Saturday, 13 March 2010
Marketing Comparison - Film4 & Hollywood Blockbusters
Film4 films are marketed in a much more subtle way, in comparison to how Hollywood Blockbusters are. For example, films such as ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, and ‘This Is England’ were never really used for major advertising campaigns, or were never attached to a brand in build up to the films release. Whereas, with a film such as ‘The Dark Knight’ the marketing strategies were completely different. The film itself was attached to the Burger King brand, and there was even a new burger released at the time to help promote the film further. When Hollywood Blockbusters are being marketed, its all about promoting the film as much as you can, without making the audience become sick of the film before they have even saw it. Film4 films rarely spend a lot of time making sure that their film is the most anticipated, although there was an exception with ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. This film was extremely popular, and many people took advantage of the fact that this film was successful. For example, ‘The Pussycat Dolls’ released a single that was a re-work of one of the soundtracks to the film. Not only did this get the soundtrack of the film instantly recognised, but it also promoted and advertised the fact that this film was unique at the time, as there weren’t many films with Indian music around. The film was also constantly talked about due to its success at the Oscars and its other various accolades. Then again, this is one of the very few Film4 Films that are marketed in a way that is similar to a Hollywood Blockbuster film. Film4 films are usually marketed in a way that means they aren’t promoted and advertised everywhere you look, but they are known, and spoke about. Hollywood Blockbusters marketing strategies are completely different to Film4, and this is probably due to the fact that Film4 is an Independent film company. As a result of this, Film4 films have a lot smaller budget in comparison to big Hollywood Blockbusters, so they have to be a lot more cautious when it comes to making decisions on what to spend money on. Whereas, Hollywood Blockbusters usually have big budgets where they can afford to spend a lot of money on marketing, and promotions. Hollywood Blockbusters also have enough money to put their films on general release, whereas Film4 would usually put their films in selected cinemas, and on limited release. This saves them money, and also they get to choose very carefully where they want to put the film, so the film has more of a chance of being successful in carefully selected cinemas. This proves to be better, as appose to putting a film that doesn’t really appeal to a wide range of audiences on general release, and seeing that it is only successful in a few cinemas-resulting in a drastic waste of money, something companies like Film4 really can’t afford to do. Film4 have to carefully market their films because they want to get as many viewers as they can, without spending too much money on actually advertising the film. Hollywood Blockbusters seem to have an outlook where they feel that marketing, promoting and advertising their film is one of the most important things. Marketing is one of the biggest elements for seeing whether the film is going to successful or not, if the marketing is a big flop and ends up being a waste of money, then it isn’t a very good reflection on the films future success.
Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 7
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
As a result of our preliminary task we really became aware of the 180-degree rule, as we broke it twice without realising. We had to do a conversation between two people, but because in our prelim the two people were so far away from eachother, we had trouble remembering what side we had filmed the shot from. We also made sure we were very aware of continuity, and making sure costume, hair and set were the same in each shot. This was because when filming our prelim, we had complications when scouting locations. We first started filming in one location, but then when we had to film again, this location was occupied. We then had to find another location, and the one we found looked nothing like the original location, so we had to do the best we could to hide the fact that we had drastically changed locations. We wanted to prevent this happening because we knew how bad it made our prelim look, so we made sure that we had definite confirmation for filming at our chosen location, and to also help with costume, hair and set continuity, we brought along one of our friends to be in charge of making sure all shots looked as similar as they could. When watching the footage back, there were a very little number of continuity errors, and these were only noticeable to us because we were the ones who created and filmed it. We didn’t make any drastic continuity errors, which showed that we had learned from our mistakes made when creating and filming our prelim. As a group, we were all pleased with how we have all progressed, and we all feel that in comparison to our prelim, we have really improved with our camera and filming technique, and we also feel we have all developed creative flare. As one of our shots we created ourselves, as it wasn’t a generic shot you’d expect to see.
Our main task is a lot better than our prelim in a number of ways. When editing our prelim, we found that we made the initial concept seem much more complicated than it was supposed to be, and this was because we were worrying too much about making the story funny, and we were treating it as if it were the main task. So, in comparison to our prelim, our storyline and screenplay was a lot stronger and made more sense, and even proved to be very humorous. Another way our main task is better than our prelim is that our shots varied. We displayed a variety of different shots in comparison to our prelim, where we used only a few use any handheld shots, and there wasn’t much creativity within the shots. Whereas, in our main task, we showed our developed creativity by filming the shot where the camera comes from behind the computer screen to reveal Babs reading an email, and we also showed our range of shots by having our opening shot as a tracking shot, and also by having a panning shot and a few point of view shots. As a group, we really wanted to explore as many different shots as we could, so when we were at the stage of storyboarding, we spent a bit of time discussing and contemplating alternatives. It was really useful for all of us to try out all of these new shots we hadn’t been able to use in our prelim-but then again, at the editing stages, this went against us as we had a hard time cutting out shots we spent time filming. Another way was that we were able to use other elements that we hadn’t explored or been able to include in our prelim, for example, we got to use voice over’s-we wrote the script, recorded them, and then placed them in our piece of film. This instantly made our main task feel more like an actual piece of film, because we had the voice over, which was one of the key elements of our genre. One more way that our task is better is due to the fact that we were able to use credits in a way that we didn’t use them in our prelim, as in our prelim, we used them quite generically, but we had to think about other ways to put in credits, because this wasn’t a complete piece of film like the prelim was-this was the first 2 minutes to the opening of a film. We were very detailed in our choices for the credits, as we discussed how the credits to transition in and out of the shots, and we even discussed what the correct font and colour scheme was for our main task also.
My group and I would have liked to have had a more seductive type of music, for the seduction scene, even though we felt that the music we ended up with did still convey the right effect, we did have a preferred song in mind but we simply didn’t have time to find and put into our film. We were still content and pleased with the music we chose though, as it did still portray a comedic seduction, and helped to heighten the comedy. Another thing in our main task that we could have improved on would probably be our light consistency, because some shots appear darker than others, and this makes one of the shots hard to see when watching the film. We did a low angles shot, and this show appears darker than all of the other shots in the film-but because this shot is only short, it doesn’t make too much of a difference. Overall we were all very pleased with the outcome of our main task, and also very pleased with how well received it was with the people who watched it.
As a result of our preliminary task we really became aware of the 180-degree rule, as we broke it twice without realising. We had to do a conversation between two people, but because in our prelim the two people were so far away from eachother, we had trouble remembering what side we had filmed the shot from. We also made sure we were very aware of continuity, and making sure costume, hair and set were the same in each shot. This was because when filming our prelim, we had complications when scouting locations. We first started filming in one location, but then when we had to film again, this location was occupied. We then had to find another location, and the one we found looked nothing like the original location, so we had to do the best we could to hide the fact that we had drastically changed locations. We wanted to prevent this happening because we knew how bad it made our prelim look, so we made sure that we had definite confirmation for filming at our chosen location, and to also help with costume, hair and set continuity, we brought along one of our friends to be in charge of making sure all shots looked as similar as they could. When watching the footage back, there were a very little number of continuity errors, and these were only noticeable to us because we were the ones who created and filmed it. We didn’t make any drastic continuity errors, which showed that we had learned from our mistakes made when creating and filming our prelim. As a group, we were all pleased with how we have all progressed, and we all feel that in comparison to our prelim, we have really improved with our camera and filming technique, and we also feel we have all developed creative flare. As one of our shots we created ourselves, as it wasn’t a generic shot you’d expect to see.
Our main task is a lot better than our prelim in a number of ways. When editing our prelim, we found that we made the initial concept seem much more complicated than it was supposed to be, and this was because we were worrying too much about making the story funny, and we were treating it as if it were the main task. So, in comparison to our prelim, our storyline and screenplay was a lot stronger and made more sense, and even proved to be very humorous. Another way our main task is better than our prelim is that our shots varied. We displayed a variety of different shots in comparison to our prelim, where we used only a few use any handheld shots, and there wasn’t much creativity within the shots. Whereas, in our main task, we showed our developed creativity by filming the shot where the camera comes from behind the computer screen to reveal Babs reading an email, and we also showed our range of shots by having our opening shot as a tracking shot, and also by having a panning shot and a few point of view shots. As a group, we really wanted to explore as many different shots as we could, so when we were at the stage of storyboarding, we spent a bit of time discussing and contemplating alternatives. It was really useful for all of us to try out all of these new shots we hadn’t been able to use in our prelim-but then again, at the editing stages, this went against us as we had a hard time cutting out shots we spent time filming. Another way was that we were able to use other elements that we hadn’t explored or been able to include in our prelim, for example, we got to use voice over’s-we wrote the script, recorded them, and then placed them in our piece of film. This instantly made our main task feel more like an actual piece of film, because we had the voice over, which was one of the key elements of our genre. One more way that our task is better is due to the fact that we were able to use credits in a way that we didn’t use them in our prelim, as in our prelim, we used them quite generically, but we had to think about other ways to put in credits, because this wasn’t a complete piece of film like the prelim was-this was the first 2 minutes to the opening of a film. We were very detailed in our choices for the credits, as we discussed how the credits to transition in and out of the shots, and we even discussed what the correct font and colour scheme was for our main task also.
My group and I would have liked to have had a more seductive type of music, for the seduction scene, even though we felt that the music we ended up with did still convey the right effect, we did have a preferred song in mind but we simply didn’t have time to find and put into our film. We were still content and pleased with the music we chose though, as it did still portray a comedic seduction, and helped to heighten the comedy. Another thing in our main task that we could have improved on would probably be our light consistency, because some shots appear darker than others, and this makes one of the shots hard to see when watching the film. We did a low angles shot, and this show appears darker than all of the other shots in the film-but because this shot is only short, it doesn’t make too much of a difference. Overall we were all very pleased with the outcome of our main task, and also very pleased with how well received it was with the people who watched it.
Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 6
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
When actually filming our film we were able to use one of our media department’s brand new cameras and a new tripod. We felt more confident in the filming quality by having new equipment because when we filmed our preliminary task the tripod didn’t move around smoothly, and the camera quality was a bit grainy. So the new equipment boosted our hopes for having a well filmed and good quality piece of film. When using the new camera and tripod we could instantly tell the difference, as the new camera was giving us a clearer quality of film, and the tripod was quite steady and it wasn’t as stiff as the old tripod. As a result of this, we were more confident in terms of whether the film was going to look more professional.
We also used another form of technology when it came to editing our footage, as we used both the new and old version of iMovie on the iMac. We used the old version of iMovie for one shot in our Director’s cut of the film, but this shot was too long to put into our final cut. We wanted to put a piece of the action in slow motion, and we could only do that if we transferred the chosen shot into the old version of iMovie. The shot was the shot of Babs tossing her hair around seductively, and we wanted this in slow motion to give a more comedic effect. We also used iMovie for a shot that we did have in our final cut, which was the shot after Babs has just thrown her glasses out of the window, which is a point of view shot of her scanning the room, trying to find Paolo. We wanted this shot of have a blurry effect, so the audience get to see how Babs see’s everything without her glasses. We had to put this shot into the old iMovie and find an effect, which most resembled what we had in mind. We all agreed that we preferred using the newer version of the program because it was a lot easier to navigate around and get used to. The older version of the program seemed very limited and basic.
We benefitted from using the new camera and tripod because It made us able to produce a better piece of film, and it also made the filming experience run a lot smoother, because then we wasn’t worrying about whether the film was going to be bad quality and amateurish. The new tripod was very beneficial for us because there were 3 shots, one after the other, where we wanted the camera to be at a precise angle, and we wanted it to be very steady. These were the three shots that happen when Babs is reading out her reply, and the new tripod helped us produce 3 clean-cut shots that looked professional. The new camera quality we also benefitted from when we were filming the tracking shot up the stairs, because if the film quality was poor then the shot would have looked awful, but also we filmed it as steadily and as cleanly as we could.
The benefits we received from using the new and old iMovie program was that it helped us in showing that we are capable of not just cutting and putting shots in order, but we were able to use the technologies to its fullest. The older version of iMovie benefitted us as it provided us with another way to make the film funnier, and it also helped us to show a wide variety of shots in our film. As a result of using the iMovie program we were able to produce a great, professional-looking film, using a program that was easy to navigate around and helped us to edit and create our film easily and without complications.
The benefits of using the iMacs for editing and creating our film was that we were able to use software that is effective and easy to use. Because the iMacs are specialised computers, it is a lot easier to use the program you need to use, and also this software is modern so we are using the best software we can use for our sort of filmmaking. The iMovie software enabled us to enhance the quality of our film, and helped us turn it from a series of shots, into a 2-minute piece of film. It enabled us to put all of the shots in a chronological order, trim and cut the shots if they were too long, add credits and music/sound, and we were also able to add in transitions. For example, the tracking shot up the stairs was originally just one long piece of footage, but then when we had to start cutting down the time of our film, we decided to break that footage up by putting in fading transitions in-between. This made the shot seem a lot smoother, and less like an untidy, long shot. The software allowed us to create a good, professional looking film and enabled us to easily edit our footage, avoiding any sort of complications.
The limitations that came with using the camera and tripod were that the camera’s battery power only lasted around an hour before we had to put it on charge. This meant that we had to work quickly and efficiently, and had to get as many shots as we could get done before the battery died. Our limitations with the tripod were that, at times, it would be quite stiff and difficult to move. It only enabled us to move the camera so far before it stopped and the actors went out of shot. For example, during the shot of Babs approaching Paolo at the door, we wanted the camera to follow Babs as she walked over to him. We wanted to move the camera slowly to the left, we were able to do it-but we had to spend time trying to loosen up the free movement of the tripod, and even after that it was still stiff and made noise when moving it. Also, the tripod didn’t enable us to move the camera very high and it couldn’t move too far without it making a noise. Luckily enough the highest shot we needed was when we were filming the glasses flying out of the window, and that was the highest the tripod could go. This was beneficial for us because then the shot was sturdy, and it prevented us from having to do the shot handheld.
There weren’t many limitations involving the iMacs or the iMovie program, because they are both modern pieces of technology, and we didn’t run into any complications or problems that we couldn’t sort of straight away. We only had to use the old versions of iMovie-we did use the Garage Band program, when trying to create a piece of music that we couldn’t find. In the end we found the program a bit complicated and pretty time consuming, so we decided to stick with the music we had originally chosen.
Other technologies that we could have benefitted from would probably be things like maybe some extra lighting equipment, due to the fact that the lighting isn’t consistent throughout our film. Some shots appear darker than others, which makes our film look quite amateur. We could have also benefitted from some form of tracks along the floor to make our opening dolly shot a lot smoother, and make it look a bit less like someone is walking with the camera. Also, if we were able to access more music then we probably would have been able to find the music we had in mind for our seduction scene, but we didn’t mind using the music we used in the end, because it still created the same effect.
When actually filming our film we were able to use one of our media department’s brand new cameras and a new tripod. We felt more confident in the filming quality by having new equipment because when we filmed our preliminary task the tripod didn’t move around smoothly, and the camera quality was a bit grainy. So the new equipment boosted our hopes for having a well filmed and good quality piece of film. When using the new camera and tripod we could instantly tell the difference, as the new camera was giving us a clearer quality of film, and the tripod was quite steady and it wasn’t as stiff as the old tripod. As a result of this, we were more confident in terms of whether the film was going to look more professional.
We also used another form of technology when it came to editing our footage, as we used both the new and old version of iMovie on the iMac. We used the old version of iMovie for one shot in our Director’s cut of the film, but this shot was too long to put into our final cut. We wanted to put a piece of the action in slow motion, and we could only do that if we transferred the chosen shot into the old version of iMovie. The shot was the shot of Babs tossing her hair around seductively, and we wanted this in slow motion to give a more comedic effect. We also used iMovie for a shot that we did have in our final cut, which was the shot after Babs has just thrown her glasses out of the window, which is a point of view shot of her scanning the room, trying to find Paolo. We wanted this shot of have a blurry effect, so the audience get to see how Babs see’s everything without her glasses. We had to put this shot into the old iMovie and find an effect, which most resembled what we had in mind. We all agreed that we preferred using the newer version of the program because it was a lot easier to navigate around and get used to. The older version of the program seemed very limited and basic.
We benefitted from using the new camera and tripod because It made us able to produce a better piece of film, and it also made the filming experience run a lot smoother, because then we wasn’t worrying about whether the film was going to be bad quality and amateurish. The new tripod was very beneficial for us because there were 3 shots, one after the other, where we wanted the camera to be at a precise angle, and we wanted it to be very steady. These were the three shots that happen when Babs is reading out her reply, and the new tripod helped us produce 3 clean-cut shots that looked professional. The new camera quality we also benefitted from when we were filming the tracking shot up the stairs, because if the film quality was poor then the shot would have looked awful, but also we filmed it as steadily and as cleanly as we could.
The benefits we received from using the new and old iMovie program was that it helped us in showing that we are capable of not just cutting and putting shots in order, but we were able to use the technologies to its fullest. The older version of iMovie benefitted us as it provided us with another way to make the film funnier, and it also helped us to show a wide variety of shots in our film. As a result of using the iMovie program we were able to produce a great, professional-looking film, using a program that was easy to navigate around and helped us to edit and create our film easily and without complications.
The benefits of using the iMacs for editing and creating our film was that we were able to use software that is effective and easy to use. Because the iMacs are specialised computers, it is a lot easier to use the program you need to use, and also this software is modern so we are using the best software we can use for our sort of filmmaking. The iMovie software enabled us to enhance the quality of our film, and helped us turn it from a series of shots, into a 2-minute piece of film. It enabled us to put all of the shots in a chronological order, trim and cut the shots if they were too long, add credits and music/sound, and we were also able to add in transitions. For example, the tracking shot up the stairs was originally just one long piece of footage, but then when we had to start cutting down the time of our film, we decided to break that footage up by putting in fading transitions in-between. This made the shot seem a lot smoother, and less like an untidy, long shot. The software allowed us to create a good, professional looking film and enabled us to easily edit our footage, avoiding any sort of complications.
The limitations that came with using the camera and tripod were that the camera’s battery power only lasted around an hour before we had to put it on charge. This meant that we had to work quickly and efficiently, and had to get as many shots as we could get done before the battery died. Our limitations with the tripod were that, at times, it would be quite stiff and difficult to move. It only enabled us to move the camera so far before it stopped and the actors went out of shot. For example, during the shot of Babs approaching Paolo at the door, we wanted the camera to follow Babs as she walked over to him. We wanted to move the camera slowly to the left, we were able to do it-but we had to spend time trying to loosen up the free movement of the tripod, and even after that it was still stiff and made noise when moving it. Also, the tripod didn’t enable us to move the camera very high and it couldn’t move too far without it making a noise. Luckily enough the highest shot we needed was when we were filming the glasses flying out of the window, and that was the highest the tripod could go. This was beneficial for us because then the shot was sturdy, and it prevented us from having to do the shot handheld.
There weren’t many limitations involving the iMacs or the iMovie program, because they are both modern pieces of technology, and we didn’t run into any complications or problems that we couldn’t sort of straight away. We only had to use the old versions of iMovie-we did use the Garage Band program, when trying to create a piece of music that we couldn’t find. In the end we found the program a bit complicated and pretty time consuming, so we decided to stick with the music we had originally chosen.
Other technologies that we could have benefitted from would probably be things like maybe some extra lighting equipment, due to the fact that the lighting isn’t consistent throughout our film. Some shots appear darker than others, which makes our film look quite amateur. We could have also benefitted from some form of tracks along the floor to make our opening dolly shot a lot smoother, and make it look a bit less like someone is walking with the camera. Also, if we were able to access more music then we probably would have been able to find the music we had in mind for our seduction scene, but we didn’t mind using the music we used in the end, because it still created the same effect.
Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 5
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
When doing our research we noticed that the comedic elements in our film would be one of the most important parts of attracting our target audience. Because, when you think about it, within this genre, the comedy is the thing that attracts the audience, as they want to go to watch the film and have a good time, and laugh. For example, when we were researching different RomComs and their opening sequences, we watched the film Rumour Has It and the majority of the opening sequence hardly contained any humour at all. We knew that this was what we definitely didn’t want our film to be like, but also Rumour Has It is an American RomCom, and American RomComs tend to focus a lot more on getting the audience engrossed in the love story within the film, meaning the humour isn’t the main focus. Whereas, our is a British RomCom, and British RomComs tend to focus more on making the audience laugh as soon as they can, and the protagonists are usually one big joke. We knew that we wanted our audience to be laughing within the first 2 minutes, because we didn’t want our audience to lose interest in the film straight away if the love story was too complicated, or simply lack luster-which was what happened when we watched Rumour Has It. We thought that the Bridget Jones ‘style’ protagonist, and storyline would be an instant hit with our target audience, and also would be staying very true to the British RomCom genre. We knew that the lovers of Bridget Jones would also enjoy Auntie Babs because of the similarities in character and the situations they get themselves into. The fact that our protagonist is a very quirky, awkward and clumsy woman would instantly draw the audience in, because they would want the best for her. Also, the way we styled and dressed the character would make the audience immediately find her funny, and even if there was a serious scene, her outrageous fashion sense would still give the scene a comedic edge, because she couldn’t possibly be taken seriously in what she wears. We felt that our target audience were more likely to find that sort of character a lot more likeable and enjoyable to watch, as appose to a desperate, middle-aged, lonely woman who doesn’t stop complaining. We also realised during our research that the actors in the film are also very persuasive in terms of getting the audience in. For example, Hugh Grant is known for his numerous similar roles in RomComs, so he has a very large fan base of women that love to watch RomComs with him in. This is why producers choose to use him in so many of the films within this genre, because you get the fan base that comes with the actor. Also, Hugh Grant’s fan base is the target audience for this genre, so that’s why producers want him even more. But, due to our very small budget, and the fact that it was only the opening 2 minutes of the film we could never dream of accessing such an actor, so we decided to cast one of our acting friends from the year above the play the role of Paolo.
So we were able to analyse whether our target audience was correct, we created a questionnaire and asked our class to watch our film, and then answer the questions. Our class is a mix of teenage boys and girls, so this way we were able to find out of what one of our target audiences thought of the film. When we got the questionnaires back we noticed that a very large majority of the class said they would want to continue on watching the film, even the boys-which was a great result for us, because it shows that maybe our film appeals to more than just our target audiences. The information also showed us that the viewers really enjoyed the film, and that it was a clear representation of British RomCom. We also found out that the viewers found the film very funny, as there were comments that expressed how the comedy was very entertaining. The feedback about the comedy was beneficial for my group and I because we then knew that we had written the right sort of comedy for this genre.
My group and I feel that we did successfully reach our target audience, because we felt we had accomplished getting the comedy through in the 2 minutes of film straight away, and we felt what we had written and shot for the two minutes clearly set up the rest of the film, so the audience knew where the love/seduction part of the storyline was going to take them, and what sort of comedy was going to accompany and follow the protagonist. We felt that we successfully assured the audience that the rest of this film was going to be very entertaining, and from the information we gathered we had reached one of our target audiences (teenage girls) and an audience we wouldn’t have aimed to reach. My group and I all feel that our film would be successful if we were to film it all, and if we were able to put it in cinemas etc. We think it would appeal to a wider audience and women would love it, therefore showing that our own interpretation of the British RomCom genre has been an exact one.
When doing our research we noticed that the comedic elements in our film would be one of the most important parts of attracting our target audience. Because, when you think about it, within this genre, the comedy is the thing that attracts the audience, as they want to go to watch the film and have a good time, and laugh. For example, when we were researching different RomComs and their opening sequences, we watched the film Rumour Has It and the majority of the opening sequence hardly contained any humour at all. We knew that this was what we definitely didn’t want our film to be like, but also Rumour Has It is an American RomCom, and American RomComs tend to focus a lot more on getting the audience engrossed in the love story within the film, meaning the humour isn’t the main focus. Whereas, our is a British RomCom, and British RomComs tend to focus more on making the audience laugh as soon as they can, and the protagonists are usually one big joke. We knew that we wanted our audience to be laughing within the first 2 minutes, because we didn’t want our audience to lose interest in the film straight away if the love story was too complicated, or simply lack luster-which was what happened when we watched Rumour Has It. We thought that the Bridget Jones ‘style’ protagonist, and storyline would be an instant hit with our target audience, and also would be staying very true to the British RomCom genre. We knew that the lovers of Bridget Jones would also enjoy Auntie Babs because of the similarities in character and the situations they get themselves into. The fact that our protagonist is a very quirky, awkward and clumsy woman would instantly draw the audience in, because they would want the best for her. Also, the way we styled and dressed the character would make the audience immediately find her funny, and even if there was a serious scene, her outrageous fashion sense would still give the scene a comedic edge, because she couldn’t possibly be taken seriously in what she wears. We felt that our target audience were more likely to find that sort of character a lot more likeable and enjoyable to watch, as appose to a desperate, middle-aged, lonely woman who doesn’t stop complaining. We also realised during our research that the actors in the film are also very persuasive in terms of getting the audience in. For example, Hugh Grant is known for his numerous similar roles in RomComs, so he has a very large fan base of women that love to watch RomComs with him in. This is why producers choose to use him in so many of the films within this genre, because you get the fan base that comes with the actor. Also, Hugh Grant’s fan base is the target audience for this genre, so that’s why producers want him even more. But, due to our very small budget, and the fact that it was only the opening 2 minutes of the film we could never dream of accessing such an actor, so we decided to cast one of our acting friends from the year above the play the role of Paolo.
So we were able to analyse whether our target audience was correct, we created a questionnaire and asked our class to watch our film, and then answer the questions. Our class is a mix of teenage boys and girls, so this way we were able to find out of what one of our target audiences thought of the film. When we got the questionnaires back we noticed that a very large majority of the class said they would want to continue on watching the film, even the boys-which was a great result for us, because it shows that maybe our film appeals to more than just our target audiences. The information also showed us that the viewers really enjoyed the film, and that it was a clear representation of British RomCom. We also found out that the viewers found the film very funny, as there were comments that expressed how the comedy was very entertaining. The feedback about the comedy was beneficial for my group and I because we then knew that we had written the right sort of comedy for this genre.
My group and I feel that we did successfully reach our target audience, because we felt we had accomplished getting the comedy through in the 2 minutes of film straight away, and we felt what we had written and shot for the two minutes clearly set up the rest of the film, so the audience knew where the love/seduction part of the storyline was going to take them, and what sort of comedy was going to accompany and follow the protagonist. We felt that we successfully assured the audience that the rest of this film was going to be very entertaining, and from the information we gathered we had reached one of our target audiences (teenage girls) and an audience we wouldn’t have aimed to reach. My group and I all feel that our film would be successful if we were to film it all, and if we were able to put it in cinemas etc. We think it would appeal to a wider audience and women would love it, therefore showing that our own interpretation of the British RomCom genre has been an exact one.
Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 4
4) Who would be the target audience for your media product?
My group and I decided that our target audience would be women, and this is because women mainly watch RomComs. Most middle-aged women would watch our film, and some of them bring teenage daughters. Older women also watch these films, sometimes with their husbands, so that shows how big the market is. The benefits of having a genre that is an amalgamation of two are that both comedy fans and romantic film fans will be attracted to your film, and the comedy side of the film may appeal more to men. With the comedy side of the film being more appealing to men, that opens up a whole new audience aswell, and also shows how everyone can enjoy our film. RomComs also attract couples, and people on dates, so this is another audience that our film would appeal to. We decided that for a more detailed target audience, teenagers would be another audience that we would want to watch the film. Teenage girls also enjoy watching RomComs, and we knew this as we are teenagers ourselves, and we enjoy watching these sorts of films. Teenagers are also more likely to watch these because they want to learn more about ‘love’ and being ‘in love’-they tend to be the sort of viewers that buy into the storyline and believe it a lot more. Also, we found out through doing a questionnaire about the opening 2 minutes of our film the majority of the people who watched it believed it should be rated a 15.
When researching the ratings of RomComs, and what age rate our film should be, we discovered that most RomComs are either a 12 or 15-depending on the amount of inappropriate language, nudity and sexual scenes/references in the film. These are the things we needed to consider when assigning the age rate to our film, we had to think about what the rest of our film would be like, because any person at any age could watch the opening 2 minutes. To make it easier to understand how these films would be rated we decided to watch a RomCom that was rated a 15 so we could understand what elements in the film actually made it this rating. We watched Love, Actually and we instantly knew that through the amount of inappropriate language and sexual references and scenes, how it had been rated this age. We knew that after watching this, our RomCom was quite likely to have bad language, and strong sexual references-as ours is more about seduction, as appose to love. We showed in our opening two minutes during the seduction scene that the film was going to be quite suggestive, showing you the start of remotely sexual scenes, but then just leaving the audience to figure out what happened next. With our seduction scene, it was shown as a daydream, and may have been shown for a reason-because this may be followed through with in ‘Bab’s real life. As a result, we decided that our RomCom was within the same ilk as those that are rated a 15; because that is the sort of comedy route we wanted to go down.
My group and I decided that our target audience would be women, and this is because women mainly watch RomComs. Most middle-aged women would watch our film, and some of them bring teenage daughters. Older women also watch these films, sometimes with their husbands, so that shows how big the market is. The benefits of having a genre that is an amalgamation of two are that both comedy fans and romantic film fans will be attracted to your film, and the comedy side of the film may appeal more to men. With the comedy side of the film being more appealing to men, that opens up a whole new audience aswell, and also shows how everyone can enjoy our film. RomComs also attract couples, and people on dates, so this is another audience that our film would appeal to. We decided that for a more detailed target audience, teenagers would be another audience that we would want to watch the film. Teenage girls also enjoy watching RomComs, and we knew this as we are teenagers ourselves, and we enjoy watching these sorts of films. Teenagers are also more likely to watch these because they want to learn more about ‘love’ and being ‘in love’-they tend to be the sort of viewers that buy into the storyline and believe it a lot more. Also, we found out through doing a questionnaire about the opening 2 minutes of our film the majority of the people who watched it believed it should be rated a 15.
When researching the ratings of RomComs, and what age rate our film should be, we discovered that most RomComs are either a 12 or 15-depending on the amount of inappropriate language, nudity and sexual scenes/references in the film. These are the things we needed to consider when assigning the age rate to our film, we had to think about what the rest of our film would be like, because any person at any age could watch the opening 2 minutes. To make it easier to understand how these films would be rated we decided to watch a RomCom that was rated a 15 so we could understand what elements in the film actually made it this rating. We watched Love, Actually and we instantly knew that through the amount of inappropriate language and sexual references and scenes, how it had been rated this age. We knew that after watching this, our RomCom was quite likely to have bad language, and strong sexual references-as ours is more about seduction, as appose to love. We showed in our opening two minutes during the seduction scene that the film was going to be quite suggestive, showing you the start of remotely sexual scenes, but then just leaving the audience to figure out what happened next. With our seduction scene, it was shown as a daydream, and may have been shown for a reason-because this may be followed through with in ‘Bab’s real life. As a result, we decided that our RomCom was within the same ilk as those that are rated a 15; because that is the sort of comedy route we wanted to go down.
Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 3
3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Companies such as Universal Pictures and Warner Bros have distributed RomCom’s, including the films we researched. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and About a Boy were both distributed by Universal Pictures and proved to be extremely popular in the RomCom field. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is one of the most well recognised RomCom’s around, so Universal’s choice to distribute this film was a good one, because this company is used to distributing films that attract a large number of audiences and this film did just that. This company probably decided to get involved in the production and distribution of this film due to the fact that there is a cast that would attract many fans. For example, Hugh Grant is known for his many RomCom roles, and therefore has a large fan base-generally full of the target RomCom audience. So, when deciding to have him in your RomCom, your not only getting a professional that has done many of these roles before, but your getting a large amount of fans that would go and see any film he is in-just because he is in it. By having an actor that is famous within the genre is really useful, because they help to sell tickets and attract large audiences. Also, they probably chose to be involved in the production and distribution of the film because RomComs attract all ages of women, which is a large market. One more reason as to why Universal may have got involved in the distribution and production of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is because it is a sequel to a very successful first film. The first film was very popular, and therefore developed a large fan base, so people who loved the first film would then want to go and see the sequel. This is also another audience that is attracted-lovers of the first film. Also, people who maybe never got the chance to see the first one-would then go and see this sequel because of how popular and successful the first film proved to be.
These sorts of companies would be interested in distributing and producing a film such as ours because of the similarities in the storyline to other successful films that they have produced. Our film is within the same ilk as Bridget Jones, with the female protagonist who is haplessly in love. But, our USP is that instead of the protagonist constantly talking about their own love problems, they spend their time talking about other peoples, and advising people to do things she should really do herself. Therefore, our film would instantly attract the same sort of audience as Bridget Jones but then also our film would develop its own specific audience of fans. These companies would be able to recognise that our film has the same sort of comedy styling’s as Bridget Jones, as that film was the biggest inspiration for us.
Companies such as Universal Pictures and Warner Bros have distributed RomCom’s, including the films we researched. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and About a Boy were both distributed by Universal Pictures and proved to be extremely popular in the RomCom field. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is one of the most well recognised RomCom’s around, so Universal’s choice to distribute this film was a good one, because this company is used to distributing films that attract a large number of audiences and this film did just that. This company probably decided to get involved in the production and distribution of this film due to the fact that there is a cast that would attract many fans. For example, Hugh Grant is known for his many RomCom roles, and therefore has a large fan base-generally full of the target RomCom audience. So, when deciding to have him in your RomCom, your not only getting a professional that has done many of these roles before, but your getting a large amount of fans that would go and see any film he is in-just because he is in it. By having an actor that is famous within the genre is really useful, because they help to sell tickets and attract large audiences. Also, they probably chose to be involved in the production and distribution of the film because RomComs attract all ages of women, which is a large market. One more reason as to why Universal may have got involved in the distribution and production of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason is because it is a sequel to a very successful first film. The first film was very popular, and therefore developed a large fan base, so people who loved the first film would then want to go and see the sequel. This is also another audience that is attracted-lovers of the first film. Also, people who maybe never got the chance to see the first one-would then go and see this sequel because of how popular and successful the first film proved to be.
These sorts of companies would be interested in distributing and producing a film such as ours because of the similarities in the storyline to other successful films that they have produced. Our film is within the same ilk as Bridget Jones, with the female protagonist who is haplessly in love. But, our USP is that instead of the protagonist constantly talking about their own love problems, they spend their time talking about other peoples, and advising people to do things she should really do herself. Therefore, our film would instantly attract the same sort of audience as Bridget Jones but then also our film would develop its own specific audience of fans. These companies would be able to recognise that our film has the same sort of comedy styling’s as Bridget Jones, as that film was the biggest inspiration for us.
Media Main Task Evaluation - Question 2
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
The main social groups that are being represented are through gender and social status. We have a clear portrayal of men having the upper hand in this situation, and women having to obey the rules of the men. By having ‘Paolo’ always standing up shows how he has much more authority and power over ‘Babs’, and also by having ‘Paolo’ talking about working at the weekend shows how he is her boss, or is above her in the company immediately. Another way that we communicated that men have more authority over women, was the fact that ‘Babs’ crumbled when speaking to ‘Paolo’. This is partially due to the fact that she lacks confidence when talking to someone she is lusting after, but it also shows how men in the workplace intimidate women. The most obvious observation that shows how men are more superior to women is that fact that ‘Babs’ is seated the majority of the time, and ‘Paolo’ remains standing throughout. Social status is communicated through our main task, as the audience are able to identify that ‘Paolo’ is clearly higher up the social status ladder than ‘Babs’. This can be identified by the way he talks, and acts around ‘Babs’ and also through mise-en-scene. It becomes apparent to the audience that ‘Babs’ has the lower social status of the two characters for the same reasons, and also because of the fact that she is the hapless romantic, and people that are of a higher social status are generally more confident in those sort of situations. In comparison to ‘Babs’, ‘Paolo’ acts around her with a lot more confidence, and seems completely unphased by the fact that this woman is doing everything she possibly can to make him find her attractive. This gives the impression of a higher social status, because it makes the character seem as if he is used to women falling all over him all the time, showing that he is popular-unlike ‘Babs’.
‘Paolo’s higher social status is clearly shown through mise-en-scene, as his costume seems very smart and clean. His costume connotes a man that looks after himself and cares for his appearance, and his costume also makes him seem of a higher social status because of when he is in scenes with ‘Babs’. His smart attire connotes that ‘Paolo’ is reasonably wealthy, and connotes that maybe he owns the business that ‘Babs’ is working for. His costume also connotes that he is important within in the company, as does the first shot when we see ‘Paolo’. The fact that ‘Paolo’ is the first character seen during the tracking shot up the stairs connotes that he is powerful, and important-and when following him into the office, it is revealed that people are already working, showing that he is late. The importance of his position in the company is shown through lateness also, and how he can come in at whatever time he wants, and there isn’t a problem. ‘Babs’ is at the other end of the social ladder, and this becomes apparent through mise-en-scene aswell, due to her lack of colour co-ordination, and inability to look smart. ‘Paolo’ also shows his higher social status through how he acts, and the shot where he is shown throwing his coat at an assistant connotes that he is powerful and people do everything he asks-giving the audience a very ruthless first impression of ‘Paolo’. Also, the shot where ‘Paolo’ is shown looking very confused, but still trying to be polite, when ‘Babs’ is scaling the wall, shows how he feels that ‘Babs’ really isn’t like the sort of people he would usually socialise with-his facial expression connotes that he is uncomfortable, and thinks this woman is rather peculiar. It suggests that maybe ‘Paolo’ isn’t used to women trying to seduce him, because he is probably used to it being the other way round, and, as a result, he doesn’t understand what she is trying to do.
The main social groups that are being represented are through gender and social status. We have a clear portrayal of men having the upper hand in this situation, and women having to obey the rules of the men. By having ‘Paolo’ always standing up shows how he has much more authority and power over ‘Babs’, and also by having ‘Paolo’ talking about working at the weekend shows how he is her boss, or is above her in the company immediately. Another way that we communicated that men have more authority over women, was the fact that ‘Babs’ crumbled when speaking to ‘Paolo’. This is partially due to the fact that she lacks confidence when talking to someone she is lusting after, but it also shows how men in the workplace intimidate women. The most obvious observation that shows how men are more superior to women is that fact that ‘Babs’ is seated the majority of the time, and ‘Paolo’ remains standing throughout. Social status is communicated through our main task, as the audience are able to identify that ‘Paolo’ is clearly higher up the social status ladder than ‘Babs’. This can be identified by the way he talks, and acts around ‘Babs’ and also through mise-en-scene. It becomes apparent to the audience that ‘Babs’ has the lower social status of the two characters for the same reasons, and also because of the fact that she is the hapless romantic, and people that are of a higher social status are generally more confident in those sort of situations. In comparison to ‘Babs’, ‘Paolo’ acts around her with a lot more confidence, and seems completely unphased by the fact that this woman is doing everything she possibly can to make him find her attractive. This gives the impression of a higher social status, because it makes the character seem as if he is used to women falling all over him all the time, showing that he is popular-unlike ‘Babs’.
‘Paolo’s higher social status is clearly shown through mise-en-scene, as his costume seems very smart and clean. His costume connotes a man that looks after himself and cares for his appearance, and his costume also makes him seem of a higher social status because of when he is in scenes with ‘Babs’. His smart attire connotes that ‘Paolo’ is reasonably wealthy, and connotes that maybe he owns the business that ‘Babs’ is working for. His costume also connotes that he is important within in the company, as does the first shot when we see ‘Paolo’. The fact that ‘Paolo’ is the first character seen during the tracking shot up the stairs connotes that he is powerful, and important-and when following him into the office, it is revealed that people are already working, showing that he is late. The importance of his position in the company is shown through lateness also, and how he can come in at whatever time he wants, and there isn’t a problem. ‘Babs’ is at the other end of the social ladder, and this becomes apparent through mise-en-scene aswell, due to her lack of colour co-ordination, and inability to look smart. ‘Paolo’ also shows his higher social status through how he acts, and the shot where he is shown throwing his coat at an assistant connotes that he is powerful and people do everything he asks-giving the audience a very ruthless first impression of ‘Paolo’. Also, the shot where ‘Paolo’ is shown looking very confused, but still trying to be polite, when ‘Babs’ is scaling the wall, shows how he feels that ‘Babs’ really isn’t like the sort of people he would usually socialise with-his facial expression connotes that he is uncomfortable, and thinks this woman is rather peculiar. It suggests that maybe ‘Paolo’ isn’t used to women trying to seduce him, because he is probably used to it being the other way round, and, as a result, he doesn’t understand what she is trying to do.
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