Newspaper Research

I have decided to include a number of close-up shots of a newspaper in my film trailer which will have been published during the film during the early beginning of the ‘zombie apocalypse’. Specifically, I will be including a number of close-up shots of the main headline of the newspaper which will feature a headline like ‘Infection’ or ‘Military Evacuation’. This will be similar to the newspaper included in the film ’28 Days Later’, a film which I have previously analysed and taken inspiration for my own film from. The picture above is a picture of the actual newspaper included in the film. I have chosen a UK newspaper that is famously known and recognised by my target audience to design my own created newspaper around.

The reason I have decided to include this in my film trailer is because I think it creates a sense of realism within the film to an audience – a main source of media reporting an important news story. I have created a rough draft of a front page newspaper article to use in my film trailer, based on a well known UK newspapers.

Filming Update

I planned, this weekend, to do some recording in my local area (in my garden and my tenfoot). I planned on recording two specific scenes of the trailer including my two little sisters being discovered as zombies by their mother. However, due to the recent change in weather, I was unable to record anything due to the snow ruining the shots as well as the weather making it far too cold to expect my three included actresses to wear dresses in the cold conditions. Changes in weather recently have made it very hard to record my film trailer as well as transportation. Therefore, I have decided to change the storyboard of my film trailer slightly to make it so it is a lot easier and realistic for me to record the footage I need in the time period I have

 

Digipak Research

This is the digipak for the films ’28 Days Later’ and ’28 Weeks Later’, two films which trailers I have previously analysed, both directed by Danny Boyle. ’28 Weeks Later’ is the sequel to the film ’28 Days Later’ and therefore, have been put together to be sold as a 2 DVD collectables film pack.

Continuously, the ‘virus logo’ has been used behind the titles of the films on the DVD disks, the DVD disk holders and on the back of the DVD case. This being an image which represents the theme and genre of the film which is instantly recognised by the target audience.

The back of the DVD case has been split into two halves, the two halves specifically focusing on each individual film. Each half presented with the film title and a brief synopsis of the film, as well as what special features are included on each separate DVD.

Blogger Problems

At the moment I am seeing a lack of blog posts on my blog. The reason for this is I am finding it difficult to get on with the work that I have to do at college due to the lack of computers and laptops as well as working laptops in the media/film department at my college. Due to this, I am finding it slightly difficult to balance my written blog work and the recording of my film because of the fact that I am only finding the opportunity to do blog work at home when I should be focusing on the recording of my film as opposed to having the opportunity to do this work during my film college lessons. Unfortunately, at the moment there is no real resolution to this as unless the college decided to purchase more computers/laptops or try and convince someone with their own personal laptop to let me borrow it during college lesson times.

Filming Update

At the moment, due to my transportation being limited (due to my parents being on holiday) I have been unable to continue with my recording from Christmas (because of this, I have been focusing on my storyboard, editing of script and film, genre and audience research). Therefore, I have decided that instead of my original idea posted previously about recording during a weekend and editing during the week, I have decided that onwards from the 25^th January, when my transport is available, I will plan a full weeks recording schedule every day for approximately an hour each day. This not meaning however I will have 7 hours of footage, but giving me and the actors included more than enough time to record whichever scene is being recorded, get the setting/props prepared, giving enough time in case transport is late (traffic, etc). I will write up this schedule on the 23^rd/24^th January  whilst sat with my Mum who will be my transportation to my setting.

Target Audience Update

After asking 26 differently ranged people in different audience types (gender, age, profession, etc), I narrowed my target audience down specifically demographically and psychographically. I have decided to present my findings from my questionnaire as a pie chart as I think it is the easiest visual way in which to see which target audience my film is aimed at.

I decided that when asking for an audience to complete my survey that I would ask an evenly split gender audience due to this being the fairest way in which to learn about an audience that is not specifically targeted at one sex. The reason for this is because I do not want my film to specifically target one gender audience as this will restrict the viewers of my film as opposed to targeting a large range.

I asked an audience from a range of ages, because I wanted to find information from a range of audience’s, different genders and different ages. I could not evenly split the four age ranges into 26 and therefore, I asked 14 16-21 and 12 22-26+. I asked more of a younger audience (even if only by two more people) because I felt that information from a younger mainstream film audience would benefit my target audience research further.

With regards to cinema and DVD spending, the older audience spent more money on going to cinema and buying DVD’s due to having a lot more disposable income to spend on luxuries. However, the reason I found this was apparent is because the older audience seem to go to cinema on full prices and more expensive nights (Friday and Saturday prime time nights) less often than a younger audience went to cinema more often on cheaper student nights (Orange Wednesdays and Student Film Fridays) as well as buying DVDs at full price when they first come out as opposed to a younger audience waiting until they have dropped in price, or download them cheaper off the internet, or download them for free illegally.

From this question, I can say that a younger audience is more likely to watch films through internet streaming and downloading as opposed to an older audience. However, this does not mean that an older audience does not download and/or watch films through internet streaming as a number of people from an ‘older audience’ I asked this questionnaire to answered this. I find this due to digitalisation and an older audience being under pressure (it could be said) to be able to use modern technology like the internet, iPhones, downloading, etc.

The gender difference can be seen distinctively on this question, as well as the age difference. When focusing on gender, there seems to be a distinctive difference between females liking horror films including vampires and males liking horror films including zombies. The reason I think this is, is because of the recent ‘craze’ of vampires being seen in the media (the Twilight film series, True Blood TV series, etc) as well as the recent ‘craze’ of zombies being seen in the media (Nazi Zombies video game). With regards to age, a younger audience seem to enjoy films including the above characters; however an older audience seem to enjoy a more conventional style of horror film including a mad man or a ghost film – this could possibly be because of an older audience enjoy a more traditional ‘old fashioned’

Film Voice Over Update

I read the speech out loud to see how long the speech would last - 35.27 seconds. I wanted the speech to be spoken throughout the full of my trailer however, the time scale of the speech is to short. Therefore, I have decided that the voice over will not be a continuous voice over, it will be broken down into sections which will be added over specific parts of the film trailer where they will be best fitted. Some shots, I plan on including match on action, on some shots I plan on showing a visual image that relates to the theme of the voice over (e.g the scientific theme) however, not a direct match on action shot.