In Class Activity- Art of The Title

In class we reviewed the site Art of the Title. This allowed us to see many introductions to many famous and well know movies. One of the ones I watched was the into to the movie Insidious. Insidious has a similar genre to our movie so it fit perfectly with what we were looking for. The incidental music was used for most of the intro and we need to add that to ours to give it a more eerie tone. The titling they used also added to the creepy feeling of the movie. They used a red font similar to what we used but the style was different. We might want to consider changing our font to try and make it more slender and frightening looking. The beginning of Insidious also foreshadows an event that takes place later in the movie. We also wanted to try and do this in the beginning when the stalker is present, so the audience knows that he will appear again later. Art of the Title states, "...the disquieting score, however, will drum up a baser instinct- the musical equivalent to the hair on the back of your neck standing up." The whole movie is terrifying and that is the goal for our movie too.

Audience Engagement Research- The Cabin In The Woods

The film "The Cabin In The Woods" appeals to mostly teenagers because of the teenage characters in it. This is very similar to our film since we also have the main roles played by teenagers. Also, our movie has a horror and mystery element that this film also has. These aspects keep the audience engaged until the very end of the movie which is what our goal is for our film. The Cabin In The Woods has very intense and action packed scenes that help keep the audience on their toes. Anything could happen in a given moment and that is what makes it such a a good movie. The marketing for this film was mainly through the actors and their social media. Since all of them have a fan base, it was easy to market the film out to people using they. One of the actors Chris Hemsworth has been seen in many previous movies which helped draw attention to The Cabin In The Woods. The actors and actresses also promoted the movie by releasing the YouTube trailer of the movie to their fan base. The trailer was also very popular since it left the audience wanting more. To market my film I would use very similar techniques. I would have the actors and actresses promote the trailers and the movie once it is released so that a bigger audience could be reached. This would bring in more people from the target audience and the movie would be more successful.

Audience Engagement Research- Hush

Both "Hush" and "Girls Night" have female roles. They are also both classified under horror/mystery and have similar target audiences of teenagers. Teens typically enjoy horror movies and movies with a strong female lead. In our movie the main characters are teenage girls and in Hush the main character is a young women. Hush has a thriller/horror genre that is similar to our horror/mystery genre. The goal of both films is to keep the audience on the edge of their seat and fully engaged in the movie. Hush premiered at the 30th annual SXSW Music, Film and Interactive Conferences and Festivals to become more well known. Hush was a fairly small movie with not much of a budget. The movie only started to get lots of attention once Netflix snatched up the property not long after its premiere. Once it was available on Netflix many more people had access to the film and it received much more attention. A site called IMDb was very helpful in promoting the movie. It gave rating and reviews of Hush as soon as it came out to let people know that it was a good movie and was worth watching. Also before the release of the movie YouTube released trailers of Hush. This grabbed the attention of many people who enjoy watching horror movies and left them wanting more once the trailer was over. To market my film I would also make an engaging trailer with a suspenseful ending leaving the audience wanting more. I also would try to market more on well known social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This would reach my target audience the best.

Audience Engagement Research-Bad Moms

The film "Bad Moms" appeals to a slightly older age group for its language. Many teens and usually adult women enjoy this movie because of all the humor present in it. Our film is a mystery and comedy that many teenage girls would appeal to since teen girls are the main characters of the film. Our target audiences are similar because teenagers go to comedy movies to laugh with their friends and mystery movies to get a good scare. The comedic element found in "Bad Moms" keeps the audience engaged in the film. This is what we tried to portray in our film "Girls Night" to help keep our audience interested and wanting more. "Bad Moms" used many marketing techniques to get their movie out to the public. Ads were made and put on billboards and posters to help get the movie out there. YouTube released a trailer and different social media platforms promoted it. The actresses starring in the movie played a huge role in promoted the movie through their social media to the public. This sparked the interest in the main target audience and persuaded them to click on the trailer. YouTube also released many videos talking to the actresses about the movie that would grab peoples attention. To market my film, I would use similar techniques. I think having the actors and actresses promote the movie would be the most effective but I would also make trailers to increase interest in the film. "Bad Moms" was released in 2016 so social media would be practically the same as it is right now.

My Target Audience

Our film targets were teenage girls in high school. This is filmed in a high end mall where many people of the upper class shop. The film is targeted to people of the USA but also many English speaking countries. Teenage girls have fun shopping together and sleepover a lot so they would enjoy watching this film since they can relate to the characters. The various activities such as shopping and having a sleepover with scary movies appeals to teenage girls since many of us do enjoy those type of things with friends.Having the various scenes of the stalker and background music keeps the audience engaged and excited to see what’s next.

Feedback and Revisions

Before out final submission we plan to make a few revisions to improve out film. The beginning of our film is mostly short takes so we want to re-shoot these scenes with longer takes to slow the pace of the film. We also want to make the stalker more present throughout the film so its easy for the audience to follow. Additionally, we will be adding suspenseful incidental music as the stalker closes in on the girl. As we are re-shooting the beginning mall scene , i think we need to make it more natural to focus in on the stalker following the group of girls around the mall. By adding more scenes with the hooded stalker, the audience will better understand the plot and foreshadowing of the film. Lastly, we also will change the font size so it flows better with the new edits.

All these changes will help to improve the film because they all add to the horror and mystery genre. By adding scenes of the stalker, it makes it easier for the audience to follow along and will keep them on the edge of their seats. The addition of incidental music creates an eerie mood and is used in many horror and mystery movies to create suspense and foreshadow whats going to come. These changes will keep the audience engaged and leave them wanting more.

We will carry out these changes by re-shooting the beginning scene early so we have enough time for edits and sound to be added. We also have to make sure we are wearing the same clothes so it looks like just one day and doesn't confuse the audience. Lastly we will continue to use Adobe Premiere Pro and become more experienced with it.   

Use of Conventions

Our film is classified as a horror/ mystery drama. In horror films, short tales are used to create a fast paced scene that’s hectic and intensifies the mood. This allows the audience to feel how the characters are feeling.Throughout the entire film we used many over the shoulder shots to create suspense and foreshadow the danger coming. They let the viewer know what is happening, but the characters are clueless still. When we researched horror genres we found that there was a lot of ways to portray that bad guy. Our bad guy was a hooded man wearing black. This hid his face from the audience and made the scene more suspenseful. By using incidental music we created a gloomy mood and to create a sense of unknown for the audience.

Social groups consist of teenage girls who think they don’t need protection. They are independent and  are not very aware of their surroundings when they are all together. The issue presented is that they did not stick together and when one girl was alone, the stalker attacked. To prevent this the teenage girls should stay together no matter what even when the task is simple and seems safe.