In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms

and conventions of real media products?

Transcript of video
Theres a very specific target audience for short films as a genre. Theyre not
really available on general release aside from the odd Disney animations its
quite rare to see a short film in a cinema unless its a specific event. So,
understanding that the people who would be watching my short films would
ideally be people who watched short films to explore the medium and format, I
was quite keen to present something a little bit different. I made my main
character deaf which invited itself quite well to some different techniques you
might see in some mainstream movies. I feel I represented it best in the brief
lipreading scene where I was able to use techniques in premiere to display my
character attempting to read the mouth of his friend and understand what he
was saying. A lot of time goes into syncing audio especially dialogue to the
events occurring on screen so to actively go against that to create a disconnect
between sound and vision is quite challenging to the conventions of real media
products. One example of this is the Short Film Syncing which uses sound editing
to highlight a mans depression through being submerged.
Also, as there is a distinct lack of representation of deaf people on screen a short
film exploring that would likely draw that audience to see how it was explored or
presented. Knowing that there would be people viewing this who couldnt see
made it more important for me not to focus on much dialogue, with most of the
interaction between characters being presented through movement or
expressions.
Knowing that there is a specific mainstream audience who would want to watch
the short and understand it, I kept in mind how to ease the audiences into a
story where the character lacks one of the most important senses. Looking at
other introductory stories from things as out there as Doctor Who or superhero
origin stories, it made sense to introduce a normal relatable character and
explore the unknown through their eyes. Using the well known technique in
making short films of starting late and leaving early, I opted not to show how the
character became deaf but opted to use one of the earliest shots to display a
letter commenting it was recent. Through the actors expression I hoped to
convey to the audiences that the characters deafness was a new thing and ease
in the viewers to something they might have little to no knowledge of.
I was quite keen to convey that through mise en scene. The opening shot was an
extreme close-up of my actors face, showing just the eyes, which drew out slowly
revealing the situation in the following scenes, creating an enigma and asking
questions, a direct recreation of the opening to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
where the director settled the camera on the eyes of Caesar for a length of time
before panning out slowly revealing the situation.
To create the scene where the character places the mug down on the surface and
is frustrated by the lack of sound, to increase the tension between each tap

obviously a mundane and commonplace thing - on the moment the mug touched
the surface I cut to a closer, tighter framing, mixing in some expression shots to
highlight the characters emotions. Building up tension through editing closer
cuts- is a well used technique in film-making. The cuts are jarring and force the
audiences to recalibrate as it were, as well as by getting the camera closer to the
events, audiences are drawn closer, wondering where it would lead to
ultimately the smashing of the mug, where the sound returned hopefully starting
the audiences. The calm that came afterwards would have hopefully conveyed
some serenity after the violence and shock in that scene with the cross fade
conveying the literal washing away of the blood, while some remains.
Bringing the situation into the sitting room where my character watches storage
hunters was just an attempt to show how difficult it can be reading subtitles
while watching. To increase the tension I cut between shots quicker, increasing in
pace while zooming in closer until pulling it out again with the turning off the
television. This was a technique I first saw in Good the Bad the Ugly in the climax
which released its hold with the famous close-ups by cutting to a wideshot to
symbolise the end of events.
Arguably, its the choice to represent the deaf community on screen that is the
biggest divergence from conventions. With most mainstream productions
treating deaf and blind people as almost non-existent, making the main
character deaf and telling his story is a step from most conventions in moving
picture drama. Theres also the representation of Max as a male character
presented as a football player with a group of friends, he fits into very masculine
traits. His anger, released as he smashes the mug on the counter, has been pent
up for a while and he takes a while to come down from that. Also what is a
typically masculine trait is the idea of having to hide emotions, and not being
able to ask for help. I was keen to present a difference in posture once Max is
with his friend Phil, allowing himself to open out a little; giving a small shrug as
the answer to if hes alright. Later on, Phil attempts to physically comfort Max
which Max immediately brushes off and returns to the pent up posture he had
earlier. So while this short uses a lot of the typical conventions of masculinity
the more toxic ones that can be really damaging with the ending of the short
displaying Max looking at the football equipment Phil left him, I would hope that
it asks the audiences if the representation of lone male heroes, able to take
whatever hits them on their own, is not only true but if its healthy. I would hope
that the audiences would be wishing Max to rejoin his friends and reach out for
help again as opposed to continuing his stagnant existence in his house.
As with most short films, I was keen to leave the movie on an ambiguous note
leaving the audience to decide what happens next. I placed the focus on a
character choice here if he would go out and socialise or keep doing what hes
doing. There are some short films that choose to place the focus on plot like the
end of The Black Hole for a more character focused piece, it was appropriate to
focus that on the ending.

In terms of genre, the short film embodies a lot of the conventions of the dude
with a problem genre proposed by Blake Snyder in his book Save the Cat.
Defined by the phrase An ordinary guy finds himself in extraordinary
circumstances, Hard of Hearing embodies those conventions quite accurately by
presenting an ordinary character whom the audience can emphasise with Max
thrown into a situation hes not in total control of, his deafness. This genre covers
a lot, stretching from Titanic to Die Hard, so while not as obviously apparent such
as a genre as fantasy or Westerns, the dude with a problem is a well defined
format with an obvious structure.
The idea of creating a short film for an audience who would actively seek out
short films was reflected in my ancillary tasks. The article I created was quite
clearly aimed at an intellectual film audience, as it attempted to explore the
representation of deafness and other conditions like that on screen. This was
furthered through the layout by examining other film magazines such as Sight
& Sound and Time Out, I developed a layout that placed a good focus on the
content, while incorporating the images. As it was aimed at a more adult
readership, I felt a lot more confident in using white space an absence of text
or images to draw focus to other parts. This is why I was able to use a whole
column without any of the article text and not worry, whereas a younger
audience might expect something akin to a quiz. Similarly when it came to
writing one line/word reviews for the poster, I credited them to Sight & Sound
magazine as well as Time Out to highlight the specific audiences.
Similarly for the poster, by looking at examples of posters made for short films, I
was able to make choices to utilise the common conventions to create a
professional short film poster. For example, an early draft featured a full bleed
image, taking up the whole of the poster. After looking at many others, I realised
that it wasnt actually common for film posters, especially short film posters to
use a full bleed image it was the sort of thing reserved for features. By cutting
down the image and using a black background, I was able to create a short film
poster that would not have looked out of place next to other posters.
Overall, while my short film did have moments where it diverged from
established conventions, the film and the ancillary tasks did follow established
conventions closely and creating something that would have fitted in, while
hopefully offering something new.