Luke Featonby

Within our short film “Bail” the structure of the storyline conforms to that of Todorov’s Narrative theory of equilibrium, which suggests that within a narrative there is a equilibrium followed by a disturbance of this equilibrium then there is a restoration stage where a new equilibrium formed. In relation to our film “Bail” it is clear at the beginning that there is an equilibrium as the three main characters are not committing any crimes. This equilibrium then becomes disrupted as each of the characters reveal in flashbacks the serious and in some case violent crimes they have committed. This disruption is furthermore shown by the use of non-deigetic sound in the form of upbeat heavy rock music, and editing in the form of fades and cuts to show the transition between the equilibrium and disequilibrium scenes. However, our film also challenges the conventions of this theory as at the end of our film there is no restoration or new equilibrium formed instead our film ends on a cliff-hanger to keep the audience guessing In addition to Todorov’s theory of equilibrium our film also challenges the conventions of Vladimir Propp’s theory of character types as although there is a character within our film which can be classified as a villain “Nabs” the other characters cannot be defined under the archetypes that Propp suggests.

I changed my double page spread piece as I felt it wasn’t conforming to the forms and conventions of other Film magazines such as EMPIRE after doing some research into this magazine I changed my Double page spread accordingly. For example the title of the article usually bleeds onto the other page. Furthermore I used pullout quotes from the article to bleed the edge of my image to attract the audience to the article making them want to read on. In addition to this I structured my text into columns and used a letter drop at the start of the Article to give a professional authentic Film magazine article, I also used a Black and white contrast for the text in the double page spread to keep in theme with my other ancillary text. Letter DropTitle Bleeding Pullout Quote Text in column structure

I feel that my film poster both conforms and challenges to the forms and conventions of conventional film posters. For instance the title is at the top of the page in the centre in which the style of font connotes the events which follow in the film. This is reinforced by the medium close ups of the actors who portray the main characters with an almost mug-shot like photo which again connote the events in the film. Furthermore my Poster conforms to the conventions of typical film posters as it contains film reviews from recognised media institutions. However, in contrast my Film poster challenges the conventions of a conventional Film poster as the way the photos are structured on the page are based on an iconic British Album.

One of the first things in our film which follow the conventions of existing media products was during the editing of our film. We have used voiceovers in the form of monologues, and text filled freeze frames along with- as I mentioned earlier cuts and fades to represent flashbacks and give a retrospective feel almost like a characters memory. This is a technique commonly used is this film genre.

Another aspect of our film which conforms to existing media products conventions of our genre is the use of titles for the characters and there actors commonly found in US Dramas such as Law and Order Criminal intent

This is an establishing shot at the beginning of our film of a police station through a steel wire fence sets the scene and connotes imprisonment which is an underlying theme throughout the film. Furthermore the mise-en-scene of this shot again connotes the imprisonment along with the non-deigetic sound of drum and bass music creates an atmos effect producing suspense and tension for the opening scene of the film.

These are both further examples of establishing shots from our film the low angle shot on the left connotes the haste and importance of the act which these characters are about carry out. In the establishing shot to the right it consists of a long shot of two character walking down a path again setting the scene and keeping the audience enticed.

At this point in the film we decided to go from using a tripod to using a handheld camera to show the transition of the calm with the violence. The over the shoulder shot to the left gives a good angle showing both characters walking towards one another which helps us track the actors movements. The Point of view shot gives the audience a greater perspective of the violent nature of this character, furthermore to show the chaos and frantic nature of this fight.

Overall I am Happy with the Final result of my ancillary texts as I feel they are both to a good standard which I hope look professional enough to be published in Media Magazines such as Empire. However, next time I feel I would keep them both strictly to the same colour scheme therefore make the photos in