Costume analysis

We want our character to appear that they are in a very isolating and scary situation. The outfit we will chose for her could possibly  indicate what kind of personality our main character has (stereotypically) through her style choice.  We want our audience to know that the main character is only a teenager and is dressed very casually, the form of her outfit takes one of a typical teenage girl as we would like her to wear something like a black pair of jeans, a top and a pair of converse.
We'd like our main character to have very messy/ knotted hair as I think it could foreshadow the situation our main character has found herself in. Furthermore, I believe her make up should also be very minimal to show how she is worn out/ tired and that the last thing on her mind is what her appearance is like as she is scared and alone. There should also be a few smudges of dirt on her face which are there to remind the audience of her journey running through the woods.

We would similarly like the main character to wear a hoodie, possibly oversized. The hoodie should also be muddy to show that she has been through a lot and has possibly fallen over in the woods a couple of times maybe because the adrenaline has taken over her initial instincts or maybe even because her hair is in her face. I think the hoodie also links with the stereotypical view of teenagers as mentioned above.

To link with the idea we'd like the jeans she will be wearing to be also very muddy/ dirty. I think this will be very affective as when the audience will firstly spot the teenage girl running through the woods it will leave the audience wondering what the character is going through, why she is running and if she is safe. Or wanting to question whether she is safe yet.



Lastly, I think that shoes are a very important part of the costume/ outfit. They are important because for a lot of the time during the two minute opening the audience will only be able to see the girls shoes while she is running through the woods. I therefore think that it is important that the shoes the character wears should be muddy and worn out.  We would like the main character to wear a pair of Converse as we think they are a very suitable choice of shoes, this is because every teenager has a pair of Converse in their possession. It is also a good way to leave the audience wondering what the main character is like; whether they are male or female and what age group they are in until she is finally revealed to the audience in different shots of her running through the woods. (when the shot isn't of her feet while she is running) I think the audience will not be able to tell any of the things above as Converse are trainers which people from every single age group have as they as shoes which have been around for many years. To conclude, I think the fact that our main character is a teenager and is dressed very casually helps draw in the audience as it will allow them to identify with the main character because our target audience are people within the same age group as the teenage girl.

Institution Research

During the institution research, I looked at the films I have been using as guidelines and have been including in my other research such as certificate and target audience theory.

       Taken was distributed by 20th Century Fox. This is one of the many companies that we use for our film as it makes the specific sort of genre we want to make. 20th Century Fox have created many films within the action/drama genre so ours could fit. Taken was produced by:

·         M6 Film

·         Canal+

·         TPS Star

·         M6

We have a variety of production companies we can chose from, this is very beneficial as we can decide later on which one will look better when we start shooting and editing the opening two minutes of our film.

Ransom is another film similar to ours which I previously looked at. This film was distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. We can't use this company due to the fact it no longer exists and Walt Disney Pictures has taken its place and they usually make films targeted for children. This does not link to our genre so we won't be able to use it.  Ransom was produced by Imagine Entertainment, Touchstone Pictures and Icon Productions. Imagine usually makes more some children and more relatively upbeat films so this may not be the right company for us. The majority of Touchstone films that are produced are dramas and other darker themes. This could be another distribution possibility for our film too. Icon usually makes thrillers and dramas. This is partly similar to our film (genre: drama)

The Hunger Games was distributed by Lionsgate Films. Lionsgate is mostly known for action themes which could be a good possibility for our opening. The film was produced by Colour Force, which is an independent company that usually makes movies out of books, since our film isn't a book, we will not use this company.

       Other companies that we could use include, Universal Studios, New Line Cinema or Warner Brothers as they make a range of different films from different genres. Paramount pictures could also be good as they make a lot of dramas.  Furthermore, we could also use Millennium Films and/or TriStar because they have made films such as Faster and Stolen and Olympus has fallen which fit in successfully with the film we want to create. I think it would be very suitable if the production company we choose (or at least one of them) is Tri-Star because they were the production company of an action drama film named Colombiana which is along the lines of what we want to create. Colombiana was also created from the writers of Taken which is the film we are using as inspiration/ guide. 

Certificate research

U (Universal): films which are suitable for all viewers. Some examples include The Little Mermaid, Toy Story, and Shrek.

Parental Guidance (PG): films are allowable for any age. However, some scenes may be unsuitable for young children under the age of 8. Such scenes may contain mild language and sex/drug references. Some examples of PG rated films are A Cinderella Story, Home alone and Maleficent. 

12: films which are for people of the age 12 and above. 12A rated films are usually given a 12 certificate when released on DVD. An example of a 12 rated film is Perks of being a wallflower. 

12A:  films which are unsuitable for young children. Cinemas are only permitted to let in children under the age of 12 if they are accompanied by an adult aged 18 and over. These films may contain views of soft drugs, occasional strong language, discrimination, reasonable violence and or nudity. Some examples are of 12A rated films are:  The Fault In Our Stars, The Hunger Games and Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. 

15:  films which are only suitable for those aged 15 and over. Films within this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, and consistent use of foul language. Some scenes can also include strong violence and strong sex references, nudity without graphic detail. Sexual activity may be portrayed 
but without any strong detail. Sexual violence may also be shown if discreet and acceptable by context. Some examples are The Heat, Let’s be cops and 21 Jump Street 


18: Films which are only suitable for people aged 18 and over. Films within this category do not have limitation on foul language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed; explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed. Scenes of strong real sex may be permitted if justified by the context. In addition some scenes in films within this category can also include very strong, gory, and/or sadistic violence. Strong sexual violence is permitted unless it is excessively graphic. Examples of films within category include: Taken, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Spring Breakers.



Through the target audience and certificate research I think our film will most likely fit under the 12/ 12 A category because this is where most action dramas are placed and our film will have moderate violence and certain mature themes. It will therefore, not be suitable for children under the age of 12. However, the certificate rating of 15 and 18 may be a little bit too high and will most likely lessen the variety of our audience members. Therefore, the certificate rating of 12 years and above will be most suitable as it is where most dramas/thrillers are placed. But if released at cinemas, it may be more reasonable if it is a 12 A due to the elements of violence and action as it is a psychological thriller.

Font research

I used the website Dafont to try out and research different types of fonts in order to see which one will be most suitable to use in our film. There were many fonts on that website but I managed to narrow it down to the ones above. I then looked over more films similar to the one we want to create and saw what type of fonts they use for their inter titles and credits and tried to see what each fonts connote and what affect they have and if they furthermore, link to the genre and the look we are going for.   I looked at films such as Taken, Faster and Stolen and saw that they use similar titles to the ones on the right. I think these fonts are suitable as they give it an edgy affect and  makes it stand out and gives more emphasis on what will be written/ displayed. I feel like it furthermore, goes with the flow of the film we are going to make ( I feel like the first one or other fonts similar are more appropriate than the second one). However, we need to try it out because some fonts look completely different when displayed at different sizes. Although many films may use traditional fonts, I think that they are not suitable in this case as we need the fonts to be gripping and bold. 

I additionally, researched on Dafont a couple of other fonts which brought certain hints of disorientation to them which I think links very nicely with the storyline of our film. The ones I like most are Nervous and Hacked as they look quite distorted and technical and other than this they also bring a more dramatic and intense sense to them. Similarly to the name of our film, these fonts link as there is a abnormal concept and makes it difficult for the audience to understand why the sufferer feels the way she does. To additionally enhance or foreshadow elements of what will happen in our film we would like to make one word in white and another in red to make it stand out more (possibly connote blood loss or distress and the white could connote an element of innocence of the protagonist). Furthermore, I think this will be best suited as white and red are popular in drama/ thrillers and usually appeal to the conventions of the genre.

Diary Post 4: 15th of October

In our lesson on the 15th of October, we looked at audience research and who the target audience for our film will be. I went on the Pearl & Dean website and looked for some films of a similar genre to the one we want to create. I looked at Taken, because we decided that we are using Taken as an outline and inspiration as we want to create a film of that sort of genre and we feel that Taken manages to accomplish that in a very affective way. I then looked at films similar to Taken and I found Ransom and Taken 2. I also used The Hunger Games even though it is a film with a different genre to ours. I used it because it has similar scenes that we'd like to include in our film. I learnt a lot through this lesson and came to the conclusion that the target audience of our film should be males between the ages of 15-24.

Music Research

 http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100778.

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400041.

http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/atonement-2

http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/being-followed

http://www.premiumbeat.com/royalty_free_music/songs/running-fields

I like the first  piece of non copy right music because these are the sort of soundtracks I'd expect to be played in a scene where there is a race as the beat and pace of the music get faster and faster. In addition, I think the last 3 were a much better find for the music of the scenario we are looking for due to the reason it creates intensity and has an affect of making you feel like you are involved in a situation as the music draws you in. I believe this is very affective as we want our audience to feel empathetic and identify with the main character of our film as I think this way it will have a better outcome and will furthermore create the atmosphere we are looking for.

Audience Theory

Through this research we found out that the target audience for Taken, are males aged 15-24 and are mostly in the middle class. It is however also relatively popular with older demographics.  The gender which mostly saw this film were males, this is mainly because they generally like violent and dramatic films. On the contrary, a huge part of Taken’s audience are female viewers, this could have been a result of the stereotypical view that women get more emotionally involved with the film. However, just like the male gaze, I believe the reason that Liam Neeson is the lead character is due to the reason that the mainly older part of the audience of females think he is a very attractive man, especially through his character and personality appeal, which I think has helped massively with challenging the stereotypes that only men enjoy watching action packed films. Similarly to Taken, I also researched Taken 2 and looked at the results in their target audience. The results again showed that the bigger percentage of the audience were male viewers, although since Taken the percentage of female viewers increased which suggests that when Taken 3 is released an even bigger percentage of females will be a part of the films audience. For Taken 2 the age group included the ages 15-24 again which suggest that they kept the same level of violence and scenes which may be inappropriate due to violent content, for children under the age of 15.

The target audience for Ransom, are mostly males, the class is mostly aimed at middle class (c1.).Similarly to Taken, Ransom almost has the exact same target audience. This is because the genre is in fact very similar; Taken is a Action- Thriller film whereas, Ransom is a film which genre is Crime-Fiction & Action. Again, just like with Taken the range of male viewers is much bigger than the female viewers due to the reason that it appears boys/men enjoy more action packed films than women. Furthermore, the results of this research suggests that Ransom is a much more wider enjoyed film as the target audience ages range between 15-24 (38%) and 25-34 (37%). This could also be a factor of the different genre of the two films. 

 The Hunger Games is a film of a completely different genre to the film we want to create, however some of the setting we want to use for our film is included in The Hunger Games. The gender percentages are very similar but there are more males which could show that overall action is more popular with males. Like the other films I looked into, the audience for The Hunger Games has a high percentage as part of their audience of males of mostly 15-24 in the middle class. This connotes that this is mostly what film makers of the genre action/ thriller target their films to.

To conclude, this research helped me begin to see what our target audience will be. I believe that from these target audience research screen grabs we can see what we should include to entice this precise audience. Examples of how we could accomplish this could be by using mysterious music and intense quick shots and a pretty female as the main character to attract the audience through the male gaze theory.