Task 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product?

I feel that a distribution company like FOX SEARCHLIGHT would help distribute my product because it is a film that would attract a lot of people because it includes the entertainement of an army of robot women murdering their owners, and so would have a similar attraction as IROBOT. However, it would not be distributed by a large production company like Warner Bros. because it is a low-budgeted film that does not include any major stars. In my opinion, it would be shown in a cinema group such as ODEON because of the topics within the thriller, but it would only stay in the cinema for a week because it does not have the interest of a famous actor or high class special effects. Additionally, a reason I believe that FOX SEARCHLIGHT would be a good distributor would be because it caused independant films such as SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE to become an international sensation because of the advertising and because of the large scale of different people that would be interested in such a film because of the robots as well as because of the women fighting for independance as a seperate theme are reasons for why it would be good as a film in cinematic viewing. Additionally, another distribution company such as VERTIGO would also be a good distributor because it is a British distribution company that is trying to broaden its viewers and in doing so is using the same techniques as Hollywood to sell their new movies, such as STREETDANCE 3D and MONSTERS. Moreover, another reason as to why they should distribute STAC1E is because MONSTERS is a sci-fi film with an underlying message, similar to our thriller, and so the success of MONSTERS is an indication of the success that could be created from STAC1E.

Task 2:How does your product represent particular social groups?

I feel that STAC1E represents women as powerful and vengeful, as is evident with the concept of the murder sequence. It also signifies the mistreatment of women and therefore, STAC1E could be used as a way for the audience to be aware that although women are given more rights in modern times, they are still being undermined and mistreated.

However, we wanted STAC1E to appear 'the PERFECT housewife' and so felt that she needed to be an attractive looking blonde, dressed in a 1950s housewife dress with pearls, as a way to attract the men buying her online.

               

Additionally, our choice of man to be the owner of the robot, was to suggest laziness and give the audience an understanding of the fact that this film is about lazy, "schlobby-looking" men who have failed in previous relationships and thus, have turned to a robot wife to please them.

We chose to have the presentor of the ad very cheesy in order to portray the ridiculousness of the situation and to contrast with the stabbing. The cheesiness was emphasised with the mustard colour suit that James wore when doing the scene. We were going for the image similar to that of Corny Collins from Hairspray.

Post Production Editing of thriller

We began editing for our thriller with Final Cut and used the same approach that we used when doing the Preliminary Task. We had to open up our shots by checking out and in order to do this, you have to open up: Final Cut-->Productions-->AS-->Guy's Class-->STAC1E then, click on the cog button which will allow you to check the shots out from the main computer. We split the shots of the murder sequence and the advertisement into two seperate bins. In order to cut the different shots, you have to press apple I (represents IN) and to indicate where you wish to stop the shot press apple O (represents OUT). Moreover, to make it easier, we began editing the murder sequence.

We started with a medium shot of Jason watching TV, cutting to an extreme close up of Sabrina cutting a carrot to a close up of Jason picking up the glass and shaking it. Cutting back and forth between STAC1E and the man on the sofa, indicated that they are in the same place and that she is preparing his meal, relating her to the advertisement. Additionally, it indicates the mistreatment of STAC1E and emphasises the underlying message of the mistreatment of women.

The extreme close up of Sabrina cutting the carrot extremley slow juxtaposed with a wide-shot of her pulling the knife of the counter and walking to Jason created a fluidness of the sequence. When editing it, we made sure that the cut happened when she was in the same position in both shots so that there was no obvious change in shot. In order to make sure that she was in the same position, we had the end of the first shot (with the knife off the table and just stepped away from the counter) corresponding with the second shot and made sure that they were at the same point by using the arrows on the keyboard to move through it in slow motion. Her turn flowed into a wide shot of STAC1E walking towards the "schlob" on the sofa slowly. While she was walking towards him we put an eerie sound effect that suggested what was about to happen. This then went into a mid-shot of her raising the knife, so that the audience can see her black silhouette to emphasise the terror. This part of the sequence was particularly hard to edit because we used a lot of varied shots cut up and put together to give the effect that she was stabbing him. This was done by having a shot with her pulling up the knife juxtaposed with another shot of her bringing it down and so on. However, when putting them together, similar to the turn in the kitchen we had to ensure that it wasn't jagged. We experimented with sound effects for the stabbing but were unsure whether they were too much and if we should simply have orchestral music in the background.

We then started editing the advertisement scene, this was slightly different to the stabbing sequence because it was shot in green screen and so will have much more after effects. We began with a mid-shot of James talking about who he is, when he said "then you need STAC1E" it was then juxtaposed with shots of four men all saying "SHE'S AMAZING." Using the other men gave an emphasis of a cheesy ad, this then went into a continuous mid-shot of James. Additionally, we then went to the shot of Jason watching TV to remind the audience that he is watching that particular advertisement on the television. In order to make sure that the advertisement continued throughout the stabbing sequence, we put an under current of cut sections of James talking and mumbled it. We then went back to the ad and had a close up of James. When he said the words "she's EXACTLY..." it was as a diegetic sound when STAC1E turns around after stabbing her husband with the splattered blood on her face and "WHAT YOU NEED" is a cut back shot to James pointing a finger at the camera. The use of this editing gave the emphasis that she was taking revenge because of the mistreatment and that if someone has emotional issues as to buy a robotic wife then they should deserve revenge. It also emphasises the idea that the film would be a way of emphasisng women's rights.

After editing the sequence so that it ran fluidly, we used SOUNDTRACK PRO to get sounds to enhance the emotions and intensity of the film. We began by looking for sounds that go with the stabbing and thus, searched "food" and so by using sounds of pieces of food getting cut or somebody eating, we could interpret it into the sounds of a knife going into the body. We made sure that the sound was harsh when she aimed the knife towards him giving a clear understanding that it hit his body. Likewise, when STAC1E pulled the knife out of the body we had a sound that was similar to a squelch to highlight the sound of the parts of his body being cut through. When we were happy with the stabbing sounds we added a cheesy 80s sounding beat underneath the advertisement to highlight its purpose and the cheesiness of it. Similarly, we also wanted to emphasise the eeriness of it and so had an orchestral/electronic based symphony that created a scarier atmosphere than previously and personally, it looked much better after putting the sound on because it made it seem like the opening sequence to a real thriller.

We then had to use after effects to animate the green screen-you have to export the specific green screen shots from Final Cut and inport them into AFTER EFFECTS, once this is done make a new folder with copies of the shots that we could use. Once we did this to all of the shots, we could edit the green screen. We had to remove the green screen and so clicked on the pencil tool, then on the green screen and by doing this it changed to black. However, in order to make it look more realistic as a TV screen, we made increased the level of softness and lowered the level of sharpness.

We then put the sequence into high definition and we were finished!

Distribution and Marketing

FRANCHISE/ BIG BUDGET MOVIE

High Production values:

• Special Effects
• Stars
• Locations
• Sets

Mainstream: Widest Possible Audience

Blanket Release: Widest Release-Eurpoe/ USA (possibly Asia)

Wide Audience-wide release: Large marketing (press & advertising) potentially 25/ 50% of estimated box office

Competitive Release Date

Define U.S.P

Researched Target Audience

Test Screenings

Questionnaires (market research)

Press & advertising (P & A)

Posters (bus/ tube/ billboard)

Newspapers/ Magazines (interviews/ reviews/ ads)

Radio publicity/ Competitions (air play of soundtrack)

Chat shows/ Appearances

TV Spots/ Trailers

Viral Marketing:

• Official websites
• fan sites/ unofficial
• user censored content
• social network marketing
• mobile content

Production

Hollywood/Big budget prductions have an emphasis on MARKETABILITY

• The film (product) must sell
• It will most likely have an audience in mind before principal photography
• The product will be adapted to be more saleable to fit the widest audience
• It will have a release date which will have been carefully considered in relation to competition from other studios
• Most significant emphasis will be placed on selling the whole package
• Consideration will be used for what unique sales point it has: stars, effects, new technology

PRODUCTION-UK

• Production limited to whatever funding is available.
• Product is often developed from a literary source
• Often of a more sensitive/less commercial content (wife beating/drug abuse/poor people)
• Less emphasis on stars/star image--> more character based
• Intended as an art/independant/ thought-provoking film not 'packaged' as a genre film
• Targeted at a niche audience

Hollywood/Commericial V.S UK/Independent

• Very basic break-down--not as simple as one OR the other
• Working Title-started basic (FOUR WEDDINGS) and was then bought by Universal (NOTTING HILL)
• Vertigo started basic (LONDON TO BRIGHTON) and although is stll independent, is moving commercially towards competition with Europe (potentially U.S market)---(STREETDANCE 3D/ MONSTERS)
• Warp is a British independent film maker and aimed at a niche British audience-it started as a record label (4 LIONS)



Research Task-The Life of a film

We had to research the production/distribution
 companies; Vertigo and Warner Bros. two very different but both very successful companies that have become influential in their country.
Here is my powerpoint presentation on my research about the distribution companies:

Research Task- the life of a film

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