CCR Task 2 - How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

For our opening title sequence, the primary target audience would be males between 15-17. Here is a link to a more specific blog post on the target audience:

https://joya1media.blogspot.com/2022/03/target-audience.html

I compared with similar films’ demographic. This shows the demographic for the Terminator:

Also, we consider about the BBFC film certificates for our opening sequence too. As there includes the blood and violent elements relating to the action horror genre. So we decide the age certificate should be over 15 which is also suitable for our target audience. Here is the link of the blog post:

https://joya1media.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-bbfc-film-certificates.html

The moments in the opening title sequences

The first scene in the opening title sequence shows the location and the charcter directly. The broken cars and woods location gives a post-apocalyptic vibe which can engage audience especially for the males. The broken car window glass with the blood on the girls’s face conveys the dangerous environment.

The location and the costume of the girl is the conventions for an action film. The girl is wearing the grey tight top and the cargo trousers, the clothes has blood and scratches which hints she is surviving in the woods. And she has one large bag which covered in mud and also has a fanny pack. So she has a large capacity to store supplies. From the details shown in this scene, it gives many informations to the audience. The unrealistic location can applies to the theory from Jay Blumer and Elihu Katz – the Uses and Gratifications. Many people will fantasy a post-apocalyptic place, so the setting of this film can allow audience to escape from reality and entertained.

For action horror genre films, the key conventions are the blood and wounds. In this scene, the girl rips her sleeve off and wraps the wound. The close up shot of the wound shows a bloody and violence atmosphere which can engage the teenage boys. The facial expression of the girl presents the pain feeling.

The movement that ripping off the sleeve often appeared in the action films, it is a typical narrative. For example, in Ready or Not the heroine also rip her sleeve off to wrap her wound. This scene is edited in short pace which shows the nervous and unsettling atmosphere.

Then, the main action scene in the opening sequence is the escaping scene. From the narrative, the girl hears a motorcycle starts revving and getting close to her so she had to run in the opposite direction quickly. The handheld camera shows the intense atmosphere which can make the audience feel nervous with the character and be more attentive.

Through splicing different shots, it establishes the locations more. In addition, the element of the motorcycle can attract males. Although the motorcycle didn’t appear, but the soundtrack of the revving motorcycle can shows the danger is coming. 

The long shot while the girl is hiding in the car can engage the audience. Continue to approach slowly can build the tension and attract audience’s attention. In this scene, the second charcter appears in the black costume and the big battle axe. The tattered cloth on the girl contrast with the hard jersey which shows the man is more powerful. The man brings the horror atmosphere as he is trying to catch the girl. 

The powerful killer and the weaker girl hiding is a typical conventions for the horror films that the victim is always female. The pleonastic sound of the footsteps and the axe dragging sound will gives a stimulating emotion that can engage the audience. Moreover, the battle axe weapon will definitely attracts teenage boys, also it brings the post-apocalyptic vibe again.

The last shot of the sequence is a killing scene. The facial expression of the girl and the low angle shot of the killer all brings a horror atmosphere. We make one small jump scare when the killer suddenly appear, it can engage the audience into the story and feeling scared. A jump scare is really typical in horror films. Instead of showing the dead body of the girl, we cut to black straight away. So the audience don’t know does the girl actually died in the end of the opening scene. This applies to Enigma Codes which will make the audience keep watching the film. And the non-diegetic soundtrack in the end has the echo effects which hints the killing does not end.

I think the opening title sequence is quiet successful on engaging the audience, we build the horror tension from the start and use the jump scare at the end to release the scared feeling. The location, blood, weapon and violence elements are adhering to the typical conventions for the action horror film. At the same time, they can attract our target audience (age 15 to 17 males) easily. However, I think if we can make the editing speed in the beginning faster and add some non-diegetic soundtrack in it, the nervous and scary atmosphere can be presented better which can be more attractive to the audience.

The Film Poster

In the poster, it shows the two characters that appear in the opening sequence, the killer and the girl. I want to highlight the contrast between the two when I design it. From the position that the killer is standing on top and the girl is hiding at the bottom, it hints that the killer is really powerful and the girl is in danger. It presents the scared facial expression of the girl too. People can realise that the killer is chasing the girl and from the poster they might wonder if the girl is finally found. The poster shows the battle axe which can attract our target audience. Also the filter of it gives a horror emotion. Furthermore, in the title I use red colour for two letters which gives the violent and bloody impression. The title can show the genre of the film. Also, from the sentence ‘How long can you survive?’, the people see it might realise the film is about surviving.

HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS

It is a British film production company. It is founded in 1934. Simon Oakes and Marc Schipper are the owners. It is famous for its horror thriller films. During 1940 to 1960, it dominated the horror film market and always have worldwide distribution. It worked with American companies to distribute the films, such as Warner Bros, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. However, due to the loss of funds, it stopped to produce films in 1980. Until 2007, it was bought by Dutch tycoon John de Mol, it started to make films again.

Previous films:

Recent films:

Considering that it's slowly returning to producing and distributing films, and our film is also a horror genre that in a post-apocalyptic setting. I think it is really suitable for distributing it. Hammer Films is really famous for horror films so it can help sells the film. 

For marketing, it will mainly do new media marketing, new media can market internationally and can save our budget. We will create a official instergram or Twitter page and a ‘Revving’ hashtag for people to share it online. Before the release date, we will make two trailers. One is the official trailer which is about 2 or 3 minutes, another will be a shorter one which is about 25 seconds. The shorter trailer can let wider range of people see it, so it can helps to attract more audience. I would like to release it in October around Halloween as it is a horror film, the date just before Halloween can help to sell it. But I won’t chose to release on the Halloween because there will be too many films released which will be more competitive.

Based on the recently released films in Hammer film, I think it will have a limited cinema release in United Kingdom and United States first. Then we can give copyright to Shudder and release it on shudder streaming. Shudder mainly distribute horror genre films so I think The Revving is really suitable for it. Apart from Shudder, it can also put on Netflix or Amazon prime. Also for making more profits, Hammer Film can make the DVD and Blu-ray version of it. If the film goes well, it can also make some limited steel book with special art posters in it. We will design some special posters for limited sales.