critical review

1. Critical Review
How do your products represent social groups or issues?
Social groups are a type of stereotype. A stereotype is an over-generalised belief
about a particular category of people. The media, specifically television, use
stereotyping practices to present viewers with easily recognisable characters,
however they are often presented with one-sided and negative images.
The theorist, Stuart Hall suggests that stereotypes are a powerful means of
constructing symbolic violence, and, moreover, that they demonise key social
groups. He also states that stereotypes are repeated so often by the media, that
audiences interpret stereotypical qualities to be fixed or natural.
In film it helps audiences understand that certain events will happen to certain
characters, for example, the princess falls in love with the prince and they live
happily ever after.
My film trailer portrays the typical stereotype of someone who is ‘mad’ in the
sense that the illness schizophrenia is exaggerated and not accurate, by
including signs of extreme hallucination and delusion. Not everyone with this
disorder experiences what is presented in my trailer.
My main character is young, and naive making him even more vulnerable to the
illness, however because there is no signs of a parental figure, it reinforces he is
alone and been made to grow up fast. There is also a stereotyped stigma that
because there is no parental supportat home, his illness stemmed from a bad
childhood and home life.
There is also a typical bad and good guy illustrated in my trailer, however it
isn’t your normal villain and hero storyline. The bad guy in my story is the
figure which he hallucinates, it is a metaphoric representation of the disorder he
cannot escape, consciouslyand physically. The good guy is himself, we see him
doing normal everyday necessities like washing his face and brushing his teeth,
there are signs that he so badly wants to live a normal life and without his
illness he is able to do so, but it comes back to haunt him, just like in every hero
and villain film sequel, the bad guy never gives up a fight but neither does the
good guy. Just like in the mind prisoner, it is a constant battle between the two.
I decided to include specific stereotyping in my trailer as it enables my audience
to identify types and the psychological genre that it is, rapidly and effectively. It
also allows for my viewers to connect with my characters through visual codes

2. and build audience empathy quickly, by putting oneself in the shoes of the main
character.
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of
‘branding’?
Branding is an important way of boosting recognition, increase the reach to
audience as well as help build trust and supportadvertising. When it comes to
film production, branding is used in many different ways such as, creating
merchandise, websites, social media pages, posters and so on.
My films social media page (Instagram) has the catching profile picture of the
films production logo, which also appears in my posterand film trailer. It is
recognisable, sleek and simplistic. Through the logos visual imagery it clearly
shows the company is film based as well as the name ‘Watergate Media’. The
film tagline features prominently on the social media page and poster. The main
image used on my films posteris also seen as a poston the Instagram page. The
image signals the films genre through its dark tones. The black symbolises
mystery and sophistication which reflects the films complexity and shows it
isn’t targeted towards a younger audience. It also evokes emotions of anger and
sadness which reflects the emotions seen in the trailer. In contrast, the film title
is red and in the font ‘anonymous pro’, which features consistently in the poster
and trailer. I specifically choseboth the font and colour, because red stands out
and connotes danger which relates accordingly to the film being a psychological
thriller. The font is capitalised and italic, however in the title ‘The’ is
significantly smaller to project the rest of the text. The cast are also an
important part of creating recognition of an audience, so my Instagram page
includes exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ photos. There is a QR code, to give the
audience easy access to the trailer, as well as a link in the bio which takes you
straight to the trailer on YouTube.
Other ways I would promote brand recognition for my film, would be to design
merchandise such as, T-shirts, hoodies and other articles of clothing, as well as
notebooks and pens all with the main posterimage. This would create, higher
profit, more satisfied shoppers, increased audience loyalty and recognition. I
would also create a website and Facebookpage, alongside my Instagram page
to reach a wider audience, as Instagram is mainly used by people the ages of 18-
34. Both google and Facebookare used by people older in age. This would
increase engagement of different age groups and create audience variety.

3. How do your products engage with the audience?
Audience engagement is crucial, it helps you learn more about your audience
which allows you to gain their trust and attend to their needs by maximising the
value of your content. Here are a few steps I took in order to engage my
audience.
Firstly, my postercreates a sense of the thriller/psychological genre through
visual codes suchas its dark colour tones and style, specifically the dull lighting
and the vignette of the main image. The centre of visual interest is the main
character who appears the most in the trailer, so the audience can recognise him
easily when viewing the trailer. This image is gripping because there is a sense
of realism in that it gives the illusion that the poster is 4D, by the shallow depth
of field I used when taking the photo, to create depth and blur the background to
illuminate the hand to give the hallucination of it reaching out to the audience.
There is no sense of location, becausein my trailer it is hard to tell what is
reality and what is not. I manipulated the use of a tightly confined box, I had the
model lie in. This was to create the sense of the character feeling trapped and
unable to escapewhich reflects him being unable to escapehis own mind. This
also creates a sense of danger, as well as the title being the colour red to convey
signs of anger which mirrors the dark side of his illness. The title also arrests
the audience’s attention, by effectively contrasting the dullness of the image.
The tagline attracts audience attention with the words, ‘Ever known what it
feels like to be trapped inside your mind, isolated with nothing but you deepest
darkest thoughts?’. This hooks the audience by addressing them through a
question. Star talent is placed clearly at the top and essential information, such
as ‘coming soon’, socialmedia links are clearly displayed. These conventions
engage with my audience, by successfully applying attractions that appeal to
them.
At the heart of my promo pack are my trailers. They use thriller/psychological
conventions through visual and sound codes suchas, the intense thrilling music
and focus on solely the music and sound effects instead of dialogue. My trailer
introduces Isaac and his hallucination figure the central characters, presenting
them as opposites, controlling and vulnerable, through scenes that are
engrossing, such as when Isaac runs away from the figure and falls and the
screen goes black, leaving the audience captivated. In this scene Isaac is seen as
vulnerable and trapped, making the audience feel empathy and scared for his
character. The central issues in the trailer are conveyed when Isaac is seen
taking medication. Because the audience get a better understanding that there is
underlying problems as to why things are happening. Sound is very significant
when engaging my audience especially when key events are happening, like

4. when the figure reappears. Sound is used to build tension, also when he wakes
up the alarm clock keeps on ringing, to create unease and tell the audience
something unsettling is about to happen. The trailers editing builds climax
through, short cuts and snappyscenes to constructfast pace, as it is a thriller.
The inter-black-screens engage the audience, by leaving them tense and on the
edge of their seat.
Lastly, my social media page has a strong impact because of its visuals, which
include, the company’s logo as the profile, which is attracting to my audience
because it shows its legitimacy and branding. The films genre and synopsis are
clearly presented through, the tagline, ‘could you survive a life sentence with
your thoughts?’. It gives the audience an idea that the film is psychological, but
doesn’tgive too much away by making them think and engage. My page is
inviting for audiences to use because it is easy to navigate and Instagram is
familiar to most people. Links and QR codes are easily accessible. The gallery
shows interesting images of the main characters and poster. The images are
engaging because they are exclusive and authentic, by giving the audience
behind the scenes, bloopers and interviews to make them feel involved in the
making of the film. My social media page also offers several interactive features
like, the #MindPrisoner which followers can interact with and use to ask
questions as well as taking advantage of the ability to comment under posts.
People can also tag @the.mindprisoner to postanything relating the film. These
tagged photos are also made public to every other follower. There is a postafter
the release of the trailer, where people can write reviews as well as under the
official trailer found on YouTube. Reviews, accolades and pull quotes such as,
build up my film's credentials and reassure audiences about the film's quality
and ensures maximum audience pleasure.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge
conventions?
The main conventions of a trailer consist of the following: credits and intertitles,
dialogue, music, genre, narrative, pace, special effects, shots types/camera
angles, narrative, target audience, unique selling points and finally voiceovers.
The ways in which I used some of these conventions are by the following;
firstly I incorporated aspects of relevant trailers with the same/similar genre
types that I took inspiration from to create my own trailer. I looked at the
trailers of ‘Black Swan’ and ‘Split’. Both trailers, like my own include
intertitles, that show director as well as the release date. I also took inspiration
from their music, both of which is creepy to create a sense of fear, the volume
gradually increases to build suspenseand unease. I also used sound effects like
they did, to reflect how the character is feeling, by adding a fast paced

5. heartbeat. Black Swan has various cutaways, like my own of multiple scenes to
show a fast pace, to represent anxiousness and fast breathing. I did this in time
with the music, to show the audience snippets of different scenes to add
suspenseand consistency. I also incorporated inter-black-screens to leave the
audience on edge.
I utilised my knowledge on camera angles and shots when shooting my trailer. I
used high and low angles to show height, over the shoulder shots to show point
of view, rack focus to highlight focus on an object, pan shot to show
surroundings and hand-held cam to enforce unease. I also tookadvantage of my
cameras 24-70mm lens to zoom in and out when changing focus of one object
to another. My camera has a large aperture of F/2.8 which allowed me to
capture shots with a shallow depth of field and allow me to improve the impact
of my trailer by adding quality, by utilising the focus of my shots. I used natural
lighting from the sun, to add shadow and highlights in my shots, I also used
editing techniques such as decreasing the exposure and increasing vignette to
make my trailer overall darker to make it look sinister and creepy. I used mise
en scene and movement in the foreground and background to make my trailer
multi-dimensional. I did this by adding movement through walking, running
tap, elements that show a foreground and background by changing focus of
different objects. I also used outfit changes, to show change in location and
time.
I created an enigma in my trailer, through the sudden change of location and
confusion in the actor. It fits the conventions of a psychological thriller, in that
it includes themes of mental illness, by showing hallucination and multiple
realities. I believe it is clear who my target audience is, through its clear age
rated bbfc certificate and that it includes themes of violence and disturbing
characters with a psychological illness. Both my trailers demonstrate continuity,
in terms of sound, settings and mise en scene as my shorter trailer is taken
straight from the original trailer. The ideal movie trailer is usually 90 seconds,
mine is just under. My trailers demonstrate a high level of technical competence
and a secure awareness of the conventions of film trailers, by including the
movies title, release date, starring characters, music and sound effects, etc. My
trailer links to my social media page, by its direct link to it and QR codeas well
as its featured postof the shorter trailer.
However, my trailer challenges some main conventions. It doesn’tinclude any
dialogue, it relies solely on music and sound effects to create atmosphere as
well as rely on the characters acting to capture the narrative, as there are no
intertitles that give explanation as to what is happening.

6. Moving on, the main conventions of movie posters include: narrative, colour,
written codes, mise en scene and BBFC rating. In my posterI have used
narrative through the image of the main character, by him reaching out for help
to enforce he is trapped, as well as through the tagline which gives a deeper
insight into what the movie is about. This links to the trailer content, as both
include the production logo and by the posters colour pallet which reflects the
colours in the trailer. For instance both use red font, dark imagery and editing
and black vignette. The written codes onmy posterconsistof, actors names
running long the top of the page, which is a way of trying to entice people to
watch the film as if they like an actor they may want to watch them perform.
The tagline and title give away the type of film it is. It has typical conventions
such as, name credits in small at the bottom and signs of it ‘coming soon’. The
layout is typical, with one main image and the title placed in large at the bottom.
However, there is no BBFC rating as it is clear the it isn’t targeted towards a
younger audience, by the way in which it is fairly sinister and creepy by its
visual imagery. There are other signs of it not being suitable for children, like
the title being red and the context of it. It reflects the violence of the film.
Finally, the conventions of film social media pages include, interactivity,
convergence, release date and tagline. I used Instagram as my social media
page, #MindPrisoner was used in order to interact with my audience. I also used
interactivity in others ways, like encouraging my audience to use the comments
to ask questions and /or any other comments. A link to my official trailer is seen
in my bio, alongside a tagline and release date to inform my audience and give
easy access. Access to my trailer is also made by the featured postof my QR
codethat links to my trailer. Convergence of media forms was also considered
as part of these linked productions, as such links to the other products in this
package should be apparent to my audience. When viewing actual film
Instagram pages, I found they postbehind the scenes of the cast and filming, as
well as interviews of the actors, which you’ll fine I’ve also featured on my
page. Many accounts also choseto have their profile picture as the films
production company, which I have doneto show legitimacy. Conventions I
have not followed is including location in my bio and make stories which some
accounts did that showcased videos of the actors and fans attending events and
art/merchandise.