Target Audience

This is a mind map of the first draft process of my target audience. Here I have considered different target audiences for similar productions to mine such as Skins and Misfits and reasons why they might like my film. I have also looked at the type of people who would be interested in the niche aspects from a low budget film, as well as the different characters and storyline of my film.

Here I looked at the ratings and reviews of my influences on IMBD to find out exactly what audiences were watching those productions and to see whether I think they would be the best audience to target for considering my film and teaser trailer.

Requiem for a Dream

The most popular category for Requiem for a Dream is Males Under 18 with a score of 8.9 which was followed in closely second by Females Under 18 with a score of 8.8. I think this is an important factor to consider as this film shares a lot of the same themes as I would like my film to contain such as drugs and relationships, and I think the audiences who like this film would want to watch mine.

Skins

The most popular category for Skins is Females Under 18 with a score of 9.0 and the second most popular with a score of 8.7 is Females Aged 18-29. I think females like Skins because of a lot of the characters in it and the gritty realism of the storylines. From this, I should take into account that my two main characters are both boys and females may be attracted to this.

Misfits

Females Under 18 are again the most popular category for Misfits with a score of 9.2 and closely followed by a joint Males Under 18 and Females Aged 18-29. Similar to the others, females and people under 18 like this program due to the realistic themes and gripping storylines that they feel they can relate to. I definitely think that the audiences who like Misfits would like my production as a lot of the themes overlap and the teenage characters are very similar.

From this data, I can conclude that using similar themes and characters to Requiem for a Dream, Misfits and Skins would attract a similar target audiences of Males and Females Under 18. I think that they would be the most appropriate audience to target as I have evidence they would enjoy the gritty storyline I have created which they might feel they can relate to. I have also based the characters on characters from Skins and Misfits so I hope this would attract similar audiences as a lot of characteristics overlap. My film will also be very low budget so this could rule out any older audiences that may not be interested in the niche aspects of the film.

Another aspect I am considering is the type of people that I should try and appeal to. Looking on uktribes.com I could look at the different 'tribes' of youths and what sort of things they are interested in and which tribes overlap.

From personal experience, I think that emos would be interested in the themes and storyline of my film as some of these like drugs and relationships could be similar to the types of music they listen to. Considering this, I was able to find some other tribes that are similar to emos such as young alts, metal heads and scene kids that could also be attracted to the themes and storylines of my film. From this I continuously found links and overlaps between the different tribes and was able to widen my initial ideas of who I thought my film could appeal to. Tribe UK describes the connecting tribe, young alts as "the gateway tribe to alternative culture". I think this shows that a lot of the tribes overlapping with these will be attracted to the themes and production of my film (low budget) as I personally think this is an expression of alternative culture. 

I found doing this very useful as it means I can narrow down my target audience even more than to just an age group and gender. I can now consider different ideas for my teaser trailer that can target these particular types of people specifically.

From doing all this research, I can conclude that the most appropriate audience to target my film and teaser trailer for would be Males and Females aged 15-25, based on the themes and gritty storyline of my film. These audiences are more likely to have an interest in the niche aspects of the low budget film and the alternative style.

Influences

Influences on Prezi

Here I have made a prezi on all of the influences I have used when thinking about my teaser trailer. I go into detail about the type of shots I liked in the trailers and if I thought they would work well in mine. I also looked at the structure of the trailers to colaberate some ideas into how I want to structure my teaser trailer.

Blog Feedback

Here is the first feedback I have received for my blog so far from Mr Go. I am currently on a B/B- and would like to be able to bring this up to a solid B for the next blog feedback I get. I will hopefully do this by using more aspects of technology in my posts and updating my blog more frequently, including all the decision making processes.

Mental Block!

I currently seem to be having a mental block with reference to my influences post. My first inspiration for doing a teenage drama was the E4 programs I watched at home, Misfits and Skins. However, I cannot use trailers for these as influences as they do not follow the same structure as film trailers.

I am currently looking at different films to find some more inspirational trailers concerning the genre. Once I have found these I will be able to finish my influences prezi and post it on my blog!

Initial Logo Ideas

Production Company Logos from JorjiHazeldine

Here I have made a powerpoint on my initial production company logo ideas. I looked at several existing film company logos such as Universal and Paramount to see what features were most effective and memorable. I found that the logos were very universal and generic so that the company didn't limit itself to one particular genre or style and I felt this would be a key thing to remember.

The main thing that I like about this idea is that the orange sky and the dirty glass give off a warm, peaceful vibe. I think that when audiences see this logo with a film it will make them feel happy and get excited and look forward to watching the film. However this may not be an appropriate image to work with my trailer as it doesn't look like the kind of company that would make an edgy teen drama. Although the style of my logo can be very generic and doesn't have to match the genre of my film, I think this image could limit the type of films the company could produce and I don't think it would flow very well with the rest of the trailer.

What I like about this idea is that the combinations of colour and black and white target a more well rounded audience. The image of the child holding the colourful balloons would appeal to younger children as it gives off the image of innocence, whereas the dark colours of the lonely beach would suggest a darker style that would appeal to older audiences. I think this logo would give the production company the opportunity to make productions of a lot of different styles and genres as the images do not limit the company to a specific genre or audience.

Synopsis

Adopted brothers Frankie and Nathan are typical London teenagers living with their single mother. Growing up together means they are close and share the same group of friends. It's the summertime school holiday and the mischievous group spend their time together drinking and smoking weed and having a good time.

However their relationship changes when Frankie is befriended by a mysterious girl at a gig and she introduces him to a band of darker characters who he soon becomes friendly with. Constantly spending time with his new friends, Frankie finds himself taking harder drugs and getting into trouble with police and drug dealers. Nathan thinks Frankie's new friends have taken him too far down this road and he starts to resent his brother. Nathan turns his new found hate and rage on him and after a violent fight, they both leave battered and a broken family. Once friends, now rivals, the brothers have to accept their differences as Nathan watches his brother spiral into a state of no return. Frankie eventually dies of an overdose and Nathan is heartbroken.

My initial idea was to reverse the storyline and to start with the brothers taking hard drugs. Frankie would have then met a girl who made him see straight and become sober. This would have lead to the decision of his brother either resenting him or trying and help himself too. The general feedback of this idea was that it was too much of a feel good film with a happy ending, which is not what I wanted. I feel, the idea of everything getting worse and darker is much more interesting.

                                               

Mood Board

Mood board from JorjiHazeldine

Here is a mood board I have created for my teaser trailer based on the films and programmes This Is England, Skins and Misfits as I think these productions have a simular style to the type of film I would like to make a trailer for. All of these productions are teen dramas and follow simular teenage issues that I would like to include in my film such as friendship, family, drugs and relationships. I have used images of groups of teenagers and friends to help portray the theme of the moodboard and to give an idea of the types of storylines I will need to consider.

25 word pitch

"A 'This Is England' style teenage battle of friendship, family, drugs and relationships."

I think my pitch clearly identifies the genre of my film but I have chosen not to make it storyline specific as I have not yet finalised my ideas. I would like to be able to change my mind a couple of times before deciding on a final storyline. I feel this pitch gives me a lot of freedom to work with and puts forward the style and themes I would like to use in my trailer. I think the themes of the film would attract teenagers and help me find a more specific target audience.

Initial Ideas

Here I have created a mind map of all my initial ideas for my teaser trailer using bubbl.us. This was a simple and easy way for me to get my ideas down. These ideas will need to be touched on further before I make any final decisions as I have only briefly thought about what I need to consider for my teaser trailer so far.

What is a trailer?

A feature trailer is an short advertisement for an upcoming film. This particular type of trailer features all the best clips from the film to help get the storyline accross to the audience. These 'wow' clips entice the audience and make them excited to see the film.

The purpose of a teaser trailer is purely to tease the audience and get their attention, making them interested and excited to see the film. They are shorter than regular film trailers as they only use short clips from the film which often don't reveal much of the storyline. This creates a mysterious aspect and makes the audience intrigued and more wanting to see the film.

Here I will analyse several trailers that we watched in class:

The Looper trailer showed many typical characteristics of a feature trailer. These characteristics include things from the title, release date and production company logos, to short cuts from the film and a quickening in pace and tempo. The trailer hinted at the plot of the film with 'wow' clips and character voiceovers, and made the action genre obvious to the audience by using clips of guns, explosions and violence. This is very effective as it shows the audience all the best bits of the film and allows them to see what the storyline is so they get excited to see it in cinema.

The Man Of Steel teaser trailer was different to the Looper trailer as it had a much more secretive aspect and is a lot shorter than a feature trailer. It used unspectacular footage from the film and didn't reveal any of the storyline, teasing the audience. It was also released well in advance of the film's release date to get the audience excited about the film and what the storyline could be. This is very effective as it grabs the audience's attention and makes them curious about the film so the try and figure out what the storyline could be.

The Robocop teaser trailer is very different to the others. It is made in the form of an advert to grab the audiences attention and make them think about what the trailer is trying to say as there is no film title or credits. There is also no story line or characters involved in the trailer and the clips from the advert are unlikely to be in the film. This could be problematic as it may confuse the audience and they may not even realise it is a film trailer unless they go to the website advertised in the advert. I don't think this is as effective as the other trailers as it is too confusing and doesn't advertise the film as well.

The Human Centipede II (The Full Sequence) teaser trailer is also very different to the other trailers I have looked at. It is similar to Robocop in the fact that there is no actual film footage in the trailer as well as characters or any obvious story line. The trailer uses footage of the audiences reactions to the film and sets it up as a challenge to make the audience want to watch the film. A lot of tag lines are used with shocking phrases to scare the audience but build up the excitement of just how horrifying the film actually is. I think this is very effective as it makes the audience want to watch the film as a challenge, without showing any actual film footage.

My personal favourite out of all the trailers I have looked at is the Man Of Steel teaser trailer. I like the way it uses unspectacular images to give the trailer a sense of mystery without giving any of the storyline away. I would like to be able to do this in my trailer as I think it it very effective and I currently have some ideas that I think would work well in this style.