regulations review - 'Good As Gone'

This is a short film about a former gang member 'Red' who after being released from prison, wants to turn his back on his criminal life. As soon as he is released, his former gang members have already planned an illegal activity for Red only to find out Red no longer wants to be involved. This angers the leader of the gang and his goes out of his way to persuade Red to come back to them. After Red's reluctance, he runs away.

This film certainly satisfies conventional elements of a drama film because it has a lot of suspense and silence which builds up the tension arising from the gang members and Red.It is similar to the film we are making in the sense that our film involves a gang who are rioters and they too are criminal activists during these riots.

Regulations review - The First Grader

                                                                   

                                                                         
                                             
                                                                           


                                                                           
                                                            http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi4027358489/
                                                                             

This film is based on a true story and it centres around an 84 year old Kenyan ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford. This created strong opposition from parents and teachers.

The film First Grader is definitely a drama film which captures the audience's mind, and it definitely conforms to various conventions of a drama film. It has many moments of silence and suspense. it is presented in a non chronological sequence, it had various violent wartime flashbacks, for example when Maruge is shown being tortured as he is hung upside down and whipped or pierced in the ear with a sharpened pencil or when he if forced to watch his wife and baby get killed. There is definitely the antagonist and protagonists where Marugee is the protagonist where he wants the right to free education and believes 'everybody' includes him and the other Kenyan parents and teachers are the antagonists who find it absurd that an 84 year old man wants to learn to read along with six year old children. I also think that, with regards to what the violent flashback shows, the British people are the antagonists in the sense that they oppose the views of the Kenyan people, they don't care what they think or want, and Maruge, along with the other innocent Kenyan civilians are victims.

The elements of this drama film that most interested me is different emotions expressed. The director Justin Chadwick had disturbing moments in the film, for example when Maruge's wife gets shot in head and his baby too. It has moments where we feel very sympathetic and almost hurt for Maruge when he imagines his wife next to him singing to him. But the film also have a lot of happy moments and most importantly perhaps proud moments that show us how Maruge is proud of who he is, this I thought was shown when he went to the government meeting and showed the marks on his back declaring how if it wasn't for him or the other who suffered Kenya would not be where they are now. But in my opinion, the most amazing aspect of the film has to be the message that it leaves with us. We see how Maruge has suffered from the very start of his life and how he is still to this very day is struggling to overcome his violent and unforgettable past life. We perceive him as an advocate of the disadvantaged people who have suffered considerably in their life. The fact that he  fights for the right to education and freedom, that he never gives up is a lesson to all.

This film is rated PG 13 for some disturbing violent content and brief nudity. However, I think due to the very disturbing violence in some scenes it should be rated 15. For me, some scenes were very upsetting and difficult to watch and personally I don't think people of younger age than 15 can put up with the violent scenes. However, for educational purposes it is obvious why it was rated PG 13 because of the Historical context.

This would affect how we would regulate the guidelines for our film, however our film is not so upsetting as seen in the First Grader and in my opinion I think out film could be a PG film. This is because it has no swearing in it, or any violents scenes, there are only scenes of pushing around. There is a scene of a house getting caught on fire but because it has no actual fire coming out if it or, because we don't see anyone actually dying or suffering in it it'd be suitable to watch.




Sources - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790663/
               http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/first-grader

Film review (BBC short films) - The Other Man.

The film is a about a man who finds out his wife was raped five years ago. After this news, he struggles to come to terms with the rape of his wife and it leads to suspicions that she wasn't reallly raped but had cheated on him.

The film overall was quite good, the tone of voice used by the actors was of an upset and dim tone which reflected the hurt and pain felt in this film. The 'other man's' facial and bodily expressions were impressive in showing his shock of hearing the news, his anger and confusion. There were a lot of moments of silence which heightened the tension felt between the actors.

However, the actress (wife) did not seem very convincing or realistic in acting that she was raped in the first part of the film. When she told the husband over the phone, I felt there was no reality or emotion in what she was saying, she was very straight about it. there should have been more emotions expressed.
Furthermore, although the moments of silence was a good thing in enhancing the tension, there was alomost too many long moments of silence than necessary which made the film lose it's appeal.

With regards to the conventions of the film, without doubt it has many of the conventions of a drama film. For example, there is numerous moments of silence which builds up the tension between the characters.

But overall, a fairly good film.

Source - http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/

Roles in the film industry

Roles in the Film industry

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Technology in Slumdog Millionaire

                                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbu3GmiWF68

This video feature Danny Boyle and Darren Aronfsky. Danny Boyle discusses how he used Silicon imaging cameras in Slumdog Millionaire  to produce superb images in tight spaces with fast motion so it would 'snatch' information.

Danny Boyle didn't want to use the large 35mm cameras in the tight slums of India. He wanted to use a smaller more flexible digital camera to enable them to shoot quickly with minimal disturbance. They then found the innovative IT- Centric Silicon Imaging S1-2K Digital Cinema camera which delivered over 11 stops of dynamic range, flexible connectivity and film-like digital content which made it easy to be inter-cut with traditional film footage.





I think the Silicon imaging camera used in Danny Boyle's film was excellent because it had the advantages of efficiency, flexibility and adaptability with regards to filming in the very bust and small spaces of India. Without it, Danny Boyle would not have been able to capture great motion pictures. The type of Silicon cameras is an example of how, yet again, the continuous development of technology helps to create excellent quality of films.


Sources - http://www.siliconimaging.com/DigitalCinema/
                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbu3GmiWF68

Case study- Titanic.

Titanic (1997) is an epic romance and disaster film produced and co-directed by James Cameron. It had forteen Academy Award winning nominations, and eleven Oscar wins recieveing prizes for best picture and best director. Titanic is the highest grossing movie of all time both in the US and world-wide. it made over $600 million in the US and over $1.8 billion world-wide. It is the only mvie to ever make over $1 billion world-wide.

Successful elements:

•  The movie was a true story based on the RMS Titanic. Thus, the movie mimics the events that emotions that took place when the real Titanic sank.
• There was a very popular sound track made by Celine Dion.
• The cinematography and imaging of the film was out-standing, making the film seem more realistic.
• The two main characters were very poular and well known (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett) which made the film more appeling to watch.

Conventions:

•  Poignant music (Celin Dion- Heart Will Go On) complimented the tragedy of the death of Jack and the idea of letting go.
• It was non-chronological as there flashbacks in the film. 
• There was a typical antoganist - Rose's fiance who disliked Jack because of his class. Protagonist - Jack who saved Rose.

Against conventions:

•  When Jack is trapped at the bottom of the ship, the saviour is Rose. Typically, it is the woman who is in danger and the man is the saviour.
  
  

  Personally I think Titanic is a very successful drama film, this is because firstly, it was based on a true story and in general the audience admire film like that. Secondly, it was demonstrated a social hierarchy that did exist at the time it was set, and some may argue it still exists now, so a lot of people can relate to it for example, Jack being the working class underdog whilst Rose and her family were Middle class.  I also think it was successful because of the tragic love story between Rose and Jack, and the fact that Rose loses Jack and has to learn to move on whilst knowing their love was so short lived. The fact that James Cameron merged all four elements in a very captivating way made the film successful. From the elements of death and love in this film, we will take a few ideas and incorporate it into our short film.
  
  
  
  
  Sources - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic
                  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/





The conventions of a Drama film & narrative theories.

Suspense -
A state or condition of uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome usually accampanied but anticipation or fear.

Silence -
The absence of sound or speech.

Suprise -
An unexpected or sudden ancounter or decision.

Diegetic sound -
Any sound, voice, or piece of music that comes from within the world of the narrative.

Non diegetic sound -
Any sound that come from outside the world of the narrative.

Todorov's narrative theory -
Equilibrium     Disequilibrium      New equilibrium

Antagonist -
One who opposes the work or values of another

Protagonist -
One who opposes the antagonist (usually the good person)

Chronological -
Events arranged in terms of time occurrence

Non chronological -
Events that don't conform to the time occurrence (flashbacks)

Binary Opposition -
Where events or texts are organised around sets of opposite values (light and dark, good and evil)

Enigma code -
A question or event that is not immediately answered and thus, draws the audience into the text (A woman is murdered and the killer is unknown, the killer's identity is an enigma). 


I think these all these elements are essential to making a Drama film successful, however I don't think every drama film has to have all of the elements listed above. For example, a drama film does not have to be in a non chronological way to make it interesting, we can build up the past of a character's life through their personality, home settings etc. For example, in our short drama film for Media studies, we are not going to use flashbacks as we think it would disturb the sequence of the film. The history of the main character will be presented through family photographs and the speech of the character. In our film, we are going to have both suspense and silence as I think these are key in a drama film to bring them to life or make the audience feel the tension which exists. For example, suspense will be used when the main character detects rioters coming closer to his home and there will be a sudden rush of fear inside him. In our film, we definitely conform to the conventions of having a Antagonist - rioters and Protagonist - main character, I think this is important for a drama film because conflict between the two types of characters builds up the tension, suspense etc. However, all though most drama films have the theory of Todorov, we decided our film will challenge this. There is equilibrium during the start of the film but not full equilibrium as the main character knows what is going ona round him,, when the conflict appears there will be disequilibrium throughout the film.