CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

1. HOW MY FILM PROMO PACK REPRESENTS SOCIAL GROUPS & ISSUES

The protagonist of His Last Mile is a successful teenage athlete facing mortal danger when confronted by a rival athlete who is angry that his place in the spotlight has been taken by the younger, faster and more attractive runner. Driven by revenge, the rival’s jealous rage turns from the initial desire to destroy an adversary to a darker desire to find an outlet for his misery through killing sprees. Our film is unusual in its representations in that its narrative rests on a triad of characters, all of whom we explore: the golden boy athlete (an easily recognisable icon), the damaged rival (the stuff of every black thriller) and the world-weary detective with a rough exterior but a big heart (the anchor in every police procedural). Our film offers recognisable tropes that will resonate for every teen who lives and breathes Instagram, every lover of dark crime thrillers and each fan of TV dramas like Strike. We have also introduced a deliberate complication to the plot: the girl who saves the day and who turns the audience’s distrust of her into admiration as she battles to rescue the young athlete. This deliberate complication created an anti-stereotype in our film.

 

As our film uses narrative tropes typically used in thriller and horror films, our casting needed to show clear representations of stereotypes and anti-stereotypes. For Stuart Hall, stereotypes are used by the media to create characterizations by reducing social groups to a few key traits or visual cues depicting a set of behaviours within a social hierarchy. These are constructed through codes that use imagery, language, sound and editing, which play a vital role in shaping how people see the world. The stereotypes used for the young athlete are shown through visual clothing codes, with shots of him running in expensive sportswear to represent his stereotype of a young elite sportsman. In representing our detective, we create the stereotype of a hardened, stubborn and experienced detective, whose objective is to stop at nothing to seek justice. The serial killer is a tool to show the audience social issues within our film, such as the challenges provoked by competitive sport, social media profiles and resulting mental health problems. 

2. HOW THE ELEMENTS OF MY PROMO PACK WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE A SENSE OF 'BRANDING'

In my promo pack, I have created various products that create a sense of branding, these products being a film website, poster and social media pages, with additional products such as merchandise. My film website landing page has a striking moving image of the main protagonist getting kidnapped, which also appears in our Twitter and Instagram pages. The moving background image signals our film's brand clearly because it connotes the film’s genre, which is Horror/ Thriller. The film title also signals the film's brand through blood red coloured text and bold font because it represents the darkness and goriness of the content in our film. Underneath the title I have placed the film tagline, so that it features prominently on the website homepage and so it further connotes the films branding of a Horror/ Thriller film.

Across our social media (our Twitter and Instagram pages) we have placed various short clips and images from the film, as well as product promotions, posters and behind-the-scenes photos, in order to show our film brand. The header photos for our social media pages are different, however, both header photos show two of the main characters, the young athlete and the serial killer which connotes the film's brand. Alternatively, to promote brand recognition, we have created various merchandise products that feature the film title and characters in our film, such as the serial killer. 

My poster creates a sense of the Horror/ Thriller genre through visual images and codes. For example, the triad of main characters shows a clear dynamic of the film and the key elements that create a sense of branding. Additionally, the blood cards that were added to the poster create a sense of branding because they not only link to a key element of the film but they are a key aspect in our merchandise, which is sold via my website. 

3. HOW MY FILM PROMO PACK ENGAGES WITH MY AUDIENCE

In order to engage with my target audience, who we had defined as teenagers/ young adults who enjoy Horror/ Thriller films, I had to make my promo pack unique and intriguing. I have put my tagline in my website, poster and trailers in order to entice my audience and to allow them to speculate what it means. Through the use of hard cuts, inter tiles (showing pull quotes, company names and taglines) and a sinister underscore enables me to grip my audience and make them want to see the film.

The centre of visual interest in my film poster is the triad of characters who appear in the shards of glass across the poster, because they clearly showed the characteristics of their characters and it will allow the audience to connect with the characters. The blooded playing cards and blood red text colour grip the audience and it gives the impression that the film is gory and sinister, which will attract audiences of the Horror/ Thriller genre. By placing star talent clearly at the top of my poster, it will engage with fans of these actors and it will make them want to watch the film. Alternatively, by placing a QR code on the poster, the audience will be able to interact with our social media pages and websites, building an audience initial buzz. 

My website landing page instantly engages my audience because it has a video in the background of the young athlete getting kidnapped. The flashing light effects build tension and crease suspense for the audience. The cast list looks professional as it looks like a missing persons pinboard, which is commonly used by Detectives/ police in Thriller films. My website merchandise page allows audiences to buy brand products, such as face masks and hoodies, which promotes the film.

4. HOW MY RESEARCH INFORMED MY PRODUCTS AND THE WAY IN WHICH THEY USE OR CHALLENGE CONVENTIONS

By analysing various similar trailers, we were able to grasp an understanding of the key horror codes and conventions that we needed to include in our trailer, in order for it to be successful. When looking at the trailers for A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II, there is limited amounts of dialogue and the music/silence created a sinister and ominous atmosphere. In both our teaser and full trailer, we have very limited dialogue and instead we have used an intense and menacing underscore to create a sense of Horror and Thriller. Similar to The Purge film in 2013, we have placed the protagonist at the beginning of the trailer to allow audiences to establish the USP earlier on, which is a serial killer seeking revenge on the young athlete. In our research, we discovered that in trailers showing Serial Killers, they create various enigmas, to increase audience interest. In our film we used various hard cuts between locations to create enigma, such as multiple dead bodies beginning to be discovered and the identity of the killer. 

When creating my film poster, it was important that the colour palate, writing codes and key images correspond to the films genre. For my poster, I made all my writing text red because it links to the violent and gory content within our film, which was inspired by the text colour of the Friday the 13th film poster. However, for the billing block I decided to keep it in white as it detracts from the main focus of the film poster and allows my target audience to see clearly who was involved in the making of the film. The darkened images of the key characters and playing cards links to the specific colour tones and styles of a Horror/ Thriller film. 

In researching film websites, I discovered the importance of convergent links to various individual website pages and social media pages, as well as easily accessible tabs for my target audience to navigate round. The moving images, similar to the website of Cruel Peter, allows my target audience to have a visual insight to the film and it creates a sinister atmosphere for them. Moreover, similar to the film website for Doctor Sleep, by having social media icons as links to our film social media pages, allows our audience to easily access other content relating to our film and genre.