CCR Task 4

How did you integrate technologies software, hardware and online in this project?

For this task, I made a website explaining how I integrated the three types of technologies in this project's production stage.

link to my Wix site!

CCR Task 3

CCR Task 3

How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

 For this task, I created an infographic documenting how my production skills have evolved over this project.

link to infographic

CCR Task 2

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

Considering the nature of our Opening Sequence, as well as the rest of the film, our target audience is narrowed down to males from 15 to 17 as it is an Action/Horror, which is predominantly targeted at teenage boys, and the implied violence also shifts the age range to later teen years. 

Here is the link to a blog I wrote discussing Target Audiences and the reasoning behind having one in mind;

link to my Target Audience blog

How we engaged our viewers

We tried to scatter our sequence with certain details that would engage our audience into the action, particularly our target audience, which can be seen through some key scenes;

We casted a good looking actress to play as the Survivor and her face is in shown almost immediately, this reveals our target audience as they are both of similar age, and of course a beautiful female actress would attract straight teenage boys more. This links back to the typical conventions of a Slasher Horror film, where the good looking female character exists purely to get killed and to entertain male audiences.

This opening shot also establishes the setting seemingly taking place in the middle of the woods, - this engages the audience as woods in films (especially horror films) are often associated with complete isolation, stranded amidst an endless flood of trees, vulnerable to any attacks with lots of space to run, but nowhere to hide…

In the next few shots, she crawls across the hood of a car lying face down and showing off her costume, similarly to this shot from Tomb Raider (2018), directed by Roar Uthaug and distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, where the equally good looking actress Alicia Vikander is in a similar position to our main character; to engage male audiences in a subtle manner without inherently objectifying them (according to the film industry).

The location being scattered with abandoned cars also hooks in the audience, not only visually, but it also creates instant mysteries around their purpose as to how they ended up in that condition, encouraging further thought as to what events happened beforehand that could’ve caused this destruction.

Early on in the sequence, she also lifts up her trouser sleeve to reveal a deep gash in her leg, covered in blood. This again adheres to Horror conventions as bloody wounds would attract horror fans who look out for blood in the films they watch, as well as the male audiences that stereotypically enjoy and can handle gore better than female audiences.

Once again adhering to the stereotypical likes of a male viewer, the main source of danger is revealed to be the approaching sounds of a motorcycle, where the Action side of our sequence becomes apparent, suggesting that vehicles like these will likely be a recurrent theme in the film and that any enthusiasts can enjoy watching one of their interests on film, potentially attracting any mostly male viewers interested in Action conventions centred around anything similar to this, such as car chases.

Fans of the Action genre are further engaged when the main character begins to run away from whoever is on the motorcycle, who is soon proven to be chasing and hunting her down as she desperately limps away to safety from the unsettlingly loud revving sounds. This would encourage the audience to continue watching to find out whether she successfully runs away or meets her fate in another typical Action chase sequence.

Leading to the final shot, the audience is forced to sit through a long and slow-paced one-take where the Hunter tauntingly marches towards the hiding Survivor, where the camera eventually turns away to follow her attempting to escape, leaving him out of view. This follows Barthes' theory on enigma codes as the audience is now unaware of whether she will escape unharmed or not since the threat is no longer visible, this engages them as tension is quickly built when they become invested in her survival and want to keep watching to find out what happens.

Finally, this tension is released in the form of a jumpscare as the camera cuts to the Hunter suddenly swinging his axe down at the camera, another typical Horror convention that excites and engages with audiences through an essentially forced reaction. This also ends the sequence with various unanswered questions, such as ‘Who is this man?’ ‘Why did he kill her?’ ‘Who else will he kill?’... This encourages viewers to watch the rest of the film to answer these questions.

The axe prop also incites a reaction from the audience due to its sheer size and intimidating blood-soaked image, creating more excitement that if we were to have used a prop like a gun - a weapon with no nuance or unpredictability in film, whereas unconventional and unique prop weapons open opportunities for memorable iconography.

Our sequence as a whole follows Blummers and Katz’ theory on uses and gratification and would likely be used as a form of Escapism since it takes place in the unrealistic setting of a post-apocalyptic forest/abandoned junkyard and follows a young woman escaping from an axe-wielding serial killer on a motorcycle… so it can be watched as a complete separation from reality to immerse audiences into fantasy.

Overall, I think our sequence was very successful in engaging our audience, particularly our target audience, as it contains various scenes and popular themes that leave unanswered questions and stimulate curiosity within the viewer, encouraging a full watch of the wider film.

My Poster Design;

The drawing in the poster is taken from my favourite shot of our sequence, midway through the final one-take where the Hunter steps into the shot with the mighty silhouette of his axe, whilst the Survivor hopelessly covers her mouth in horror. This directly references the main scene/plot of the film, where the masked killer sneaks up on his terrified victims and kills them with his weapon of choice - a giant blood-soaked axe, which brings up the same previously mentioned unanswered questions, engaging the audience with excitement and curiosity as they wonder whose blood is on his axe, or even if the girl makes it out alive… the look of pure terror on her face also suggests that its tone will make for an intense and immersive viewing experience as we follow her through her fight for survival.

inspiration;

Link to the annotated version of this Poster analysing how it engages our audience;

Studio and Marketing Campaign

I think the studio best suited to distribute our film would be the American film and television production company Blumhouse Productions, founded by Jason Blum in 2000. This would be a good fit as they are known to almost exclusively produce films of the Horror genre, with some of their most successful films including; Paranormal Activity, Halloween, Insidious, Get Out, Split, Happy Death Day, and Us.

Due to the genre and premise of our sequence, I can’t help but associate it with what would be a larger production as Horror is overall very marketable and widespread, especially if it’s Blumhouse that’s producing it, but its more niche sub-genres would prevent it from being a massive globally announced cinema release. Its marketing campaign would follow that of a conventional slightly upper budget Horror film, such as Blumhouse’s upcoming ‘Unhuman’, through posting various trailers on Youtube and their official Instagram page to gain views and attention from their own fans, as well as our target audience of 15-17 year old males since they generally spend a large amount of time on social media. However, an instance of more detailed marketing is seen with their film ‘The Invisible Man’; since it was about… an invisible man, they maintained high levels of mystery when distributing posters and promotional material about it. This included creating an official website for the film, featuring motion art from scenes in the film with text reading ‘He’s standing right behind you’ to reflect its theme.

It would likely premier at a film festival like the Sundance Film Festival as it also supports independent filmmakers like our group, and its reputation would provide the necessary reach to attract a wider audience. After its initial theatrical release, it would also be uploaded to a streaming service like Netflix or Youtube, This makes sense as Blumhouse are a large company with a high budget and often put up their films to large streaming services as well, with films such as ‘Get Out’ and ‘Happy Death Day’ being uploaded to Youtube and Amazon Prime in addition to a traditional cinema release. Services like these are also easily accessible to audiences, allowing for the somewhat wider reach of an average Horror film whilst inviting a smaller following of its respective genre.

 

CCR Task 1

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

This task discusses our sequence's use of Genre Conventions in comparison to other films of the same genre, as well as considering any representations it may have.