Friday 14 February 2014

"Blog Entry 6" Part 2 - Comparison


 My poster and the advertisement for Piggy are quite similar in terms of layout, representation of characters and visual signifiers. Both characters are centred in the middle of the frame behind a plain background, an obvious difference would be that the foreground of my poster is cluttered with text and social media links, whereas the Piggy poster is very simple. Both characters are represented as being strange or slightly twisted, wearing the same sort of costume. The black, hooded jackets suggest a lack of or hidden identity and it is implied through use of body language or costume that both are possibly insane or unstable. In Piggy, this is because the character is wearing a pigs nose on his face and there seems to be extreme anger in his eyes. The character in my poster is holding his head in his hand, suggesting mental instability.





The first poster was actually how I imagined one of my posters to be before I finished the first, which dramatically altered my ideas and cause my second poster to look as it does below, which I a very happy with. These posters are actually quite similar in a few ways. Both show the relationship between the killer and their victim, both killers are very dominant in the frame and seem to be tracking their prey, or following them around. Another reason these posters are similar is a through the use of costume, which is the black hood. This connotes anonymity and creates an enigma.



These posters are similar as they show both central characters and their affiliation. In the Welcome To The Punch poster the morally "good" character is coloured lightly with a colder blue whilst the morally "evil" character is coloured red, with what looks like fire near his shoulder. In my poster the protagonist is desaturated and has a very faint blue filter over his face and the antagonist has a red filter over him and his pupils have been completely saturated to make the a bright fiery red.




Wednesday 5 February 2014

"Blog Entry 6" - Part 1 - Analysis

Part 1

I made three marketing products for my Drama, which all came in the form of posters.

The first features a close up of the antagonist, who is the second central character. This helps to establish who he is to the audience.

Red, orange, black and grey are the dominant colours in the poster. The warmer oranges and reds symbolise fire, anger and danger. As if his anger is something that flares up unexpectedly and it causes disaster. The darker blacks and greys symbolise the inner darkness of the character and his lack of empathy or feeling.

The costume of the character consists of a black shirt and hoodie which suggests a lack of or a hidden identity. It also suggests that the killer isn't very wealthy.

The body language of the character is quite withdrawn, he is cradling his head which suggests psychological damage or instability.

The shot used for the poster is a wide angled close up, the close up of a central character is a convention in similar marketing products and the wide angle enhances the sense of isolation and entrapment associated with the character, as he is trapped inside his own mind.

The poster also includes a link to Facebook and Twitter, which are very popular social networking sites. Sites like these help to create hype and advertise the product, much like The Blair Witch Project which was popularised by social media sites such as these.

It also includes the ITV logo so people know what channel the Drama will be aired on.

The second product is a still from the drama which serves as a teaser poster.

The dominant colours are reds, greys and blacks. The bright red glow connotes approaching danger and bloodshed, greys and blacks suggest a creeping darkness whilst on the doors and houses and a lack of warmth or feeling whilst considering characters. The lack of colour in the victim suggests that she's already dead and the colour has been drained from her body.

The antagonist is wearing the black hood that we have learned to associate with him in the first poster, which is used to easily identify him and provoke the same thoughts as before about a hidden identity. The casual clothes of the victim shows that she wasn't expecting a visitor but the way that she is accepting the alcohol suggests that she has already met the man.

The victim is happily receiving a bottle of alcohol, which suggests that she is happy to play host to her killer and is completely unaware of who he is. The antagonist is staring into the house instead of the eyes of his victim which suggests a desire to get inside and out of sight and also a lack of respect.

The type of shot used is a wide angled medium long canted two shot. The wide angled shot enhances the feeling of isolation and entrapment like in the last shot only it is the woman that is isolated and trapped by her killer. The canted angle suggests confusion as the victim wasn't expecting a visitor.


The third product serves as the main poster as it contains both central characters and more information about the Drama.

The dominant colours in the poster are black, white and red. Black connotes death, evil, and mystery, it also makes other colours stand out, especially white. When combined with red it makes a very aggressive colour scheme. White suggests coldness and a lack of warmth or feeling and the red suggests danger, power and bloodshed. All of these are common themes within my Drama.

This poster contains both central characters which is a convention of posters advertising the same genre and also includes the binary opposition of Good versus Evil, even though both characters aren't necessarily one or the other. The quote at the end reads "Peace does not include a vendetta; there will be neither winners or losers." which is by Ahmed Ben Bella, it foreshadows the ending of the drama and creates interest, giving the audience the sense that the ending is going to be very satisfying. The antagonist is coloured red because it represents energy, danger and power. It also makes him look devilish or hellish, representing the evil inside him. The protagonist is drained of colour because he has become desensitised by the events occurring around him, it also creates a feeling that he's been left emotionless.

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Blog Entry 5 - Intended Target Audience.

My Drama will be aired on ITV. This is because ITV is home to some of the most diverse and innovative content, featuring a mix of entertainment, movies, music, comedy and drama. The channel has a strong presence online where viewers catch up and also on social media networks with almost half a million followers on Twitter. ITV reaches 36% of individuals and 62% of 16 - 34 year olds each month.

It is for this reason that my intended target audience would be 16 - 34 year olds as I believe they would be the most likely to continuously watch and enjoy my Drama. The individuals in this age group are also old enough to be able to understand and enjoy the graphical content of the Drama, which would most likely take place after the watershed. Fans of the Crime and Horror genres are more likely to watch my Drama as it features conventions of these Genres. My Drama may be gender weighted towards Males, although there is a growing population of Females who watch crime dramas so it could be balanced more evenly between both genders.

The main psychographic profile of my intended target audience would be the Struggler group as they value violent, physical escapism as my Drama features a lot of violence and bloodshed. It also gives them a chance to become the detective and try to work out the enigmas.



 





 

Wednesday 15 January 2014

"Blog Entry 4"

In my Press Release I included some conventional features such as a title, a cast list and the conent was minimal but interesting to help gain initial hype. I even went as far to add "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" in the top left corner and "###" at the end to make it seem realistic. The mode of address in my press release is formal and aimed at the audience, I also used emotive language to spice up my press release and make it seem more exciting to build more initial hype.

The conventional features in my trailer storyboard were different types of camera shots such as canted angle and establishing shots, which are quite typical of the Crime Drama genre. Another conventional feature would be that the trailer has a soundtrack and that it includes only the main characters and some of the most interesting parts which would create appeal to the audience.

The editing featured in the trailer storyboard would take the form of the transitions between shots which are a mix of jump cuts and fade outs, I think both of these techniques work well, especially in time with the music.

The narrative reveal is almost non-existant which helps maintain the enigma and keep the audience interested. My target audience is those 16 and above, it will also be aimed to a more mature audience much like other programmes of the same genre like Whitechapel and Luther, another good example being Broadchurch.