Classification and Genre Research

Classification Research

BBFC Website :

As my film is targeted for teenagers, aged 15 - 20 years, i wanted to research what makes a film rating to be 15. The BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification) is an independent, non-governmental body, which has responsibilities over cinema since 1913, and over video since 1985. Moving image material is submitted to the BBFC for rating, where it will award a ratings certificate which identifies what audience age range the material is suitable for. Below is a print screen from the BBFC homepage, classifying what a 15 rating stands for.

Looking at this classification, it gives me a more wider understanding of what my audience would expect to see in a film rated 15. Below is a statement that I found on the website with details on what the genre horror is classified as by the BBFC.

Psychological Horror Definition

BBFC Website:

"The use of frightening elements which might scare or unsettle an audience is part of a long tradition of story telling and film making. Many children enjoy the excitement of scary sequences, but, where films are targeted at a younger audience, classifications decisions will be taken into account such factors as the frequency, length and detail of scary scenes as well as horror effects, including music and sound, and whether there is a swift and a reassuring outcome. Older audiences often pay to see a horror films because they like being frightened or shocked at such works are classified at an appropriate category to ensure that the young and vulnerable are protected from too intense an experience."

Wikipedia Website:

Photoshop

In this photoshop session were able to experiment with photos that adapted to the genre of our product. Therefore I took a few photos that i could then experiment with on photoshop. Below is one of the photos I particularly liked, and have changed a few things through the use of photoshop, as it allowed me to put across the atmosphere and genre of the teaser trailer.

In this image of Huma above was taken during the day, meaning there was much sunlight. this made it difficult to give the "skoopy" effect that i wish to send across to my audience. However the sunlight has made it easy for different shades to focus on the image, what i want to stand out the most. in this image i wanted to focus on the facial features. This was due to the fact that I wanted to put across the genre of the trailer which is psychological horror.

The photo above shows the outcome of what I have done while using photoshop. I was able to make Huma the focal point of the image, due to the use of laying. Layering an image allows you to add shades or darken the picture in the ares you wish. I was able to control the darkness of the layers by changing the capacity, the higher the capacity percentage the darker the layer. To apply the layer you would have to use a brush, which also changed size. As the image size was quite big and the area that I wanted to darken was also a large amount I found it easier to use a larger brush size.

Story Boards

Weekly Planning

Final Breif

Brief - Film promotion

Main product – Teaser trailer

Ancillary product 1 – Film poster

Ancillary product 2 – Magazine cover

Genre of main product – Psychological horror

Target audience – Demographic: young female adults, teenagers aged 15-20 years. Psychographic: audience who find the genre horror appealing, and also teenage troubles. Lifestyle: people who are sociable and who like the fear and terror that comes from watching a horror movie.

Similar media products – IT, Mirrors, Hide and Seek, Signs, The Ring and The Blair Witch Project

Justification for choice of brief - The genre horror is becoming popular, due to the development in technology through special effects, gives horror films a more realistic. There have been many successful horror films, such as Saw, Final Destination and The Grudge, Hide and Seek, The Unborn and Scream, were particularly popular with my target audience. A recent horror film, Drag Me to Hell, has been very successful and has had many people talking about it. For my teaser trailer I want the keep the audience engaged by using typical conventions of a horror film, as I want to keep my audience in suspense.

Representational issues – After looking at many trailers, I have decided to use stereotypical representations of the characters in my teaser trailer. Using teenagers will give my trailer a more pragmatic effect. I will be using a girl that has an innocent look, to hide the fact that she is playing a negative role in the trailer. This way my audience will be kept engaged as they will be trying to find out who is playing the “bad person” role, at the end is when they will be surprised to find out who it was.


Narrative – After looking at many trailers I have noticed that they mostly use a non-linear narrative; this may be because it keeps the audience engaged, and questions are running through their minds. This use of portraying the narrative is an effective convention in teaser trailers. I will not be changing this as it keeps the audience in confusion.


Creativity – Throughout my research on teaser trailers they have relied mostly on images to tell the narrative of the film. I would like to portray my narrative in a similar way, as I have found it to be the most effective in teaser trailers. I want my teaser trailer to play with the audiences mind, making them believe in something that could happen to them. I will do this by creating a more realistic trailer, poster and magazine cover. The most effective I feel will be the magazine cover, as the main actor will be photographed and talking about her “sweet dreams”. Therefore I will be using typical conventions to interest my audience.


Challenges anticipated – During filming I have to focus on the composition of the shot, having meaningful objects in the shot to create the narrative. I will also have to make do with the actors, as they are going to have to make it seem realistic. Through the use of editing, I will be able to add transitions to create a more fearful narrative and look for the audience.

Digital technology –For ongoing research I will be using the internet to help with the production work, by looking at existing products. While shooting I will be using a camera and a tripod. When editing I will be using imovieHD on the Mac computers. Later on with research I will be using YouTube, and social networking site like facebook to help complete my evaluation.

Treatment

"Sweet Dreams"

Tina is going back for revenge. Tina was a girl who was not known as one of the "popular girls" in school, she was constantly picked on and bullied by these three people; Amanda White (Sophie), Alisha Wilson (Georgia) and Priya Chopra (Huma). They all would be together at all times nothing could separate them. Tina would so badly wish this was all a terrible dream, and things would be like she imaged them to be just like a fairytale. But everyone knows life isn't like a fairytale.

Being an only child, and being uncared for by her parents, wasn't really helping her, she needed to have someone or something that could help take the pain away. To comfort herself she would burn red roses, as the pain of not being accepted and loved by the people around her would burn away.

She goes back to torture them the same way they did, but in a more painful way. One by one they will be taut a lesson. But she only finds out that it was a dream.

"its just a dream . . . what harm could it do"

Institiutional Research

There are many major distribution companies that I could use for my teaser trailer. I have picked a few that have been popular to distribute the horror genre, these include Warner Bros. Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Dreamworks and Lions gate.

Warner Bros was founded in 1918 by Jewish immigrants from Poland. It is the third oldest American movie studio in continuous operation. Warner Bros is involved in every aspect of the entertainment industry. these include film, TV, home entertainment production, worldwide distribution, DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.

As Warner Bros. pictures is a mainstream production company. The company does not have a specific genre of film which is chooses to produce. these genres range from family films, children films, sci-fi and horror. Films that have been produced range from Harry potter, Looney Tunes: back in action, Exorcist: The beginning, Jeepers Creepers, House of Wax and Orphan.

I have decided to research a mainstream company, Warner.Bro. due to the fact that my teaser trailer has aspects of a mainstream production, within the genre horror.

20th Century Fox is one of the six major American Film Studios. It is located in Century City, area of Los Anegles, just west of Beverly Hills. The studio is a subsidiary of news corporation, the media conglomerate owned by Rupert Murdoch. The company was founded on December 28th 1934, as the results of merger of two entities, Fox film corporation founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures begun in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz. distributed films that I have looked at by 20th century fox are hide and seek and mirrors.

DreamWorks, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks Studio or DW Studios, LLC is an American film studio.DreamWorks was founded in 1994, by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. the headquarters are places in Universal City, California, United States. It develops, produces, and distributes films, video games, and television programming. It has produced or distributed more than ten films with box-office grosses totalling more than $100 million each. one of DreamWorks successful and remembered film if Sherk 2, which is a family film targeting a wide audience.

DreamWorks is also known for there animation distributions. a few of these successful films include, Antz, Shrek (1,2,3) Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie and Kung Fu Panda.

Even though DreamWork may be successful in its animation distribution, they also distribute many other films of different genres from horror to thrillers, family films, romance and comedy.

I feel that dreamworks may be the best company to distribute my film. This due to the fact they have distributed a wide range of film from different genres, making it a well known distributor. I believe that it will be one of the best ways to help promote the film. On the other hand dreamworks is well-known for its animation films. Therefore this would be an example of a company that is not suitable to distribute my film, as it is a horror film.

Lions gate is an independent film and television distribution company in North America. since 2007 it has been the most commercially successful independent distributor. Lions gate is an American entertainment company that originated in Vancouver, British Columbia and later based in Los Angeles, and is now headquartered in Santa Monica, California, USA. I have looked at Lions gate as part of my institutional research due to the fact that my teaser trailer has aspects of an independent production within the genre horror.

A few of there best selling films include, Open water, Hotel Rwanda, Saw (all), Hostel, The Descent, Good Luck Chuck, Rambo, The Lucky Ones.

Overall I feel that Lions gate and 20th Century Fox will the two from which I will make a decision on which one will be best to distribute my film.