Assignment 3 - Evaluation

Assignment 3: Evaluation

  

1.  How the aims of the production have been met

Our target audience was young adult males (ranging from 17-25 years old), who are generally avid enthusiasts of the action drama genre and their demographic are over 25% of the moviegoers globally, therefore there’s a huge market suitable for the movie. We analyzed movies in the action drama genre such as Logan, Taken and Revenant and with our analysis, we adopted the conventions of their trailers to make our trailer appeal to similar target audience of young adult males.

We planned thoroughly the locations, props and costumes of shots and scenes to be filmed. We kept our costumes and props simple and accessible for the convenience of our actors and group members and also so the characters and story seem more realistic and relatable to the audience, and thus the story is made more intriguing in the trailer. We managed to film almost every two weeks with most group members despite our other plans in the past months, and would keep a list of shots we needed to film in order to keep organized and swift.

In terms of filming equipment, we always brought cameras and tripods for high quality and stable filming, and when filming dialogue we brought sound booms for high quality sound and capture the ambience and diegetic sound of a scene. In the rare occasions, we would use a skateboard for tracking shots for smooth and stable movement at any speed needed. In editing, we adopted a three shot with quick cuts and fade to black transition similar to the trailer for Logan for a dynamic yet tense atmosphere. We used a letterbox and tone effect to give the trailer a more cinematic and colourful feel that would appeal to our young target audience.

2.  How the product applies appropriate codes and conventions and uses appropriate media language

We used narration overlay to explain the story and introduce characters throughout the first half of the trailer, and then introducing the antagonist with a mysterious change in tone of the trailer that starts the fast paced action in the trailer. This format of non-diegetic narration is common in action drama trailers such as Logan, Avengers, Revenant. Throughout the trailer, we utilized conventions of the mise en scene in action drama genre to set the dark mysterious tone that would intrigue our target audience -  dark settings with low key lighting, close ups of serious NVC of characters, and black and grey colour scheme. Influenced by our audience research, we followed the convention of a mysterious cliffhanger at the end of the trailer and only revealed the protagonist backstory and antagonist intentions to create mystery, and the antagonist prowess and formidability to create fear - all to intrigue the target audience to watch the film.

3.  How the product represents people, places or events

We used worn down, dirty clothes as a costume and an actor with scruffy hair and wild facial hair to convey the troubled and gloomy representation of an alcoholic. Our target audience of 18-25 year old men are researched to be the most popular alcohol drinkers and are at the highest risk of alcoholism, therefore they would not only be interested  in the protagonist's story, but also sympathise and relate to it. The common psyche of the alcoholic is expressed to attract a secondary target audience of alcoholics of all ages who can relate to the story.

The antagonist was represented with the stereotype of a cold-blooded businessman, with the use of formal wear, neat appearance, and expensive accessories to convey success and class. We also portrayed his dominance through low angle shots and protagonist’s weakness through high angle shots to build anticipation for their clash. This stereotype creates fear and hate for the character from the target audience, and urge them to support the protagonist.

4.  Where and when the product would be exhibited/distributed

The trailer would be distributed with commercials in channels such as AMC, HBO ABC as these channels produce tv shows such as Breaking Bad and Mad Men that are hugely popular among our target audience. It would also be shown in cinemas before current action drama movies such as Den of Thieves and Death Wish to reach their audiences, who are similar target audiences to our film. Across social media, we would advertise the film on social media (Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter) that appeal to the young target audience of our film, and also on sport websites such as ESPN and Goal that appeal to our young men target audience. Throughout advertisement, there would be synergy in the dark mysterious tone and black and grey colour scheme conveyed to intrigue audiences and the representation of our characters to interest our target audience.

5.  What regulations and controls might be applied to the product and how these have been taken into consideration

Because of the alcoholism and violence expressed in the film, our film would be 12A in order to reach a older and more mature audience that can understand and relate to the protagonist. Our story, while similar to other storylines in films such as Taken and You  Kill  Me, is set in a different country, with different representation of characters and stereotypes. Because of this, it is unlikely there will be trouble with copyright laws, as all filming done is original, and the audio is not copyright protected.

The strengths and weaknesses of the product in terms of meeting the needs of its audience

A general consensus reached from audience feedback is that the trailer is great at creating the dramatic and suspenseful tone with soundtracks, colour scheme and sound effects, a tone that intrigues the audience. A cinematic feel is given and the characters are played convincingly, however instead of having mystery over the outcome of the film, audiences were confused on the backstory of the protagonist and antagonist. This is accurate, while we filmed many action shots we didn’t film many dialogue scenes that would’ve served to explain the story. In my own opinion, the trailer was great at looking professional and compelling, and the colour scheme and soundtrack used created mystery and tension. I also agree we could’ve had more dialogue that would explain the story, and been more organized. However in the future we would look to improve on this and learn from it, and for the first attempt at this, I believe we performed well.