OFF THE LEASH OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE

The merchandise line for our film will be useful for me and my group as it supplies two key elements. One of which, is a secondary stream of income. People will have to buy our merchandise, meaning we will make money off of the products we sell. This will increase the profitability for the film and allow us to recoup some of the costs spent on making the film. The other element it supplies is how it is free marketing. If people were to buy these products, they would show them out in public, like a shirt or phone case, which people see. Not only is this free marketing, we are being paid to market our film. This is because people see the title and cover art and immediately associate it to our social media page which has the same design. This keeps our film fresh in people's mind and means people are constantly thinking about it when they see these products.

Above is an example of our merchandise. These are exclusive phone cases featuring the title and main design for the film.

Above shows both T shirts we will sell. On the right is one of the animal masks, and on the left is the title and art of the film.

TWITTER PAGE FOR 'OFF THE LEASH!'

On the Twitter page I made for our film Off The Leash, I designed a profile picture and banner art for it. This art will be used throughout all our social media campaign and this style will be used for our distribution campaign and possibly our merchandise. By keeping this style of art consistent throughout our film's distribution campaign, the audience will recognise it over time and immediately associate the images they see with our film, Off The Leash.

PLANNING: POTENTIAL PRODUCTION COMPANY ANIMATION

 

PLANNING: CHARACTER OUTFITS

PLANNING: PROPS

 

PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT

 

Risk Assessment	Hazard Proposed	Hazard posed to whom	Risk Level	How Risk was Controlled
Journey to location of filming.	Walking from Esher to the woods  and back from to Esher from the woods– cars.      Travelling via train to and from Esher – big step between train and platform, fast moving trains, public behaviour.                  Travelling via car to and from Esher – be aware of other drivers and pedestrians.	All 4 of us.               Sam, Finn                              Ben, Matt	High               Medium                              High	We took extra care when travelling to our site of filming, always looking both ways when crossing a road.   Sam and Finn will take extra care when entering and exiting the train making sure to check how big the gap between the train and platform is. Make sure to stand behind the yellow line on platforms. Avoid public confrontation.   When driving always check your mirrors and stick to the speed limit to reduce chance of accidents. Always look for pedestrians.
First Aid	Tripping/falling when filming in the woods.           Falling ill/sick Lack of vision - animal masks greatly reduce vision.	All 4 of us               All 4 of us All 4 of us	Medium               Low High	Take care when walking on uneven surfaces. We will carry plasters at all time to accommodate for any cuts.   Taking appropriate measures to help individuals who feel unwell i.e. calling their parents or getting them water. Walking slowly through woods when filming.
General public	Theft - drone, laptop, phones. Assault	All 4 of us                 All 4 of us	High High	Always carry items in a zipped up bag and never leave unattended when filming. Always checking we still have our valuables.   We will walk through public areas as a group of 4 in order to look less approachable. Will not speak to any other members of public.
Public incidents	Terrorism - caught up in terrorist activity leading to injury or confusion. COVID-19 lockdown - preventing us from filming.	All 4 of us All 4 of us	High High	We will follow given government guidelines and be aware of our surroundings so we do not get lost. Make sure everyone knows emergency contacts if needed e.g. 999. Making sure everyone follows covid-19 government guidelines and not breaking the law. Waiting until after the lockdown to continue filming.

AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

FILM FESTIVALS WE WILL ENTER

We aim to submit our film OFF THE LEASH for screening at film festivals where possible. 

We hope to be successful at the Edinburgh International Film Festival: Youth. I think this is suitable for our film as it is not too unachievable for our comparatively small budget. Film festivals such as the London Film Festival and the Cannes Film festival are out of reach for our budget as films with reputable directors and actors attend this, not a group of 4 student film makers. The Edinburgh Film Festival: Youth on the other hand is not out of reach for me and my team. This is because the genre of film there is more niche and lower budget. Additionally as it is the youth section, we will be coming up against people our age with fairly similar ability. This will even the playing field and give us a real shot at winning it.

Another film festival we will be entering is the BFI Future Film Festival. Unlike most film festivals the BFI hosts this one is for up and coming young creators. Because of this, we have a possibility of attending the Film Festival and is not a completely unrealistic goal for our team with our low level of resources and micro budget. 

BBFC CERTIFICATE

 

PLANNING: TARGET AUDIENCE AND SIMILAR FILMS

 In an interview with Entertainment One UK, Kezia Williams exclaims how important it is for distributors to "know their target audience". This includes what makes them go to the cinema and what interests they have. Additionally, she says that distributors use a variety of data from past films similar to their one, and what made their target audience want to/not want to go to the cinema and see the film. Williams' interview shows how knowing your target audience is a key factor for distributors to be able to distribute the film, directly effecting the success of the film.

I will now be composing a comp list below. This is looking at previous films with a similar genre, USP and story line to our film. With this, we will be able to analyse the success of past films, what they did wrong and what they did right to then finally assess the potential financial success of our film.

Comp List

PLANNING - TARGET AUDIENCE COLLAGE

 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

To reach a target audience, you have to have a good knowledge on their full profile. This includes age, gender, ethnicity, preferences etc. I will be looking at various characteristics such as favourite films, way of dressing, music they listen to and other parts that will allow me to understand my audience deeper as people. As a result, I will know what I have to do to target my audience and where to market my film, in order to gain the widest possible audience possible.

I also looked at the ways other production companies targeted their audience. I did this through looking at their audience profile and seeing how they categorised it. I learnt how detailed the audience profiles were and the sheer amount of variables they look at. They do this to have the best understanding over what their target audience does, so they can market their products tailored to what their audience does.

To plan how to reach your specific target audience you need to know who they are and what their interests are. You create an audience questionnaire to research the age, gender, ethnicity and social class of your target audience. You also find out what their media needs and wants are so that you can create a film that will satisfy them. Ultimately in order to market your movie you have to find out the best way to reach your target audience. To show how your research has helped with your planning, you have answered the questions below with pictures to support your post. 

1. Who is my primary target audience?

15-25 year old male/female. 

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

I believe they would prefer horror films. These films include The Conjuring, The Paranormal trilogy, The Blair Witch Project, The Shining. 

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

I think they would watch Netflix, Prime and other streaming services. Social media would be the main source of information through platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and possibly Twitter. I believe FaceBook as a social media platform is more aimed towards an older audience so wouldn't access the target market we are trying to market to.

4. What brands do they prefer?

They would prefer mainstream brands, due to how our film is a horror movie which most teens and young adults enjoy. I have already listed the social media platforms they would use. They would wear brands like Nike and Adidas which they would buy from JD Sports. They would listen to mainstream music such as UK rap artists like Dave, Stormy and Ardee. They would watch the film at general cinemas like The Odeon or the Vue. They would eat at McDonalds, Pizza Express and other mainstream restaurants. 

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

Our film is shot in found footage. This is our USP as not many other films are shot like this. Found footage is camera footage from a first person view that has been shot by the character themselves. Because of this, the audience gets a personal view on the film and is immersed more into the film as they see the events from the character's perspective.

6 . Why should my audience watch my film?

My audience should watch my film because of how eery the film is. It is not a traditional horror movie but will keep the audience on the edge of their seat for the whole duration of the film.