Part 3 Media Evaluation

What impact did the media
institution Film4 have on

each production stage and
why?
Pre production.
Typical genres used by Film 4 include crime/gangster for example in trainspotting, there is a wild use of drugs
and alcohol, this impacted on part of my pre production as we basically worked around this particular genre. In
our 5 part narrative our conflict complication was that our protagonist had to get £200 in under 24 hours if she
wanted to get onto a college course that she wanted so much, in order to better her life. Of course, she had to
result to crime to get this money, she ends up selling drugs that she finds in her boyfriends house. The
protagonist comes from a dysfunctional family, where everyone is unemployed, so money is tight.
Film 4’s ethos often involves discovering unknown talent and using it for the characters in films. This impacted
on our production as we used everyday common people to act out the roles that we created, as obviously
getting known actors would wipe out the realism as Film 4 have a low/minimal budget and this is the reason for
using your everyday, average people. During pre- production we planned to have our protagonist committing
crime, but it was for a good cause, she has a dream to get somewhere with her life unlike the rest of her family,
it is aspirational.
Pre-Production.
• Film 4 films often have titles that are short and snappy, but manage to connote enough about the films
narrative, this impacted on our treatment as this is the point where we had to decide on our title, we
chose ‘Dead End’ because like Film 4 films, the title is short and snappy and also quite memorable, it also
connotes that the main character of the film will hit a dead end in some way.
• Film 4 tend to produce films that are multi cultural and involve a few different races and ethnicities, they
also often incorporate the idea of interracial relationships. This aspect impacted on our pre production
when creating our shooting script, at this point we chose the characteristics of our main characters, we
had one middle eastern, one mixed race and one black. The middle eastern and black characters are in a
relationship, and the young black boy is portrayed as the stereotypical bad guy which reflects Film 4 films
such as ‘This is England’, the black character gets beaten up, which connotes that he is a trouble maker and
is not liked by all, he is inferior and stands out. Although the black character is ‘Dead End’ does not get
beaten up, we set out to make him appear like the bad guy in terms of being superior, but still stands out
and doesn’t seem to fit in.
Production.
• Our equipment was basic, we used a camera and a tripod, this was impacted by Film 4 as we know that
their budget is very small and therefore the equipment they use are kept to a minimal and are all relatively
cheap. We could handhold the camera to get the shaky, kitchen sink effect that film 4 often use.
• Locations: in film 4 films, the locations are often run down and the houses are typical of middle class or
“under-class” families, nothing looks expensive, usually everything looks common and possibly a mess. We
used the streets of Ilford to film, as it is quite a busy area and also quite run down, so we felt it helped to
conform to Film 4’s typical conventions for British Social Realism.
• Cast: We used characters of different races and ages, this was impacted by our research into other Film 4
films such as ‘East is East’, this film explores an interracial relationship at that time (1970’s), ‘Dead End’ does
involve an interracial relationship, but this is not the main focus as nowadays interracial relationships are
not looked upon as such a huge issue. Also, the children in ‘East is East’ are often cheeky and getting into
trouble, which is stereotypical of children this age. We used this stereotype in ‘Dead End’ by portraying the
characters as trouble makers in the opening, getting into trouble right from the start.
• Another example of a similar cast in terms of the teenagers is ‘This is England’, the teenagers are portrayed
as trouble makers who are very ‘chavy’ in their appearance and do not speak in a formal manor. Our cast
also dress in this way, but more up to date, for example Charlene wears a fluorescent Nike jacket, jeans and
trainers, very casual. Ashley says ‘I’m not a road chick anymore, and I swear he’s your man!?’ which is
informal and only understood by those familiar with the area. The storyline of ‘This is England’ focuses
mainly on a troubled young boy growing up in England, which is similar to the storyline of ‘Dead End’,
except instead we have used a boy, as it is less stereotypical and a possible unique selling point.
Distribution.
• Film 4 would distribute our film, as it conforms to the British Social Realist genre
that Film 4 base all films around. ‘Dead End’ would be released into Art House
cinemas on specialist release into major cities, to see if it gets good reception. Our
film would be marketed through viral strategies that create word of mouth through
new media technology such as trailers being released online and advertised on social
networking websites which would address our specific target audience of 16-21 year
olds because they often use social networking and can share the footage with their
friends. This would create and raise audience awareness as long as the campaign
stands out, and is different, as it is a competitive industry and therefore is difficult to
be successful. As we are working to a Film 4 brief which is an independent film
company, we could market our film by having festival screenings in advance, before
the film is officially released, this is effective because reviewers and journalists
would be there, and this could be a form of creating word of mouth.
• Viral marketing is effective because we can target a larger audience through the use
of the internet, this also brings together all aspects of the marketing campaign into
one specific location and is cheaper then print based advertising.

Part 3 Media Evaluation

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Part 3 Media Evaluation

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Part 3 Media Evaluation

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What impact did the media

institution Film4 have on

You might also like