CREATIVE CRITICAL REFELCTION

HOW MY FILM PROMO PACK REPRESENTS SOCIAL GROUPS & ISSUES

Media creative critical reflection Our protagonist is a teenager who in many ways represents a typical sixteen-year-old in that she is in a rebellious relationship with her father. She is represented as a stereotypical middle-class girl from an affluent background in that she is sent to boarding school, which is normally associated with privilege. What makes her different is that her relationship with her father undergoes a downward spiral after her mother’s early death. Due to this traumatic event in her life, her teenage rebelliousness sets her in such conflict with her father that he sees only one option: sending her away to boarding school. He may be seen as a typically authoritarian father who chooses a school regime that will break his daughter’s will. In the late fifties and early sixties, girls like Susannah were expected to conform and were subject to stricter rules than their male counterparts. Boarding-school life was often a harsh regime with hierarchies of power, from forbidding staff to vindictive fellow pupils; at least, that is what we chose to depict in our film. It is a place that harbours secrets, staffed by monstrous women, with undercurrents of uneasy suspicion, as in all good horror films. We hint at issues like secret punishments and hidden horrors. 

 Stuart Hall wrote that representations use stereotypes in mainstream media in order to ‘fix’ the way in which audiences relate to characters. In most ways, our protagonist Susannah represents an anti-stereotype for her time as she refuses to be a victim and she struggles against her father, her classmates and the school system. In another way, she is a stereotypical ‘victim’ figure as she is a vulnerable female victim in a horror movie. 

Stereotypes are universally deployed to help audiences understand characters. Using stereotypes provides visual shortcuts that enable the audience to build character reliability. Stereotypes build audience empathy, sympathy or antipathy very quickly. Issues in our trailer include Susannah feelings of isolation and alienation from the other girls, a common experience for sensitive teenagers everywhere. Issues include the shock of being thrust into a different way of life, away from familiar friends and comforts. Whilst our boarding school is a regime, enforced by the matron, that would be unfamiliar to most in our audience, all children have experienced the fear of being singled out for punishment. We take this issue a step further by introducing horror film tropes like Susannah’s disturbing discoveries about the hidden horrors of the school basement. 

HOW THE ELEMENTS OF MY PROMO PACK WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SENSE OF 'BRANDING'

My film website landing page has a strong video of Susannah running, which will have a strong impact on the audience as it will leave them with uncertainty and will make them want to watch the film. This is the first page the viewer will see so this is important, a similar video appears on our social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram. The video signals the film genre through the use of a black and white filter and the choice of font I have used on my film website. By including my film tagline “the basement is off limits” on my film website leaves the audience wondering. Our production company’s ident, Moonlight Productions, appears on my film website and social media. I have linked my social media sites to my website because it enables easier access. Our profile pictures on our social media are consistent throughout, and feature the title of our film in red blood. The timeline on the Twitter page features different moments of us making the film such as the filming of the mansion, it also features character posters and sneak peeks into the movie with mini clips. The cast are an important part of creating recognition in our audience, so they feature in ‘behind the scenes’ photos as well as social media feeds, and also claim significant space on my film website. To promote recognition for our film, I have designed T-shirts, a mug, a mask, a phone case and a tote bag.

HOW MY FILM PROMO PACK ENGAGES WITH MY AUDIENCE

The genre of our film is horror, it is portrayed in my film poster through visual codes such as its colour tones and style, specifically the font used and the blood dripping down the face. The subject matter on the poster is Susannah, our protagonist. The dripping red blood film title captures the attention of the viewers as it is compelling and implies the genre is horror. The tagline attracts the audience's attention with the words “the basement is off limits” which will hook the audience because they will want to know why the basement is off limits and what is happening down there. My promo pack uses horror conventions through visual and sound codes such as our protagonist running from the unknown and the horror soundtrack in the background. My trailer introduces Susannah and the Matron as the central characters, presenting Susannah as a young girl who is being sent to boarding school, and the Matron as a mysterious woman. The genre of the film is represented clearly through the website by the use of fonts and images I have included on my website as well as the reviews. My website is easy to navigate around so it is more inviting to the viewers and they will be more likely to look around it. 

HOW MY RESEARCH INFORMED MY PRODUCTS AND THE WAY IN WHICH THEY USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS

While researching into other trailers I analysed American Sniper and The Birth of a Nation. Both these trailers influenced me as the editing worked really well as it built up the tension of the trailer. During the filming of our trailer, we aimed to capture a quite dark atmosphere as well as using mise en scene to suggest the genre of the trailer. Throughout our trailer we build up the idea that there is something suspicious going on in the boarding school however it is never revealed what this is, leaving the audience wondering. The film poster I created uses a dark colour palette to convey horror as well as a red blood splatter, I wanted the layout of my poster to be simple like my film website. I used mise en scene such as the blood splatter to convey the genre of the film. 

 The films genre and synopsis are clearly presented through the fonts used within the website and specifically the gallery page with all the character posters. The cast list looks professional as it is very simple however easy to navigate around and create understanding of the characters and who they are.