Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your

media product use, develop or challenge forms and

conventions of real-life media products?
The task we had been set for our Unit G324 Advance
Portfolio was to produce a short film in its entirety,
lasting approximately five minutes, which will be live
action, together with two of the following three options:
A poster for the film
A radio trailer for the film
A film magazine review page featuring the film
My group and I had got together and come up with a wide
variety of ideas ranging through different genres such as
an action, a romance, a comedy and a thriller/horror
film. After thorough discussions, we settled on the idea
of an action film. The general synopsis of the film was
that of Ricky, a 16 year-old schoolboy pulling the
classic Im ill excuse in order to stay home from
school to play video-games. However, although he is
successful (to begin with) in not going to school, when
he loads up his console, he is suddenly thrown into the
game and put on the front line of action in a life or
death situation where he must survive. Unfortunately,
just as he completes his mission, his mother switches off
his console and tells him to get to school.

Setting/Location
The settings of the production were very important as it
helped to maintain the verisimilitude of the film. Our
group decided that in order to make our film more diverse
and interesting, we would use multiple locations in order
to tell our story. At the very beginning of the film, an
REAL schoolboys bedroom was used, which helped to make
the scene along with the characters identity, more
believable. This was done purposely to emphasise that the
main character is young and attends school, which made it
easier for the audience to understand the narrative.
The second location included a train station (Fairlop
train station). This implied that a journey was being
made which built up the tension, suggesting that danger
was present. The audience could clearly understand this
by the character positioning partnered with the location.
Finally, the last location that we used in our production
was a forest (Clayhall Forest). We knew that this would
be an ideal location for our main battle scene as it

follows the general codes and conventions of an action

film. For example, the area is deserted with many
obstacles and objects a person can take cover behind to
protect them from enemy gunfire.
Generally speaking, the audience should have been able to
distinguish between the settings in which the main
character switched between. The location changed as the
mood intensified and the story built up. This follows the
general codes and conventions of the typical action film
as action never starts instantly.