Coursework feedback

Research and Planning – 8

Research and planning is partially incomplete, however there is proficient research into similar products. This is let down by no research into potential target audiences. There is virtually no organisation of actors/locations etc, but there is a risk assessment and some excellent research into conventions of the genre. There is a film pitch which is proficient, but no storyboard or script. There is clearly some good work here, but it is limited.

Main Task – 35

Many technical skills are shown, but generally at a basic level. The film is appropriate for the task on the whole, but elements like the continuous music at the start to make it feel a little like a trailer. Although the shots are well framed and there is some use of camera movement like pans, there is little variety in camera shots, and many shots go on for a long time on a wide, meaning that it looks dull and lacks the depth of a film with sophisticated sequences built up. The narrative is clear through the use of camera/editing, but again it skims over the plot. There are times when the continuity doesn’t work, and a few sound issues with dialogue being cut off when run under different shots. There is good use of shot – reverse shot and a good use of after effects to create a ‘CCTV’ feel.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media products and why?

The kind of institution that would want to distribute my film would be by the likes of Warner Bros.
Warner bros are known for making films in similiar genre's to mine a long with other genre's.
The highest grossing horror film in 2014 was 'Annabelle', this was distributed by Warner Bros.
They grossed $84,263,837 by December 2014.
Distributes by Warner Bros however produced by New Line Cinema, Evergreen Media Group, The Safran Company and RatPac-Dune Entertainment. This is a classic example of what would happen if my film were to be distributes. Warner Bros would distribute my film from my production company, Vortex Productions.
Warner Bros would distribute my film as most horror-thriller films are very similar and although mine is quite similar, it has its own unique factors. Because of the massive success of Annabelle and other films they have distributed, mine would be more or just as successful. So companies like Warner Bros are the likely institutions to distribute my media product.

My media product is similar to Annabelle and other popular horror/thriller films as we have incorporated lots of different conventions into our film. These include having the mysteriousness of the unknown character but also the amount of deaths and the gore within the film. This can be similarly associated with various other popularly distributes films. This means that institutions such as Warner Bros will have full confidence in my media product by becoming successful and gaining a lot of money by getting a high gross amount.

Look back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

My opening sequence

How did you attract/address your audience?

The film is set in a familiar environment to the teenagers/young adults attracting them to the film. They've experienced recently or are still experiencing high school so it makes them slightly scared to see this normal girl, just like them, be involved in violence, deaths and shows they could be stalked/blackmailed too. They relate to the character because she is the same age as them, and most of the audience will be females, so this could lead to them sympathising for her and becoming worried about how this could happen to them. The music in the opening of the film is similar to most older thrillers which doesn't really relate to our target audience, but it creates tension by the alternating notes and the music getting gradually louder. To advertise to my audience i would use social media marketing e.g Facebook, twitter, tumblr to attract the right audience, whom spend a lot of their time on these social media networking websites.

I attracted my audience for my film through various different area's within the film such as the characters used, the theme of the film itself and the topics which have been covered.
The characters used are stereotypical in horror-thriller films. Our main character, the protagonist is a teenage girl. In many other horror-thriller films the female character is often a main character who does end up dying in some way or another. I think this attracts our audience as this appeals to the  horror-thriller film audience by the use of this character. I think because the character in our film does actually end up surviving and with some sort of happy ending, this sort of is a unique selling point as not many horror-thriller films have this sort of ending however I think because of the nature of the film, although she survives people still die which obviously, horror-thriller fans love to see but the fact that she survives and finds out who the character is gives our film an edge over other films therefore attracting our audience in which we aimed to attract.
We also attracted our audience through the topics of our film. The film I produced is about a girl who has a stalker who is watching her every move, murdering those around her and leaving her by last by scaring her. Which leads to her finding out who it is. The topics therefore include being stalked by a mysterious character who nobody knows who it is all film as it could be anyone, even one of her closest friends. The aspect of mystery appeals to most audiences who love the thriller genre and more particularly the mystery thriller aspect with the addition of the horror genre. So the audience we aimed at will find our storyline and topics involved very interesting and more attracted to watching our film.
I also think the name of our film attracts the audience. The name of our film is 'Shadow'.
The use of the word shadow appeals to our targeted audience as the word shadow itself gives the impression of being followed and constantly behind you watching every move which is our storyline. I think this is thought out cleverly as with a bit of thought our story can be mirrored by the name of our film. Shadow itself can be scary and with that aspect of horror and thriller through the name it particularly does attract our audience we aimed at.
Although our film is very much unique with our stalker being found out, it can also be similar to other successful films in different aspects of what we included.
One aspect may be by the use of pov shots. This is very similar to the film 'Halloween' as the opening is purely a pov shot which gives the audience the suggestion that they are watching the film through someone elses eyes which gives the audience that interaction within our film which may also attract them.
Another film that is similar in some aspects is 'Hide and Seek'. This is not really about a stalker as such but the mysterious character in that film is not unveiled until the end where he is shot dead which is very similar to ours as our antagonistic mysterious character unveiled and also killed at the end. Both of which are not shown on screen (knowing of them being that mysterious character) until the very end.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

I think the main age range that our film is aimed for is older teenagers/younger adults. This is because its main character is a teenager, and most of the other characters are aswell. Also, the rating of the film is a 15, due to gore and violence throughout the film, supporting the target audience being older teenagers/younger adults.  It is also based around her school life making it more relatable to teenagers. I think our film is aimed at mostly females, because the main characters and her friends are mostly female also. I don't think our film is aimed at a specific class of people as all classes will be able to relate to the high school setting and main character.

The audience for my film is the thriller/horror film lover.
Not just that but also the audience age range is between 25-39 meaning we are targeting the young adults/middle aged audience. The use of younger characters however does add to the target audience of teenagers, preferably the older teenagers between the ages of 16-19 due to the graphic images which are in our film.
Additionally in their lifestyle, their favourite sports are mainly boxing and snooker. Boxing for example can be a very violent sport meaning blood can be the end result and can be gory. Therefore because are film is about the violence and the killing of close friends/relatives the fact our audiences favourite sport is boxing helps aid to the fact we know they will like the film.
Also one of their favourite activities is video games. Video games in particular nowadays have amazing graphics and with the violent games out now shows they love the gore and violence meaning they should be attracted to my film.

The personality of our target audiencesThe majority of our target audience describe themselves as 'Barmy', 'Easy to talk to' and 'Barmy'.
This shows that they are crazy people who love to have a laugh and love conversation. The fact that our film is a very crazy, all over the place thriller/horror adds to the attraction to our film.

What our target audience likes
- The fact our target audiences favourite films include; Final Destination, Nightmare on elm street and The exorcist. This shows they love the horror and the blood and the gore which is all included in our film meaning they would be very much attracted to my film.
Our target audience are varied people but have clear tastes and likes which we incorporate in our film. E.g. Boxing which shows violence which is also showed within our film. This shows that our film has the likes and wants that the audience want in these films meaning they would like to watch our film therefore our audience is clear and would have been achieved as our target audience.