Homework 11: My completed trailer storyboard

Homework 10: Scenes for My Trailer

• Sunny Californian beach- showing the equilibrium and establishing the location
• Bradley misbehaving in class- introduces main character 
• Bradley flirting with Tamara- introduces love interest with widens the appeal to a female audience
• Principle's office when he offers Bradley the ultimatum- sets up the whole film's plot
• Alistair at desk with with stolen crest- introduce villain and disruption 
• Top security gallery with lasers- demonstrates the binary opposite location
• Tamara with knife to neck- shows damsel in distress and more disruptions
• Bradley and friends running away- illustrates fast pace and action

Homework 9: Pirates of the Caribbean Audience Profile

Pirates of the Caribbean has a very wide reach due to it’s gender cast balance, and the combination of action and comedy. The main target audience would probably be males aged 15-28. The trailer effectively targets this market through the use of the funny one-liners, famous and attractive cast (i.e. Kiera Knightley), and the exciting action portrayed in the weapons and fighting.

The theory of ‘four needs’ is also applied to appeal to the target audience.

Entertainment and diversion: The comedy in the trailer entertains the viewers and showcases the comedy of the film.

Surveillance and information: The audience’s curiosity into this imaginative adventure world is satisfied.

Relationships:  The audience build ‘relationships’ with these identifiable characters.

Homework 8: Storyboard for my film's opening sequence

Homework 7: Shotlist for my film's opening sequence

Homework 6: Iron Man 2 Marketing Campaign research task

The sequel of Iron Man was released two years after the extremely well-received, open-ended prequel. They had a huge $100 million budget for the film’s marketing campaign alone.

Posters

The first posters released for this movie featured two of the new characters, Micky Rourke and Scarlett Johansson to promote the movie as they are big Hollywood names. The iconic font meant that only the “2” was used instead of the film’s full title. Also, the dark, plain backgrounds created an enigma which urged the fans of the Iron Man to watch the sequel in order to reveal the mysteries. 

Trailers

The trailers and TV spots showcased the film’s comedy, narrative, new characters, and most importantly, the advanced graphics. They were strategically released on the right dates to ensure the audience were teased and left excited to watch the film.

Website

Like most film websites, ‘Iron Man 2’s website offered links which allowed people to share features and spread games etc. to friends. Users were able to interact with a special feature called “I am Iron Man 2” allowing them to use a webcam to “simulate an Iron Man adventure online”. Being so high-tech and futuristic, the site showcased the high-budget CGI the film had to offer. 

Partnerships

A record 11 companies partnered with the movie to promote is. These include: Audi, Burger King, 7-Eleven, Land O’Frost, Dr Pepper, LG, Hershey’s, Oracle, Royal Purple, and Symantec. These sponsorships with big name brands ensured that everyone had heard of the film before its release. 

Fictional Newspaper Clippings

In my opinion, the most interesting part of the marketing campaign was the fictional newspaper clippings which were published well in advance before the film’s release. They revealed the “true identity” of Tony Stark and clues about the movie’s plot leaving readers curious. 

Merchandise

Being a superhero movie, Marvel saw this as a good opportunity to reap a younger audience as well as adults. Action figures were aimed at children who became interested in the film for its action. 

Spin-offs

Spin-offs of Iron Man included videogames (for several platforms) as well as a remake of the classis comics. These were aimed at a younger audience who could have heard about the film in the first place through these spin-offs.

 

As a whole, Marvel used a huge range of platforms from which to market Iron Man 2. The variety of methods meant that a very wide audience was reached and a large fan base for the film was generated well before release. Having such a large marketing budget, I think the marketing campaign was extremely effectively developed for this film which is why it generated a very successful $623,433,331 gross revenue.

Homework 5: Moodboard to represent men and women in A-A films

Action adventure is a genre of film where men's and women's genders are usually generalized and the stereotypes are extreme which creates binary opposites and moves the plot along. My moodboard illustrates the conventions of male/female stereotyping in action films, by portraying women as objectified, helpless and domestic; and men as strong, power-hungry, and heroic. 

Homework 4: Narrative Techniques in my Film

Closed Narrative: At the end of the film, all problems will be solved i.e. Bradly saves the crest and won’t be expelled, he gets the girl, Alistair gets arrested and the traitor (Oscar) gets expelled.

Red Herring: Throughout the film, we are led to believe that Oscar is trying to help Bradly, but near the end we discover that he was on the bad guy’s side the whole time.

Binary Opposites: The sunny, light-hearted high school vs. the gloomy office and underground dens. Also, the old, serious and relentless treasure hunter vs. the young, carefree and immature teenagers.

Montage: A mixture of clips when the characters are getting ready to go undercover into the high security gallery will be edited together to illustrate their preparation over time. 

Homework 3: My Film Pitch

Film Title: Extra Credit

Genre: Action/adventure comedy

Narrative

Equilibrium: Bradly Macintosh (played by Shia Labeouf) is a disobedient highschool student who is on the verge of being expelled. 

Disruption: Meanwhile, his school’s ancient golden crest worth thousands of dollars has gone missing. His headmaster offers him a proposition: if Bradly can find and safely return the school crest, then he won’t be expelled.Along with his two best friends, Bradly investigates the theft. It turns out they are chasing after a powerful, dangerous treasure hunter called Alistair Hanson (played by Christopher Plummer), and the crest is worth much more than they thought. Along the way, Tamara, a girl who Bradly’s always had a crush on (played by Mila Kunis) decides to help as she doesn’t want Bradly to leave the school. After many failed attempts and near death endeavours, Bradly and his friends get the crest back from Alistair thanks to the technical ability of his computer-nerd friend Jonah (played by Justin Long). Before getting to return it to his headmaster, one of Bradly’s friends, Oscar (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) cunningly takes the crest in an attempt to sell it for millions.

 

Resolution: They devise a plan whereby Tamara tricks Oscar that she wants to be in on the illegal selling of the crest. By seducing him, she gets it back and they return it the school. They also frame Oscar as the original thief, getting him expelled and arrested. Bradley gets rewarded and also gets the girl.

Characters

Hero: Bradly- (Shia LaBeouf) is the typical bad-boy high school student.

False Hero: Oscar- (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is one of Bradly's best friends who turns on him in the end by stealing the crest for himself.

Helper: Jonah- (Jason Long) is Bradly's other close friend who is really nerdy and helps them in their mission with his computer skills.

Princess: Tamara- (Mila Kunis) is the girl Bradly has a crush on, and also helps with the quest, but also needs saving when she's held hostage by the bad guys.

Villain: Alistair- (Christopher Plummer) is the rich, powerful and dangerous treasure hunter who steals the crest to add to his huge collection of ancient artifacts.

Iconography

The highschool theme (i.e. lockers, classrooms etc.) as well as the ancient treasure and historic artifacts which are all part of the iconography. 

Settings 

The school will be set in sunny LA, California, which is unconventional for this genre. This will contrast with the darker, more serious treasure-related settings (e.g. underground lairs and offices). 

Influences: I came up with the search for an artifact theme from National treasure. The main star, Shia Labeouf, is well known for this action/adventure comedy genre from films such as Transformers, Indiana Jones and Disturbia. Finally, the highschool and scheming ideas came from The Girl Next Door.

USP: The theme of treasure hunting isn’t usually associated with highschool, but this makes it more interesting and widens the film’s reach.

Target Audience: The film's core target audience is men aged 16-25. It appeals to women because of Bradley’s love interest and the comedy, but mostly to men because of the adventure and exciting action storyline. 

Marketing Campaign:  As well as the usual websites, posters and trailers, there will be a crest-designing competition, and the winner gets a holiday to California (where the film is set). This will probably appeal to the fun-seeking 16-25 year old target audience. Also, there will be a Youtube channel with weekly videos uploaded of the bad-boy main character (Shia LaBeouf) pulling a prank/breaking the law/doing something bad yet funny, which will be shot in a home-video style. This will display the comedy in the film while raising awareness, as people will send the links to their friends and it should create a fast-spreading viral campaign.