The
brief I had to follow for MEST2 was to plan a 30 minute film that I would like
to make and produce a 3 minute extract from it alongside a promotional booklet
for 'The Little Picturehouse'. For the film, I worked in a group consisting of
Callum, Abayomi, Mamduh and myself. The film we planned to create is called 'La
Sombra' and it is a Spanish film which follows the life of a hit man as he is
being chased by his drug cartel boss. The topic that was chosen was
‘Modern-noir’. I then, independently, created my own promotional booklet for
the film as well as some other films that other students have produced.
Institutional
research was conducted in order to aid us when it came to ensuring that our
film would be classified at the most as a 15 certificate. We carried out this
research by studying the purpose of the BBFC. We found examples of existing
films which were classed as a 15 certificate and used these as guidelines
to ensure that our film fit the criteria required for this certificate. For
example, the use of strong language is permissible for a 15 certificate and in
the extract a song at the end contains some strong language. Research into Film
London was also beneficial as I found that they help people display their
filmmaking talent by funding creative artists in order to aid them in producing
their films. This is similar to what The Little Picturehouse is offering the
finalists therefore learning about Microwave film was helpful.
Our
audience research took place in the form of focus groups where we pitched our
ideas to our fellow peers who raised any concerns regarding our film’s plot and
target audience. Since a main portion of the target audience would be
adolescents, this was beneficial as it allowed us to directly attain feedback
from people who fit into this age range to see if it would appeal to them. Any
feedback that they gave was greatly appreciated and aided my group and I to
come to a conclusion on the appropriate subject matter for the film.
The
target audience which we chose to use for this film ranges from teenagers from
the age of 15 all the way up to middle aged people in their late forties. I
would say this film is most likely to appeal to males more so than females.
However, it should also be successful in attracting the female audience as
well, especially since there is a love affair included in the storyline which
is typical for a female audience to enjoy. Aspects of ‘the female gaze’ could
be considered as a factor that could attract female viewers since most of the
characters are male.
The
film is predominantly targeted towards those of middle class due it being the
most common social class to visit art house cinemas and enjoy the arthouse
experience.
I
think that, with regards to psychographics, the film will most likely appeal to
those who are classed as ‘strugglers’ as they will be more likely to watch the
film as a form of escapism from their perhaps, mundane lives. This film could
provide this type of excitement as it’s an existing theme that people are
familiar with, but has the twist of being a silent film. It could also appeal
to those who are considered as ‘explorers’ as they may want to delve into an
adventure on the big screen. They may find great appreciation for a more unique
take on the typical movie following a hitman.
I
think that one strength of the target audience that we chose would most
certainly be that the range of the targeted audience is quite large which
allows for a variety of different people to be attracted to this type of movie.
This means that both genders could find audience pleasures in this film.
Particularly, a common audience pleasure that could be found in this movie is
the idea of escapism, as the target audience could feel as though they were
sutured into the narrative, allowing them to be engrossed by the events
occurring in the film.
A
weakness of the target audience is targeting middle classed teenagers as the
focus group didn’t really allow us to explore different social classes since we
were all from similar backgrounds, socially. This made it harder to receive
feedback from this audience as we were not in contact with anyone who could
allow us to gain an insight into what this audience may want to see in a film
like ‘La Sombra’.
However,
with that being said, the idea of attracting teenagers in the first place,
regardless of social class, allowed us to, in my opinion, attract a new
audience consisting more working class
adolescents who wouldn’t usually choose to watch an independent film.
This means that ‘mainstreamers’ may also be encouraged to watch this film as it
could be considered ‘mainstream, with an arthouse twist’. Those teenagers that
are currently not informed on the arthouse genre could actually become a new
audience for this type of cinema. This therefore fits the brief as one of the
objectives of this project was so that ‘The Little Picturehouse’ could reach
out to a wider audience.
I
particularly like the two tilt shots that were used during the canal scenes.
The first is when La Sombra drinks from his hip flask and the second is when he
throws his phone into the canal. I think that the short time-frame of these
scenes allows for this to be fast-paced and would be unexpected from the
audience’s perspective. The tracking shot used as La Sombra walks away from the
canal is effective, in my opinion, as it allows the audience to feel as though
they are actually part of the scene. However, a shadow of the tripod is visible
on his blazer which could have been re-filmed if this was noticed during the
filming process.
The
scenes that were filmed using a handheld camera could be considered as inspired
by other arthouse films such as ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ as well
as ‘Donnie Darko’. I also think that the non-diegetic voiceover is an important
addition to the film which allows the audience to understand the protagonist’s
cognitions.
With
regards to the mise-en-scene of the film, I would say that the costume worn by
the protagonist used is quite fitting due to the setting of the party scene, although
the destination is initially unclear.
A
technical difficulty faced was during the split screen scene which I think
could have been merged together a little better. I also think that more
transitions could have been used in order to include variety within the film
and connecting the different types of shots. With that being said, the
transition between the canal scene and the taxi scene was well-edited, in my
opinion.
The
accompanying music was also placed well in between the two clips. The non-diegetic
music used during the taxi scene, along with the transition was contrapuntal to
the overall atmosphere of the scene which I think was effective throughout the
scene. A transition here was also used to enable viewers to see that time has
passed although the scene remains in the
same location.
My
front cover matches some key conventions of a typical art centre or cinema brochure
quite well, in my opinion, because I ensured that I looked at a variety of
brochures in order to take inspiration whilst still aiming to keep the cover
looking quite simplistic and somewhat unique. I would say one convention that I
tried to abide by was having a clear colour scheme that consisted of a minimal
number of colours. I did this by basing the colour of the magazine on the
colour of the protagonist’s blazer which came out, digitally, as a coral-red. I
then paired this with black in order to keep the page looking sophisticated and
not overbearingly colourful. I kept the background colour of the page as white,
however, because I wanted the page to be quite clean-looking.
The
title and date of the publication were clearly placed at the top of the page. I
should have also included a strapline, though, as the cover is lacking in this
field. I used a picture from La Sombra’s photoshoot on the front cover as a
central image and I also used name checks in order to clearly place the name of
the other films which is a convention that is typically used in arts centre
brochures. This allows readers to know exactly what will be featured within the
promotional booklet.
I
had taken a look at a variety of different contents pages in order to get a
broader idea of the different styles used within brochures. One aspect of the contents
page that I should have improved is the use of images for each film’s feature
page. I would’ve liked to have been able to use the other films’ pictures in
order to add more content to the page as it looks a little too simplistic, in
my opinion.
The
double page spread met key conventions in relation to the layout of the pages.
For example, I used columns which are typically seen in a variety of different
print texts. I also based the layout around the image which is also common. The
reflection, in my opinion, could have been fine-tuned a lot more precisely
which I found difficult to do. I think if I had more shots of the protagonist,
this task would have been easier to produce.
I
think that an alternative representation of a hitman could be perceived by the
audience as it isn’t usually common for the hitman to make a mistake when he is
dealing with such serious business that have dire consequences if he killed the
wrong man.
However,
a dominant representation for the protagonist has definitely been used as it is
stereotypically a man who is involved in this type of industry which has been
reinforced in this film.
Perkins’
theory of stereotypes can be applied to this film as this is a true stereotype as
the protagonist is a man which is why La Sombra is referred to as a ‘hitman’. I
think could have been challenged. I think that had a female have been used, the
film could have been even more unique as it would explore a different story
entirely.
If I had chosen the
third brief, I would have created an online film blog which would have
contained character profiles for the characters of La Sombra. This could be
used as a form of promotion, towards those who hadn’t already seen the film or
the link would be posted at the end of the screening in order for viewers to interact
further with the brand after having seen the film. The blog would be sponsored
by ‘The Little Picturehouse’ as a form of support for La Sombra. I would have
also used the blog to embed video interviews from the actors and production
team in order for the audience to gain a better understanding of the production
process of La Sombra. The blog would feature links to social media such as
Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for both ‘La Sombra’ and ‘The Little
Picturehouse.’
With regards to
supplying user-generated content, I would have taken inspiration from Plan B’s
promotion strategy where he teamed up with Tag London to promote the brand
using a hashtag on Twitter. For my online promotion, I would encourage viewers
to log on to and share a live podcast where they could ask questions and
receive answers to do with the ideas behind the film.
I believe that the brief was quite well met
because we used the idea of a ‘foreign language’ which was mentioned in the
description of ‘The Little Picturehouse,’ whilst also allowing the film to be a
silent movie, from the perspective of the protagonist. I think that the subject
matter of the film would help to, as mentioned in the brief, expand The Little
Picturehouse’s audience. In particular, this would take place by presenting
arthouse to the younger generation by using the film La S
