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

We decided on a 'chick-flick' as our genre, being an all girl group we realised that this would be familiar and we would be able to formulate many interesting ideas. We had all watched many chick-flicks before and began thinking of inspirations instantaneously. 

  We achieved all of these opening sequence conventions. However, we didn't include a massive plot twist. Rather than giving away a lot of the film's narrative, our sequence was purely used to introduce the character. The bump between the two girls at the end would raise questions for the audience, but it is still difficult to guess the plot of the film. The Lizzie McGuire Movie has a similar feature, apart from her brother playing pranks on her in the opening, nothing is given away about the actual narrative. I believe that in a way, this creates a level of excitement for the audience.

Narrative

- Often surround a female protagonist and her problems

- Problems usually relate to family, friends, school or a love interest

- Usually has a love interest

- A sense of good vs bad, and good triumphing

Example - Legally Blonde

Miss Hawaiian Tropic, sorority president, and calendar girl, Elle Woods is a big hit on the campus of her sun-drenched Los Angeles college. She's also got the perfect boyfriend in Warner Huntington III, a wealthy East Coast blue blood. However, Warner dumps her before heading off to graduate law school at Harvard University as he feels she is too bubble-headed for him. Determined to win back her man, Elle enrolls to Harvard, quickly becoming an object of scorn and ridicule. Despite her love for malls, and makeup, Elle soon shows elite Ivy League snobs a thing or two about class, self-confidence, and courtroom victory. Warner ends up wanting to take Elle back, but with her newfound independence she realises that she can do better than him and falls in love with a new friend, Emmett.

Pretty Popular Narrative 
Films of all genres usually follow Todorov's Narrative Structure. Chick-flicks particularly conform to this, so when creating the narrative for Pretty Popular, we kept to the Equilibrium, Disruption and New Equilibrium.

Equilibrium: Both girls partake in their normal morning routine, getting up and getting ready for school.
Disruption: Scarlett arrives as a new student to the school. She notices Lauren as the popular girl who has everything, and as a result of possibly jealousy begins to ruin her. She turns her friends and parents against her and steals her boyfriend.
New Equilibrium: Lauren resolves things with her parents and friends, uncovering the mischief Scarlett has been up to. She realises she is better off without her boyfriend, and possibly realises another male friend who she didn't notice before is her true love. Both girls do not become friends, but make their peace and go separate ways.

Themes

Pretty Popular covers themes of Love, Friendship, Truth and Growing Up, like many chick-flicks do. Legally Blonde was a particular inspiration for these. The whole narrative sparks from her love of Warner, but she realises the truth about his personality and that she can do better than him. She makes new friends along the way, one of which turns into her new lover, and the whole experience of going to Harvard University allowed her to mature and grow.