Sasha Lang Media

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

USE:

Our trailer combines a mix of genres that can be identified as a sports documentary infused with British urban drama qualities. We incorporated a linear three-act structure commonly used for many trailers and other narrative theory , which consists of establishing character or situation, the second act presenting a conflict that needs to be resolved, and then the final montage increasing tension before the reveal of the title.

In terms of aesthetics, there were no post-production effects in order to achieve a realistic ‘feel’ like other documentaries, despite influence from the surrealist, 'dream-like' qualities of "The Act of Killing".

Sound was a significant factor in determining the mood established by our documentary. Similar texts usually have vocal-less non-diegetic soundtracks, and we incorporated two songs to demonstrate a progression in pace and mood of the trailer- the first one being a driving yet sparse and ambient piece of post-dubstep composition, the second a bass-heavy percussive number, with a jaunty swing to it and layered with emotive synthesizers and ‘trappy’ hats – as a way of engaging the audience’s emotion through dynamic shifts. Our choice of audio was influence by the type of music listened to by our teenage subjects, and so can another way for the audience to interact with characters by gaining a sense of the way they soundtrack their own lives. This auditory device can also be seen in the trailer “Dogtown and Z-Boys”, which layers a contemporary ‘surf rock’ soundtrack that would been popular at the time of the 1970s Californian skateboard culture subject matter.

For location, we took inspiration from "China Heavyweight" by showcasing establishing shots of local areas the characters inhabited in order to familiarise the audience to how unique the setting of South London can be in terms of cultural and architectural diversity. This is similar to the fact that rural China would also be a niche setting to Western audiences, and thus follows the conventions of introducing location before narrative.

We took further influence from "China Heavyweight" in terms of using 'writerly' subtitling to encourage the audience to interpret important plot points through an open reading. Where the documentary pinpoints setting and activity, we replicated that.

CHALLENGE:

We aimed to subvert the audience’s expectations of representations of young people by exposing their prejudices with a set of enigma codes presented during the first third of the trailer. These included shots of young men in open spaces such as parks and urban streets, dressed in stereotypically familiar ‘youth’ clothing such as hoodies and snapbacks; deliberately worn to evoke connotations of wayward lifestyles and youthful misconduct. In fact, with the suggestion of a mysterious new ‘hobby’ young people were indulging in via on-screen titling – a common technique in documentaries to introduce a story that is less clear in narrative that a fictional piece – expecting some of the audience to assume it was some sort of dubious drug-dealing venture.

The unique selling point of our film is the sheer bizarre nature of our subject matter. Other documentaries such as ‘Ping Pong’ (2012) focus on similarly non-mainstream topics, such as world table-tennis championships for the over-80s. Being a particularly niche subject perhaps works to its advantage, as it means the topic matter is not homogenised enough to attract a certain kind of following, such as men watching sports dramas more than women, but instead alternative enough to be open for anyone’s curious enjoyment.

Our open reading encourages audiences to become active discovering semiotic codes and thus making certain connections, in the vein a small-budget, independent film that intends to impress on the film-festival-going public's consciousness by enticing them with unexpected, 'edgy' subject matter. Furthermore, we chose to not explicitly outline narrative and oversaturate the audience's sense in the style of blockbuster marketing because as an independent documentary, "Back/Hand" requires more subtlety. Our text becomes considerably more writerly during the final montage as we encourage pondering about the fate of the characters, such as whether Chris will succeed as a professional tennis player or whether Robbo’s psychotic edge will destroy everyone else’s ambitions.

DEVELOP:

The eventual reveal that the hobby is ‘street’ tennis is only visual and is never explicitly mentioned in a voice. However we hoped the use of semiotics such as tennis courts, changing rooms and sports equipment would be enough evidence for the audience to infer from the open-reading that this was film primarily about sports, and the characters involved. Thus to provide some sort of understanding of the social interactions within the piece, we provided anchorage with a display of binary opposites in terms of the archetypal hero and a villain characters. The hero appears at the beginning of the trailer – the only character to speak directly to the camera – and is the main voiceover aside from the villain, who behaves manically on camera and appears over voice-overs identifying him as a dubious character. Furthermore, he is the only figure to behave aggressively throughout the trailer, further anchoring the audience’s preconception that he will be a volatile and dangerous character. Our protagonist however, appears aspirational and playful, and hopefully encourages the audience to take interest in his struggles and eventual outcome. The opposing ideals presented from both characters – one wishing to be a sporting champion, the other wanting to destroy everything in his wake – create a conflict set-up that should interest the reader into discovering more about the film. This device can be seen in documentary trailer “Undefeated”, where characters with a variety of socially disruptive issues, such as deceased parents or anger problems, are briefly introduced and an air of questioning is left as to whether they will overcome their difficulties. A device used to increase understanding of the characters is the voice-over, which can pose questions and draw links, used for narrative effect in our film when one character states, “I want to improve my game…this isn’t just a hobby anymore”, which is able to develop the storyline. This can also be seen in “Undefeated” which is narrated by the football coach protagonist as he weaves around a plotline that suggests the team are heading towards a daunting championship competition.