Evaluation: Who would be your audience for your media product?

Before I define my target audience, I need to decide what rating would be given to my film, as naturally this defines a certain starting point for my audience. The two organisations I would need to predominantly rate my film would be the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Motion Picture Assocation of America (MPAA) as they are the organisations that determine movie ratings in countris where my film would gain the most attention.
The ratings system of the BBFC are; Universal, Parental Guidance, 12A, 12, 15, 18, and Restriced 18. While the MPAA's rating system is; General, Parental Guidance, PG-13, R (under 17), and NC-17 (17 and under).
For the BBFC rating, I would consider my film to be rated as a 15. This is due to the fact that 15's and 18's are generally the ratings for crime/action thriller films because of their inclusion of murder, the wide portrayal or even glorifying of crime, and the gritty nature of the characters. Also i intend to include elements of psychological thrillers through the killers interaction witht the detectives, which is usually lost on younger audiences. From the off, my film immidiately includes death and will go on to do so in the rest of the film aswell. However I don't believe it to be an 18 due to the plot being more focused on the intrigue of finding the killer rather than the gory nature of the killer and his deeds.
I think R would be the appropriate rating for MPAA system as although I personally think 17 is too high a cut off age, I more strongly feel 13 is too low an age. Also the larger gaps between the ages of the MPAA system indicates to me they are more strict with film ratings than the BBFC.



I believe my target audience would be mainly be the young adult demographic of 18-25, however this is in no way the only audience I would aim at. I'd imagine due to the focus on the psychological nature of crime than the gory side, older audiences would also appreciate the film. In terms of gender, thrillers would normally be perceived as appealing more to a male audience, but not ruling out a female fanbase for the same reasons as why older viewers may enjoy it. In terms of socio-economic group, groups B/C seem to be the most likely to watch the film, with C likely being more prominent as students who fall perfectly into our age demographic will be in that socioeconomic group.

These were my initial thoughts on the target audience I believe they have been upheld through some quick surveys I did where all the people in my class who fit into my main target audience of young males said they would be interested to see the film. Whereas when I asked people out of this group such as those over 25 or female, although most responses were positive, there were those who said it would not interest them.

Evaluation: What kind of media institution might distribute your film and why?

The media institution that would distribute my film would be a film studio, of which there are three kinds.

The first type would be a hollywood studio such as Warner Bros or Universal. These kind of studios would grant a large budget to the film which would make attracting the elite of actors to the film easier and would also mean a very large advertising campaign accross not only the USA but most of the western world aswell. State of the art CGI effects would also be avaliable for use if needed. These studios tend to bring large amounts of media coverage to the film regardless of it's quality.



Another type would be a British film studio such as Film4 Studios. This kind of studio would grant an average sized budget for the film and would create a good advertising campaign accross the UK, but probably not the rest of the world, although British based films have been known to earn critical success overseas. Well known British actors would be cast for the film. The size of the studio would also mean they would be more likely to give more creative control to the films creators and offer less interference which would be likely in a hollywood film studio.



The last type are Art House/Independant film studios. They tend to only distribute films that strongly distort normal film conventions and do not not offer much mainstream appeal. The budget would be fairly small with access to predominantly unknown or emerging actors and as such there wouldn't be much of a media campaign behind it.

Overall the type of studio I would choose would be a hollywood studio because of the resources it would bring to the movie and also the more or less assured guarantee of it getting box office success. This is despite the fact that with a British film studio there is perhaps a greater likelihood of the film maintaining a sense of integrity. When members of my target audience were asked they chose the hollywood studio because they felt it would allow them to find it more entertaining due to the presence of big name actors and resources such as extravagant sets and CGI effects.

Evaluation: How does your film represent particular social groups?

Stereotypically, females are represented as vulnerable in my film as the girl is the victim, whereas again stereotypically males are portrayed as more important as they take the roles of both the protagonists and the antagonist. The anatagonist is wearing a hooded sweatshirt which is stereotypical of a working class young male which is usally associated with a menacing and aggressive demeanor. However the hooded top is mainly used to cover the antagonists face so it does not necessarily connote he is of this this social group. The two detectives also talk to each other very informally and also use some bad language,which would not be typically expected from detectives, also connoting that they may be from a working class background in a stereotypical manner. This dialogue between the two is also stereotypical of male interaction, as such that they seem 'unbothered' by the murder and unwilling to show emotions about it, but this convention is ended at the end when it is clear that they do care about stopping the killer.

Evaluation: In what ways does your film use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real films?

One of the clearest ways in which I have used conventions for the thriller genre is the role of the males as the protagonists and the antagonist and the female as the victim. This is a commonly used form as stereotypically males are seen as strong, physically and mentally, whereas females have a much greater sense of vulnerability about them. The portrayal of the protagonist also follows convention of thriller movies to a degree as they are portrayed as 'gritty' detectives, but people who still care about protecting the safety of others. This hard exterior of characters is common in thrillers as it allows a gradual unravelling of the characters true personality that the audience can follow and feel more connected with the film. The location of the forest also conforms to thriller convention as it is a secluded location where there is no immidiate help or safety, which makes the victim feel more vulnerable.
I have slightly developed conventions by showing who the main antagonist is right at the beginning of the movie, however I have still kept the sense of mystery to him by not revealing his face or any other details about him such as his motive for killing.
I have challened conventions by immidiately giving the protagonists a vital clue to who the killer is. Usually in thrillers it is between a third to a half the way through the movie where the protagonists know what they're dealing with. In this case they know who they're dealing with from the start, so the whole movie is based around their specific search and interaction with the antagonist.

Audience Feedback

For my feedback I asked mainly people in my age bracket aswell as my teachers as they all fall into my target audience. The most notable positive thing many of them said about the film was the contrast of the scenes of the chase and the peaceful shots of the forest and how this also builds up tension and suspense well. The use of a white flash to cut between the chase and present time was also praised for the shock value of not knowing what the killer is going to do to realising the victim is dead. The audience said how it created mystery to how and why he killed her. One audience member stated 'Impressive, I like the use of non-diegetic sound to create atmosphere (the heart beat, the sinister music) and the black and white imagery to represent the flashback.' I am very encouraged by this feedback as the parts of the film mentioned were parts where I had a desired effect, which seems to have worked.

A late addition I made to my film was the flash of a lotus flower right at the end of it accompanied by a heart beat. As it was such a late addition and was not in my planning stages, I decided to survey a few target audience members to whether they felt it added to the film opening.

Out of ten people asked, nine felt it was a good way to end the movie and also praised it for the surprise factor. The one person's reservation was that it didn't fit into the film, but because of the response from the other people, I am going to disagree with this sentiment.

Film Final Product

This is the finished opening 2 minutes of my film entitled Lotus.