Evaluation 1

In what way does your media product use, develop and challenge forms and conventions, mention real media product?
Switch falls into the genre of comedy with elements of action. The forms and conventions were thought about very carefully as forms and conventions play a huge role within the movie as our finishing product may not have followed the forms and conventions of a comedy movie. Comedy usually consist of recurring characters in a format in which there are one or more humorous story lines centred around a common environment, such as a family home or workplace in switch’s case on the street and in a hotel room, the definition gives me imagery of our film as we have two main protagonist who consists on making money and goes to extreme lengths as Frank and Charlie are not the brightest bulbs this is where the genre comedy kicks in, but the action only takes place later on in the movie when they result to selling fake drugs. Switch uses the codes and conventions in our opening sequence we have certain technical references to the movie ‘Snatch’ as we edited some of our frames to make the shots freeze for our title sequence and also by changing the speed of certain scenes this helped keep the element of comedy it starts out quick with the opening sequence of the Frank and Charlie running in the hallway and then slowly slows down with the scenes outside and fastens up again towards the climax then there mission is accomplished. But still including action which is where the sound is also similar as in the opening scene the sound is very upbeat which helps make the montage more effective. We also envisioned our split screens to be like ‘CSI’ this was challenged as usually split screens are used to show different scenes but instead chose to include the same scene but from different angles this was to signify the climax of the film when the drug deal takes place. Our film comprises of the typical duo category which reminded us of the film ‘Dumb and dumber’ as its funny for its jokes and for its visual comedy, there’s always one who’s more smart than the other in this case is frank which we viewed as the blind leading the blind. We also developed the idea of the film ‘Dumb and dumber’ by making Frank come up with all the cunning ideas for the schemes but always wants Charlie by his side taking part in these cunning schemes. In reminiscent of or film the film ‘Superbad’ had references to one of our scenes there is a change of costume Frank and Charlie are wearing suits, In ‘Superbad’ we also see the duo act changing costume. We developed this idea whilst in post-production we changed the scene from colour to black and white.
Switch uses the typical idea of girl’s scouts selling cookies to raise money which is usually for charity or for a good cause, but challenged the idea by using two grown men who are not very intelligent hence why they are selling cookies and not looking for a job and are too greedy to even consider charity. Our film also challenged technical forms and conventions by including a variety of different music which we experimented with when changing scenes e.g. making the volume louder or quieter and fading the music, this is so the scenes would run smoothly without any abrupt sounds this may have worked if we was making a horror film but as our film include comedy and action the fading worked to our advantage. The film ‘Pulp fiction’ reminds us of our non-linear editing as our film does not run in order which ‘pulp fiction’ neither does and also we include cuts to black screens and titles which would introduce the day and time which could be like ‘CSI’. However I also believe we developed forms and conventions of real media products by using things such as a text instead of dialogue throughout most of our film, the idea of using text came about when we first found out we were making silent movies but we didn’t just want to do the typical thing by adding text to the bottom of the page we developed this by adding black screens and text with a border which allowed us to capture the whole slapstick comedy idea and gave it a 1960’s feel which alone is challenging the typical forms and conventions of the genre comedy. switch challenged the comedy and action genre as i strongly believe that we used several scenes which enraptured the idea of several schemes and not conforming to the ability of Frank and Charlie but working as a strength to make our film more effective and follow, develop and challenge most aspects of our film. As a whole I am pleased with the entire film appearance and sound and was able to make similar links to the real media industry.

Story Board

Story ideas

Story ideas

In our group we came up with different stories that we thought would make a good film. we came up with many stories however when we told the class we got feedback that they were mostly too gloomy and that it would be hard to make a scary film therefore we have to brighten them up. one of our stories was of a girl that gives a boy a pen and then the boy gets all obsessed over her, however to make it more brighter I thought that we should tell the story from the the Boys' point of view and therefore he just likes her and just follows her because he loves her, but although he scares the girl he would never hurt her and he doesn't intend to scare her.


Another story that we thought would work is a story about a suicide note. A girl starts off writing the suicide note and we see flashbacks of all the events that she is writing on the note, and she wants to kill herself because she thinks that no one likes her and she is not even noticed anywhere, its as if she doesnt even exist. But when she is writing the note and she is thinking of all the events that happened in her life she realises that she was never actually alone because although not having any friends the common factor of all the flashbacks was her mother, everytime she was upset and crying her mother always stood by her.
We also thought of a story with a pregnant teenager who goes through so much as her family and friends are against the baby. Howverer then we thought that the story was too common and it wouldn't be as good as we would want it to be

Treatment: Switch

Title: SWITCH

Tagline: How far will you go for a bit of cash?



Pitch: 20 year old Charlie and 26 year old Frank are desperate for cash after seeing a car they want for sale at a hefty £6000. Not bieng the brightest bulbs they take out quick money making schemes that fail; one after the other. Until they resort to 'The Switch'.

Treatment: The film opens on Day 3 of the SWITCH with the pair running for their lives down a corridor (angry looking gangsters in the background). Then flashing back to Day 1 we see their initial reason for their thirst for cash as the two see a car for sale that they really want. Needing to gather £6000 fast and dealing with unemployment and a lack of qualifications they soon realise they have a problem.

Standing there pondering their options, Charlie pulls out a half eaten cookie from his pocket and Frank is instantly hit by an ingenious idea. (lightbulb animation) Selling cookies!



Frank feels that selling cookies will earn them a lot of quick cash and so they go door to door attempting to sell them. However, door after door the customers are not interested and Charlie gets punched in the eye by the last potential customer! (montage of doors slamming, point of view shots from door)

Seeing Charlie clucth at his eye in pain, Frank is inspire to stage a fake charity (lightbulb animation) conning money out of people who think they are helping 'blind' Charlie. Frank grabs the attention of the only man walking down the street whilst Charlie shakes his money pot at him. However, the man is not the slightest bit interested and flashes a dirty look whilst putting his hood up. Charlie, forgetting momentarily that he is blind, shakes his fist at the passer by and Frank hits him to encourage him to stay in role. As they watch the man walk away they hear a screeching sound of a car apporaching and see it pull up next to the man they encountered. They see what SEEMS to be an inappropriate drug deal and this is where Frank is hit by his best idea yet - The Switch. Frank is convinced that if they cut a slice of a drug deal they will have more than enough money to buy the car. So they go home and gather together a bundle of drugs. Flour and sugar. Believing that this is a sure in way to make some cash, they fix themselves up to look the part (switching costumes) and go to meet 'Big Pete' the hardest gangster on the estate.



The meeting place and time is sorted and the two find themselves in a hotel room across the table from Big Pete who is willing to give them the money they need in exchange for the 'drugs'. The deal goes well, until Big Pete does a taste test and finds that the drugs taste a little sweeter than they should and their cover is blown. Frank literally blows the 'drug' in Big Pete's face and the two make a run for it. Running for their lives they get free and the film ends with both Frank and Charlie high fiving each other with the breifcase full of money in sight.

Credits roll with numerous pictures of the double act in their new car.

Poster Research

Before i started to research i thought about the types off films that were similar to "SWITCH" and i found that though out post production the film "Hangover" forever popped up in my head, So i researched "Hangover posters" and this poster came up i like it as it uses minimal text and the character is the centre of attention which is good to signify importance within relationship to the film. i also like the idea of using a caption line the purpose of this to give the audience a clue to what the film is about without giving it completely away.



i found some other posters which were similar to the first one i found i also like these ones as they kept the continuity of the posters similar just using different characters and different captions i found this very funny which is also a hint that the film is a very humorous film, i also found that the facial expressions of each character are completely different this gave a sense of the character personality which also created a humorous factor.



I also found this image which i love the border as it pulls everything together and give the film the look of a high production film, it also adds to the world of the film as it gives the feel of being cool and money with the idea of having light bulbs
which suggest hollywood.



I also thought about researching billboards for "Hangover" and managed to come across this image i thought the random objects within the poster gave clues which suggests the plot of the film, this is very significant in "SWITCH" as many schemes are planned within the film and are not the most obvious ways of making money.




Another movie that reminds me of "SWITCH" is "White Chick" as there is a double act and one character is more dumb than the other. This poster also includes a simplistic layout with the main characters in the centre of the poster.

Billboard poster

As i was making my third poster i was considering ways of how to make this third poster different from the rest and thought of making a Billboard poster.

Switch Poster

When taking the pictures for my posters i thought of similar body positions that related to our film as towards the end of our film Frank and Charlie both hi five each other which i think is a really important frame within our film as it establishes mission accomplished and shows success which isn't usual for Frank and Charlie.

Switch poster 2

This is my first poster i considered the plot of the story and thought carefully about the usage of my colour as i include a fade black border this represented secrecy as Frank and Charlie are forever planning schemes to be able to afford the one car, I also include red in the main title "SWITCH" as the titles in our movie are similar and i wanted to keep them in the same family this also relates to the effects i used as though out the film we used many effects.

Switch Total Film magazine review