How do your products represent social groups or issues?
This short film is about three young teenagers who deal with major hardships in their at-home lives. It represents the teenager aspect of life and how they interact both socially and when they are alone. Our film brings a major emphasis on the fact that people and especially young adults feel the need to make their lives seem perfect. Everyone wants to be the person people look at and think “they’ve really got it together,” when in reality nobody is perfect. This is a universal feeling of being insecure and wanting to come off as the best you possible, which most often means hiding the not so good things everyone deals with.
This ties into the touchy issues the character's in the film deal with. The three main characters are best friends who are always upbeat and happy around each other. When they come home, their true hardships are revealed. One of the three main issues touched on is eating disorders. Many teenagers have an unhealthy relationship with food due to society's beauty standards. Another character is dealing with teen pregnancy, which is another major situation happening with teens all over the world today. The last character deals with fighting parents who get abusive with each other. All of these issues touch on the fact that you never know what someone is going through behind closed doors and that your perception of someone isn’t always the reality. This is also why we chose to name the film “perception.”
How do the elements of your production work together to create a sense of ‘branding’?
Branding includes advertising through social media, promotional interactive services, and using different resources to get your product known. All of the different elements being used in this production definitely incorporate a sense of branding. This is done through things like the website. Websites are a great way for people to learn more about your film and what it is truly about. The theme of Perception’s website is very simple and uses contrasting colors to create an atmosphere. This is done through colors like white and pastel pink being used at the top of the page, versus the dark metal type colors the further down the website you scroll. This will help the audience get a feel for the movie and learn more about it before they have even watched it.
Social media is another factor that has gone into the branding of this film. Social media apps like instagram, twitter, youtube, and facebook are used by people of all ages from all around the world. This is a great platform to promote films because it is so easy to get the audience engaged and interested in the film. It is also a great way to bring more attention to the characters of the film. If people get a look into the personal lives of the actors and become interested in their characters, they will be more likely to watch the film or tell someone about it. The postcard is another example of easy marketing and branding. The postcard has the same theme, simple but intriguing and includes details about the film and where you can watch it.
How do your products engage with the audience?
My short film engages with the audience in many ways. The thing that stands out most would be the social media platforms. Our film utilizes the platforms instagram, twitter, youtube, and facebook. These apps are used to get people interested in the characters and get a jist of what the movie is about. By using these social media accounts, the audience is able to interact with actors or other people who are interested directly. Actors or directors can like comments, reply to comments, go live, or give daily updates to keep the audience excited. Another thing made available by these platforms is the ability to post behind the scenes and bloopers. This is a fun and simple way to get the audience more interested. Another great thing about all of the social media platforms we are using is that people from all of the world use them. This is extremely beneficial and allows for our audience to expand because it has the potential to reach people everywhere.
Our website is another example of this film interacting with the audience. The website allows for people to click on different things on our homepage to find out specific things about the film. Things like contact info also give another way for the audience to connect directly. Posting things like the postcard or having printouts of it is also an easy way to interact with people and get them informed on the film.
How did your research inform your products and the way they use or challenge conventions?
This production follows many of the usual conventions used in drama films. For example, intense music is used throughout the film to create an amplifying and tense atmosphere. Drama films often include a lot of emotion. Since our film is more action and story driven than dialogue driven, our messages are conveyed through elements like emotions. The camera movements, angles, and lighting also follow the usual conventions of a drama film. For example, in the scene where one of the characters is taking a pregnancy test, a low angle of the light seeping through the bathroom door is shown. The small amount of light shown in a dark hallway creates an atmosphere that is dramatic and intense. In that same sequence of scenes, that same character rushes out the door. The camera keeps rolling as she walks out of frame and the camera zooms in on the pregnancy test. This keeps with the suspenseful and dramatic mood of the film.
Perception the short film also challenges some of these conventions. For example, the short film starts off very light hearted in an open, bright setting. This challenges the common conventions of a drama because most drama films focus mostly on dark colors and shades. This film is also not as heavily focused on dialogue as most other dramas are. Although there are some ways this short film follows and challenges the conventions of a drama film, I think the message and storyline was conveyed in a way that included some major twists and kept the atmosphere intense yet dramatic.
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