Preparation for evaluation questions

PREPARATION FOR EVALUATION QUESTIONS…

BY VICTORIA BARNES

POPULAR FILM DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:

SIMILAR FILMS TO OUR THRILLER:Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)A barber named Benjamin Barker had a beautiful wife named Lucy and an infant daughter named Johanna. A corrupt judge named, Turpin accuses Benjamin of a false crime. After years of exile, he comes to London to seek vengeance from judge Turpin. He finds his shop on top of a meat-pie shop and the shop's owner, Mrs. Lovett tells him that Turpin has taken his daughter and his wife has committed suicide. Benjamin, seeking revenge, slits throats of his customers and sends their corpses to be turned into meat-pies.

Distribution companies:

Director: Tim Burton

Starring: Johnny Depp & Helena Bonham Carter

Genre: horror/thriller/crime fiction/drama/musical/dark comedy

Target audience: Teenage to adult audiences. Contains some violent scenes.

Budget: $50 million

Tim" Burton is an American film director, producer, artist, writer and animator. He is known for his dark, gothic, eccentric and quirky fantasy

films.

SWEENEY TODD’S DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:1) DreamWorks:DreamWorks Pictures is an American film production label of Amblin Partners. It was formerly distributing its own and third-party films by itself. It has produced or distributed more than ten films with box-office grosses of more than $100 million each. As of October 2016, DreamWorks' films are marketed and distributed by Universal Pictures.

Previous films:-Shrek (1,2 & 3) -How to train your dragon-Chicken run -Shark tale -Saving Private Ryan -The help -The lovely bones-Flags of our fathers -Meet the fockers -And many more….

SWEENEY TODD’S DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:2) Paramount:Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film studio based in Hollywood, California. Previous films:-Snow Day-Wonder Boys-The Next Best Thing-Rules Of Engagement-Mission: Impossible Ii-Shaft-Bless The Child-The Original Kings Of Comedy-And many more….

SWEENEY TODD’S DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:3) Warner Bros:Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. is an American entertainment company, film studio and film distributor that is a division of Time Warner and is headquartered in Burbank, California.

Previous films:-Fantastic Beasts and where to find them-Batman v. Superman-The Dark Knight-Suicide Squad -Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone -Inception -The Accountant-Mad Max-And many more….

SWEENEY TODD’S DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:4) Film Flex:FilmFlex, is an on-demand movie rental services provider, claiming to be largest outside of the US.[1] It is a joint venture between Sony Pictures Television and The Walt Disney Company.

Previous films:

-Horrible Bosses

-Cars 2

-Blood and Rain

-Pulp Fiction

-A Separation

-Half Nelson

-And many more….

COMPARISON OF OUR THRILLER TO SWEENEY TODD…Comparison of plot:

•Both films are thrillers.

•Both have a gory, cannibalistic element.

•Both films involve some type of trade, i.e. our thriller involves disposing of bodies for gangs for money, and Sweeney Todd, involves turning bodies into meat pies.

•Both have a psychopathic male as a lead role.

•Both take everyday jobs (butchers and barbers) and turn them into a way of committing horrific crimes.

Comparison of genre:

•Sweeney Todd - horror/thriller/crime fiction/drama/musical/dark comedy

•Our thriller – horror/thriller/crime fiction

The genre of both films are very similar, however Sweeney Todd is the film of the musical and so contains singing and dance and elements of dark comedy which are very dissimilar to our thriller.

Comparison of target audience:

•Sweeney Todd – teenage to adult audiences

•Our thriller – teenage to adult audiences

Similar budget:

The budget for Sweeney Todd was $50 million, which is obviously a price which we would never be able to afford. However, Sweeney Todd is a Hollywood film, produced by DreamWorks and Warner Bros. and so they have a high budget regardless of whether the film becomes a success or not.

SIMILAR FILMS TO OUR THRILLER:Parents (1989)Michael Laemie is a young boy living in a typical 1950's suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and continued unease around his parents. Especially his father, Nick Laemie .Young Michael begins to suspect his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside (i.e. eating bodies), but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or the school's social worker. As time progresses, Michael begins to suspect that his parents are cannibals, after he discovers (or dreams that he discovers) body parts hanging on a meat hook in the basement. The film ends with Michael's grandparents assuming his care. After placing him to bed, Michael's grandfather leaves him a midnight snack consisting of a glass of milk and a suspicious looking sandwich, implying perhaps that his parents' cannibalism was learned behaviour.

Distribution company: Vestron Pictures

Director: Bob Balaban

Starring: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis

Genre: black comedy/horror

Target audience: Teenage to adult audiences.

Budget: $3 million

SWEENEY TODD’S DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES:4) Vestron Pictures:Vestron Pictures was a film studio and distributor of the late 1980s, and a division of Austin O. Furst, Jr.'s Vestron Inc., best known for their 1987 release of Dirty Dancing.

Previous films:

-Dirty Dancing

-Dangerous Curves

-Far From Home

-Buster

-Little Monsters

-And many more….

COMPARISON OF OUR THRILLER TO PARENTS…Comparison of plot:

•Both films are thrillers.

•Both have a gory, cannibalistic element.

•Both take normality and everyday life and turn them into a way of committing horrific crimes.

•Parents is less to do with trade.

•Both contain psychopathic characters.

Comparison of genre:

•Parents- horror/dark comedy

•Our thriller – horror/thriller/crime fiction

The genre of both films are very similar, however Parents contains elements of dark comedy which is dissimilar to our thriller.

Comparison of target audience:

•Parents– teenage to adult audiences

•Our thriller – teenage to adult audiences (most target audiences for thrillers are similar)

Similar budget:

The budget for Parents was $3 million and was produced by Great American Films, Limited Partnership and Vestron Pictures, which is far less money and far less well known production companies than the film Sweeney Todd. This makes this film low budget meaning it is much more affordable if we were to go ahead with our thriller.

WHICH PRODUCT SUITS OUR THRILLER BETTER?In terms of plot, Sweeney Todd suits our thriller better as it contains similar trade references and involves the use of everyday jobs and the horror behind them. Ideally, we would use the same distribution companies as Sweeney Todd. I think the best distribution company for us out of them, would be Warner Bros as from my research I can see that they have distributed more thrillers, horrors and action movies, meaning that they would successfully distribute our thriller.However, in reality, such a successful distribution company would be very unlikely to produce our film. Therefore, Vestron Pictures, which has successfully produced smaller films, could be better suited to our thriller.

Age group: 15 + Location: Must be Westernized countries, ranging from small villages to large cities. Although, would be most appropriate for small villages or towns in the UK or Europe as that is where small butchers are usually found.

Hobbies and interests: Should take an interest in gory/crime thrillers. Should also take an interest in human nature and mind-set as our thriller contains unusual, psychopathic characters.

Education/jobs: Do not need to have a good education/job. It would not effect their understanding of the thriller.

Income: Our audience can easily be from working class or above; the butchers is a familiar and regular item in our society that all classes use.

WHAT WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?