Final Film Opening- A Dame With A Clue

This is our film opening which we completed- A Dame With A Clue:

Question 7- Evaluation

Question 7-Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product ?
In this question we looked back at our previous task, as in the preliminary task, where Georgia and I created 'Show Must Go On'. We looked at how we have improved in our final task since then and why we think that our final task was much more successful. This was our first time using and editing with a green screen.

Question 6- Evaluation

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
In this question we had to look into the technology that we used throughout the final task. We also looked into what we learnt from using this technology as well as any problems we came across using it as well as how we managed to over come these problems.

Question 5- Evaluation

Question 5- How did you attract/ address your audience?
In this question we looked into how we attracted our audience to our film and why they were attracted to our film. This was finally helped with a survey of what people thought about our film.

How We Attracted Our Audience?

Relating back to the codes and conventions of Film Noir

To attract our target audience, we had to focus carefully on the mise en scene. Firstly, the use of the colour red on the title will appeal to the younger audience because it symbolises the modern era – we did this to convey the idea that this film is set in the 1940's but is created in the modern day. As we are teenagers ourselves, we know that generally people our age are hesitant about watching black and white films because black and white films are uncommon nowadays – the ‘normal’ and ‘typical’ type of films that we are used to are colour films therefore we added colour in the title with the purpose of appealing to a younger audience.

Another way we attracted our younger audience was through our marketing online, with our website and social media. This attracted a younger audience to our film because now stereotypically a majority of young adults live their lives online, so through having online marketing these people are more likely to hear about our film and therefore see it. On these modes of marketing we were also able to release previews for our film. By doing this people will see these previews and then be encouraged to go and see our film.

Click Here to see the website in full

Additionally, this will also attract the male target audience because red symbolises blood which can be associated with crime and this colour also represents the traditional femme fatale red lipstick.

In the exterior shots, the femme fatale acts suspicious – she looks around as if she is hiding from someone which links to the ‘being followed’ theme of Film Noir films. Additionally, most exterior shots are of her back and there aren’t any clear close ups of her face which gives the impression that she doesn’t want to be seen; we did this to create an enigma code – the audience is left wondering who the female is and why she looks so suspicious. The creation of mystery will attract the male target audience because it adds to the dark and crime concept that males prefer.

Another enigma code that we used in the opening is the ‘you’re next’ note – Lana Lombard hands it to the detective without any details therefore the audience will wonder who and where it came from and it adds to the mystery surrounding the female character - this note will either present her as a victim or a masked/lying perpetrator depending on the audience's judgement - thus luring them into wanting to see the rest of the film.

Enigma codes are useful in terms of attracting the target audience because these codes get the audience thinking – it creates many questions and as humans, we feel more at ease when our questions are answered therefore the target audience will want to keep watching the film for their questions to be answered. The reason why we chose an older target audience because older people are more experienced and intellectual so they will more likely notice enigma codes.

Mise En Scene

Film critics will be focusing on how we are going to be able to portray the 1940's therefore we focused carefully on the mise en scene by using props such as a rotary dial telephone, old fashioned film cameras and typewriter to convey the time era the film is set in. We also used character costumes and the actors use old American accents to portray the time period. Jazz music is a vital part of film noir therefore we used a jazz piece for the majority of the opening.

In addition to this, we used typical Film Noir shots: long shot of Lombard walking towards gate, match on action – zoom on window and zoom out of lamp, entering the office, shot-reverse-shot – during conversation. We also used low key lighting throughout the opening.

Another film noir code is the use of a list to display the titles which can be seen in films such as Brute Force – we included this to be able to show the genre clearly.

Brute Force Opening

A Dame With a Clue

This will attract film noir fans as we have included a variety of film noir conventions that the audience will look for and this will hopefully appeal to film critics as we are showing that we have understood clearly the codes and conventions of the genre.

Feedback from the audience:

We set up a survey using Survey Monkey with the purpose of getting audience feedback. We sent emails to people in sixth form as well as people we work, family members and friends. The email included a YouTube link to the opening sequence and the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LTQCTMK

How old are you?

The majority of the people who did the survey are teenagers and adults - these groups are our primary and secondary audience. This shows that these age groups were interested in filling out the survey therefore the opening sequence attracted our ideal target audience. 

 What is your gender?

As shown above, most of the people who filled in our survey are female which shows that our film goes against the stereotypical male film noir audience. 15% of the people who took part are still male so it still managed to attract that group.

Could you tell that the genre was Film Noir?

Everyone could tell that our film was Film Noir meaning that we have managed to use the codes and conventions of the genre effectively. We are relieved by this because we focused carefully and worked hard on the mise en scene by setting up the props and choosing the correct costumes and location. 

What did you like about our film?

People said that they liked the unique choice of genre which made our film stand out in comparison to modern films. They also praised the mise en scene which again, we are pleased with because we really worked hard on this. We made sure to focus on small details such as the titles and the costumes to attract the audience.

What could be improved?

A few people stated that we need to improve on the voice-over so next time, we will use a better quality microphone instead of our phone to record the voice over. Additionally, the editing could also be improved by making the pace more consistent and we could have also included more camera angles during the office scene which would have made it more appealing.

Did you like our film opening?

The majority of the people said yes meaning that we managed to attract the majority of our target audience. This may be due to the enigma codes that we used in the opening which made them interested about what direction the rest of the film will take.

Question 4- Evalution

Question 4- Who would be the audience for your media product?
In this question we had to look at our primary and secondary audience and think about how/ why our film would appeal to them, as well as look at the type of people they are. We also began to look into how we developed our audience and increase the following.

Question 3- Evaluation

Question 3- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
In this part of the evaluation we looked at the institution that we chose to distribute it and and why it was correct for us to do this. We also looked into how as well as where it would be best to distribute our film and the final part that we looked into is how we would see our film being shown in the future.