Risk Assessment

Evaluation Question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Rough designs for my magazine/poster

Audience Feedback

Positive Comments:

-Interesting shot angles and places
-Good establishing shots at the beginning
-Good title
-Good storyline idea
-Clever use of depth of field
-Good use of music that creates tension
-Good shot transitions
-Good acting skills
-The music goes with the shots well
-Not a lot of the overall plot is given away
-Good editing to the music
-Based on things that actually happen do the audience can relate
-Effective equilibrium
-Good colours
-Good fast pace towards the end

Negative Comments

-Needs more pace at the beginning

-There is no jumpscares

-There could be more sound effects

- Music could have a faster tempo

-Music could be more tense

-Could have a more dramatic ending

- Could have more footage

-Lack of ending

-Needs a sense of narrative

Story Board Images

Evaluation Question 2: How effective is the combination of your product and ancillary texts?

The purpose of a film distributor company, is to organise the marketing and advertising of a film. For our groups chosen storyline of the film, a trailer, magazine cover and movie poster was created to market it. This is the same type of advertising platforms that professional film distributor companies would use to promote films, and along with broader promotional techniques such as cinema showings TV adverts and social media pages this would allow the film to reach a much larger audience. The marketing techniques of films often differs depending on the demographic audience, for example, adverts on TV and Radio are more likely to be seen by older adults and young children whereas adverts on social media and websites are most likely to be seen by teenagers and young adults. Because of this, it is important for distribution companies to research their target audience before developing their campaigns.  The film 'Woman in black' made their target audience younger, and this was part of a clever marketing scheme where they used the famous 'Harry Potter' actor Daniel Radcliffe as the main marketing point of the film. Drawing in the young audience of the Harry Potter franchise. The film 'Annabel' also used a different type of advertising method, as it made a point of being a spin off to the popular horror film 'The Conjuring' which was mentioned in its trailer and poster. This would make fans of The Conjuring want to watch it, and would even get around faster from word of mouth.

Having an image relating to the film on the front cover of a magazine is also extremely effective, as it means that the audience will still know of the film even if they just look at the magazine and do not buy it, gaining a wider audience. This is the same with posters of the film, which can be put up outside movie theaters and bus shelters billboards ect, which will be seen by a range of people.

Many advertising campaigns for films also purposely release videos with the intention of them going viral. One example of this is the 'Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise' video, which was produced for the horror film 'Carrie'. This film featured hidden cameras in a small coffee shop which was rigged with traps that made things look as if they where moving, almost in a paranormal way to the unsuspecting public. An actress would target these people and act as if the was getting really angry then supposedly use her 'Telekinetic powers' to move the things around her.  

This video obtained 51 million views through shares on social media, showing that it amused and shocked many people. Through this, and word of mouth, it became considerably famous, and as it was promoting the film 'Carrie' it meant that all the people that had heard of this viral video also had knowledge of the film as well.

This same technique could be seen when the film 'Paranormal Activity- The Marked Ones' introduced their marketing scheme 'Experience The Fear' on their website. This was an interactive experience, where the audience could walk around a house whilst strange explainable things happened. This was a free and effective campaign that drew the audience in and created conversation around the film itself.

When advertising a film, it is important that all of the marketing platforms are based around the same thing, so that the audience understands what the film is about, and will be able to recognize it where ever they see it. 

This can be seen in the advertising of the 2010 film 'Insidious' as their image on the front cover of the popular horror magazine 'Fangoria', the trailer and poster all show the same dull grey colours, and show two characters which where the first characters people knew about and therefore where suspected as being the protagonists of the film.

 

The insidious DVD cover also shows the same character and location as the poster, and like the poster the eyes of the character are scratched out. This became a staple look for the insidious movie, and was incredibly recognizable to a wide audience.

Films can also gain an audiences attention by the reviews they receive. These are received during premier nights in which film critics and media journalists go and view the film along with the people who acted in it. If the reviews are good, people will feel more enticed to go and watch the films. Certain reviews and quotes from 5 star ratings will go on the posters or DVD cases of the films, to draw peoples attention to them, and make them want to buy/watch the product

My Products

Our films target demographic age was 15-18 year old's. Although this is an incredibly niche audience, we decided that the BBFC would give the film a 15 regulation. During our research we found out the the most popular sub-genre for this age group was Psychological Horror, so this was the kind of content we wanted to include in our film. We took inspiration from the 2003 school shooting movie 'Elephant', which includes the same type of story line. However we challenged gender conventions by using two female antagonists, to create a more unique product. 

The marketing and promoting points of a trailer are extremely important in ensuring the film is successful. One essential and effective way to achieve this is the appearance of the film on other aspects of media. The use of the front cover of a magazine is ideal, as it means that even if the product itself is not bought, the consumer would still have gained knowledge about the film. I thought this was good for the target audience of our trailer as this niche age group would be the most likely to purchase or look at this type of magazine. 

I chose to use a mid-shot image of one of the main shooters with a gun in their hand as the main cover photo. The photo cuts the head of the subject off, and i think this is effective as it does not give too much information on the film away. I wanted the subject to be wearing more feminine clothing, as i think that the whole 'female bad-guy' aspect of this film could be a selling point for a new modern generation, and this is why she is wearing a dress and tights. 

The colours used are red, black and yellow and i wanted to predominately use these as the house-style for my magazine cover as they are eye catching, and symbolic of blood and danger, which are connotations of the horror genre. The fonts are all typical of media regarding the horror genre, and the use of the dripping words in the title and PLUS section connote blood and death, again, iconography of the horror genre. 

The misc-en-scene of the placement of the gun held at the side of the shooter shows that she is waiting and keeping this a secret. which is what i wanted to get accross in the image as this is what happens in the trailer. However i like that her hand is on her hip as if she is in control, and almost appears merciless to the weapon in her hand. This again promotes the strong female-orientated aspect of the film. 

I took inspirtaion for my magazine cover from a few different existing magazine covers. The covers by the popular horror film magazine 'Fangoria' often have the coverlines down an old piece of film negative. I thought that this was good as it allowed the viewer to see that the magazine included things about the film aspect of horror rather than the literature. I decided to use this same technique on my own magazine, and created my own film negative using the shape tools in Photoshop, and wrote my coverlines on them.

This magazine cover by Empire was also something that i took inspiration from, as i liked how the main subject was female. The woman protagonist was one of the selling points of this movie. like our horror film, and i liked how this was highlighted on the cover of the magazine it was featured. I also like how she was central and shown with the weapon. so i decided to use this in my own magazine cover. 

Finally, i looked at this magazine cover by Total Film and thought it was effective how the guns where shown in his hands, and he looked confident as a shooter. I felt like this showed the viewer a lot about the character, but was still able to leave them with a lot of questions about the film, and i wanted this same reaction to be given in my own product. I made sure that the gun could be easily seen, like within this cover, and the position of the subject showed confidence.

Again like with the magazine cover, i wanted to showcase the female antagonist in the poster. I used the same model, and the same clothing so that it would link to the magazine cover and the audience would be able to recognize it. I decided to focus the poster more on the actual gun than anything else, so that people would understand what the movie would entitle. However, after looking at existing posters, i realized that often they do not show a lot of the story line, so i didn't want much of the shooter themselves on show. The person is wearing all black, conventionally indicating that they are the villain in the film. I also decided to create a dark mist-like colour in the background, to represent evil and distortion. I think that the position of the main image is incredibly effective as it gives enough information away that the viewer will want to see the film to understand what happens. 

I took inspiration from this poster when creating my own, as i liked how the main focus was on the weapon and the rest of the poster was dark. I think this draws attention to the horror aspect of the film being promoted, and thrills the target audience into wanting to find out what happens in the full film. To achieve this same kind of feel, i made the gun one of the main focal areas of the poster. The background and clothes worn by the subject where all very dark, and as the arm was the lightest area i made it so that the eye was drawn down the arm to the gun.

Evaluation Question 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?