assignment 4

The genre I have chosen is superhero fiction. I enjoy superhero fiction because of the atmosphere that is created before films are released. Superhero fiction creates mass active spectator ship. Active spectatorship is when the audience is active and respond to the films they see. Audiences that are fans of superhero fiction and dedicate huge amounts of time to collecting or researching superhero fiction tend to emulate the characters.

The fans do this out of pleasure, they watch superhero fiction and wonder what it would be like to be the characters within the film. This is where Comic – con comes into play. Comic con is an event where all the superhero enthusiasts get to together all dressed up as their favourite characters from superhero movies. The films effects the audience in such a way that fans dedicate their time to appreciate the genre and hold an event in its name.

 In my opinion Fandom is a great way for audiences to release their passion for the genre. Fandom is where fans form subcultural groups through social network sites and attend gatherings such as Cosplay events. Fandom influences their personality and often shapes the creativity of themselves. Social Networking is a huge way for an audience to connect and react together over the superhero fiction genre. Blogs and pages can be created via Facebook which allow fans to “hype” about past films and films that are yet to be released. Within the social network, fans tend to create their own language that only they understand. When I say language I don’t mean Spanish, French or English. The way in which they communicate will include generic conventions about the film that people outside of the genre would not understand. This further enhances the love for superhero fiction.

When thinking about superhero fiction the most important thing is not the films, it is the audience themselves. The audience’s experiences, background, beliefs and circumstances are revealed through watching superhero fiction. The fact that most superhero fiction movies are shown in the cinema creates the feel of an important event taking place. To some going to the cinema is what they do when they are bored, to superhero fiction enthusiasts going to the cinema to see a new film under this genre is a huge thing. Due to months of anticipation for the film to be released, the audience will be excited and treat the cinema in a completely different way. 

Bums on seats

Showing my understanding of how producers create products that audiences will enjoy and how they get audiences enthused about these products.

My chosen blockbuster is the movie Dead Pool. Before releasing or even creating the movie, the producer had to consider who this movie was going to be targeted at. This was done by undergoing vast amounts of audience research. The producer needed to find out what type of audience would enjoy the content and conventions within the film.

Audiences can be defined by their Gender, Ethnicity, age, region, nationality and socio-economic group. Finding the right target audience for a film can be completed by taking these elements into consideration. Audience research is vital to finding the most suitable audience for your movie. “Dead Pool” contains huge amounts of violence. Researching which age group prefers violent films to nonviolent films would be stereo typically easy. Teenagers are proven to be more interested in films with action and violence than any genre. Now they have a rough idea on the age of the audience the producer would then decide what gender target. Boys are proven to like action films more than girls, as a result the producer can identify that the audience who would enjoy their movie the most would be teenage boys.

According to “Fast Company” It was probably the combination of violence and comedy in 2009’s Zombie land that brought Reese and Wernick to Fox’s attention. The producer of Dead Pool thought about what fans loved so much about other movies under the same genre. They responded to how much the consumer liked “Zombie land” and embedded the content within their film to capture the attention of fans and others who are interested in a film which has unique features that have never been seen before.

To identify which audience will be most suitable for the movie Dead Pool the producer would have used the Gratification model. The gratification model is when audiences choose media for their won pleasure. Dead pool appeals to people who want to have abilities which cannot physically occur in real life. This can be justified through previous opinions audiences have obtained by watching movies with similar conventions as Dead pool. Once the producer can identify the personal identity of an audience then they can release advertisement and trailers which make them feel want they want to feel.

Once the producer has identified who the target audience is, they can then think about how they are going to reach the audience. For the chosen target audience, in this case people who favour violence and comedy, the way in which the producer marketed the product was vital in terms of capturing their attention. Dead Pool was distributed in way that addressed the audience directly. For example, the billboard which contains the Dead pool character and the phrase “wait till you get a load of me” intrigued the audience because if felt like the image spoke to them. Also the producer put across the comedic side of the film by using synergy with other films. For example, one poster contained the layout for 127 hours however Dead Pool was in the rock and it stated “127 hours left”. This create a comedic feel for the audience to anticipate whether the film was going to be violent of funny. In addition, chat shows were held with the main character of the film “Ryan Ghostling” to give a preview on what the audience is to expect from the film. Teasers were released to the audience to give an insight on what the film is like but doesn’t reveal much to create excitement for the trailer. 

Old Films For New

In 1960, the director of the film obtained a cheap-feature deal with Paramount which gave him 60 per cent ownership of his movie instead of his usual upfront $250,000. The film’s budget was a loose-change $800,000).  To keep costs down he used most of his crew from his previous television series. His crew cost 62,000. The sets were relatively cheap, one of the sets costed a mere 15,000 to build. However, in the 1998 remake he financed the film himself. He had a budget of 60 million USD.

In 1960, nearly the whole film was shot with 50mm lenses on 35mm cameras. The quality of the film just about mimicked human vision however for the audience it was not a visual experience that looked real. They could use aerial shots however the footage came out too shaky to use and had to be spliced with footage from the studio.  In 1998, digitally edited soundtracks were available in the 1990’s so for Psycho it meant that the quality of sound was improved dramatically in contrast with the original. The cameras that they used were digital cameras so the quality was improved from the original.

 In 1960, the film was promoted by Hitchcock on his own through television radio and print interviews. It was released for the general public to watch in theatres. The film was so successful that CBS purchased the TV rights for the film. In 1967, paramount included the film in its first syndicated package of post 1950 movies. Years later Hitchcock sold his stock to universal studios. However, in 1998 “Psycho” was distributed by Universal pictures on December the 4^th. Due to Universal pictures distributing the film, it meant that people would be more inclined to notice the release of the film due to Universal being one of the top companies at the time. This affected the success of Psycho because platform they released their film on was well known.

In the 1960s, the use of black lighting was created as a filming technique to enhance the atmosphere when something mysterious was occurring. This was featured in the film because of the spooky events that take place such as the shower scene. In 1998, the use of close up scenes were used during dialogue rather than just wide angle scenes in a room. This was embedded within the film due to the fact that the audience could view the visual and feel closer to the characters when action climaxed.

The genre that psycho falls into is horror, slasher, thriller and mystery. The two films both fall under the category of these genres. In my opinion, if a film is remade it has to be as close to the original as possible. The fact that the two films fall under the same genre, backs up the stereotype of when films are remade they are approximately identical to the original. The two films are easily identifiable when thinking about the story line, genre and plot. In terms of original to remake, the conventions within the film that causes “Psycho” to fall under the horror/ slasher genre are enhanced over the years. For example, the remake is shot in colour whereas the original was shot in black and white. This has a huge impact on the film because it becomes more real for an audience to watch. For a scene where there is blood, the original could not show the ruby red colour of it whereas the remake can.

In the 1960, Anthony Perkins was a famous actor who was used in the film. He won an Oscar for previous films he was in. This has an impact on viewership because he was recognisable before psycho indicating that when people heard that he was featuring in the film, they knew to watch it. Also his loyal fans of his acting would want to follow him in all of his movies. In 1998, Vince Vaughn played the main role within the film which played a part on the viewership. He is an incredible actor and people would have loved to see a remake including him. Before the remake of the film, Vince Vaughn was not major actor and mainly involved himself in TV series and small time movies. When the remake was released, people viewed and judged his performance very positively causing his career to blow up.

The storyline contains more social than political issues that may cause concern. The story outlines the issues that comes within people’s minds. The film outlines also what are the causes and effects of the actions that these types of people take. The implications of this causes the film to be unique. Most films concentrate on the dream lifestyle or social issues that are regularly addressed. The audience will feel that “Psycho”, both original and remake, gives an insight into lives we do not normally see on a day to day basis. We are interested in what we have not yet seen which makes this film stand out. The film almost demonises the mentally different in a way that teaches us to not associate with people like the characters within the film. The protagonist of the film is crazy so we pay attention the personality and imagine if they were real. As the audience, we view the characters personality and actions, then form an opinion of whether we like the character or dislike him. In “psycho” we tend to be frightened from the protagonist.

The regulatory issues that the film maker of “psycho” had to adhere to was that nudity was not allowed to be exposed. This had an impact on the 1960’s original because the shower scene needed to portray the element of nudity to make the scene more powerful. However, Hitchcock overcame this issue by forming certain camera angles together to give the impression of an atmosphere containing nudity without showing it directly. Another example of this is the issue of not exposing physical violence in a gruesome manor. For example, the scene where the character stabs himself with a knife, certain camera angles are used and chopped to give the impression that he has stabbed himself without conveying it.  In the remake (1998) the regulatory issues that were a concern in the original were exterminated. The director took full advantage of the decrease in limitations, as a result could enhance a scenes atmosphere by giving the audience more explicit visuals. For example, the shower scene in the remake we see much more of the woman’s body and we can see her stab wounds clearly.