How does my promo pack represent social groups or issues
Our film trailer tackles the issue of the perception of individuals in the military forces by wider society, and attempts to show soldiers as unique people as opposed to cogs in a system. Ordinarily soldiers are commonly represented as brave heroes to be praised and thanked as seen with films such as 1917, Hacksaw Ridge and Dunkirk, in which the American forces are often portrayed as the heroes of the world fighting against ‘evil’ forces such as the Nazi’s, and more recently the terrorist organisations of the Middle East.
Our film portrays them as victims of a societal system that exploits the military for political gain and that does not see the individual identity of each soldier or the life they live. Making them seen as individuals instead of disposable fighters.
Our promotional material and all featured online material bears the face of the anonymous solider, embedding the imagery of the film in the forefront of the audiences mind. Our intention was to challenge the norms of the genre, ensuring the viewer connected with the man behind the uniform.
How the elements of my promo pack work together to create branding
The elements of the production that work together to create a sense of “branding “ are the film website, poster and promotional materials, Instagram pages and Twitter feed which all have the iconic “head” poster featuring the anonymous image of the protagonist in the dark purple helmet. The Keyhole Productions Logo is visible on all marketing and is part of the promotional campaign for Silhouette.
The film tagline is ‘It’s in the shadows’ and also features across all materials including the website, posters and social media. The header photos of the social media campaign are the same and feature the face image which further signals the brand identity to the potential audience. The brand identity is clear and distinct and contains fonts and colouring that link closely to the genre of the production encouraging audiences to find out more.
The film website follows the conventions typically associated with similar film websites. It has links to the social media, reviews, a gallery, an overview, links to film festivals, the airing time, a synopsis behind the scenes images and a shop.
The posters both help serve into the narrative of soldiers as the primary focus, following the conventions for action film posters. The lettering across both posters is consistent, using the same font and both have a billing block along the bottom.
All of the branding across the platforms is consistent and will help the viewer build a relationship with the film.
How my film promo pack engages with my audience
The film trailer engages with audiences
by grabbing their attention with the news article. The trailer then raises
questions; where does the monster come from? why is it so powerful? will the
soldiers survive? and will humanity survive?
Our target audience is that of 15-25
year olds. This is because the film trailers are more adult and unnerving in
nature, we are trying to have unsettling horror as opposed to jump
scares. The continuity is done in the lighting and the sound, as there are no inconsistencies, there is no changes in the time of day, the setting, etc, this helps to preserve the continuity.
In my film trailer we had darker shadowing and the lighting we did have was most prominent when the soldiers were by the windows, or outside the building, which helped to create the mood of a dangerous place that in turn improves the impact of the trailer. The building we filmed in did have props in the background to help create the image that the building was abandoned and dangerous, whilst also helping set the mood for the trailer and follow conventions.
The music is tense and fast paced, this makes the viewer feel that something dangerous is happening and that there is a time limit to the mission, the voiceover helps to humanise the soldiers as they talk about their feelings and family. This helps to connote the genre of military horror that we are trying to create. We inform the viewer about the soldier's life and help the viewers to sympathise with them which is a common trait in trailers for the military genre.
My film website and poster also have consistency in their design and colour scheme, this means that the audience will be more able to identify the connection between poster, website and trailer. The dark colours used, the masked soldier and the monster all luring the viewer, to attempt to make them engage fully. The branding is followed through in our clothing range too. All of which show that the film is a horror/thriller.
How did my research inform my products and how did they use or challenge conventions?
My research helped me understand more about the horror/thriller film genre. I spent time researching tense music, lighting and appropriate film editing. Dark lighting was used for this because of it being a thriller, as the darkness is stereotypically seen as scary because you can't see what's in it therefore you assume the worst.
The use of dark colours across the entire promo pack were essential, ensuring it was clear what the film was trying to portray. All fonts were the same to ensure the promo pack was easily recognisable.
Hyperlinks on the website lead the viewer to film festival websites of the same genre. The website gallery shows pictures of the making of the film to encourage people to watch it. There are special pages for reviews and a section on the production team. There are also links to Social Media with the icons clearly visible at the bottom of the website.
You present your protagonists as an integral part of the social issues raised in tour film - the tension between the public and private lives of the military. You show how your research has led to the development of your film treatment, acknowledging the power of films such as Dunkirk and Hacksaw Ridge, whilst you and your Production Team were equally taken by the inner turmoil of the American Sniper's private emotional life. To this research into more conventional war films, your group has brought two more topical issues: the current public unease about unspecified forces at loose in society and the SCP Foundation, a fictional organisation, a collaborative-fiction project responsible for locating and containing entities that are beyond the power of government and natural law. You have also researched horror and thriller film conventions, which you acknowledge. You show a clear grasp of how your film trailers meet your target audience’s expectations and provide audience pleasures associated with the genre (jump scares, unnerving music, realistic costumes, convincing sets, monster, masks and darkness). Your careful research into the constituent elements of the promo pack, such as the poster, website and social media, indicate that you have followed genre conventions in these elements whilst creating something new in the film trailers themselves.
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