In what ways does your media product use, develop

or challenge forms and conventions of real media

products?

In our opening of a film, Conte De Fades, we use different aspects such as film titles and
costumes to show forms and conventions of real media products.

The Title, Conte De Fades, has just been simply thrown together at the last minute. It’s been
carefully thought about. The background shows a forest scene with trees and leaves. It
develops an idea that the opening most definitely has something to do with woods. The
light at the end of the path, gives an idea that there’s light at the end of tunnel, that the
character has to find a way to reach that light. Telling the audience that this film mainly
focus’ on this one character who has a journey to make everything good again after a
certain event. The font of the titles makes it seem like a Fairy Tale in some sort. The ‘writing’
is like handwriting, not computer manufactured. It seems pure and simple like a fairy tale is.
It makes the film look innocent looking but also menacing and dark at the same time. It
looks like as though something dark and mysterious will happen within the film but overall
have a fairy tale base with the simplicity of the font and the swirls on the ‘D’.
 The setting of the opening film is primarily set within a mansion. The mansion is Victorian
which implies that a rich or royal family lives there. This links back to the plot of a Princess
being pushed back from her Father, the King, by her wicked step mother.

Left: our main Location of Woodchester Mansion. Right: The Queen’s castle in Snow White

The Mansion looks royal and posh. It looks as though a Fairy Tale could be set there with the
classic Princess, Prince and King. Looking at the two pictures you can see some similarities
between the two ‘castles’. The both look like a Fairy Tale location. This links perfectly with
the Fairy Tale genre and with that we based our story on Snow White but just with a darker
feel.

The second main type of location is the woods.

There are two sets of wood, one in Uley and
one in Stinchome. The one in Uley has plenty of
trees which look old and dying which makes the
running scenes in which the Princess is running
away look even more effective darker and more
suspenseful. There are paths and hills ,which
give dimension to running and makes it come
across even more that she is running for her life
and trying to find as many
Stinchcome Woods
ways to get away. The woods
in Stinchome look more peaceful
which fits in with her sleeping in them.
The look safer than the woods in Uley
as though the Princess feels safer with
her life in them as opposed to those
ones where she chased. The sunlight in

Uley Woods
these wood scenes shows morning. The light coming through the trees gives the impression
that all is well. Whereas the darkness in the Uley woods emphasises that something bad is
going on, her life is in danger. The show darkness and drama. A stark difference between
the two woods.

The final location is the black curtain

which gives a black background to the
dream a scenes. The black
background emphasises surrealism,
that something strange and unknown
is going on or that something strange
will happen. The black background
also makes the dream sequences look
sinister, which makes the audience
feel uncertain and unsure.

The costumes and props fit well with the genre and feel which the opening portrays. The
black dresses which the Princess and Step Mother wear show evil and darkness, the suits on
the Prince and King show that they are of importance in the hierarchy. Niamh’s tiara
indicates to audience that she is a princess, and the King’s blue sash shows that he is the
head royal. The general black which all the characters wear show to audience that this is a
dark, sinister film. It adds mystery and unknown to the feel and links very well with the brief
of a dark version of Snow White.

Most of the camera shots in this opening are in Mid-Shot. To include all of the character’s
body language but still focus in on their face. The body language is key to the dream
sequence, especially with the image above. You see that the Princess looks as though she is
scared and intimidated by another character. The King has his back turned to the Princess
and is solely focusing on his wife, showing he has
pushed her aside. His friendly face also shows that
he is very warm and opening which makes the
audience have a bit of sympathy towards him. The
step mother looks quite menacing on the other
hand. One of the best shots is when the King comes
back to life as a vampire. It recreates the typical
Vampire sitting up from his coffin image. It also
immediately shows to the audience that he is now a
vampire and is now a threatening
character/creature and out to kill. The running
scenes vary in camera shot to add variety and
uncertainty. The uncertainty links with the
Princess’s uncertainty and distress of how to get
away from her father. Some are in a half mid and
long shot to show the action of the running. Some are down close up following the Princess
running so the camera is solely focused on her showing her distress, making the audience
feel sympathetic with her. The parts where
both the King and Princess are running down
the hill are done in long shot to get the action
of them running down the hill and to show
how close he is to her. These parts work
really well as it makes the scenes look
suspenseful and dramatic, will he get her?
will she get away? The camera pans across
the Mansion from different angles, which is
used as an establishing shot for the main
location and castle. The shot makes the
mansion look like a normal quiet mansion
home of a royal family.

Where the Princess is a sleep in the woods

the camera tracks into as she sleeps. This
identifies her straight away as a main
character within the story, and also pin
points that the flashbacks later are hers. The
 eye transitions between the
flashbacks track into her eye. This
acts as a very powerful transition
and adds a sense of eeriness.

The flashbacks to the running scenes and in front of the black certain have been made
black. This shows to audience straight away that these parts are in the past and linked in
with the Princess asleep in the woods shows that these are flashbacks within a dream. Again
they give a sinister dark feel with the lack of colour, like there’s no colour or happiness
within her dreams. The parts where she
is asleep and the panning of the Mansion
are kept in their normal colour. Where
she is asleep this makes the audience
aware that they are now back in the
present. The colour in mansion again
makes it look peaceful and happy. The
eye which is used as a transition
between flashbacks and present day is
given a negative tint. This makes the
flashbacks look more sinister and is given
a dramatic lead in with the eye, with the clap of thunder over the top adds to dramatic lead
up.

The narration given by the Princess, tells the story in simplest forms and shows to audience
“Once Upon A Time , there was a
Princess, called Naimh. That girl
was me.”
“And that was the day I lost my
father to the wicked Leanne
Sidhe”
confusion.
who this character is and lets them want to explore into
her character. Her words “Once upon a time, there was a
Princess called Niamh. That girl was me”, tell the
audience that she is a Princess and something will later
happen. Her narration at the end “And that was the day I
lost my father to the wicked Leanne Sidhe”, tells the
audience that she has lost her father and that this
Leanne Sidhe is wicked and evil. The story isn’t terribly
clear but that fits in with that the Princess is unclear as
well, she is confused. It lets the audience feel that

The dark Fairy Tale Genre is given away with the “Once upon a time” the Princess, Tiara and
the dark editing of the scenes. The Once Upon A Time is a classic opening to Fairy Tale
stories read by parents to their children, which shows to the audience straight away that
this is a fairy tale based story. Along with the Princess, Prince, King and Step mother
characters, which are classic fairy tale characters especially within Snow White, shows again
that this is a fairy tale and one with a Step Mother which some will think of Snow White. The
princess’s tiara gives away that she is a princess and makes her look royal and very sweet
and innocent which all typical Disney Fairy Tale Princesses are. “Wicked Leanne Sidhe”,
wicked is a typical fairy tale way of describing an evil character like the Wicked Witch; in this
it shows the Fairy Tale element to the film. With the dark editing in the flashbacks this gives
a stark, dark contrast to the fairy tale genre telling the audience that this opening is a darker
version of a classic fairy tale.

Naimh, the Princess is introduced at the start of the opening through her narration and the
camera focusing in on her asleep in the woods. This pin points straight away to the audience
that she is a main character if not the main character. The fact that she is asleep in the
woods, homeless and exhausted gives the audience empathy towards her and curiosity as to
how and why she is there. The King, Step Mother and Prince are introduced in the dream
sequence. You first see the King getting ready for some type of occasion, with his suit and
sash makes his look like some type of high classed character. The way in which he is
portrayed with his body language gives the impression that is a very well respected man
due to his kindness but also side lines his daughter to his wife. You first see the step mother
too when she is getting ready. She later comes along when she kills the Prince, here you
know that she is an evil character and some sort of vampire. The way she treats the princess
shows that she is jealous of her and feels threaten by her. The Prince has a short span in this
opening, he is introduced in giving the princess and necklace for her birthday. The way in
which he stands shows that he is a respected person in the kingdom.