CCR TASK 2: HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCT ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD IT BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

 CCR Task 2: Product Engagement + Poster.

I created a poster and blog post in order to answer the question 'How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?'.

In order to create a successful media product, we had to make our opening sequence with a certain target audience in mind; this helped us decide certain aspects of our film to engage them. For us, this was primarily a male audience within the age range of 21-25, using a 15 BBFC age rating.

We had previously chosen this through comparing our product to similar media products and research into BBFC age ratings (please refer to my previous blog posts)

TARGET AUDIENCES

-

AGE RATINGS

I have analysed 6 moments in our sequence to explore the choices we made (both for our target audience and one for that of a general one)

ANALYSIS

One of the very first shots hooks the audience as the setting/location is rather odd when looked at upon close inspection; it is clearly quite isolated with woodlands that can be seen through the window. The strange combination of glassware, wood and dolls heads props intrigues the audience as it encourages them to question what is going on and what will happen. Additionally, the man cannot be seen (apart from his hands), which is a key convention of the psychological crime thriller genre where the villain is concealed (similar to Hannibal Lecter The Silence of the Lambs)

Another moment that engages the audience is the shot where the berry is precisely sliced with a scalpel. The manner in which this is done is extremely intricate and hints at the possible theme of gore (due to the fleshy, red nature of the berry) which is a key convention of the psychological crime thriller genre, attracting our target audience, and hints at the man's mental illness due to how obsessive he is being with the process of his preparation of the berries.

Next, a subtle enigma code (Roland Barthes)/cliff hanger is created; the man is shown through a pan through blinds, covering key aspects of his body such as his eyes. This hints at the narrative and how detectives struggle to investigate him, and also summons curiosity on behalf of the audience as little is revealed in regard to the man, thus engaging them as it encourages them to watch more.

Then, another, but major enigma code is created before the man opens the door. The lack of focus and ambiguity of the door makes the audience question as to what is behind the door, thus engaging them to watch more.

The only point in which a narrative point in the sequence could be considered as targeting our core target audience (men from 21-25), would be during the gory aspects of the piece, which was a key narrative feature as it is the most significant death throughout the whole film. Our target audience was aimed at because a woman is shown in a weaker power position and is of lower status (tied up, choked and in a chair in comparison to the man who is standing over her and holding her head).

This uses Jay Blumler's and Elihu Katz's 'Uses and Gratifications' theory which references media products needing to offer diversion/escapism/entertainment, personal identity, personal relationships/social interaction and surveillance/education to reach and engage an audience. 

The moment could be considered as a form of escapism as gore is not a thing of regular occurrence in the average day-to-day life, and is there for entertainment. Most of the other aspects, however, aren't really aspects of our sequence due to the extremity of the situation (not much can be related to for the most part).

The last shot of our sequence is of the man's face with half of it concealed in shadow; our casting played into the convention of older, male killers within the crime thriller genre, and also his glasses are rather stereotypical for that of a serial killer. The overall shot is rather menacing and threatening, creating tension and leaving the opening on a cliff hanger as the image is left lingering in the audience's mind before it cuts to black, engaging the audience to continue to watch the film. On a metaphorical level, we were playing into the theme of concealment and danger through the use of shadows, which once again hints at the narrative and encourages the audience to continue watching.

In a more general sense, our age group for the target audience (21-25) was aimed at through the Thriller genre as younger audiences tend to enjoy more adrenaline inducing films.

CONCLUSION 

I personally believe that we were as successful as we could have been in engaging our target young, male audience without creating something overly offensive; this was because of the power dynamics between the man and the woman, which was something we didn't want to make too stereotypical due to our modern day audience/society. The only way in which I feel it could have been taken one step further would be perhaps through casting an extremely younger woman to further emphasise the power difference but we wanted to keep a key plot in our narrative in which she is his sister. However, I do believe that we succeeded in engaging an audience in a holistic sense through our several enigma codes and portrayals of themes.

THE POSTER

I put together a poster by drawing on Procreate on my iPad in order to visualise possible marketing campaigns (may have to click on image for clearer resolution):

Within the poster, I included and hinted to moments within our film that would engage our audience (may have to click on image for clearer resolution):

I also focused on the style/theme, age certification, release date and key conventions to do this (may have to click on image for clearer resolution):

THE STUDIO 

I chose to use 'Strong Heart Productions' as the studio that would most likely distribute our film.

Based in New York (USA) and opened up by Jonathan Demme on the 13th of November, 1989, the studio have only produced one film, that being The Silence of the Lambs - though they have also released an episode ('Memorable Movie Characters') on the documentary '20 to 1'. I found this extremely appropriate for our film as the studio is independent and small, increasing the likelihood that they would fund our piece. Additionally, given the psychological crime thriller genre of their only film, this would mean that our film would match their usual target audience as ours is similar, increasing profit.

POSSIBLE MARKETING CAMPAIGN