Social Media Research

I sent all my Survey out through social media however, I thought it would also be good to do a Twitter Poll mimicking one of the question to see if there was any difference response, I was only able to include four answers to I chose more conventional answers.

Theoretical Research

Twentieth century theories begin with the idea that an audience is passive, acted upon and susceptible or vulnerable against media effects. Later theories see that audiences are more active, using media sources for their own differing needs, or depending on their own cultural experiences, negotiating with media and accepting/rejecting messages or negotiating a course between the two.

This was development in the 1920s and 1930s during World War 1 after researchers observed the effects of propaganda
The term auteur originates from France which translates as author, which means that a director’s film reflects their personal creative visions. The Auteur theory was introduced in the 1950’s by French film directors like Francois Truffaut who advocated a focus on the contribution directors made on the style and form of film, Film-making auteurs usually have their own distinctive style which has almost become their signature for their pieces of work. It also keeps creative control over it, since it makes them very recognisable as well as individual, this can be done through certain actors, a certain sub-genre, certain props etc.
 

Some examples of auteur styles that can possibly relate to our genre of horror are Tim Burton and his gothic, dark and quite unusual takes on conventional ideas and stories.

Tim Burton will take normal people and put them in an unusual situation which he somehow manages to make even more unusual for example, his most recent film 'Mrs Peregrine Home For Peculiar Children' is about children who seem ordinary but you find that they have peculiar abilities and then later on you find out that they're being hunted by monsters called 'hallows' who want to eat their eyes, things like this are so absurd the audience would be socked and gripped to the film. This is something I hope to incorporate something unusual that could shock the audience within the short film we are doing as I found that when I was watching 'Mrs Peregrine Home For Peculiar Children' this is the most memorable thing.


Another is George A. Romero who is known for creating films that fall into the Zombie sub-genre and has done a wide variety based around this idea.

The word 'genre' means type or category.
The genre theory draws the audiences attention towards what is different between the films the auteur does rather then the similarities such as their signature. It looks at the types and kinds of things in a certain genre and the characteristics and features expected in that types of genre, by the audience.

An important part of Genre theory is knowing at which period a film was made. This is particularly important when considering what technology was being used. With today's high speed films (shorter exposure times) films may be shot with very different lighting from those of twenty years ago. The rhythm and pacing of the film may have been altered with editing. Core values which would seem unimportant to us when watching certain films may be of prime importance to the people who are contemporary to the films. However, if all films were exactly the same then genre theory would be easy to study and defining which type of film it is would be easy. Unfortunately though it is far more complicated than this. As we look and analyse various films we find that although they have similarities in other aspects they are very different. It creates the need for genre theory to continually re-define itself according to the technology, the audience, the political message among many other variables. What may have been typical of a genre at one time may evolve other time as the audience evolve in such a way that an action film from the a few years ago may be a very slow paced film by today's standards, compare for example the Western with the action films.

There are some theories of audience that we can apply, these being:

Developed in the 1920s and 30s after researchers observed the effect of propaganda in WW1 and events like the Orson Wells ‘War of the Worlds’ broadcast.
The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large groups of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate message designed to trigger a desired response.

The Effects Model is the consumption of media texts has an effect or influence upon the audience, It's normally considered that this effect is negative and audiences are passive and powerless to prevent the influence, the power lies with the message of the text.
The model is also known as The hypodermic Needle, here the messages from the media text are injected into the audience by a powerful syringe like media, the audience is powerless to resist it and therefore, the media works like a drug and the audiences are drugged and addicted to what they say. This model can applied to many things such as film, psychology studies etc.

This model works best with print products as that's what the majority of audiences see first before they go to see the film however, some cases it's film trailers too. The message that the films gets across/injects into their audience is what could ultimately persuade the their audience to go and spend their money to watch the film. Seeming as we're making a poster and not a film trailer I hope to apply this model to the poster we shall create so that our target audience will see if and want to watch the Short Film straight away.

Some examples of films are:

(Child's play 3 in the murder of James Bulger 1993)
(A clockwork orange 1971 in a number of horrible things)

The Uses And Gratification Model is the opposite to The Effects Model. In this one the audience is active, they use the text and are not used by it, the audience uses the text to their own gratification and pleasure. The audience will use the text to gratify there needs for:

• Diversion
• Information
• Pleasure
• Escapism
• Relaxation
• Emotional Satisfaction
• Learning

Along side those it also includes:
P – Personal Identity: The need to develop personal identity through things like role models, aspirational lifestyles, aspects of behaviour in common life experiences, tastes in cultural life.

I – Inform: The need for information, which may include things like news gathering but can extend again to information about people in the world, lifestyles and life choices.

E – Entertainment and escapism:

S – Social Interaction: The need for social interaction by sharing in the consumption and engagement of texts with others.
Controversially the theory suggests the consumption of violent images can be helpful rather than harmful, the theory suggests that audiences act out their violent impulses through the consumption of media violence. The audience’s inclination towards violence is therefore sublimated, and they are less likely to commit violent acts.

Emphasises the subtler, less direct capacity of the media to influence perceptions. It recognises that people respond to other influences, such as opinion leaders, who may mediate the message of the media. Thus, media effect can be seen as one of reinforcement – closer to ‘influence’ than ‘brainwashing’. Research by Stuart hall found that rather than the autonomous individualised audience members of the uses and gratifications approach, that audience members shared certain frameworks of interpretation and that they work at decoding media texts within these frameworks. Hall proposed three types of audience readings:

Dominant – the reader recognises what the text’s preferred meaning is and broadly agrees with it.

Oppositional – where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural or ideological reasons. 

Negotiated – where the reader accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previously held views. 

Audience Survey Number #1

By using SurveyMonkey which I also used last year I have created a 10 question survey, I have sent the link out through social media and direct message so that an wide range of different ages response to it so that I can compare people of different ages answers however, our main focus is the age range 15 to 20 years old.

Originally I have 14 questions however, SurveyMonkey only allows 10 so I removed some and plan to add them on to a later Survey.

Audience Survey Number #1 - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/F9MZGJB Create your own user feedback survey

Cohesive Marketing

 

Cohesive marketing is when a campaign links many different forms of media across multiple platforms showing a clear relation between each one such as, websites, posters, trailers etc. to get their film out to audiences on a 24 hour bases, this is also known as 360 degree branding. It focuses on things such as branding, synergy, brand image, convergence etc.

An example of this is The Hunger Games franchise:

Another example is the Saw marketing campaign:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Throughout all of the platforms the audience need to be able to identify your brand and this is done through

• Colour scheme
• A slogan/Catchphrase
• Certain actors
• Layout
• Typography

As you can see from The Hunger Games franchise their colour scheme is orange, gold and black throughout all of their platforms, along with the iconic Mockingjay badge and their slogan "May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favour." Not on every platform but on most, Jennifer Lawerance's and Josh Hutcherson's face will be to the sides or in the middle of the picture. The campaign involved an interactive website to make the storyline more realistic, this is a popular thing to do, films such as Jurassic World have also done this.

Conventional colours for a horror film are red, black and white which the Saw campaign follows making it easily identfied as a horror, it also has the same typography throughout all of their marketing with the iconic Saw font with the W always being slightly bigger then the other letters. One part of the campaign involved Jigsaw (The main Antagonist) featuring in The Simpsons, a popular TV show watched by many people around the world. There's also the iconic phrase of "Want To Play A Game."

A major factor in a successful marketing campaign is understanding your target audience for example, it's not very effective to have marketing on social media if your film is aimed at the elderly.
Another thing is 360 degree branding which is constantly being in the publics face, on their phone, on the side of the bus they get on, on the billboard they walk by etc. the more they see it the more likely they are to remember it. A unique marketing campaign itself can make it successful as people remember something different and if films were to do the same marketing things over and over again the public would get bored and dismiss them.
Something else that can make a succesful/good marketing campaign is synergy, which is when different companies will come together to create something with a greate effect them if they were on their own and they both come out with mutual benefits. An example of this is Space Jam and Mcdonalds, they teamed up and created a Bacon Burger at McDonalds which had never been on their menu before, as a result it caused a lot of buzz for both McDonalds and the film Space Jam, this made a successfuk campaign becuase they understood their target audience for Space Jam and then matched that with the majority of people who eat at McDonalds, Young Adults, Teens, Families.

Thinking Location

In my initial ideas I wanted to film in an old, possibly abandoned house however, but after trying to look for locations like this I was having no luck in finding any that aren't fenced off or boarded up therefore, I'm now looking into a different setting that is still conventional to horror films but is easy to acquire and still fits with my idea. I've been debating about using the same location I did last year however, I have decided that I definitely don't want to as it doesn't help set the atmosphere for what I want to do and that I now want to film indoors as I can control the lighting better such as other variables and it is more realistic.

Sorry for the lack of posts recently I am currently working on Genre and Form research and I'm also completing cohesive marketing.

Review Page Analysis - It Follows

This is a review page for the supernatural psychological horror film 'It Follows', which appeared in the film magazine 'Sight & Sound'.