HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS OR ISSUES?

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Our film takes inspiration from the ‘Coming of Age’ film genre, making it relatable for our target audience. Our narrative conveys a teenager finding acceptance, and a sense of escapism. 

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Our protagonist, Ash, is a young 17 year old girl. Loving artists like The 1975 and Dayglow . She expresses herself through fashion, her unique sense of style makes her stand out from the crowd. To keep the theme of retro throughout the film, Ash wears 80’s / 90’s style clothes, however mostly dark colours. Her makeup and elaborate eyeliner conveys her rebellious side. 

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Low angles show the confidence in Ash, and 360 shots surrounding her show her confusion; the process of her going from denial to accepting what’s real. Fast paced editing shows an increase in anger, whilst slow paced editing conveys a somber and melancholy atmosphere, as Ash reads the letter from Sky. 

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Her lover, Sky, is a runaway teenager who was pushed around and abused by her step brother. Sky loves classic 80’s fashion. Her artistic outfit allows her to stand out from the crowd. She represents teenagers who face struggles in life.

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Her step brother, Jack, represents a bully, intimidating and harassing Sky, making her feel uncomfortable and violated. We used high angles to show Sky’s inferiority around Jack, as he is seen to have more power and control. 

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Our product raises awareness for a variety of issues, the most important being self acceptance. We showed this through the letter that Sky wrote for Ash; explaining her need for escapism. Another issue we addressed was the act of sexual harassment. This was represented through Jack and Sky, who was the victim. This type of harassment involves the use of explicit sexual overtones, including a range of actions from verbal transgressions to sexual abuse or assult. Jack violates Sky’s personal space, touching her waist without her consent, making her feel uncomfortable.

 

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HOW DO THE ELEMENTS OF YOUR PRODUCTION WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SENSE OF 'BRANDING'?

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As our film is set in the 80’s, we wanted all of our products to have a retro theme. We took inspiration from well known coming of age films like Lady Bird, going on Pinterest and finding some scenes from different films and their color palettes. We came to the conclusion that our main colours were to be blue, orange and beige. 

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We also added our logo, ‘Azure’ to all of our products. Azure is a shade of blue, like a cloudless sky. The cloudless sky is a metaphor for Sky going missing, leaving Ash feeling blue. We decided to use the ‘Superclarendon’ font. It is a type of serif font, classified as strong, stylish and dynamic, easy for audiences to read. The bold font reflects the confidence in Ash. It shows how she stands up for herself in difficult situations. 

 

Throughout our products, there is a clear image of our protagonist, to achieve continuity. Finally, we have added the element of a polaroid picture throughout our products to make our film unique and add a retro element.

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In our Facebook page, we used our ‘Azure’ logo as the profile picture so that it is clear that it is the name of our film. We also posted our film poster and trailer so our audience can recognise the other products. 

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Following the conventions of a film festival postcard, ours features our protagonist. She is holding a polaroid camera and polaroid pictures, which are the main elements tying our products together. Our ‘Azure’ logo is also featured in a big and bold font. 

 

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HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS ENGAGE THE AUDIENCE?

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With our film, we look to attract a niche audience. We targeted Gen Z millennials of all genders and ethnicities who desire freedom and flexibility in life. Our product fulfils the personal identity gratification. This is the need to affirm yourself and others who you are. 

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We created a survey to gather the audience’s views on the ‘Coming of Age’ film genre. Initially, we brainstormed ideas for the narrative to be about a runaway teenager, which was further established, by the audience. 

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We made our editing style unique, by adding interesting elements and using a fragmented style of editing. 

Our protagonist is rebellious, yet relatable for the audience.

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From our survey, we put careful thought into what we want our message to convey to the audience, hence our short film carries a strong and effective message. We chose to stay away from a light hearted gratification 

We also chose to use Facebook for our social media page, as the majority of our audience find out about upcoming films from social media apps which makes it easier for them to interact with each post. Facebook also allowed the audience to contact us directly.

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The music used was from ‘The 1975’, which a lot of our target audience are familiar with. It fits our retro theme, and is also a band that is still popular nowadays. 

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HOW DID YOUR RESEARCH INFORM YOUR PRODUCTS AND THE WAY THEY USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS?

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Before beginning the production process for our products, we did research on the conventions of a short film, postcard, and social media page. 

 

Most Coming of Age films apply Todorov’s narrative theory, where the disruption in the film and the equilibrium is then restored by a hero.Our film follows this theory. The equilibrium was Ash and Sky as lovers, the disruption was Sky going missing, and the new equilibrium was Ash accepting that Sky doesn’t want to be found.

 

We made our film stand out through the use of mise en scene, looking into specific color schemes, colors that contrast and complement each other. For the retro vibe, we learned how to do an 80's blowout hair. We also put together ideas of the style makeup we want. Due to Covid-19, we were unable to film in settings which contain a lot of people. Hence, we filmed in each others' homes, as well as using the streets in front. 

 

We used a fragmented style of editing, allowing the audience to see the flashbacks that lead up to Sky’s running away. This editing style confuses the audience, creating an active audience. We also used a lot of fast paced editing to show the mess that is going on inside Ash’s head. This means that we used discontinuity editing, switching between past and present. We used long shots, establishing shots and close ups, to effectively convey emotion from the film to the audience. 

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We used dialogue to show the relationship between each of the characters, using limited sound effects to convey realism. The non diegetic sounds we used was music, to set the mood and tone of each of the scenes. We also used voice overs to represent the protagonist's thoughts.