CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

How do your products represent social groups or issues? 

Early 1960s boarding school life is still associated with upper class privilege, but is also revealed in countless dairies, novels and films as a microcosm of society, with its bullies and victims, its restrictive rules and regulations and its petty tyrants. As an institution, it wielded huge power over its inmates, as our film represents: parents hand over their daughters to be subject to an institution’s ethos and the children have no contact with the outside world for weeks at a time. Our matron is a stereotypical unfeeling middle-aged spinster who rules with a rod of iron and like many medical staff in earlier, less socially responsible times, uses medicine and cold-water baths as a punishment in the guise of medical treatment. Her word is law. Her uniform is a visual code for her authority. Our film reveals the struggle of boarding school life, our inspiration Prince Charles’ time at Gordonstoun, the epitome of the social group of the upper class. Our young protagonist Susannah is abandoned by her wealthy father to an institution where corporal punishment is used to ‘rehabilitate’ the girls, leading to her rebellious behaviour. Rebelliousness is a recurring social issue for many teenagers, who feel trapped or forced into a mould. This is portrayed in the trailer when Susannah is dropped off at the mansion by her family butler. This precipitates Susannah into the role of victim of the system: an isolated school cut off from society, surrounded by impenetrable woods, the ancient building itself with its unfriendly stone walls, endless maze of basement corridors where footsteps echo, its blank-faced doors hiding secrets - all of these create a system where social groups can take the law into their own hands with impunity, much like in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. We represent Susannah as an anti-stereotype, not conforming to the strict regime, wanting to be an independent young woman. For Stuart Hall, stereotypes populate media products, and serve to shape the public's views and expectations on issues like gender. In Susannah, we offer a young woman who refuses to conform to a social mould, whatever the cost or danger - and our film implies that in the 1960s, such nonconformity came with frightening risks - at least in horror stories.

How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of branding?

Branding is a business technique of producing a design or name that differentiates one brand from another. Moonlight productions our independent film company has a differentiated unique logo used for all productions. As well as the film title consistently being in a bold red font, used for all products. This includes merchandise, the website and the social media. With all products we have maintained the dark tones in contrast with the red writing, to portray the strong theme of horror/thriller. Our brand identity created by logos and repeat of the same actors and directors will create customer loyalty. Our audience is aware of the directors and actors we have used previously. In our first production Infamous, we used the same actors and directors. This connects the actors to our brand; this creates a sense of excitement for the audience as they are aware of the quality of acting and editing we offer. Therefore, the cast are an important factor to creating a prominent brand name. With the talent being shown across all social media platforms, the website and behind the scenes. My film poster can be shown across all social media platforms as well as the opportunity for fans to further connect and be associated with the film through purchasing merchandise on the website, with the poster being the main image consistently. Our Instagram has a clear theme, with introduction posts to each character and thrilling previews of the film, using similar edits and effects this cohesiveness shapes the audience’s expectations of the film.

How do your products engage with the audience?

My products engage with the audience of a demographic around 15-25, by its further use of marketing techniques. The film website has links with pages such as ‘meet the cast’ this allows the audience to connect further with the characters as well as the actors behind them. Inviting them to engage with the film further. With links to social media pages this allows the audience to follow along the journey and process of behind the scenes of production. Giving them a platform to comment and like posts with opportunities to be retweeted, this gives them a more personal experience. Social media content is a fundamental part of modern-day marketing, as Chris Besseling talks about the importance of digital media with 16–25-year-olds having a shorter attention span, moving swiftly from one thing to another on their mobiles. They choose to ignore traditional marketing, by creating our four social media platforms this ensures we effectively engage with our audience. The poster portrays the genre of horror through the use of codes and conventions with dark tones and translucent images, as well as the bold red title. The centre image of the poster represents Susannah, the main character, this compelling image introduces the main character to the audience. With crucial information such as the release date and social media this educates the audience on where to find the film and when and how to gain further information on it. These marketing techniques create awareness on the film; however, the most exciting and engaging technique is the trailer. By introducing the main characters and portraying star talent, this forces the audiences to create emotion towards this character. In our instance the audience feels a sense of sympathy and empathy for Susannah, a young unloved teenage girl, struggling to find her sense of independence, stuck in a life she’s been forced into, as she fears her superiors.

How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?

 

To ensure we created an effective well perceived product as a group we did further research into our target audience and market through the use of primary research, this included executing an audience questionnaire. By doing so this educated us on whether or not an audience watches trailers, how they watch trailers and their opinions on trailers and film posters selected by the group. This demonstrates the type of trailer and film poster we had to create, to fit the needs of our target audience. Our main USP is mise-en-scene of our film, the location. This is represented repeatedly throughout our social media platforms, as well as our poster, trailer and website. The setting of the mansion is distinctive and holds a lot of history behind it, this may attract an audience who have knowledge on it. My film poster is striking with the centre of visual interest and key art being the main character, surrounded by different facial expressions with a ghostly low opacity. This shows the clear conventions of horror/thriller alongside the use of colour tones I have used throughout, with dark black tones signifying danger and the unknown. Red is often associated with danger and warning; I have used red writing throughout all my content to represent these connotations. Our film trailer shows trailer conventions through our use of intertitles, we decided to create suspense. Added the taglines we each used for our film poster as they all linked well together however, were different. This tells the audience what to expect while creating enigma. The music used builds to the climax, having a huge impact on the mood of the film, creating an intense horror, leaving the audience questioning what happens next? Other uses of sound help to achieve this, such as sound bridges, voice overs of dialogue. This helps the audience connect with the character of Susannah and understand her and the struggles she has faced.