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- 2. Research
- 3. Primary research For my primary research, I surveyed 20 people from different age ranges and backgrounds With these results I can tailor a campaign that would be best suit for my film and gives me ideas on how I am going to design and market it now that I am aware of what my audiences are interested Iβm and what I can do to appeal to them through my posters
- 4. Secondary Research β’ https://variety.com/2018/film/box-office/horror-movies-study- 1202994407/ β’ The article above is data collected from 2018 about horror movie audiences, from the data they gathered, they said that paranormal films gather a younger audience of Gen Xβs and Millennials than sci-fi films in the same genre, however this younger demographic leads to less cinema visits in general other than the other audience. β’ In terms of gender, paranormal films have a more neutral audience with about 49% being women, whereas with sci-fi horror films they were lead by a mass male audience of about 70%, and in terms of ethnicity the majority of audiences for both types of films were Caucasian however with paranormal films there was a strong Hispanic audience aswell especially for paranormal films β’ With this information, it benefits me because I am able to market to a wider and more general audience than what I could with my primary research results, this data gives me a general idea of what type of films are effective for the audience I am marketing to
- 5. Modern day advertising β’ Typically for films nowadays, advertisements will have a much bigger campaign and a more strung out plan, they will typically have the budget to produce radio adverts, print adverts; such as, posters, billboards, magazine covers and etc. and video adverts which could be adverts seen on tv but in films cases they will sometimes showcase them on big spectator events such as the superbowl in America β’ They however specifically pick these mediums for the suitable target audience with the genre of film in mind, e.g. a horror film will probably me more targeted towards an young adult audience therefore adverts will be played at night when children are unable to see them and on more adult orientated channels
- 6. Codes and conventions for posters β’ the codes and conventions will be very different to its counterparts as it relies solely on visual information so it will typically have to implement a strong colour scheme and something that is visually striking to the eye to appeal to audiences they are typically distributed on billboards, public transport, shop walls etc. usually they will also have big bold writing or a vibrant or cohesive colour scheme. print advert also could potentially implement famous people to fit in with iconography so consumers are familiar with who is endorsing the product someone who they 'trust' and are influenced by, print advertisements rely on as getting as much information on and efficiently interesting the consumer as there is only so much space so they must follow these codes and conventions to garner a consumers interest, iconography is a good way of ensuring that consumers will be interested in what a brand is selling if it back by a celebrity or influencer as there is a trust dynamic between the celebrity and consumer that a celebrity wouldn't endorse a bad product a lot of diet tea brands use iconography to gain a consumers trust
- 7. audience reception The reason I chose this film and poster was because this reflects a similar type of genre and style similar to my film, however this film is 20+ years older than mine so to a modern day audience if we applied reception theory to this poster, the overall message and theme could be lost, an audience might disapprove of this poster because of its showcase of an all white cast, therefore a lack of diversity, wouldnβt be well received, however it has an overall good design and clear narrative
- 8. Competitor Film Posters For a more modern competition I would like to look at the horror film happy death day (2017) poster. The film itself which is produced by the Blumhouse productions which is a big company and would be, compared to my film, a competitor. The target audience for this film would be typically young people, mostly millennials, and most likely Caucasians with an equal split between men and women. The Codes and Conventions that can be identified from this poster can be seen as the colour scheme: which is the prominent colour of red to symbolise violence and blood which is common for horror films And then it is complimented by black to symbolise death, these two colours are often complimented together to symbolise horror in films The film to be released on Friday the 13th is also another common thing when it comes to marketing films because the day Friday the 13th is superstitious in western countries because of the film with the same title Another convention being followed is the use of a knife and the killer, this imagery is very common in horror films especially the knife because it communicates the slasher theme of the film and the showing of the killer is also very common because unlike paranormal films that like to hide the evil things and have a more cast focus poster Another feature is the use of a tagline which is very common for a poster it is key because it gives a snippet into what the audience can expect about the film itself Overall I think this film follows a great amount of codes and conventions and does well successfully, And if we applied reception theory to this we would get a positive response (preferred reading) because of its clear theme and there is nothing that an audience could necessarily disagree with because of itβs simplistic design What I can learn from this posters design is that a simple and clear design can create a good impression towards an audience and nothing can be disputed or argued against, the colour scheme is something Iβd especially like to implement in my film because it is an effective way of communicating horror
- 10. Synopsis and reader profile β’ The title of my film is βunsettledβ the synopsis of the film is that two sisters are watched by an ominous figure in the night, and the film is a horror as it has scary tones and the target audience for my film is 15-25 age people who are familiar with macabre and horror themes, people with strong morales and who are particularly non religious, and would be in a social grade of E/D and be in a younger demographic. I would consider this film to be a 15 rating because it features moderate levels of threat, horror, and violence according to the BBFC. The release date for our film would be around Halloween due to it being a horror film and it would be best to release it around this time as it would garner more of an audience being around Halloween, it is typical for horror films to be released around the Halloween period, as it is typical for people to watch more horror films around that time
- 11. Poster theme ideas β’ For my posters I wanted to feature the main character front and centre and avoid showing the villain because with other horror films they typically show the villain when they have a signature look and mine has a typically plain look so I wanted the focus to be more on my main character as it will attract more of an Audience β’ Colour scheme, from drafting my posters I knew I always wanted to have a red and black colour scheme, 2 colours that compliment each other and when paired can communicate horror. I also knew this would be bold and gain an audiences attention
- 12. the encoded message β’ For the teaser posters of my film I want them to be a build up and slowly reveal small bits of information about the film itself, visually and verbally, it will give viewers what to expect about the film so, typically in teaser trailers early on they feature something symbolic to the film so for example in teaser #1 there could be a still of a knife to let viewers know what kind of film it is, the theme of it and then give the year it will be released. Then cut to teaser #3 when teasers are more developed and reveal more it will show things like the actors names, possibly a still of the killer or one of the main cast, and a exact release date. It is important to do so because this is a good way of keeping viewers anticipated for the actual film and the release of the posters will have to be done with a lot of consideration as I have to articulately release them in a way in which my viewers will be excited and interested. For the creative side of my posters I used elements of horror posters to influence my posters which I think will be useful as they will serve as a template for my posters. For my theatrically poster that is an accumulation of everything the teasers will have revealed and more, it will be of a higher standard than the rest because this is not just what followers of the film will be seeing but people who have never have heard of the film so in order to get people interested i have to cram as much information into the poster while also keeping it aesthetically correct and in order (so it doesnβt look messy/ not put together) this will be released before the actual release of the film. The encoded message of these posters is for my audience to understand the basic information around the film such as identifying that the genre is a slasher/horror and getting other key info such as cast etc
- 13. Other ideas for film Titles Some other titles for films ranged from Watch out Malevolence Deadful night However I chose the name unsettled because it fit well in theme with the plot of my film and was short, and an Audience may like a title of a film that is easy to remember
- 14. Flat Plans
- 15. Audience feedback on initial ideas For the feedback on my initial ideas, I presented my audience with the basis of what my film was going to be about and my overall initial plans for the film and with that I generated feedback that could be useful for the creation of my drafts and final posters and see what is appealing to my audience With that feedback I gathered that my audience were quite pleased about the initial ideas of my film, especially with the synopsis and the title of my film, they found it to be quite mysterious and that in turn was Interesting so I want to keep that mysterious aspect to my films posters to keep an audience engaged If we applied reception theory to my initial ideas I think we would get a preferred reading because my audience have accepted what is being communicated and are pleased with that is being presented to them which is good because it gives me an idea as to what they do and donβt like
- 16. Production
- 17. Drafts
- 18. Audience feedback on drafts With the audience feedback I got from my initial ideas, I used this feedback to create a start on my drafts, with the use of my flatplans I was able to create a simple design. Then after I finished the design I presented them to some of my primary audience and got feedback about the posters being dull so for my next posters I will implement more colour into them and for me to use better images in them to make them more cohesive and appealing To apply reception theory my posters I think that it provided a negotiated reading, because some concepts were understood however there was a lot that wasnβt communicated to my audience from what intended and that is clear from my audience feedback
- 19. Original images As my posters will be distributed from online to magazines to billboards it is important to use images that are bold and dramatic that will catch an audiences eye. I picked these images because they communicate a sense of intimacy as they are a close to medium shot for all of them and I think it gives the audience a good look at the characters in the film, As well as that the lighting is very low key and I think the dullness in colour creates a dramatic feeling to the images and I thought that would be good to implement into my posters. As for the camera angles for one image, it was taken at an angle which can communicate a jaded sense to an audience and I think that could be a good thing to implement in my posters,
- 20. Official posters #1 In this poster, I diverted from my typical style than what I drafted and from my flat plans and I wanted to do this as an experiment to use different style of fonts, placements and colour scheme Firstly with this image I used the original image and changed the contrast between black and white to create more of a grungy image Then I applied a VHS video texture to the image from google which created thins blue effect and then edited the play button in from a separated image and then with the paint brush I drew in the unsettled logo As for codes and conventions, I think this poster specifically challenges the typical codes and conventions for a typical poster because of its use in colour scheme typically there is normally an implemented red that indicates violence or blood however for this one it has quite dark colours which communicate more of a thriller genre than horror. But after the audience feedback I had gotten on my drafts about the black and white colour scheme being too dull or not interesting enough I decided to colourise the posters It is notable missing a tagline or missing any credit of actors which also challenges the codes and conventions of a poster as it is not going to appeal to an audience however I wanted a minimalistic design as I wanted to create a sense of mystery and not give too much away and persuade an audience to be more interested because of that lack of knowledge
- 21. Audience Feedback For this set of audience feedback I had received from the first final of my poster, overall was not well received from my intended target audience, I tried to experiment with the colour of the posters and try to communicate horror with the theme and overall the colours I chose didnβt successfully communicate that Aswell as that there was an overall lack of information, my poster only had the title of the film and the release date and that isnβt enough information for an audience to be appealed although I thought it would communicate a sense of mystery and intrigue an audience more As for reception theory, I think that this was an oppositional reading because my audience have not appealed to what was presented to them, and have perceived my film to be of another genre Another thing that my audience couldnβt have appealed to is my subject, having a male on the front cover of my film may not appeal to a more modern audience who want more diversity
- 22. Official posters #2 This is image was technically the hardest to create and my least favourite of the posters. I wanted to create texture photo With this image I first started off the base image of my main character and then got a Polaroid template from the internet and cropped my image into the template Then I got a background of an old table and used that, then with the paint tool used a texture brush to create the dirt texture on top of the Polaroid and then drew on the title As for codes and conventions and with my previous audience feedback on my last poster, the main complaint was that the posters were too boring and didnβt give enough away, So for this poster I added a tagline, which follows the codes and conventions because it is typical for a poster to feature one and it is a good way of intriguing an audience especially because it is short it is easy to read and good for passer byβs of the poster who will catch a glimpse of it and is a good persuasive technique I also wanted to add more typically horror associated colours because another criticism was that the poster was too dull and to add a red accent makes the poster more appealing to the eye However I think this poster lacks the minimalistic look I was going for in my previous posters and this wouldnβt be a poster an audience would necessarily collect, and I think itβs lack in information e.g. Casting credits challenges codes and conventions Although with this poster I liked the shot much more because of the subject is looking into the camera and I think it creates a sense of intimacy with the audience and because slashers have a big female audience I wanted to appeal more to that audience by having a diverse cast
- 23. Audience Feedback For the audience feedback on my second poster, I definitely tried to appeal to my audience more with the use of a woman on the poster and by using a tagline to make it more appealing to an audience however I am still getting comments about it being dull so for my next poster I need to make it very bright A criticism I got was about the image I got not being clear enough so for my next poster I need to use something thatβs very catching to an audiences eye Iβd we applied the last poster to reception theory I think we would have a negotiated reading, because my audience have definitely gotten some of the things I wanted them to perceive but also have made so clear and important criticisms that I need to work on
- 24. Official poster #3 - final For my final poster i went back to my original draft and wanted a more simple poster, So for my colour scheme I wanted to have the black and red contrast because it communicates horror, and to do this I added a red layer on top of the image and blended it into the original one. Then off the internet i downloaded a paper crumple texture and layered that onto the image and had to duplicate the texture to make it more prominent and rotate it to create the 3x3 fold Then with the paint tool again drew the logo and release date and then on that layer, blended it onto the image to create the effect that itβs below the crumple to make it look like a real life poster As for codes and conventions and audience feedback I feel like I successfully used the feedback on previous posters and created a poster that delivers on that feedback and expectations and creates an interesting an unique poster. To start, a reoccurring criticism of my posters was for its dullness so for this poster I decided to use a red and black colour scheme which to me communicates horror very successfully and is very common for horror films to use these colours for posters as it is a good way of visually communicating horror, so this is also following codes and conventions. Another complaint I got was that the poster wasnβt appealing enough so I used a various set of persuasive techniques that follow codes and conventions, first is the shot use, on the poster front and centre is a close shot of my main character and it is very clear this time as a criticism I got was that my last image was hard to make out/too distorted and they are staring dead on into the camera, this will create a sense of intimacy with the audience and help draw in my audience, and with my secondary research it will hopefully allow me to draw in a major female audience with a woman being on the cover. On top of this, for my last poster I used a tagline and for this one I wanted to experiment and use iconography to sell my poster and sacrifice the tagline as I didnβt want it to have to much, so stylistically an audience could collect the posters, however so this poster users the name of one of my actors to sell instead of a tagline
- 25. Audience Feedback For my audience feedback I really tried to improve on some of the criticisms and overall I think so and my audience think so because the posters were very well perceived, thanks to the feedback I received I was able to successfully make important changes to my poster that improved them and made them appealing to an audience. I improved the constant criticism about the posters being dull and made them very bold with the red colour scheme which is a very good way of communicating horror and I definitely think it was effective Also the use of the the shot, of the woman looking dead centre into the camera creates a very eye catching and intimate effect that is effective at drawing in an audience. And to apply reception theory to my final poster I think that this can be perceived as preferred reading because my audience knew what I was trying to communicate and understood that well and was effective at appealing to my target audience
- 26. Secondary Content and copyright β’ Copyright is a big factor when it comes to the production of anything in the film industry because to use someone elseβs work without being properly commended or notified then it could lead to a whole product being taken down and then lead to further legal action e.g. lawsuit, especially if the work is already copyrighted, so it is important to credit someone elseβs work or get their permission to use it in yours. β’ For the creation of my final posters I used textures created by someone else online so this is the link to that file:https://www.photoshoptutorials.ws/downloads/textures- downloads/free-download-5-folded-paper-overlay-textures/
- 27. Reflection on audience feedback Overall I think my audience feedback was very effective in improving my posters as it gave constructive and useful criticism that helped me improve the posters and make them more appealing not only to my target audience but also would help me appeal to a wider audience Itβs also helped me know how things can be perceived if not done explicitly and how an audience can interpret their own message from what I have created even though it may not be exactly what I intended and I think itβs good to know that information as it useful for when I am next creating posters and other mediums
- 28. Production Log 15/10/20 β primary research 16/10/20 β secondary research 18/10/20 β modern day advertising 20/10/20 β reception theory, competitor film posters 21/10/20 β codes and conventions 24/10/20 β synopsis and reader profile 3/11/20 - poster theme and ideas 6/11/20 β encoded message 21/11/20 β Drafts Created 22/11/20 β Audience feedback on drafts and Original Images 24/11/20 β Final Image #1 Created and Slide completed 26/11/20 β Audience Feedback on final #1 27/11/20 β Final #2 created 28/11/20 β Final #2 Slide done 30/11/20 β Audience Feedback on Final #2 and Final #3 created 2/12/20 β Final #3 Slide done and secondary content done 4/12/20 β Audience Feedback on Final #3 6/12/20 β Reflection on Audience Feeback 12/11/20 β Titles 13/11/20 β Flatplans 15/11/20 - audience feedback on initial ideas