Part 3 Media Evaluation

8/6/2019 Part 3 Media Evaluation

1/5

What impact did themedia institution Film4

have on each production stage and

why?


2/5

P re production.Typical genres used by Film 4 include crime/gangster for example in trainspotting, there is a wild use of drugs

and alcohol, this impacted on part of my pre production as we basically worked around this particular genre. Inour 5 part narrative our conflict complication was that our protagonist had to get 200 in under 24 hours if shewanted to get onto a college course that she wanted so much, in order to better her life. Of course, she had toresult to crime to get this money, she ends up selling drugs that she finds in her boyfriends house. Theprotagonist comes from a dysfunctional family, where everyone is unemployed, so money is tight.

Film 4 s ethos often involves discovering unknown talent and using it for the characters in films. This impactedon our production as we used everyday common people to act out the roles that we created, as obviouslygetting known actors would wipe out the realism as Film 4 have a low/minimal budget and this is the reason forusing your everyday, average people. During pre- production we planned to have our protagonist committingcrime, but it was for a good cause, she has a dream to get somewhere with her life unlike the rest of her family,it is aspirational.


3/5

P re- P roduction.Film 4 films often have titles that are short and snappy, but manage to connote enough about the filmsnarrative, this impacted on our treatment as this is the point where we had to decide on our title, wechose Dead End because like Film 4 films, the title is short and snappy and also quite memorable, it alsoconnotes that the main character of the film will hit a dead end in some way.

Film 4 tend to produce films that are multi cultural and involve a few different races and ethnicities, theyalso often incorporate the idea of interracial relationships. This aspect impacted on our pre productionwhen creating our shooting script, at this point we chose the characteristics of our main characters, wehad one middle eastern, one mixed race and one black. The middle eastern and black characters are in arelationship, and the young black boy is portrayed as the stereotypical bad guy which reflects Film 4 filmssuch as This is England , the black character gets beaten up, which connotes that he is a trouble makerand is not liked by all, he is inferior and stands out. Although the black character is Dead End does not getbeaten up, we set out to make him appear like the bad guy in terms of being superior, but still stands outand doesn t seem to fit in.


4/5

P roduction.Our equipment was basic, we used a camera and a tripod, this was impacted by Film 4 as we knowthat their budget is very small and therefore the equipment they use are kept to a minimal and areall relatively cheap. We could handhold the camera to get the shaky, kitchen sink effect that film 4often use.Locations: in film 4 films, the locations are often run down and the houses are typical of middleclass or under-class families, nothing looks expensive, usually everything looks common andpossibly a mess. We used the streets of Ilford to film, as it is quite a busy area and also quite rundown, so we felt it helped to conform to Film 4 s typical conventions for British Social Realism.Cast: We used characters of different races and ages, this was impacted by our research into otherFilm 4 films such as East is East , this film explores an interracial relationship at that time (1970 s),

Dead End does involve an interracial relationship, but this is not the main focus as nowadaysinterracial relationships are not looked upon as such a huge issue. Also, the children in East is Eastare often cheeky and getting into trouble, which is stereotypical of children this age. We used thisstereotype in Dead End by portraying the characters as trouble makers in the opening, gettinginto trouble right from the start.Another example of a similar cast in terms of the teenagers is This is England , the teenagers areportrayed as trouble makers who are very chavy in their appearance and do not speak in a formalmanor. Our cast also dress in this way, but more up to date, for example Charlene wears afluorescent Nike jacket, jeans and trainers, very casual. Ashley says I m not a road chick anymore,and I swear he s your man!? which is informal and only understood by those familiar with thearea. The storyline of This is England focuses mainly on a troubled young boy growing up inEngland, which is similar to the storyline of Dead End , except instead we have used a boy, as it isless stereotypical and a possible unique selling point.


5/5

D istribution.Film 4 would distribute our film, as it conforms to the British Social Realistgenre that Film 4 base all films around. Dead End would be releasedinto Art House cinemas on specialist release into major cities, to see if itgets good reception. Our film would be marketed through viral strategiesthat create word of mouth through new media technology such astrailers being released online and advertised on social networkingwebsites which would address our specific target audience of 16-21 year olds because they often use social networking and can share thefootage with their friends. This would create and raise audienceawareness as long as the campaign stands out, and is different, as it is acompetitive industry and therefore is difficult to be successful. As we areworking to a Film 4 brief which is an independent film company, wecould market our film by having festival screenings in advance, beforethe film is officially released, this is effective because reviewers and

journalists would be there, and this could be a form of creating word ofmouth.Viral marketing is effective because we can target a larger audiencethrough the use of the internet, this also brings together all aspects of themarketing campaign into one specific location and is cheaper then printbased advertising.

Documents

Part 3 Media Evaluation