Target Audience Research - Film Poster Analysis

The film poster for ‘In Darkness’ demonstrates that it is targeted to a particular audience who are British-Polish which is given away by the fact that the majority of the text language used is British-English rather than Polish.

The poster mentions the fact that it is ‘Based on the True World War 2 Story” thus, telling the audience straightaway that it is an inspired true war film. This is also targeting the audience who enjoy history or are curious about wanting to know more about the point of view of the people during the war time.

Names of film festivals are displayed at the top of the poster such as Dublin Film Festival, Glasgow Film Festival, Kinoteka Polish Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival. This could be where the film may have been mentioned or featured in film festivals thus targeting Irish people, Scottish people, Americans as well as Polish people.

The age restriction for the film is targeted for a minimum age of 15 years old which is due to the film containing “strong sex, violence and language” that’s seen as inappropriate for anyone younger than the minimum age.

The colour scheme consists of two shades of colour; half of the poster is using very light and rustic colours while the other half of the poster consists of mainly dark colours with minimum use of light shades. This can determine their target audience since it uses very historical colours for the majority of the film poster which could mean that their target audience consists of elderly people or people who find history interesting especially if it's based on world war 2.

Target Audience Research - Mood board

Our group created a collage that includes different images and elements of what our target audience may be like through personality and interests.

Target Audience Research - Video Interview with potential audience

My group did video interviews with people who potentially may be our target audience.

Mood Board - Mise-en-scene ideas for the Stalker/Slasher Hybrid and Dystopian Future-setting Trailer

The mood board is a collage of images that will help influence what icons we should include in our film trailer. These images include any religious iconography as well as images that depict signs of murder and horror.

Mood Board - Genre iconography for stalker/slasher hybrid and dystopian future

Genre Research - Research and Analysis into influential genre

Genre Research - Repertoire of Elements in Relation to Genre

Group powerpoint presentation on the repertoire of elements in relation to our chosen genre.

Repertoire of elements accc from Ced-1014

Analysis of a film magazine cover (2) - Little White Lies

Analysis of 'Little White Lies' front cover magazine and presented on Prezi.

Analysis of a film magazine cover (1) - Empire

Analysis of Empire's front cover magazine and presented on Prezi.

Analysis of film poster in relation to genre

An analysis of a film poster that's in relation to the chosen genre of my group.

Research - Analysis of a film poster

This is a analysis of a film poster of my choice so it's not in relation with the genre of the film trailer.

Genre Research - History/Background of choosen genre

Slasher/Stalker Film

 

Slasher/slasher is a sub-genre of Horror films but mainly due to the involvement of psychopathic killers who stalks and plans murders that are usually random or many within a day etc. The psychopathic killer usually has a sort of disguise like a mask to remain anonymous to the public.

The slasher film as a genre can be connected to a real-life event in the 1957 a man named Ed Gein was known to be a psychopathic killer, who was obsessed with dead human bodies which started to become an extreme case collecting them. This real-life event of Gein inspired a book called Psycho by Robert Bloch in which lead killer movies to be created in the 60's like Hush, hush sweet Charlotte,  What ever happened to baby Jane, Maniac, Satans Bed and Strait Jacket alongside Psycho itself. There are also recent movies within the 2000 till now like Cherry Falls (2000), Cry Wolf (2005) and the well known final destination.

Horror is the main genre of this whole slasher/stalker kind of films so we have to ensure to also have knowledge on this genre as a whole too. Horror's aim is to frighten the audience and induce the whole feeling of terror and horror by creating an eerie and frightening atmosphere throughout the whole film.

Dystopian future

 

Dystopia is a community or a society that is undesirable and is the opposite of utopia. Dystopian future genres concept produces these undesirable disrupted futures such as dehumanisation, corrupted governments, environmental disaster etc.  The idea of dystopia was cacotopia before hand, which is the word for the imagined seating of the worst government.

One of the earliest dystopian films is Blade Runner from 1982, and American neo-noir dystopian science fiction film based in Los Angeles in November 2019. It is about humans being genetically engineered replicants who are indistinguishable from adult humans created by a mega corporation.

They were made essentially for labor and entertainment purposes and are illegal on earth, if they make it to earth they are to be killed. A Blade runner, a hunter of replicants seek these replicants who wish for their lifespan to be extended.

Films like this with a futuristic disrupted society has helped influence films now like The Purge, The Hunger Games, In Time and Divergent.

Genre Research - Institutional Context

Top rated slasher feature films (IMDb)

Se7en (Drama, Mystery, Thriller) [1995] - 8.7/10


The Silence of Lambs (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [1991] - 8.6/10


Psycho (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) [1991] - 8.6/10


The Shining (Horror) [1980] - 8.5/10


Halloween (Horror) [1978] - 7.9/10


Deep Red (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) [1975] - 7.7/10


Grindhouse (Action, Horror, Thriller) [2007] - 7.7/10


Santa Sangre (Drama, Horror) [1989] - 7.7/10


Man Bites Dog (Comedy, Crime, Drama) [1992] - 7.6/10


American Psycho (Crime, Drama) [2000] - 7.6/10

Top-Grossing slasher feature films (IMDb)

Hannibal (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [2001] - $165,091,464


Scary Movie (Comedy) [2000] - $157,019,771


The Silence of the Lambs (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [1991] - $130,742,922


Scream (Crime, Horror, Mystery) [1996] - $103,001,286


Scream 2 (Crime, Horror, Mystery) [1997] - $101,334,374


Se7en (Drama, Mystery, Thriller) [1995] - $100,125,643


Red Dragon (Crime, Thriller) [2002] - $92,930,005

Scream 3 (Horror, Mystery) [2000] - $89,138,076


Freddy vs. Jason (Horror) [2003] - $82,163,317


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Horror) [2003] - $80,148,261

Film Productions and Distributions for some 'Slasher' and 'Dystopian Future' feature films


The Purge (Dystopian Future)

Film Production Companies

- Blumhouse Productions

- Platinum Dunes

- Media Rights Capital

Distributed by:

- Universal

The Silence of Lambs (Slasher)

Distributed by:

- Orion Pictures

Divergent (Dystopian Future)

Film Production Companies

- Red Wagon Entertainment

- Summit Entertainment

Distributed by:

- Lionsgrate

Scream [series] (Slasher)

Film Production Company

- Woods Entertainment

Distributed by:

- Dimension Films

- Konrad Pictures

- Outerbanks Entertainment

Hannibal (Slasher)

Film Production Company

- Scott Free Productions

Distributed by:

- Universal Pictures

From the research of some of the films listed, it has come down to a conclusion that Universal Pictures seem to be one of the top distributors for slasher-feature films as well as dystopian future feature-films. It's one of the main and most known film manufacturing companies in the film and media industry. Universal Pictures works with the parent company known as NBC Universal and is also known as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. The company offers range of production services such as set lighting, grip to proper and special effects. For post-production media services, it also has on offer a variety of services such as sound editorial & design to picture editorial. Universal Pictures is mainly known for its creating and distributing of theatrical and non-theatrical entertainment on film. The Purge: Anarchy has achieved a total gross of $71,562,550 and is ranked number 108 overall the movies produced by Universal Pictures. The company is also in a partnership with Blumhouse Productions, Focus Features, Illumination Entertainment, Laika, Legendary and Working Title.

Blumhouse Productions is an company in partner with Universal Pictures. It's an multi-media American Film Production Company that's founded and run by Jason Blum. The film production company produces low-budget genre films such as Paranormal Activity and Inisidious. The majority of the films Bluehouse Productions produces seem to mainly be horror, thriller and slasher films such as The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy. The film production company is known for it's debut movie 'Paranormal Activity' where the budget is estimated to be about $15,000 and grossed at $107,918,810 in 2010. The film production has more of a known-title within the horror-genre films since for Halloween 2012, they did an event called 'Blumhouse of Horror' which is an innovative haunted house experience located in Downtown Los Angeles; an escape game experience as a sort of marketing for the next upcoming film 'The Purge: Breakout'.