Question 5: How did you attract your audience?
103B - Ryder Broadbent Smith
Part A: Marketing Tools
As previously stated our piece is an independent feature meaning our budget is limited. This is
highly relevant to how our film would be marketed as there would be a distinct lack of ‘Push’
advertising due to monetary issues. However, ‘Pull’ advertising like viral marketing and social
media awareness campaigns can be highly effective and cheap.
Internet marketing techniques would be out primary
way of marketing out feature as it’s a quick and easy
way to spread word of a production. Community based
websites like Twitter and Reddit which allow free
submission to a wide range of people would likely be
used. Viral campaigns that draw attention would also
be used to bring in an audience, possibly “Who is
Lloyd?”
Iron Sky is an example of effective viral marketing. After
releasing a teaser trailer before production was completed
massive internet support was gathered due to it’s unusual
an alluring nature. This also helped with the production
cost. Once completed an online petition was launched to
request the feature in your local area. This process was
simple for the user and had a level of humour and as
shown to the left, it proved to be reasonably successful.
This technique is something we may consider when
marketing out feature. Entering our film into film festivals
like SXSW, Sundance, Brighton Film Festival and the UK
Film Festival in London is also a plausible way of raising
public awareness of our piece due to the high publicity it
brings.
Part B: Audience Feedback
In order to grasp how our opening title sequence faired with our target audience, we showed it
to a selection of those who fill the demographic. We asked for a small survey to be filled out
and received the following feedback.
In terms of genre:
“The coin spinning in the dark...adds a mystery and narrative enigmas”
The death of Lloyd and the graphic blood was
commented on and how it helps cement the
Thriller genre.
“A murder works well because the killer is
unknown”
The use of location was also commented on as
it fits the Thriller genre of an urban and
seemingly normal place despite the narrative.
In terms of Mise-En-Scene:
The use of blood was commented on as it’s immediately
eye-catching and creates questions as to how the
character came to be in this position. It was also said that
the blood provided a layer of realism in a positive way.
“...it gave the OTS more suspense and it
makes the viewer want to watch more”
The ambiguousness of the coin was commented on numerous
times, stating it was used effectively to create a mysterious
atmosphere. It’s use as an edit point was also mentioned.
“its importance was
shown through
transitions and closeups”
In terms of technical aspects:
The radio reports we created to go over the
OTS were received well and gave a “really
effective, interesting element”. The voice over
can be heard on out OTS at 1:10
“the clashing of radio creates the idea of
obsession”
This was something we aimed to achieve when
developing the script, the idea that Lloyd was
always thinking about crime.
The editing was seen as very smooth by the
audience as were the fluid camera movements,
especially the gliding over the newspapers.
The coin has a narrative enigma was considered a
key part of the OTS by the audience, this was
something we aimed to create.
“The coin part was very good. It made you think
of lots of reasons why it may be important and
made you want to watch more”
From the feedback we received, I feel we have
successfully targeted our primary audience and
their needs as we created an opening title
sequence that creates numerous narrative
enigmas, such as the spinning coin and how Lloyd
ended up dying. We also stuck to the Thriller genre
effectively through costume and location which was
also noticed by our audience.