This document discusses how the media product uses and develops conventions of real media forms through its use of various codes. It describes using standard black titles to set a serious tone that abruptly appear and disappear. For the movie title "Blurred Skies", the camera shakes while looking up at the sky to relate to the protagonist's perspective as she dies. Diegetic sounds include dialogue that conveys the characters' backgrounds and lifestyles. Non-diegetic music builds tension and grabs attention. Technical codes include shots from the stairs and bridge to establish locations without clearly showing characters. Symbolic codes include props like the coat and knife that imply the plot and setting that depicts the depressing events unfolding in broad daylight.

1. In what ways does your media
product use, develop or challenge
forms and conventions of real
media products?
By Rui Spranger

2. Written codes
 The titles were very important for our film because they introduce the
opening in our short film. We decided on using standard black titles to set
the tone as serious, but with the credits appearing suddenly and then
slowly disappearing to create an anomalous effect for the audience. We
put editing effects over the words. For the movie titles ‘Blurred Skies’ we
had some difficulty at first with deciding what titles we wanted to use, but
eventually we decided on a wide camera shot looking up at the sky in the
bright daylight. The camera shot was manually taken without the use of a
tripod, so there is the effect that the camera is shaking to relate to an eye-
line shot of the protagonist looking up at the sky, as she slowly dies after
being murdered. The lettering then appear on the screen in bold white, but
slowly blur out of focus until each letter has left to relate to the context of
the movies title being ‘blurred skies’.

3. Audio codes
 Diegetic sound: Includes dialogue during the phone call where the character, Darren Johnson speaks
in a cold tone using poor vocabulary to relate to his lifestyle and the destructive area he has been
brought up in a bad estate in South London. Due to the fact that he most likely has not been formally
educated it was important that this came across to the audience by his body language and by the way
he spoke. In contrast to the news reporter, Daniel Evans who speaks very sophisticated English when
giving his interview, because he has a respected well paying job where he often speaks in front of the
camera which is aired across the nation, it would be crucial that his English is clear and easy to
comprehend. The character would of also most like had a better quality of life that he would
demonstrate by his manners and etiquette. We used sound effects, in the scene where Darren
Johnson walks through the railway track beside a forest, to enhance the noises that would be heard
like grasshoppers, branches cracking and the whistling wind. There are also the sounds that relate to
the actions by the characters like unzipping a jacket, ripping open a plastic bag, and the sound of
trodden grass when Jennifer Cole is running through the forest.
 Non- diegetic sound: We only used non-diegetic sounds with the two copy right free songs that we
added during editing of the final product. The dramatic music relates to the context of each scene, for
instance a crude thriller sound introduces the scene when Darren Johnson is on the phone, and his
anticipating music continues through out the scene slowly building up tension as it gets louder and
louder until it reaches its peak, when the antagonist picks up the murder weapon. The other song
opens the film and is loud and energetic with a lot of instruments playing to immediately grab the
audiences attention. There is an electric sound effect when the companies production name is
displayed.

4. Technical codes
 We used a lot of camera shots and filming techniques in our short film. Some
include an camera shot from on top of some stairs with the actor slowly
walking up the stairs towards the camera, but whilst he does so the camera
begins to zoom out to establish the location of the scene. This follows with an
extreme wide shot of the actor walking on a bridge over a railway track from a
distance. Whenever Darren Johnson is in the scene we often did not zoom in
on his face so that his identity is slightly hidden from the audience and
somewhat a mystery to make him seem more anomalous. To do so there are
a lot of over the shoulder shots and wide shots whenever that character is in
the scene. One very powerful camera shot we used is an eye-line shot as
Darren Johnson sternly looks at his own reflection in the glistering murder
weapon (knife). This has a deep meaning because It paints him as a stone
cold killer, and the camera shot is not steady but moving slightly to make it
seem that he is nervous perhaps even scared of carrying this out. In the
opening scene of Jennifer running frantically, the editing is very fast paced to
make the scene more climatic. In the scenes that Darren Johnson is in we
used a lot of low key lighting to support his villainous role and help hide his
identity.

5. Symbolic codes
 For the symbolic codes we used props like the coat of Jennifer’s that
is lying horrifically on the forest floor, but with Jennifer no where in
sight, this implies that she has gone missing and would act as
evidence for a criminal investigation by the police. Other props we
used were the knife that is symbolic of the bloodshed and injustice the
film. The setting in the railway scene is quite dull and the lighting low
because for the audience we know this is what is leading up to the
protagonists death and it is quite depressing. The text in the titles is
small and simple being in white, as we did not want it to draw the
attention away from the events unfolding during the film. The lighting
in a lot of the scenes in the forest and in the alleyway is bright which
contradicts the fact that these scandalous events are taking place in
broad day light.