RESEARCH: AUDIENCE THEORY

 

Hierarchy of needs from MillieWyatt2

RESEARCH: AUDIENCE QUESTIONAIRE

 

I have used Google Forms to create my audience questionnaire to send out to my peers, teachers and family. It is useful as it is easily accessible and the simple layout allows for the receiver to answer the questions quickly and clearly. It was very simple to set up and was not complicated.

The aim of my questionnaire is to gauge greater knowledge of our target audience’s interests and more desirable features in a horror/thriller film. By having knowledge of our audiences’ desires, we can cater our film for their needs which will mean that our film will be the most successful it possibly could be. We have decided to publish it on our blogs, after we email it out to the people who we want to fill it out.

My questions began with personal questions about the person filling out the form which started with asking their age of either ‘older than 35’ or ‘younger than 35’ as we would like our film to attract many age groups if possibly. By asking their age and gender we can categorise people and discover the patterns which occur in different genders and ages so that we can make sure to include everyone’s’ needs. I then go on to ask about their like for horror and thriller films and in turn which they prefer. We have decided that our film is to be a mixture of elements of horror films and that thrilling element of a thriller film. Our target audience is people from the ages of 15-25 as this is the age where horror films are the most popular as young adults and late teens enjoy the thrill more than the older generations. However, we do not want to exclude the older generations as the wider the audience, the better. By discovering which genres our target audience prefer, along with the older generations, we can decide which elements we will implement in our film and which ones would not be as popular.

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeF-bVDLTYYJIqHKuRfAXXYYSVNwdUm5Pm12_Kz9XdbuapyoA/viewform

PLANNING: TREATMENT

                            

My Group's treatment:

In our story, we follow the life of a woman called Sarah and the journey her stalker takes in weaving her way into the different aspects of her life whilst continuously taking and producing pictures of her. Sarah is a prominent player in her Lacrosse team and is excelling at her new position in a photography company as an assistant. A mysterious figure continues to appear as Sarah and her share various encounters which develop into meetings and even one on one exchanges. The distinctive features on her hand, such as a ring and a birthmark are constantly shown without her face being revealed to identify the stalker. Slowly Sarah begins to realise an unsettling presence in her life and she becomes warier of her surroundings. Although she doesn’t pin-point a person, she sees a camera flash from outside her bedroom window. Sarah begins to discover various pictures of herself with constructive comments written at the bottom. Finally, towards the end, Sarah is using the developing room and a picture which she has previously received is lying in the tray as the door opens and footsteps are heard. 

Top line and big question:

We decided our top line to be: 'Jealousy transforms into an obsession which leads to an unknown woman producing photos and film of her aquaintance as she stalks her everyday activities.'

Our big question for our opening sequence is: Will she discover her stalker's identity?

 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

1.      Who is my primary target audience?

Our target audience would be 15-25-YEAR-OLD British boys and girls. This main age rage is due to teenagers and young adults being the most likely to watch horror films as they enjoy the thrill more than the older generations. It might attract a larger female viewing due to the lead character being female.

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

They would enjoy thrilling television series and action based dramas as our film opening is based around the suspense of a psychopathic stalker’s journey with the victim. The realism of the film would also attract people who watch horror films based on true events as we have chosen to base our ideas around psychopaths rather than the supernatural threats such as ghosts and demons.  For example, the Netflix series YOU is based on a psychopathic stalker as he narrates through his life as a stalker and how he targets his victims. This encompasses the fear of the unknown as he is presented as a normal person who his victim interacts with, unknowing of his dangerous natures.

 

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

Our viewers would be in the younger generations of late teens and Netflix is the most popular viewing platform at the moment. They may also watch films or television on Amazon Prime as that is a popular alternative if the film is not available on Netflix. They are most likely to see information about films through the various social media sites that they use. For example, Instagram is commonly used to promote films along with Facebook for the older generations.  

4. What brands do they prefer?

The brands that younger people prefer would include brands such as Nike and Adidas as our film has a sports element in it which could entice a sportier audience. Women from ages 15-25 also shop in shops such as Urban Outfitters as it is a popular clothing brand which also incorporates different brands which include Adidas and Nike.

 

 

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

Our film is going to have a female lead which is not often the case in the film industry, however, women are more likely to be portrayed as the victim so we have made sure to make the stalker a woman too which is less common.

6 . Why should my audience watch my film? 

Our target audience should watch our film because it incorporates many popular elements of a horror film and combining this with popular elements of psychologically thrilling TV series. It also has a female lead which promotes female power in the film industry along with challenging the stereotype of having a male stalker. The realistic style of our film also maximises the shock and tension as it is a regular, relatable situation that the stalker and victim meet.  

PLANNING: AUDIENCE PROFILE

 

Continuity Exercise

  

Continuity Exercise:

 Aim: To create a storyboard and a brief film which occurs between two or more individuals.

During our discussion of the continuity exercise we were able to think ahead and plan out the basis which we wanted to create our filming on. We watched some table-top filming from the films 'To kill a mocking bird' and 'deliI had recently watched some horror films and I did one of my ‘Art of the Title’ pieces on one so this was the genre I wanted to use. We discussed it as a group and all agreed. 

We chose some typical props which we could use such as a black cape, a Bible to combat the demon and a wooden figure to mimic my movements like a puppet for the demon to control. We went to the tunnel because it has dim lighting for the spooky effect.

We decided on our plot line by discussing our basic idea as a group. We started filming and the camera person and other person would be directing from behind the camera and then we edited appropriate sound over it to cancel out our speaking if necessary. 

We also cut the clips to fit with some transition shots. 

We did the editing and filming in the app iMovie on my phone.

       

          

Our final video is below:

                                                            

Table-Top

Our Table-Top Exercise:

My brief is to create a title sequence using a table top and probs in order to create a small part of live action as the end of it. We also had to choose an approptiate soundtrack. 

To introduce us to the idea of a table-top exercise we watched some table-top filming from the films 'To kill a mocking bird' and 'Delicatessen’ which helped to provide different ways of introducing elements of a film through the symbolism of items. We discussed the key conventions as a group which included the birds eye view filming angle and the importance of having appropriate music to accompany the theme of our items. 

We were presented with many items which were typically ‘old’ in their appearance. We chose an aged picture of a man to use as the centre of our story as he was the love interest. The camera’s point of view shot was of a woman rummaging through the possessions of the fiancé of this man.

We used the song ‘Heather’ by Conan Gray which has a melody of a guitar strumming accompanied by his soft singing. We timed the lyrics ‘I wish I were Heather’ with the opening of the letter which is addressed to Heather. We thought that this gave some clarity into the feelings and desires of the person whose eyes we are seeing the items through.

We decided to edit it into black and white once we put our clips into iMovie. We thought that this would exaggerate the ‘old’ element to our items and scenario.

    

RESEARCH: TITLE SEQUENCES

 

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn

Director: Cathy Yan

Writer: Christina Hodson

Producer: Margot Robbie

Producer: Bryan Unkeless

Producer: Sue Kroll

Executive producers: Walter Hamad, Galen Vaisman, Geoff Johns, Hans Ritter, David Ayer

Based on: Characters from DC

Director of photography: Matthew Libatique

Production designer: K.K. Barrett

Editors: Jay Cassidy and Evan Schiff

Co- producer: Christina Hodson

Music: Daniel Pemberton

Music supervisors: Season Kent and Gabe Hilfer

Visual effects supervisor: Greg Steele

Costume designer: Erin Benach

Casting: Rich Delia

Cast:

Margot Robbie

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Jurnee Smollett-Bel

Rosie Perez

Chris Messina

Ella Jay Basco

Ewan McGregor

Distributor: Warner Bros Pictures

Producer: Luckychap Entertainment

Producer: Clubhouse Pictures Production

Producer: Kroll and Co Entertainment Production

Black Panther

Director: Ryan Coogler

Writers: Joe Robert Cole and Ryan Coogler

Producer: Kevin Feige

Executive producers: Louis D’esposiro, Nate Moore, Jeffrey Chernov, Stan Lee and Victoria Alonso

Co-producer: David J Grant

Comics by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Director of photography: Rachel Morrison

Production designer: Hannah Beachler

Editors: Michael P. Shawver and Debbie Berman Ace

Costume Designer: Ruth Carter

Visual effects supervisor: Geoffrey Baumann

Visual effects producer: Lisa Beroud

Music: Ludwig Goransson

Original songs by: Kendrick Lamar

Music Supervisor: Dave Jordan

Casting: Sarah Halley Finn

Cast:

Chadwick Boseman

Michael B. Jordan

Lupita Nyong’o

Danai Gurira

Martin Freeman

Daniel Kaluuya

Letitia Wright

Winston Duke

Sterling R. Brown

Angela Bassett

Forest Whitaker

Andy Serkis

Marvel Studios

DIGITAL STORYTELLING

I watched a video by Frank Ash who is the creative consultant of the BBC. It was based on the explanation of digital storytelling and how to entice the audience and connect with them. This is done by creating suspense and intrigue throughout the film by creating an interesting and relatable storyline.

I can use this for my own film opening by focusing on the ‘big question’ which I can revolve my production around along with the consideration of what’s in it for the audience to subsequently create intrigue.  

RESEARCH: DISTRIBUTION COLLAGE

Summary:

I chose the film Bohemian Rhapsody which is a musical drama, based on the lives of the members of the band Queen and the struggle Freddy Mercury had with fame, drugs and his sexuality. It came out on the 24th of October in 2018 and was directed by Brian Singer. We are shown the events which led to the extreme success of Queen and eventually the unfortunate death of Freddy as he discovered that he had AIDS.

This film was extremely successful, making $903.7 million in box office. This was due to the intrigue people had of the group Queen prior to the film but also due to 20^th Century Fox’s methods of distribution which captured peoples’ attention.

Trailer:

The main trailer released by 20^th Century Fox. It begins with the combination of the songs ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which are famous songs of the band Queen. As it plays, multiple images are shown of the knocking on a caravan door and who we assume to be Freddy Mercury sitting up followed by a close up shot of a guitar. The words ‘THE ONLY THING’ are shown on the screen. Multiple images of musical instruments and sets follow this with a point-of-view shot eventually revealing the stage looking out onto thousands of fans. Other snippets of the film follow which show friendship, drama and sadness. Suspense and intrigue is built by these small clips as they touch on iconic moments of the band’s musical history which suggests the nostalgic element to the film which are important for Queen’s fan base.

Website:

The team have also created a website for the film which can be found by searching in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. When you open the website it takes you to a page with a purple and yellow gradient poster with ‘Freddy Mercury’ on stage with a microphone. This is a very captivating and bold image which possibly captures the attention of the person viewing the website. The simple layout reveals two buttons which lead you to ‘buy tickets’ and the ‘trailer’ button takes you to the YouTube trailer. If you scroll down it also gives some helpful information including a brief summary of the film and its genre. It includes the social medias for the film and a few credits for the director and producers.

Social Media:

On social media, an Instagram page was set up called ‘bohemianrhapsodymovie’. It has gained 737,000 followers over the last 2 years. This expands the target audience for the film as teens, who would not have been around at the time of Queen, would be introduced to the film as it would pop up on their Twitter or Instagram feed. It posted snippets of the film up to the release date which helped people to track the film and view small parts of it. The social media following is also used to show the success of the film; including the reviews which are poster on Twitter to publicise the success. The cast members also used their platforms to entice their fan bases by posting teasers of the film along with links to the trailer.

CD:

After the film was released, a CD for the soundtrack of the film was released digitally and in a hardcopy CD. This continued the revenue of the film as these iconic songs were complied, once again, onto a CD with the biggest hits included. This might have enticed a younger audience to purchase it on Spotify or on Apple Music, rather than in the form of a CD. Producing both of these includes a wider range of ages as it is producing a method for everyone to listen to the music. 

Posters:

Multiple posters were produced for the purpose of advertising the film. They could be seen at bus stops, outside cinemas and online for purchase. Utilising the actual events of Queen, many of the posters featured the actor Rami Malek recreating iconic moments of Freddy Mercury in the band Queen. This is effective in highlighting the memorable events of Queen and showing the audience of Queen’s time that these will be included. This nostalgic element to the posters (and film in general) intrigues the, already huge, fan base which was pent up throughout the years of Queen. 

TITLE SEQUENCES PPT

Title Sequences from MillieWyatt2

RESEARCH: Art of the Title

Captain Marvel:

 

I chose this title sequence because it reminds me of female empowerment and I think that is becoming more prominent in today’s films and is something that I strongly believe in.

The title sequence begins with the introduction of the song 'Celebrity skin' by Hole as we see a beam of light shooting into the red sky. This music is asynchronous to what we are seeing but this creates mystery as to what the rocket sounds like and what this alternate place is like. As the sequence progresses a woman is introduced in shots which slowly reveal more of her face. The background has a red wash over it and seems alien to us and suggests that the film is set in space. The lack of any other sounds leaves us wondering what non-diegetic sounds we might hear in space and what appears to be the woman's home. We then see a bright light shooting up and planes following it. The bright light is assumed to be captain Marvel and the planes might suggest that she is being chased which creates intrigue for the audience in her safety. Alternatively, they could be the planes of people who follow her but the shots of her continuously alone suggest otherwise. However, she then walks out alone thought huge doors to two lines of these planes. This shot is impactful as it highlights the possibility of a large following that she has and her walking alone suggests her high authority. 

 

The shot goes from a black hole which suggests that it is based in space and then we are shown an image of a cat and the beam of light going into the pupil of its eye. This suggests supernatural activity as it is a confusing image and abstract to what we see normally. Continuing the song throughout the film sequence means that we are focusing more on the images than we are the sound as there is a lack of fidelity between the images and sound so we cannot gather more information from the sounds. We are then shown an image of Captain Marvel with her eyes covered in a beaming light. This highlights how different she is from normality and helps the audience to see her as more powerful and interesting. The upbeat rhythm of the song creates a powerful atmosphere for the images to be shown in. 

We are then shown a series of different characters, each being given their own individual stance and shot. This quick introduction of new characters leaves us asking questions as we are only shown their faces and in some circumstances, the face is covered leaving even more to the imagination and curiosity. A fight scene is then briefly shown to us which influences us to think that there is conflict in the film and sets the mood of the film and the theme of some violence and conflict. This further emphasises the power of Captain Marvel. An eye comes on the screen with earth from a satellite view which again implies that it is set from space and that she is of an alien nature with her powers too. Finally, we see her zooming into the sky again with the title ‘Captain Marvel’ and then a bright light and darkness. The continues use of light suggests that she is the hero as light can be interpreted to mean purity.