CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

Dodging a Bullet follows a set of criminals who have been directed by someone of higher authority and concealed identity to steal a painting from a wealthy man's mansion. Our vision of each social group was collated using Pinterest boards.

The film focuses on the heist in action and so our main social group represented are the 4 main characters who are the criminals. They are represented as lawless and thieving, taking on the mission to steal the painting and all the risks that come with it. Whilst this is made clear through movement of the characters tip-toeing around the mansion, it is reinforced through their all-black clothing and attempt to conceal their faces with balaclavas and hoods. They also represent the comedy genre of the film as there are elements of mockery towards the ability of these criminals, mistakes they are clueless of are highlighted in several camera shots. Their costumes equally represent this comedic genre, for example, a fake stick-on moustache which one of the criminals wears. 

Within the group, the characters have different roles which represents them a way which is stereotypical of heist films, much like in Oceans 8 and Money Heist. Millie is represented as the leader of the group, wearing a suit and often at the front, leading and directing the rest of the criminals as to the heist will plan out. She is considerably more competent than the rest of the group which bumps her status higher above the others. 

In the film, the Boss is represented as faceless and anonymous - all shots capturing her are in dark rooms with rim lighting capturing her silhouette, creating an enigma and sinister emotions surrounding her character. This is also stereotypical of heist films where the group of criminals are working in a hierarchical structure and under the direction of an organisation. The Boss is clearly represented as she is only ever seen on the phone, shouting at one of the criminals, which implies she is not attached to the group but rather a powerful figure above them. She is using the criminals to do the dirty work for her and shows no empathy towards them. 

However, our film goes against stereotypes as our main characters are all female despite the jobs undertaken being deemed as dangerous and manly. Equally, many heist films focus on jewellery/banks being the object of interest, however, we decided to make the theft a painting. We were inspired to do this after researching the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft in 1990, where 13 artworks valued at $500 million were stolen; a theft that remains unsolved to this day. 

For Stuart Hall, there is no one single fixed 'meaning' of any media representation of text; each audiences understand representations differently. So whilst our film may convey our social groups and characters in one way, this one interpretation may not be consistent across all audiences who watch the film. He also states that stereotypes, whilst can cause a lot of controversy and negativity surrounding particular social groups, much like 'dumb blondes', they can be very useful in hinting who a character is and what their role in the film is. Depending on how audiences read the text, the criminals may be seen both as bold women attempting to redress economic power imbalances in a patriarchal system, or as foolhardy incompetents who are out of their depths, and given comic treatment. 

Branding is the promotion of a particular product by means of advertising and distinctive design. Our independent film company has a distinctive design that shows cohesion across all our marketing and products. We have our own company logo which is also used within our ident that features at the start of our trailer and teaser trailer which helps to create not only a polished, professional look but also creates recognition between our product and brand.

 Visual branding was further used by the continuity of titles, fonts and colour schemes in the different elements of our production: the font used in our poster titles and information was similarly used on our social media pages. I used a gold/yellow colour scheme which matched with all other marketing products such as writing included on our merch products. I chose the contrasting black and gold colour scheme as the dark palette indicated mystery and even danger and uncertainty whilst the gold represented the wealth and prestige associated with the priceless painting. 

Additionally, our tagline 'this much fun should be criminal' was used cohesively throughout our products, social media, merchandise and posters which allowed a strong sense of branding. This branding was spread on social media on 4 different platforms - I took responsibility of Instagram, posting behind the scene photos and updates on merch and release dates. But we also had accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok which gave us the opportunity to reach out to a wider range of demographics and spread coverage across more apps. 

Our product is designed to attract audiences 15-25 years old, however the mainstream production values allow this bracket to extend further. Our film attracts our demographic as we have a young cast and our grand location allows for scenic shots of high quality. Equally, we use non-diegetic music including Black Eyed Peas 'Pump It' and 'Jump Around' by House of Pain in our trailer and teaser trailer which are recognisable for our audience. We further engaged with our audience through the use of comedic editing and the inclusion of star talent and film awards to give the film a degree of prestige associated to it. 

I gained understanding in the ways to engage my audience through Entertainement One UK's Director of Marketing, Chris Besseling. He talked through the importance of online marketing and so we made sure to make this a major part of engaging our audience.

Due to our target demographic being so young, social media played a vital marketing role in engaging with our audience. We made sure to not only post updates on new releases of trailers but also to create character profiles which were released on a drip feed as it gave audiences an opportunity to connect with the characters and the plot. My Instagram page additionally has features in which consumers can share their views through the like and comment buttons. This way, they had their own personal engagement with the products and we could receive feedback and make sure we were appealing to the likes of our audience. 

My poster was another way in which I engaged with my audience. I bought focus to the main aspects of the film - the criminals and the painting. I included important information such as release dates, actor names, reviews and accolades to create an overall positive awareness for our product. Merchandising was an additional way where audiences could invest themselves in our product and we offered various designs of t shirts and mugs to help draw them in. 

In order to make sure my products were well-perceived, I did lots of research into what my target audience would want to see in a product. I conducted an audience questionnaire where I gathered information on whether or not they watch trailers, how they watch trailers and their opinions on certain conventions of trailers similar to our genre. As well as this, I looked into the marketing strategies and promo packages of films with a similar genre and target audience to our own. The main film we researched into was Oceans 8 as it featured a female-dominated cast much like our own. I was influenced by their thought through colour schemes for example, the film poster is on a red background and picturing the con group of women together in the centre. Red is often associated with danger which links to the illegal crimes the group partake in. Equally, the poster puts firm emphasis on the female casting and how it differs to the film's ancestors which have an all-male cast of con men. I was influenced by this and so in my own poster, I made sure to capture the female criminals around the painting and use the colour schemes to link to elements of the film such as mystery, crime and money. I also learnt from this, the importance of including the billing block on the poster and so I made sure to download a 'billing block font', giving it an official look and ticking off the main conventions needed to feature in a film poster. 

Further conventions used in our trailer include accolades, pull quotes and cast names which all featured in the intertitles. Our tagline also reflected our genre 'this much fun should be criminal' suggesting that whilst it infers mystery and crime, audiences can expect wit and comedy too. We used conventions of our heist genre through the use of a voice-over when explaining the plot of the heist. This is a typical convention as it creates a hierarchical structure within the criminals where one is the head and the others have their own roles, often comedic in their own senses. The creation of enigma is also a significant convention used in trailers and we included this by keeping mystery surrounding the identity of the boss. We used rim lighting to only capture her silhouette and shadow her face which would inspire audiences to come and watch the film.