Risk assessment forms

Research of the marketing campaign for a film similar to my film trailers genre

The marketing campaign i am going to look at is Paranormal activity as it is a horror film that hugely relates to the style of my film ie. strange goings on in the house, the characters getting haunted ect. The film is part of a prequel and the first film was made by a small italian producer "Oren Peli" shot in his own house. Paramount/Dreamworks then acquired the rights for $350,000. 

It is one of the most profitable movies ever made, based on return on investment, although such figuresare difficult to verify independently as this is likely to exclude marketing costs.The first film was released nationwide on 16th October 2009, the second released 22nd  October 2010 and the third on October 21st 2011.

The main characters are played by actors who are not well known to the film world Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat. There names are exactly the same in the film as it is trying to portray it as being real life footage from a noraml couple.

                                                     Paranormal activity 1 trailer

                                           

                                                      Paranormal activity 2 trailer

                                           

                                                        Paranormal activity 3 trailer

                                         

                                                      
The trailers take a minimalist approach that’s similar to that the approach taken on the poster and uses many of the same elements.
The first trailer opens with a shot of a line waiting to get into a screening of the film, followed by footage of those people having a seat in the theater. Some text is shown telling the audience that the screening was held in Hollywood. The 2nd trailer opens with scenes in the film and the 3rd trailer opens with some scenes that are shown in the film and some that are not.
Enough footage from the movies themselves is shown to give the trailer watching audience a sense of the film’s storyline, how it’s shot and all of those traditional goals it is trying to achieve.
The first trailer features continued shots of the audience showing the people in the theater at this screening and their reactions to the movie. Text is then shown warning to not see the movie alone and, again, to join in and bring the movie to your area via the Demand It campaign.
We the audience are watching another audience watch the movie and are asked to gauge the movie’s impact not so much on how it makes us react but instead on how we see that audience react to it. What the trailer winds up is not so much achieving the goal of making the audience want to see the movie so much as it makes the audience, want to see the movie in a packed theater. Since that’s the whole point of the Demand It portion of the campaign, the trailer taking such a meta approach makes complete sense and is a smart strategy.
              

                                                      Paranormal activity 1 poster

                                                   

                                                      Paranormal activity 2 poster

                                                   

                                                      Paranormal activity 3 poster

                                                    

All 3 posters lay out three things that are going to be a success.

First, by making the main focus a still from the movie it shows off the look and feel of what the film is about. It makes it clear looking at the strip across the middle of the poster that it’s a story captured by a simple video camera, both from the slightly grainy look of the shot and the time-stamp that appears in the right-hand corner at the bottom of the page.

Second, there is a quote at the top of each poster from either a film review website or the company itself. These are to attract the horror genre lovers that frequently visit these websites for the latest horror genre news and information.

Lastly, the bottom third of the first films poster trys to make the movie an event by getting people involved to bring it to its full potential. The “Demand It” allows people to take an active role in the movie’s campaign and add your voice to the call to bring it to a theater near you. This required people who wanted the film to come to their hometown cinemas to go onto the paranormal activiy website and vote. Once the voting got to 1million the film would then be brought to that area and so on.

Huge amounts of synergy has been used in the marketing of the Paranormal activity films. Shots from the fil itself have been used for all the posters, scenes from the films have been used in all of the trailers and even scenes from the previous film has been used in the trailer for paranormal activity 2. The first two films show a story carrying on from the first to the second. Whereas the second relates back to the reason behind the plot and shows why the girls are haunted so is going back in time. The same font is also used throughout the 3 films trailers and posters and the titles are the exact same.

Props list

Props we needed to film our trailer:
Ladder
Boxes
Tv remote
Flowers
Torch

Media Regulation

Everyone who watches, listens to or reads the news is reliant on the media. This is something that we have had to do since the start of medi; However the government does not like the freedom of the media as they don’t like any bad/critical words being spread, but article 19 stops them from controlling or stopping anything the media says through freedom of speech. However regulations are put in place so that the public interest is preserved.
The media regulation office or OFCOM and Article 19 as it is known have had to reconsider some of their regulations in recent times due to some content that has been aired and complaints that have come in from the public about some programmes on the television, and radio as well as news paper articles. For example, incidents like the Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand fiasco where they rang Andrew Sachs while live on television where they made what some people believed to be inappropriate comments about his granddaughter, it was reviewed and both Jonathan and Russell faced sanctions including the sacking of Russell and the suspension of Jonathan, all this was done in the interest of the public as they believed it was not acceptable and believed it was in the best interest to take action.
There are 3 main areas when it comes to media regulation Political, Economic and Social. These aspects are key. The political side is all about asking whether the government should regulate the media. This would not be useful or fair as the government could keep important matters away from the public that may concern them. Also it is so the government cannot enhance their position and increase their popularity not allowing opposition parties news in the media. Economically the regulations are put in place so huge companies such as "coca-cola" cannot put huge advertisements on the television or news articles or on radio that would jeopordise the interests for small businesses if they can’t get their advertisements in the media. If it wasn’t regulated it would mean that the huge international companies would be the only ones in business. Socially it is important media is regulated as people need to know what is going on and what is happening in the world as this may affect their life choices, such as moving abroad or even going on holiday, the media plays a huge part in our lives. We are surrounded by it constantly and if it wasn’t regulated the government and the media could tell us anything, even if it was true or not

Costume list

ALEX HORNER:
Blue jeans, grey polo shirt and beige
LUCY CASHMAN:
Red checked shirt, leggings and white converse
REBECCA CHOI:
White blouse, black pants, black shoes.
ASHLEY GALLAGHER:
Black top, black pants, black shoes

Richard Dyers star theory

The star's theory suggests that the "Star" being a singer, actor or a model takes several forms in order to sell a product to their target audience:

The star is seen as a construction, a commodity and an ideology.

 

As a construction the stars image is constructed and developed by the star him/herself or the management across various different media outlets such as magazines, advertising, television or the internet. It helps if the star has a unique selling point for example, Lady Gaga's eccentric fashion and use of masks and other props has made her the superstar she is today.

As a commodity the star is a marketable, saleable unit constructed by the record label in order to make it money. the record label will listen to the demands of the audience and develop that star to fulfill their needs. For example, One direction are constucted to sell there music to teenagers mostly being girls who will fall in love with them and see them as heartthrobs or boys may copy there fashion style.

 

As an Ideology the star represents a set of values and attitudes that reflect the audience's own values. For example, Miley Cyrus or the Jonas brothers claim that they are virgins and will stay virgins until marriage showing this by wearing promise rings has received alot of attention by the media. There young fans will want to follow there lead, which can be seen as a positive thing and the older generation may respect them more. Stars are connected to their audience through the beliefs they present in their work.

Production log

Detailed analysis of 2 trailers

"The Ring" film trailer goes straight into telling the audience the main storyline of the film saying "There is a videotape, If you watch it, In seven days, You die". This would give the audience more of a urge to want to watch the whole film to see how and why you die in seven days and the story behind it. After the text is shown a jump cut is used and from there the trailer is quick and jumpy.
To begin with the music used is the typical slow paced spooky music to create suspense but it then turns to a more, faster track with bits of speech from the actual film added throughout.
Throughout the trailer a glowing ring is shown on a black background which relates to the film name and also the ringing of the phone.

The "Grave Encounters" trailer is based on "real footage" filmed at one of the most haunted buildings in america. These type of films, another example being "paranormal activity" trys to convince the audience that the footage is real and that paranormal activity actually goes on.
The trailer shows fair amounts of text throughout to guide the audience through the storyline and show ratings given by reviewers to gain popularity and entice the audience to watch the film and see if it is true. Jump cuts, shouts and screams make the trailer jumpy and is guarenteed to frighten the audience watching.

IDENTS

A station identification (Ident) is used by television networks or film production companies to immediately distinguish that it is from a certain film production company or network. This may be to satisfy requirements of licensing authorities, a form of branding or a combination of both. As such it is closely related to production logos used in television and cinema, alike. An ident is usually shown at the beginning of a film so the audience are fully aware who the film has come from throughout the film.

The six most popular production companys all have their own idents that are known worldwide. These are WaltDisney, Paramount, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Columbia.

You can watch these here: "Big Six Idents"

 

"These six videos are some of the most ubiquitous examples of entertainment branding found in popular culture. They come from the “big six” studios and preface the vast majority of films produced, and all have one thing in common.. unusally epic and grandiose imagery that only the film industry could get away with using.
The histories behind these stately logos are as interesting as some of the movies they precede: Paramount’s mountain logo for example is the oldest surviving studio emblem dating back to 1912, and is believed to be based upon Ben Lomond Mountain in Utah, although Peru’s Artesonraju is a closer fit.
While Columbia’s torch carrying lady dates back to 1924, the most recent incarnation is not as some thought modelled by Annette Benning, but actually the much more unassuming Jenny Joseph, a mother of two from Houston.
And the iconic Art Deco monument that 20 Century Fox uses as a logo was developed in 1935, and received a series of revisions before being standardised in 1994 with CGI, but only after a failed attempt to actually build a live action version of the monument."

Contributor release forms

Risk assessment forms

Film front cover mock up

I have produced a mock up of the layout of my film magazine front cover. I have replicated the style adopted by the "Vibe" music magazine front cover featuring Drake. 
I would like my front cover to use the same layout as i like the style and simplicity of it although i will change the colours and other features to make it my own.

Poster mock up

I have produced a mock up of the layout of my film poster. I have replicated the style adopted by the "Green Lantern" film poster advertising the films being released in June 2011.
I would like my film poster to use the same layout as i like the style and simplicity of it.