However, combining this with the themes of drugs as well as the mobster atmosphere created through the exchange of drugs for money; our film includes elements of a typical comedy but develops this to give the film an additional tone. This is present in the existing product of Guy Ritchie film “Snatch.” This film follows gangster-like characters all trying to find the location of a very valuable diamond. However, through dialogue and the way certain characters are created, the film has a strong element of humour. In addition to this, the characters of our film Frank and Charlie were inspired by existing characters of Derek and Rodney Trotter (Only Fools and Horses) combined with Lloyd and Harry otherwise famously known as dumb and dumber. Using these characteristics for the profile of our own characters makes them unintelligent but willing to con for money. This enforces the almost dark humour that is illustrated in our media product.
The narrative style of our film is nonlinear and we did this to cause confusion at the beginning so the audience will want to keep watching. Additionally, telling the story out of chronological order makes the viewing more interesting, especially seeing as there were numerous plot points in our film; starting with scenes from the ending and then explaining how they got there was the best way to link comedy with the gangster element. It added a level of sophistication to the film. In doing this we challenged the conventions of an ordinary comedy film. Existing media products that have a nonlinear narrative are popularly action films such as Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and also Frank Miller’s Sin City. All of these films show vital information or events at the beginning to go on to explain these within the rest of the film. However, where our film is a different genre to the usual nonlinear narratives we have challenged the convention in a way where it still works well. In addition to this, we developed an idea from well-known CSI programmes to use screens that read Day 1, 2 and 3 alongside the time at which the scene is set. This idea was generated by the text that usually accompanies a scene where the location has to be established; like they do on crime investigation programmes. However, we implicated this method to show the day and time rather than the location and therefore developed its initial purpose to one that suited our film. This was fundamental for our audience to understand the structure of the story as well as split the scenes up realistically to show the characters’ situations on separate days.
The technical aspects we used for the duration of our film are very similar to existing ones. The effects we used for our opening sequence are similar to the ones used in the previously mentioned film “Snatch” however we developed it to be original and more appropriate for our production. By this I am referring to the frame holds used to introduce the characters of Snatch that we then used but developed because we used a vital scene from the end of our film rather than snippets of characters that flow into others, like Snatch does. We used the frame holds for the beginning whilst Frank and Charlie are running and we held the frame on each character to present their names as well as the title of our film: SWITCH. Another technical aspect we used was split screen.
We incorporated this twice in our film; once that served the purposes of a split screen and also once that challenges it. The whole point of a split screen is to show different occurrences that all link or flow from one to another. For example, in the hit teen-comedy “Mean Girls” a split screen is used to illustrate a four way conversation.
This was an innovative way to show all four conversations on one screen so the audience can understand who says what to which character. It’s quick and clear to see what is happening. We used this idea to show three different doors being slammed in Frank and Charlie’s faces after customers refused their cookies. This compliments the codes and conventions of real media products as the split screen was used to show numerous linked incidents interestingly. The second time we used split screen challenged its conventions as we applied it to the hotel room scene where Big Pete and his Bodyguard are laughing, which consequently makes our double act laugh nervously. We showed images of the same room but the pairs of people in separate screens to indicate the difference between them. Big Pete and his Bodyguard clearly have the power and authority as once they stopped laughing so did Frank and Charlie. This was made clearer through the use of split screen.
The most significant use of sound and image relationship in our film is the “Superbad” inspired snippet that illustrates our double acts change of costume. This short scene presents a slow motion track of the double act walking towards the camera with slick 70s style non diegetic sound playing, whilst on screen you can see the pair dressed in formal suits. This idea was used because of clip from Superbad that shows Seth and Evan, two best friends from the film, getting off a bus dressed ready to go to a party with swanky non diegetic sound to accompany it. All illustrated in slow motion as well. This follows the conventions as it is funny to see the double act trying to act better then what they really are. Their body language in the way they walk, and their facial expressions demonstrating their confidence also adds to the humour. Additionally, the characters’ costume, hair and make up used the conventions of existing media products. Towards the end of our film when all four characters are in the hotel room, they are all dressed in suits. This is the climatic part of the film where the final attempt to make money becomes successful in the exchange of fake drugs for £6000. The fact that they are wearing formal suits and present themselves to be well groomed when they are actually dabbling in dodgy dealings follows the conventions of a typical gangster style movie. This is also used in the iconic Academy Award winning film, The Godfather. The way ‘The Mafia’ and their morals are captured in the film is similar to ours as they present themselves respectfully but their actions and way of life is not respectful at all. Overall, through characterisation, narrative, sound and mise en scene of our film I am confident in saying we have followed conventions of real media products as well as develop and challenge concepts of existing media products. As well as this, these aspects have represented how much we have grown from AS level work to A2.
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