Marketing

Independent films and Blockbuster films are obviously marketed in a very different way.
For example. The film 4 film This is England is marketed in a very different way to say Mission Impossible. On the poster for This is England, it is billed as "A film by Shane Meadows". This is showing that the director and writer of the film is more famous than any of the actors in it, even if only in an independent film community. This isn't the case with most blockbuster films. They are more often sold by the faces appearing in the film (in Mission Impossible's case, Tom Cruise.) And the film's poster really proves this; Only Tom Cruise's face is shown on the poster, along with the title. Contrasting This is Englands poster showing all the main characters. Also, blockbusting films often have big premiers for publicity, with the main actors appearing. This is the case for Mission Impossible. The marketing for an independent film like This is England usually just includes posters and trailers. The trailer for This is England mostly shows the happy sides of the film, and towards the end shows the darker sides. This is probably because viewers might be put off if the trailer makes the whole film seem dark and depressing. This markets the film well as it shows that its not just a completely happy or completely dark film, it has multiple sides to it. This is contrasted by the trailer for Mission Impossible, which really only shows a small portion of actual plot, and then lots of action scenes, further backed up by the climactic themetune.

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

Whilst making my preliminary piece, I learnt how to use a camera, and editing software using an Apple iMac. This was obviously important because it was necessary for all of our group to know how to use the software and camera, as we needed to be able to function still as a group even if someone was absent. I also learnt that both filming and editing are much more long and arduous tasks than they sound. We also learnt a few filming rules and how not to break them. For example the 180 degree rule, shot counter shot, and match on action. Obviously we had all improved by the time we came to making our main task, so we had a clearer idea of how to do things. Compared to our prelim, our main task was much more focused. This was because we had to pay attention to conventions of genre and have a deeper narrative. We were also better at editing by the time we came to making our main task. We were much more able to recognise what was wrong, or what was missing and how to solve it. This means we were much more efficient in our editing process, as we had clearer objectives in what we needed to do with our product. We were also much more brave with using the camera, so our shots turnt our better as we had some really nice angles and shots in our product. Given the chance, I would improve certain things about our coursework. For the main task we didn't really utilize our tripod. We thought the mobility was better without it. However this did cause some bits of our footage to be quite shaky. It wasnt too bad, some bits were worse than others, but for a really steady shot we should have used tripod. The only problem with using tripod is that some of our shots had to be really low or high due to our set and actors. Also, we could have found actors that would have played parts better in our film, despite not being judged by acting it would still help. Also we could have planned out or time better to give us spare time, should anything need changing. Overall, we have all improved vastly from our prelim, and it shows when watching our products.

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

Before starting the preliminary, and even before starting my media course, I hadn't used the technologies we were provided before. I had never used a proper video camera and operated it myself before, and making my preliminary let me get a feel of what it was like to shoot footage, and the process behind it. We made sure that everyone in our group had that same experience, just incase we ever needed to swap roles in shooting. This is very beneficial towards shooting to have backup people at hand, as if the main camera operator is ever ill or for some reason cannot make it to filming, we can have someone else to do it with the same amount of experience. I had also never used an Apple iMac before either. This was not a problem as it was easy to pick up as I had experience with various other computers and operating systems. We used them to edit our footage, and the program was simple enough to get a grasp of how to use it, easily and quickly. It was a simple drag and drop process, and then cutting footage was as simple as highlighting and deleting what you want at the click of a button. All of the necessary functions were learnt during the preliminary, and so when it came to editing the main task it was less of a struggle.
Having a portable camera was beneficial to filming as it meant no matter where we needed to go, it was easy to take with us. Everything needed including the tripod was easily carried. It was also very easy to operate the camera. Having an easy to use editing software also made our task a little bit easier. Although editing still takes a lot of time and effort, it still makes it easier to get on with, having a program that isn't overly complicated. It made adding sounds, music, transitions, fades, and titles really easy to add and remove and change around. Obviously, these technologies do not come without limitations. The camera's microphone was quite good. But at times one would have to shout to be heard on it on say, a long shot. Also this made it difficult to film outside, as the microphone wasnt designed to withstand the effects of weather. Wind and other would be easily picked up on the camera, making it slightly more difficult to find locations, or film outside if it was necessary, as dialogue would be hard to hear. Also using a tripod can sometimes put a limit on mobility, when thinking about complex or moving shots. The only real problem with the editing software was that we could not apply special effects. Due to our genre being fantasy, we could have probably been benefitted by use of some special effects, and definitely would have needed some, had we of been making the whole film. Technologies allowing us to use better effects could have helped us to make our media product more successful. This could have given our film a better look to it. Also better cameras could have helped as sometimes the microphone wasnt picking up dialogue greatly (although this can be fixed during editing) and sometimes shots seemed a little grainy. With these technologies our film could have been made better, but I feel that we did well with the technologies we had.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

When advertising a film it is important to think about the best ways to reach your target audience. For example. If advertising an 18 slasher film, advertising on products such as food (i.e macdonalds) won't be very useful, however a PG childrens animation and macdonalds products would go hand in hand. Considering the age rating for our production is certificate 15, I believe the best ways to reach the audience would be television, cinema, internet virals, and busses or busstops. I chose television because most of the population watch television every day. A teenager gets home from school and watches his or her favorite shows, families often watch television during dinner, and it's often on for the most of the evening. Even if the teenager themself does not see the ad, their friends or family might, and reccomend it to them, or even invite them to go and see it. Similarly, internet virals would also be good to advertise our films because teenagers also spend alot of time on the internet. Sites like facebook, myspace, and hotmail would be ideal places to advertise a film aimed at teenagers. Sites like this are often visited by teenagers. Myspace promote many music artists, commedians, and films on a dailly basis. Trailers can be easily linked to or embedded on websites, and can be made eye catching to draw the viewer in. Cinema is always a good place to advertise a film. Just the atmosphere of the cinema makes a trailer more effective, as the viewer is already in the mood to watch their film. The big screen, the curtains, the low lights, and the surround sound all help towards the atmosphere, giving a trailer an effect you cant fully achieve through a television or computer screen. It makes more of an impact on the viewer. Bus stop and bus advertisements aren't exactly the most popular of advertisements, and one can't really imagine themselves being affected by an advertisement on a bus or bus shelter. But after a week at school teenagers want to get out of the house and have a bit of fun. This will often involve public transport especially around the age of 15, as driving is not an option. Even if the advertisement doesn't make the people want to go see the film, it may make them want to look it up if its the first they've heard of it, or it could well make them talk about it, spreading word and making it more known.
We also had a screening of our film to an audience, and gave out a questionnaire with questions on what the audience thought about the production. The feedback was mostly positive. Many commented on how our films narrative was unique, and how it was easy to recognise the genre through the change of worlds (reality/alternate world) and yet how it was bending conventions by being grittier as opposed to glamorous, like with most fantasy films. Due to our feedback being mostly positive I believe we achieved reaching our audience with moderate success. Keeping in mind that most of the people that viewed our production were 16, we were a little over the age range, but not too close to the next certificate (18).

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

During the planning our media piece, we weren't quite sure of what age rating we would give it. The audience was most likely to be fans of films of a similar nature. Whilst making the film we began realising that we had some violence, swearing, and also some very touchy subjects. To check rating we used the British Board of Film Classification's rating guidelines. The BBFC claims that for a film of certificate fifteen rating, it can contain scenes of drug taking, horror, strong language, nudity, sex and violence. However, it cannot promote the misuse of drugs, and cannot contain sadistic or sexual horror, dangerous imitable behaviour cannot be shown in detail (suicide, self harm), and strong language and sexual behaviour should be not shown in detail or too often. Our media production is safely in the boundaries of a 15 certificate, as it only uses mildly strong language but not often, no use of drugs, no nudity or sexual references or dangerous imitable behaviour. There is minimal violence in the piece, but what there is of it isn't overly violent anyway.
Most of the films we looked at were a PG rating, apart from Pan's Labyrinth (15) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (PG-13). Because our film is closer to Pan's Labyrinth we settled on 15. This rating is a good rating as it means older fantasy fans can view, and also fans of darker fantasy films would feel more inclined to view it than they would if it were a PG.

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

When creating a film one must know what distributor they have behind them. The distributor is the link between the production of the film and the exhibition, circulation, and marketing of the film. This is extremely important, as the distributor could make or break a film.
I think the best distributors for our film would be Paramount Pictures, Icon Productions, or Lions Gate Entertainment. This is because they have all made a lot of fantasy films , or quite successful fantasy films. Icon distributed Bridge to Terabithia(2007) in the UK. Paramount films include The Wizard of Oz (1982), Charlotte's Web (1973 & 2006), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). Lions Gate films include The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009). These are all successful fantasy films, some of which we even drew elements of our film from (i.e. the forest in Doctor Parnassus, and the alternate worlds in Wizard of Oz, and The Forbidden Kingdom). These film companies may want to back our film because it is a fantasy with a good narrative, which is also quite dark, twisting conventions of the genre. Due to this I think it would most likely be distributed by Lions Gate films, because of their darker more violent fantasy films. After that it would probably be Icon for the same reason. Paramount may not want our film if they do not feel confident enough in it, as it is the biggest of the 3 mentioned companies. However if they did distribute our film they would probably make us the most money due to their huge name and history of big films.

2. How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In our media product there are several representations. The main things represented are gender, abusive parents, and their relationship with their children. There isn't really any race representation, but you could say there is a representation of status due to the relationship between father and daughter. Gender in our film seems to be male dominated - Robin controls Sam, shouts at her, and even hits her. This also represents fathers as being dominating and angered. You could also say it represents men who drink as violent (as he is seen with a bottle of alcohol). Also the hung helper seems to know alot about the setting and even Sam herself. This could be representing males as smart, but like to keep it to themselves, as he doesnt give much away to Sam. It could be said that in our film, females are represented as weak, as Sam is abused, and in the narrative she dies (however this was not shown in the opening 2 minutes, so as to not give away too much). But in saying that, she also would fight back had we make the rest of the film. So twisting representations of women she could be seen as a strong person. The fact Sam has no mother could also say that there are representations of single fathers. This could be what pushed him to drink and abuse. Generally our representations are quite similar to usual stereotypes. Although I believe this is because what we hear as stereotypes comes through when trying to build characters, whether it be intentional or inadvertently.