Evaluation 3

Evaluation Question 7 - Group post

Audience Research: Profile

Profile

Target Age - The films released in the multiplexes are all big releases with heavy marketing campaigns so the audience knows about them before or during the release. None of the films are 18 rated and all but 2 are 12a or 15, this shows that the main target audience for the films currently out would be the age bracket 12-17, although we would be able to bend this slightly.

Interviews - Our interview research showed us that our audience enjoy thrillers greatly and look for a fast paced, edge of your seat movie. I would imagine our typical audience member based off information we gathered from the interviews would be a 15-25 year old, but perhaps males would be more inclined to see our films.

IMDB -

Inception (2010, Nolan)

Evaluation Question 6 (Group post)

Thriller Opening (Final Version)

This is our groups final version of our thriller opening...

Feedback on Thriller Opening

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience is primarily young educated males and females (15-35) who enjoy psychological thrillers and view them as delicious food for thought. 

The audience will experience confusion and tension like no other, but at the end of it all they will feel much more satisfied when they understand what happened in the story. 
This film would definitely not appeal to sci-fi/action fans, because there will be hardly any violence or explosions in this film, or huge beautiful landscapes for that matter. 

The film will feel very claustrophobic and cramped to create tension among the audience. It isn't suitable for children because it is far too complex for most children to wrap their heads around. Also the low-key lighting, along with the desolate setting of the school and eerie drone sound in the opening are not suitable for children as it would probably frighten them too much; if it didn't frighten them, it certainly wouldn't be an enjoyable experience for them.

This is one of the thriller films such as 'Fight Club', 'Donnie Darkow' and particularly 'Inception' where you have to watch the film two or more times to fully understand what happened throughout the film. One film that made many people question what was really going on was 'Memento (2001)'.  

This film (directed by Christopher Nolan) begins at the end of the film, and goes backwards, instead of chronologically. Our film along with these others can be very confusing, but we decided to make it like this because it is so much more satisfying when you figure out what's going on, and much better than watching a predictable film. 

For this reason, this film will attract a smart audience, people that want their minds to be challenged, and will cast away the typical 'Hollywood fanatica' who only watch films for explosions and stunning visuals. 

                                                                     
                                                                 Memento (2000):

Inception (2010):

• The decision to cast a handsome young male is much more appealing to the female audience, but at the same time it doesn't completely put off the male audience from the film.
•  In various films, casting a good-looking character means it's easier on the eye for the audience, and makes the films more watchable. This runs the risk of attracting multiple 'fan girls' who won't even know what happened in the film; all they would know is that there's a handsome man in it.
•  Film such as 'Casino Royale' with Daniel Craig and any film that Johnny Depp/Leonardo Di Caprio/Tom Cruise are in inadvertently attract a female audience. It may not mean that they value the film for the cinematography or plot, but they still pay money to see it, which garners more value to the film.
•  An example of a film that garnered an extremely female heavy fanbase is 'Twilight' because of the attractive male characters Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson, who was actually named the 'most attractive man on EARTH' at one point..

Taylor Lautner:

 Robert Pattison:

• The audience of our film would be drawn into the film and keep wanting to watch because of the amount of questions that are raised in the first 30 seconds of the film. Who is he? Why is he alone in a classroom? Why does one room lead to another? Who is watching him? Why is he being targeted?
• The fact that the protagonist himself is clearly unaware of what is going on raises tension, because anything could happen to him at any moment. Also, the fact that he is venturing through doors and navigating this somewhat paradoxical world grips the audience because they want to find out where he'll end up.  
• The audience are asked to relate to the protagonist because he's a young man clearly working in an office or as a teacher.
•  The fact that this is a UK independent film means we are asking a British audience to relate to this character, as many people who work in London work in a top-class business, because London is a multi-cultural, business city. 
• The audience can relate to this character, making him more likeable, and easier to feel sympathy with him. 

FEEDBACK FROM VIEWERS:

                             

As shown in this video, our media project is clearly a thriller, the girls recognised the conventions of thrillers and thats why it is clearly a thriller. However, in the beginning the girls said that the second shot of my face doesn't fit the thriller genre and momentarily breaks the tension.

On top of this, we asked Jason Burkesfield - another media student- to review our product while we were still in post production and he gave us the idea to change the font of the title to make the film opening more eerie and build more tension.

A particular point in the film where most of the people said stood out, was the static tv screen scene, which then cuts to the first cctv scene. This revealed that somebody is watching and toying with the character, which amped up the tension and enigma. The very low-key lighting in this scene gives off a dark feel and conveys the evil or corruption that will be in the film.

Evaluation Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product are young males and females ranging from the age of 15-35. The reason for this age range is because of the role of the protagonist. He works in an office job, and is therefore completely relatable to a large portion of the population of the world

                                                                Examples of films

Another thriller film which portrays the protagonist as an office worker is 'The Matrix'. Neo (Keanu Reeves) is working in an office job at the beginning of the film before entering a digital paradox world, very similar to our plot, however our film is much more psychological and darker.

 The effect of the protagonist being in an office job is to evoke pathos for them. The audience can get behind the character and empathise with him if they work in an office job too, and sympathise with him if they don't work in an office job because office jobs are often depicted as miserable and depressing in films.

                                                  Keanu Reeves as an office worker:

Another film which is famous for its depressing outlook on life where the character is in a miserable office job is 'American Beauty'. The setting of the office, the low-key lighting and dull grey colours evoke pathos for the character because the audience wouldn't want to be in his position.

American Beauty office scene:

• Our film isn't specifically targeted at males because it is more of a psychological thriller that both genders can enjoy, rather than an action thriller.
•  There aren't lots of explosions and blood and every other convention of films that the male population salivates over; this film rather makes the audience think and contemplate the actions of each character and be aware of the consequences that will follow for the characters' actions. For this reason, our thriller film opening effectively builds tension. 
• An example of the psychological element in our thriller opening is how the main protagonist is running through a series of doors in a futile attempt to escape, but never exits into any corridors, but rather more and more rooms, as if he's stuck in a loophole. 
• The camera angles and mis-en-scene certainly do not appeal to small children, because of the eerie atmosphere they create, along with tension. 
• Shots such as the cctv scenes we included in our opening would scare young children, therefore when the audience see these shots in the opening two minutes in the film they instantly know that they couldn't have brought their children to the film.

CCTV scenes:

The movement of the camera as it pans to watch me confirms to the audience that something or someone is watching me, creating a tense atmosphere only suitable for adults, as children wouldn't enjoy it or understand it.

 The pulsating drone sound near the end of the film instantly creates an uncomfortable atmosphere which is only suitable for an adult audience. We gave this film a certificate of 15; it's cunning, sharp, very tense and confusing at times so this wouldn't be suitable for children below the age of 15. Yet it isn't gory, too violent and there aren't many swear words and inappropriate language, or sexual content/drug use, so therefore it wouldn't be a rated 18 film.

 One film that was targeted for the teenage demographic was Ken Loach's 'Sweet Sixteen'. In a special interview Ken Loach admits that he was furious that the film became an 18 because there were 'too many swear words' because that meant that most teenagers wouldn't be able to see the film, and nearly all the teenage actors in the actual film were not allowed to see this film. To avoid this, we didn't want to include too much violence or swear words. There is only one violent scene in the opening, yet still the character isn't hurting anybody else, but rather throwing a chair in frustration.

The throwing of the chair scene:

The title of our film is 'Dormant'. The name of the title alone is quite eerie and suspenseful because the adult audience will know that something is inactive but will probably wake up in the film. The majority of children wouldn't even know what dormant means, so the film wouldn't have the same effect on them as it would on adults. 

Evaluation Question 7 - Michael Currie (Group Post)

                         EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

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

Evaluation Question 6 - Michael Currie (Group Post)

                           EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6

What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5 - Michael Currie

                     EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5

How did you attract/ address your audience?

Our target audience is primarily aimed at young educated male and females (15-35) who enjoy psychological thrillers. From the start the audience will experience tension but also get confused which is what we aimed to do.  
  
Real movie products usually attract their audiences using public advertisements to catch their attention about their film for instance, trailers, posters, merchandising etc. Especially Hollywood Films that tend to have a bigger budget to spend on the distribution of the film.

Here are some examples of good film posters:

Posters and visual advertisements are very successful in attracting a specific target audience because

• It intrigues them
• Catches their attention
• Makes them excited to see the film
• Can make them share the movie with other people
• Create anticipation for the movie release
• Can make them research more into the film (i.e. visit websites, watch interviews)

Feedback from Target Audience

When we asked our target audience on what they thought the genre of the opening was, they clearly recognised the conventions of a Thriller and classed it in the Thriller genre. We received quite a bit of positive feedback, mostly in terms of the different shot types we used. They all agreed that the most stand out scene of our Thriller Opening is the CCTV shots. We wanted to create the idea that someone was watching him and the girls agreed with our point and felt that it worked effectively. One other positive point in the opening in which our target audience identified is the low key lighting at various points. They felt that it added to the mystery of the plot and also creates tension. 

Although we got various positive feedback, we we're also looking for some improvements to make our opening better. In the beginning, they felt that the close up of Danny (Patson Travers) face doesn't fit the with the thriller genre. They felt that it is a bit too 'Happy' and could even break the tension.  We asked Jason Burkesfield - another media student- to review our product while we were still in post production and he gave us the idea to change the font of the title to make the film opening more eerie and build more tension.

Evaluation Question 4 - Michael Currie

                           EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our media product are young male and females ranging from 15-35. We chose this age range mainly because of our protagonist. He is young aged and works in an office so he becomes a character who is relatable to a large proportion of the world. 

I don't think that our film would be appropriate for an older generation as older people do not tend to go for thriller films. This is probably due to the conventions that are seen in the film:

- Loud music that adds tension

- Fast paced action at times

- Disturbing events and situations

- Shocking climax's throughout the film

- Scenes that make the audience 'jump'

I also don't think that our film appropriate for viewers that are too young. Small children tend to not be interested in the thriller genre. This is probably also due to the conventions:

- Antagonist - could scare children, may not enjoy film as an older audience would.

- 'Jumping' scenes may not be appropriate for young viewers.

- Disturbing events 

- Plot line is aimed at an older audience

Our film is likely to be rated 15 as there may be scenes which could be un-suitable for younger audiences. The film as a whole contains scenes with suspense and light scares. Our film also has themes pf stalking and harassment which are some general thriller conventions and in order to incorporate them effectively the certificate will need to be 15.

There are a number or films which have a similar target audience to ours such as The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Harry Potter and The Hobbit to some extent. All these films have very different plots yet they all have a similar demographic. One film in which has a similar character is 'The Maze Runner'. Thomas, the main character, like Patson, is of the same age as the target audience, allowing him to connect further with him and want to watch the film more. As well as this, all these films have a star appeal our solo male protagonist in Patson can be compared to that of Dylan O'Brien and this allows them to attract even more viewers. 

Although we feel that our age rating should be 15, there has been examples where a film has gotten a different age rating to what it initially wanted. Sweet Sixteen" another UK Independent film directed by Ken Loach aimed the film at an audience of what was meant to be 15+. However, due to the violent language used, the BBFC gave it an 18 certificate, which meant that the target audience could not view the film. We feel that we will not have this problem as we do not plan on having any explicit scenes.

I think that our target audience would want to our film and create an audience for our thriller. We found that most people enjoy watching thrillers at younger age probably because younger people enjoy that action more. Therefore, I believe that our film will have enough action and appeal to our target audience. 

Evaluation Question 3 - Michael Currie

                           EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3

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

The Role of the Distributor

Distribution in the film industry, otherwise known as the invisible art is the process in which completed films are brought to life and connected to an audience. It is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place.

Who would distribute our film?

Our film would not be distributed by big named distributors such as Warner Bros or Paramount. Since our film fits into the independent film we would not have huge studios to film in so most of our filming would be done on location.

CREDITS/TITLES OF OUR THRILLER OPENING 'DORMANT' (in order)

Production Company Logo

Distribution Company Logo
Screenplay
Costume Design
Sound By
Visual Effects
Casting By
Director
Main Actor Name
- Patson Travers
Ttile Credit 
- Dormant

Film title comparisons
The Title of our film is 'Dormant' and we based the title and style on the film 'Inception' (Nolan, 2010). 'Inception' is a one word title and we thought it would be best if we did the same as it would be both memorable and doesn't distract the audience from the context of the film. Both title's use a simplistic black and white colour scheme to create a sense of ambiguity to the film. 

Marketing the Film
Since our film will be a UK Independent, we believe that the best ways to advertise our film would be through posters, TV and possibly Cinema Trailers and Adshells would be some of the best ways. However we feel the most effective way to advertise our Thriller would be through social media. As our target audience is aimed for at 15+, it is highly likely that they use social media sites such as twitter and Facebook. Social media sites are the best to advertise on as it wouldn't cost us much and there is a high chance to our target audience would the posts and want to go and see the film. The image below shows an insight into all the different ways of marketing of our film. 

Evaluation Question 2 - Michael Currie

                          EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1 - Michael Currie

Evaluation Question 1

Evaluation Question 2

                                                            Patson Travers:

Typical office worker:

Tony Egan - Evaluation Question Seven (Group Post)

Tony Egan - Evaluation Question Six (Group Post)

Tony Egan - Evaluation Question Four + Five

We also used audience research to changes to the opening to our Thriller, 'Dormant'. We used three individuals who we see fit the stereotype of our target audience; Ciara; Jodie and Maria; all girls who live in the London area and are the age of seventeen. It is roven that teenagers such as these three are the prime audience who most often attend the cinema in their own leisure time. We used information received such as; their interpretation of our thriller opening; the use of font and colour in our titling and their opinion on our casting of Ppatson Travers as male protagonist Danny. Using information such as this we found we were more able to identify our audineces interpretation and our ability to attract them to watch our thriller, 'Dormant'.
We also found by using the three girls named previously as well as further market research that our target market is very active in their use of social. Social media is much more accessible on the go in the modern day thanks to the inivation of tablets and mobiles being permenantly connected to the internet with 3g or 4g. Mobiles and tablets are often possesed by the youth of our generation which is important for us and reaching our audience. Unlike thriller movies we have likened our film to such, as Inception, (Nolan, 2010), who are financially backed by hollywood distribution companies, we beleive our film would partner with a UK Independent production company such as Film4. This means we have a far inferior budget to such films and by using social media to advertise is much more cost efficient and at times effective when it comes to reaching our target audience demoraphic.

Tony Egan - Evaluation Question Three

WHAT KIND OF MEDIA INSTITUTION MIGHT DISTRIBUTE YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT AND WHY?

THE ROLE OF THE DISTRIBUTOR?

Distribution in the film industry, otherwise known as the invisible art is the process in which completed films are brought to life and connected to an audience. It is about releasing and sustaining films in the market place. 

FILM TITLE COMPARISONS:

The main film title we would compare our films to would be 'Inception' (Nolan, 2010). The film title is similar to us as it uses only one word and we feel both films are titles are both memorable and don't distract the audience from the context of the film. Both distribution company's use a simplistic black and white colour scheme to create a sense of ambiguity to the film, hopefully captivating the audience in the thriller opening. the fact 'Inception', was a hugely successful hollywood thriller indicates our film could follow suit.

FILM DISTRIBUTION COMPANY; HOLLYWOOD OR INDEPENDANT?

I would argue that our film is more likely to be produced by an independent UK Film Distribution company, such as film four. I would argue that this is the case because there are a lot of key aspects of our film which we decided on, base on the thriller opening being relatable to the audience which we see as typically being Londoners, which is reinforced by the setting and character choice. Film four we see as a good example as a typical distributor. 

TV RELEASE VS INTERNET OPENING VS DVD?
I would argue our film would be most suitable for TV release and possibly alongside internet release. Once the film is screened on television, perhaps the channels internet website could upload the film on a catch up website. In order to maximise our audience. 

MARKETING OUR FILM?
Our film being a UK independently produced film, we believe the best way to market our film to our London based audience would be to screen television adverts and use social media as a cost efficient way of advertising to people located in London which can be done using modern day locating technology.

Tony Egan - Evaluation Question Two

Tony Egan - Evaluation Question One

Evaluation Question 7 - Shane Farrell (Group Post)

Evaluation Question 7 (Group Post) - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

(skip to 2:53)

Evaluation Question 6 - Shane Farrell (Group Post)

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

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Evaluation Question 5 - Shane Farrell

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

A typical member of our target audience

Our Target Audience - 

Our target audience is primarily young educated males and females (15-25) who enjoy watching psychological thrillers. Their main interests would be having a good time and spending time with friends, potentially at our movie. They would be part of modern culture and enjoy watching the latest films. Our target audience isn't specifically one ethnicity or religion as we aim to make the film appeal to as wide an audience as possible.  We do this through a number of ways in the film.

Attraction Through Our Storyline-

Small action scene in our opening.

Our thriller opening starts of by drawing the audience in with suspense and creates a sense of confusion, intriguing the viewer. This develops into the main protagonist becoming angry and leads to an action scene of him throwing a chair. This action scene is particularly attractive to the target audience we have selected as they are likely to look for a film with that hint of action but a deep seeded psychological thriller plot line. The film as a whole is full of tension, to keep the audience on edge, also a reason why it's rated 15, it will feel almost uncomfortable an claustrophobic for the audience to watch but the objective of the film is to fully immerse the viewer and for them to have gone on an emotional journey throughout the film.  

Inception Film Poster

Films Similar To Ours - 

One film similar to ours would be that of inception, which is also a psychological thriller. The audience to this film would also be similar to ours, with an age rating of 15. Inception uses Hollywood stars to attract attention, with the likes of Leonardo Di Caprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt but to name a few. These stars attract a number of extra viewers to the film, the fan factor. 
It's similar to our film as it seems to run a dark theme throughout, inception is about crime and ours is about revenge, isolation and harassment. Both films also create tension throughout to grip the viewer into continuing to watch. 

Who Can The Audience Relate To -

Patson Travers who plays Danny in our Opening

The audience can relate to the character and main protagonist of Danny played by Patson Travers. He plays a white collar worker thrown into a nightmare paradox. He is a young mixed race male aged 22. Our target audience is 15-25, they would be at an ideal age to relate to our character. We can see from what he is wearing he works in a white collar job which is quite possibly relatable with the top end of our target audience.

Attraction Through Marketing -

• Posters - Billboards, Ad Shells, sides of roads and in cinemas themselves.
• Trailer - Our film will have a fully edited trailer which will be uploaded to YouTube and shown before related film screenings.
• Appearances - We will also have Patson appear on Radio and TV shows and also do interviews for newspapers and magazines.

These methods will all collaboratively raise awareness of our film and attract the vast majority of viewers.

Audience Feedback - 

In this video we asked 3 girls to give feedback on our opening. They were able to recognise it was clearly a thriller and were able to understand what was happening in the opening of the film. Overall they were impressed with the finish of the opening and wanted to watch the film, which is the goal of the opening.

As well as this, we asked Jason Burksfield, during the production process to review our opening and he gave us the idea to change the font of the title to make the film opening more eerie and build more tension. We did so and in this video the girls believed the title enhanced the finished product and suited our opening theme.

Evaluation Question 4 - Shane Farrell

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 3 - Shane Farrell

Evaluation Question 3 - What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?