HOW MY FILM PROMO PACK REPRESENTS SOCIAL GROUPS & ISSUES
My film features a scenario in which a specialist crack military unit investigates a national threat: an unknown but terrifyingly powerful monster lurking in an abandoned warehouse must be neutralised. Visual codes are key to our protagonists' representation: they carry heavy-duty equipment like military specialist weapons and wear protective headgear and night-vision goggles. By contrast, the key to the representation of the monster is its enigma and mystery: it is all the more fearsome because its form and weak spots are completely unknown. We represent the monster though sound codes, using editing techniques like audio glitches such reverb, distortion and static.
My film features two special military operatives who are risking their lives for the greater good. These two characters present issues that members of the military struggle with. One of the operatives is shown holding a photograph of his wife and child. This is to present the fear this man has of never returning home to his family. This is a fear many military members struggle with. We combine this with cross-cuts and flashbacks similar to those in American Sniper, in which representations of the sniper are contrasted: the ruthless demands of his professional role as killer with his tenderness as a father figure. This technique hints at a fully dimensional character, a complex man, which would engage audience sympathy.
Another issue is the secrecy of organisations that exert great power over society, such as when catastrophes are covered up and kept from the public. Our trailer features a news reporter telling the public that the area is off-limits and dismisses its significance, reporting it as a mere gas leak. This burden on the soldiers’ consciences contribute to their representations as complex characters. As a topical concern, it would draw the audience in as the public suspect and fear cover-ups, and demand retribution comes to the organisation for covering up and being lied to.
HOW ELEMENTS OF MY PROMO PACK WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SENSE OF "BRANDING"
Logos are used to help an audience understand and identify the people behind the media. With this in mind, all of our media formats of our promo pack feature the logos of our production companies. These logos remain the same across the different platforms, this helps the audience construct an identity around our product and link our production companies with the product. So when they see the product on different platforms they will see the logos and know that it is the same film as they’ve seen in media elsewhere. As well as this, our project features a logo of its own, this logo is constant and never changes across the media (website, social media, poster). This creates a sense of branding around the name of “Silhouette”. On top of this, my promo pack features the use of a tagline, this is both used to create a sense of branding as well as engaging the audience by teasing events to come. My tagline reads “What’s in your shadow?”. This makes the audience unnerved as it greets a connection between the audience and the horror themes of the film. Also, the use of “shadow” links with the title “Silhouette” reinforcing the brand of Silhouette and creates a media ecosystem that feeds back into one another. The tagline can be found on social media, website and poster, as well as a feature in the trailer. All these elements are used on different platforms around the film which makes the audience associate with the film, creating a Sihouette brand.
HOW MY PROMO PACK ENGAGES WITH THE AUDIENCE
To engage our audience, a poster is used to present them with aspects of the film that would engage our target audience who would find interest in these features. One such feature that is prominently displayed is the main characters. On our posters the characters are the centre of the frame, grabbing the audience’s attention. This helps establish a connection between the audience and the characters, as the audience will most likely want to see the main characters prevail, engaging them and drawing them to watch the film. The film title is also a prominent feature of the poster, arresting the audience’s attention and solidifying the film’s name in the audience’s mind. As well as a poster, a trailer is also used to engage the audience. The trailer presents the horror and thriller codes and conventions that the audience would expect from that genre. This would engage the target audience who find those conventions appealing. The trailer also teases conflict; drawing the audience to watch and find out what happened. The trailer is used to leave the audience wanting for more and build “hype” around the film's release. A website is used to engage the audience, the landing page needs a strong impact and to grab the audience’s attention instantly. This is so that the audience feels that their time won’t be wasted if they look around the page, allowing them to be engaged by the features presented by the website.
HOW RESEARCH INFORMED MY PRODUCTS AND THE WAY IN WHICH THEY ARE USED OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS
To give our promo pack a feeling of depth, we research into different aspects of our movie’s themes. This meant we could look at existing examples and draw upon those ideas and use them in our movie. We wanted to humanize our two main characters, it was clear to us that they would struggle to connect with the audience if they remained faceless. We still wanted to keep their appearance a mystery, so we looked at American Sniper as an example. During the trailer, there is a multitude of cross-cuts where the audience is shown contrasting images. Displaying him as a ruthless sniper but also showing his family and how he is a caring father. We felt this approach would help humanize our characters. In our trailer, one of the operatives will be seen holding an image of his wife and child. This is to make it clear to the audience that this character is capable of love and has something to lose. In the creation of my promo pack’s tagline, I looked at existing examples of mainstream posters and the type of taglines used. One such example, Dawn of the Dead. “When there’s no room in hell the dead will walk the earth”, the main function of a tagline is to draw the audience in and tease the topics and themes that will be present in the film. This tagline tells the audience that the film is a zombie apocalypse film, as well as create a sense of menace.
Evaluation - You write with sophisticated understanding about all four questions. Your analysis situates the people involved within the film’s issues (how the military are much more than faceless operatives; how dangerous their professional lives are; how the government feeds the media with stories).
ReplyDeleteYou describe how your production team presents the enigmatic monster, which must be both terrifying and elusive in order to maintain its enigma (through the use of audio glitches like reverb, distortion and static).
You explain your research thoughtfully, in particular how and why you were inspired to ensure that your operatives were more than faceless military figures, so that your audience would relate more warmly to your protagonists. Your initial treatment included cross-cuts between the operative at work, an anonymous figure, and his family life, much in the way that American Sniper does, but lockdown restrictions forced reduced casts and location shooting, resulting in your operative acknowledging his private life through a photo and voiceover instead. You show good understanding of genre conventions and how your trailers, poster and your film website engage your audience as well as show cohesiveness across the promo pack’s brand.