FILM INDUSTRY: KEN LOACH & SWEET SIXTEEN

This material is for Component 2 Media Texts and Contexts - Section B Media Contexts

In your exam, you answer one question on TV drama and the second on the film industry.

It might help you to think about typical exam questions as we cover two further case studies: 

‘Marketing is vital to the success of both established and new media products.’ To what extent do you agree with this statement in relation to the media area you have studied?

"How do media institutions target national and local audiences in the media area you have studied?"

Today's case study - Ken Loach films and I, Daniel Blake. Please save your notes in your laptop folder (not on your blog). Next time, we will cover Sorry We Missed You.

OUR STARTER ACTIVITY

We looked at 3D anamorphic billboard design as a new marketing platform. We also discussed making a LinkedIn profile in your future.

3D out-of-home (OOH) billboards, a burgeoning new technology on the high street, has strong implications for how marketers bring their campaigns to life. Hyper-realistic 3D OOH billboards have been stunning passersby on busy streets in China, South Korea, the US, Japan and recently the UK. The creative campaigns blur the lines between technology and reality while showcasing that creativity in advertising really is limitless. Current examples include Amazon Prime’s 3D OOH campaign at Piccadilly Circus.

In them, characters break the fourth wall, interact with IRL environments and blur the lines between content, OOH and experiential like never before.

CHECKLIST

 Posts /tasks that can be done by one member of the Production Team and shared:

1. Mind map
2. The actual treatment (but don't just copy / paste the post)
3. Location recces (with photos)
4. Storyboard (can be shared)
5. Shot list (can be shared)
6. Call sheets (one for every shoot)
7. Risk assessment
8. BBFC certificate

Posts / Tasks best done individually:

1. Casting (post with paired images)
2. Accounts of filming (reflective, with 'on the set' shots; challenges, what went well / badly)
3. Props that you have made yourself
4. Your own Production Company logo (films often have co-productions)
5. Pinterest boards on the social groups and social issues in your film 

GUIDANCE and LISTS

To show the development of your Foundation Production, you publish PLANNING posts. Put the word PLANNING in caps before each of the following:

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE Consult this blog post

TREATMENT Examples here

MY TARGET AUDIENCE example of a post here,  here and here 

CHARACTERS The exam board ask us to consider social groups and stereotypes. Examples of this are in this post here, this post and here

LOCATION RECCE with photos like this

RISK ASSESSMENT Once you know exactly what you are doing, assess the risks in a Word Document like this one here

CASTING Note Examiner's report here Examples here in Canva, here in Piktochart, here in Slideshare

PROPS Present this as you see fit, such as like this. If you have to construct props

STORYBOARD Examples here  and here

SHOT LIST Example here and here

CALL SHEET Example here Do NOT PUT IDENTIFYING DETAILS

CERTIFICATE Example here

AUDIENCE Theory SlideShare like this 

SOCIAL GROUPS - images collected in Pinterest boards, labelled and groups: How does your film opening represent social groups or issues? Find images (= representations) and collate them in different Pinterest boards like this.

• First identify the social groups featured and present them visually (in Pinterest). Roles and jobs?
• The focus is on how they are represented: stereotypes? anti-stereotypes? What are they like? Gender, status, age? 
• Identify the issues in your film opening: recent 'issues' have included artificial intelligence, people smuggling, bullying, kidnapping, art theft, online fraud. How are they presented in your production?

                                                                      ...........

CONSTRUCTION: SHOOTS Great fun to report on your shoots (and later on your edits), explaining the challenges

FILM INDUSTRY: EMMA AS A CASE STUDY

 Exam Paper 2 Key Concepts : Section B 

In today's lesson, we watch the US and UK trailers for Emma and consider how to use Working Title's Emma as a case study to discuss issues raised such as

• ownership - Working Title, Universal
• genre - literary adaptation, comedy
• different audiences - mainstream, national, international, literary
• marketing - posters (how 'outdoor' marketing with high production values & highly stylised costumes + landscapes targeted older audiences)
• casting of long-term famous stars like Bill Nighy & Rupert Graves, comediennes like Miranda Hart and new talent like Josh O'Conner, Johnny Flynn, Anya Taylor-Joy (known to Netflix audiences for her acting triumph in “The Queen’s Gambit”. Accompanying the streaming of the miniseries has come renewed interest in the movie)
• social media (younger audiences Twitter and Instagram; older audiences FB); trailers and visuals now cut specially for hand-held devices with snappier editing for shorter attention spans
• marketing - trailers (how the fast-paced editing, use of comedy, emphasis on romance & current stars engaged a new generation of younger audiences)
• product tie-ins and merchandising - stationary; 
• celebrity appearances and interviews - Vogue Magazine screening
• synergy - the trailers appear on WT's website, together with convergent social media links, enabling a degree of synergy
• Emma release: Valentine's Day 2020 in UK, shortly after in US; 20th March digitally through Premium VOD streaming platforms because of cinema closures; later, in May, via DVD and Blu-ray, and recently viewing via HBO with Prime Video Channels. See this article on the changing patterns of content creation, distribution and star power 
  
• Accolades - Academy Award (like Costume design)and BAFTA nominations, Golden Globe winner
• Box office world-wide total $26 million +

FILM INDUSTRY MARKETING: BLACK PANTHER

 

ESSAY: Analyse the techniques used to target different audiences in the media are that you have studied. 

By Sunday 21st November

In this short prep, you will start preparing this exam essay by presenting the first of three case studies, Black Panther, using the materials emailed to you, which are also on GoogleClassroom.

TV DRAMA: HUSTLE

 Exam Component 2: Key Media Concepts (25% of total marks) Written examination 2 hours

Written analysis by Sunday 14 November on Google Classroom
Find the exam text on ClickView: go to Media Studies > TV drama clips > OCR 322 HUSTLE

 
Discuss the ways in which the extract from Hustle constructs meaning through the following: 

• camera shots, angles, movement and composition 
• editing 
• sound 
• mise-en-scène

Tips:

Start with an opening sentence that briefly sums up what the extract is about.

Tackle the analysis on a scene-by-scene basis (NOT camerawork, then editing and so on)

So, discuss all 4 bullet points as you go through each scene - some may be longer than others.

3 point plan: identify the terminology, then give the example, then say what meaning is made.

For example: The close-up shot terminology of the wealthy blond customer with her expensively coiffed hair and perfect make-up example shows the audience how poised and self-assured she is as she smiles smugly, confident of getting what she wants meaning 

Another example: The tilt pan terminology from foot to head of the wealthy customer trying on the expensive new evening dress example constructs her as the sort of client that the shop assistant wants to impress as she is slim and makes the dress look beautiful; by ending the camera movement on her face, the audience sees her vain reaction to her image in the mirror meaning 

Another example: the two shot terminology of Stroller (the older man) dressed to impress in his expensive suit entertaining Sean (the younger man) in the exclusive gentlemen's club, plying him with whiskey in cut glass tumblers, in a setting designed to make a statement example suggests that Stroller is out to manipulate the younger man.

PLANNING: OUR COMP LIST

 Kezia Williams, of Entertainment One UK, on the FutureLearn Film Distribution by the Film Distributors Association, speaks about how film distributors build a 'comp list' of comparable films that their target audience would enjoy. 

She highlights the importance of knowing your target audience. She asks questions like "what drives them to the cinema" and "what interests do they have". She also says distributors will compare data of films that are similar in their genre, selling points and story. The target audience and budget is formulated from what box office take was like with previous films and the types of audience that saw those films. The target audience can be analysed to find the gender gap, and which cinemas the target audience usually frequent.

seconds KEZIA WILLIAMS: Really important to understand who your audience is and what motivates them and what’s going to interest them and drive them to go to the cinema. So you start, often, by examining similar films that have been released in the past– comparable films is a way in which we refer to them in the industry– and create a set that we can then look back at data so we can look at lots of different data and do research, really, on those comparable films to identify who the audience was on those films. So it might be that we look at demographic data and think about, did it skew more male or more female? What’s the age group that it appeals to?

0:46Skip to 0 minutes and 46 secondsDoes it have multiple different audiences that that can appeal to? And there’s lots and lots of cinema-going trends that you can dig into from that comparable set. We’ll also look at box office data to understand regionality, to look at the cinema-going skew– so did more people go to a certain cinema chain to see these comparable films? Right down to which cinemas performed. So it might be that there’s a cinema in London that had a fantastic box office share, and that’s an important aspect for us to consider. And then once you really understand who the audience on those comparable films were, you can start to talk about the differences and similarities between those films and the film that you’re working on.

You should start your post by explaining that you carried out similar research and created a 'comp list' (such as these below). 

You must explain the ways in which your chosen films are similar to the one that you are making and how they appeal to your target audience.

Example 1 

Example 2

Example 3

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE & HOW I ENGAGED THEM

WHAT YOU WRITE
From the FutureLearn course that I am following Distribution: Connecting Films With Audiences, I know that all products are targeted at specific audiences.

I needed to plan how to reach my target audience. Therefore, I needed to know who they are (factors that may be relevant include age, gender, ethnicity, social class), what their media needs are (so that I could produce a product that they will want) and how to reach them (to market my film). I will show how my research has shaped / influenced my planning. 

I started by investigating how brands define audiences in preparation for creating my own audience profile for my AS Foundation Production. 

For example, I saw how Bauer Media, NME and Sky defined audiences. This helped me profile my audience. I then created an audience profile (below).

PLANNING: MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

I am using Google forms to create a questionnaire for my target audience and send it to people who are likely to watch our film. I will ask questions referring to age, gender, what types of films they prefer to watch, what influences them to watch a film and where they prefer to watch it. Our production team want to make a film that would appeal to young people aged 15-35. Our questionnaire will be useful to ensure that our type of genre will appeal to this audience. Through the use of Google Forms I will be able to collect this data.

These are the questions I intend to ask:
(Opening message) I would be grateful if you complete this short survey on films and what you prefer

1.  What is your gender?
2.  What age category do you fit into?
3.  Which of these your film genres would you watch? Pick as many as you wish.
4.  What was the last film you watched?
5.  What platform would you most likely use to watch a film?
6.  Which of these trailers have you seen?
7.  Which of these platforms would you use to find out about films?
8.  What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film?

(Ending message) Thank you for completing this form!

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

To plan how to reach your specific target audience you need to know who they are and what their interests are. You create an audience questionnaire to research the age, gender, ethnicity and social class of your target audience. You also find out what their media needs and wants are so that you can create a film that will satisfy them. Ultimately in order to market your movie you have to find out the best way to reach your target audience. To show how your research has helped with your planning, you have answered the questions below with pictures to support your post. 

1. Who is my primary target audience?

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

4. What brands do they prefer?

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

6 . Why should my audience watch my film?