Text Message Scene Revision

We decided that our first revision to the film would be the text scene. In the scene, the main character receives a text message including an address. Rather than coming from an anonymous number, the contact is from the main character's girlfriend. This doesn't make sense as the main character's girlfriend had been kidnapped and he is trying to find her. This would be a quick scene to re-shoot so we chose to do it first. After school, we drove to the parking garage where we previously filmed the scene. We found similar weathering and lighting conditions as it was around the same time of day. Having already re-shot this scene, we were very prepared to do it again and it took very little time. Even though it was a minor plot detail, it created much confusion over the story. Having implemented the new scene, we believe that this will assist the viewers in fully understanding our film.

Marketing

To gain popularity, most modern movies use unique marketing techniques to make their film stand out from the crowd. Our group decided to research these techniques and see how we could apply them to our own film. We would also aim to release as much content teasing the film as possible, spreading it to a wide audience. One of the most powerful marketing techniques used today is an event called a press junket. In this event, we would send out our actors and directors of the film to interview with a number of journalists. Since social media is booming with millions using these platforms, we would also create accounts that advertise our film. These accounts would be on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. We could also try to use the latest technologies to advertise. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" created a 360 degree video that quickly gained popularity with millions who watched. Television advertisements and images of the film would also be released as support.

Superbowl Commercial Techniques

During the Superbowl, companies spend millions to show ads that are clever and appeal to a wide audience. During class, we watched several commercials from this year's Superbowl and took notes on the techniques they used.

Hyundai Commercial

• Emotional appeal - Family values, patriotism
• Public relations - Gave back to the community/troops
• Target Audience - Parents aged 25-54

TurboTax Commercial

• Emotional Appeal - Humor
• Target Audience - Everyone with a job who pays their taxes.
• Shows that you need a phone to do your taxes.
• Shows that you can do your taxes anywhere with this company.

T-Mobile Commercial

• Emotional Appeal - Celebrity
• Target Audience - Millennials (18-35)
• Gets people to use their service by sharing their videos.
• Uses music young people listen to.

We then looked into how we could implement these techniques into marketing our own film. We would aim for our target audience which is mostly young males. To accomplish this, we could aim for an emotional appeal that would highlight some of the most intense part of the film including car chases and shooting. We could also use music in the trailer that is newer since we're aiming for an audience aged 18-35. Finally at the end of the ad, we would display the title and actors to show that it is a film that is coming to theaters soon.

Film Distribution

For our film, our group decided to research how we would distribute it, if it were to become a full-length feature film. We looked up the ways production companies distribute their films in recent times and long ago. We found on that there is a method that most companies tend to follow today. A "standard release" is a business model that allows the film to take advantage of different markets, such as theater and home release, at different times. One film similar to ours called "Taken" used this method. The production companies such as "M6" and "Europa Corp" ensured that the film would be successful with this distribution platform. During this process, the film is first released in theaters and then 16 weeks following, is released for home platforms such as DVD. We decided that this would be the method we would follow as most modern successful films use the standard release model. However there are other methods we considered such as an internet release. According to "http://digiday.com/", this is a platform that more production companies have taken up in recent times. It involves the film be released directly to the internet for  the costumer to purchase or rent. We decided against this due to most successful films using the standard release method and the fact that an internet release could result in more illegal downloads.

Film Marketing

Our group conducted research on our film's marketing techniques if it were to be released to the public in full length. Our film being an action film would enable us to market our film to a wide audience. However, we found  through multiple sites such as "entertainment.howstuffworks.com/" that the core audience who watch the most action films are typically young adult males. Some of these people may feel a rush from action films, thus attracting a younger audience. We also found that people in the middle class tend to watch more action films as they typically have the funds and time to do so. For distribution, we found that DVD sales and digital sales were among the highest in revenues. We would peruse the distribution of our film on these fronts as they appear to be the most popular in today's market. Streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime would be utilized as there is a growing number of young people who use these services. Advertisements would be used as well throughout a number of platforms. Since we are aiming for a younger audience, we could use Snapchat. A typical ad that appears in the user's "stories" costs $750,000 (http://adage.com/).
We also focused on finding television channels in which our target audience would be watching. Advertising would focus on channels with a more mature audience such as Comedy Central. According to "http://televisioncampaign.co.uk/", the post peak (20:30-6:00) has a slight single male audience (1,000-170,000) bias with a maximum cost of  3,000. This would be beneficial for us as the majority of viewers are younger males and the costs would be kept low. By using these platforms, we would hope to be very successful in marketing our film to our target audience.

Film Openings

During class, we watched a number of openings from popular films such as "The Shawshank Redemption" and "Deadpool". Each opening had its own unique characteristics and feeling. One common aspect from the openings I found was that they all set the plot in stage. They all did this by showing the viewers a location and a conflict. By doing this, the rest of the movie would be spent solving this conflict. In our opening to our film, we found that we had adequate film quality and plot potential. However, our opening didn't clearly explain to the viewer what was going on. In our eyes, we could completely understand what was going on but the viewers had a hard time grasping the concept. We plan on implementing a clearer conflict in which the viewers will be able to full understand. We also learned some techniques on  how to implement the credits into the shots.The intros we watched all had a variety of ways to doing this. In "The Shawshank Redemption", the credits follow the camera while others moved across the frame depending on where the main subject was located. While in "Deadpool", a CGI scene was created in which the camera was following a car crash and the credits appeared on the objects in the scene, Our film implemented first method as it is much easier and less costly to work with. We plan on refining our credits so they are not in the way of the subject on screen.