Evaluation Question’s 2, 3, 4 & 5 HOOKER – Taylor Smith

Q2 How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Types of characters In our thriller story, there are stereotypical representations of characters. We have a male main character and a female main character.

Our female character is a prostitute. This can be seen in two ways. The first most typical and common, initial reaction is that the audience will see her as disgraceful, embarrassing and dirty. The audience may see our character, after understanding her story and background, as a more vulnerable character and will begin to sympathise with her. Her ‘job’ shows that the girl is going through tough times and is struggling to find help. This is a common way in which women are portrayed in thriller genre films – a helpless victim.

Our male character is a stalker. He is seen as a predator who is preying on our female character. Her vulnerability in this situation shows him as more powerful and portrays to the audience that he is an evil, phsycotic character. His importance in the story is huge because his presence creates a whole different side to our female character, making the audience sympathise for her more than we initially would have. The ways in which we represent him in this way in out OTS is by his costume. It is dark and mysterious and not much of him can be seen as his hood covers his face. This makes him seem even more aggressive and threatening.

Q3 What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Mainstream Mainstream films are produced by major entertainment studios that are owned by international media groups or institutions. They have big budgets and so they can afford well known, expensive, actors to star in their films and once produced they are sold at popular shops. This is also known as the studio system. Examples of mainstream film companies are, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Sony, 20 th Century Fox & Universal. Independent Independent films are professional films which are produced, partially or fully, out of the studio system. They are produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies. They often have lower budgets than mainstream films and so therefore the actors aren’t always as well known. You can sometimes tell when a film has been independently produced as the style and content of the film can appear more personally artistic. Examples of independent film companies are Pathe, Film 4 & Vertigo Film.

Our choice of production company for our film was Studio Canal. We chose this company to produce and distribute our film as they are relatively well known for producing thriller genre films and also crime thrillers. This was therefore appropriate as this is the category our film falls into. An example of a thriller produced and distributed by Studio Canal is ‘The Awakening’ (2011). An issue that we would face with Studio Canal is that they are a mainstream production company. Realistically, our film would probably come under the independent category, due to our low budget. However I believe that we could convince Studio Canal to produce and distribute our film, as our filming and storyline are very professional and original.

This would feel very rewarding, finally being able to view it on the big screen with popcorn and a drink! I also think that this could be promoted cheaply and easily. We could create film posters for The Duke of York Cinema to use to promote our viewing and we could use social networking sights to promote the film ourselves. Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & Instagram are all commonly used amongst people our age and people of our target audience. Using this to our advantage, we could advertise using pictures & videos and include offers to promote our social network pages and the viewing of the film itself. For example, ‘The next ten people to share our Facebook page will get half price tickets for themselves and a friend!’ this would quickly raise awareness as more and more people would see and join. Personally I would want to show our film at an independent picture house, for example, The Duke of York Cinema.

Who would be the audience for your media product? Q4 Who would be the audience for your media product?

Generally: Types of people who will watch our film will be people who generally have an interest in thriller genre and crime. The age of our audience could range broadly between Both, male and female audiences will be able to relate to our film, as one of the main characters is male and the other female. Generally enjoy solving problems & crime. Like suspense, mystery and tension. Niche: Crime lovers – This part of our audience will love to watch programs such as CSI, NCIS, Criminal Minds & Silent Witness. Thrill seekers – This part of our audience will love to watch programs such as Lost, Prison Break & Dexter. Target Audience

Why this TA? We chose to aim our film at this target audience because we can relate to it and we are included in this select group. This meant that when making decisions it was easier as we could think in terms of what we would want to see from the film, as a viewer. Also our target audience is relatively broad resulting in more viewers once the finished product is distributed. The more people our film appeals too, then more people will chose to actually watch it meaning a more successful film! Due to the main plot of our story involving violence - prostitution, we would have to rate our film at 15+. Purely for the reason that some scenes may be unsettling and there may also be strong language.

Q5 How did you attract your audience?

Marketing Tools Social networking would be our main marketing tool. This is one of the common forms of advertising and marketing, currently, especially amongst younger people. Our audience being younger (15-40), means this would undoubtedly be a successful way of raising awareness of our new release and promoting it. It is also quite unique as although it is a popular way to promote films, it is particularly good for us as social networking is popular among the younger generations. Ways we would do use social networking: Facebook pages/events (let people know important information & post videos & pics from behind the scenes) Twitter (let people know important information of the release, dates, times, places etc) YouTube (post videos of us talking about our new release, interviews with actors/characters etc)

Another way in which we will promote our film, will be by creating posters. We can put these around college and in other places in Brighton where people of our target audience will see them, for example: Cinema Gym Clubs Pubs/Bars Restaurants Cafes Bus stops Telephone boxes Here is an example of a thriller film poster

Audience feedback All of our audience feedback was positive and so this meant that we felt pleased and fulfilled with level of satisfaction produced from our OTS. We had many comments about how successfully our OTS represented the thriller genre. For example: ‘red makes it more like a thriller’ and ‘the soundtrack & sound effects build tension like a thriller should’. Mise en scene was also clearly appreciated and grasped from the use of our effects and colours. One of our reviews said that the ‘location was good’ and this was an important part of our OTS as it told a bit of the story about our main character and her background. Our camera work was also acknowledged by someone referring to it as ‘fab’ and saying that we had used ‘good angles’.