Reasoning For My Title

I chose my title, "Livingstone" because it's the surname for my protagonist. The morphemes of this word, "Living" "Stone" especially "Living" symbolises where my character lives, as she lives in a rough environment. However, i'm not too sure with this at the moment.

"Feel-good" Dramas

A "feel-good" drama is aimed to evidently make the audience feel good about themselves, happy, so I've decided to switch from doing a serious rather "social" drama to this. I believe it will be best suited with my narrative because the hope Ruby has is infectious, it will make the audience feel inspired.

Films like "Forrest Gump", "Love Actually", "50-First Dates" etc. all these movies heighten your mood; commonly aimed at women because they often fantasise about being in film-like fantasy romance hence why "Love Actually" earned $59 million in the US alone and "50-First Dates" grossed at $45million. Through research, these Hollywood movies mostly earn a lot (and even get nominated for two Golden Globes like Love Actually.)

Why a feel-good Drama?
By committing to the Drama genre, it enables me to have the passage to broadcast an influential storyline, that also will contain decoded message in which the audience will decode to obtain a message or a moral.

A drama gives an insight to lives of people who may not be reachable or in the public eye, by showing light on these people it doesn't just serve the purpose of entertainment but also a lesson of a new culture and way of living; by heightening the knowledge of the audience it will leave them to feel appreciative of what they have in life or, in this case, aspire to be.

My purpose is to enlighten knowledge of social realism, enabling the audience to seek confinement and to an extent - entertainment.

How can I use it for my audience?
By following the Uses And Gratification Theory, I will aid me into projecting my purpose furthermore; for example, the cognitive needs I will not cut out what really happens in the life of unfortunate people, I want to shed realism and emotion so the audience can see what actually happens in different cultures - for the integration of society.

As well, affective needs using emotive and impactful scenes to gain sympathy for character roles will keep the audience engaged; and to an extent, enabling to seek confinement within these character roles, being able to take advice from them to help rebuild confidence and their life.

Finally, personal needs - a feel-good drama will help establish character, helping the audience know they aren't alone in their situation and can follow the advice characters will give.

List of features I may want to include into my title sequence

Whilst planning my title sequence, I have thought about a select few of iconography I may want to include in my final piece - a drama:

• Transitions from shots: fading, moving etc.
• Impactful soundtrack, including either lyrics or without. 
• Typography can be imperfect, having a not-so-serious feel about it.
• Story lines that the audience can relate to. 
• Conflict is a very prominent issue in a drama.
• A resolution to the "drama" 
• Dreamy filters.

Target Audience

I wanted to dedicate a whole post for my planning of the targeted audience for my movie, "Fixated", because they are the consumers of this movie. 

To obtain a thorough understanding, I created an online form that I sent out online to over 20,000 followers and personally to 10 friends. The reasoning behind posting it online is because my 10 friends are all the same age, same location and in some instances may have the same taste. Therefore, by posting the form online I am enabled to reach audiences of many varieties such as different age, gender, race, location and taste. 

The form is online here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1InQFcrqDlhlHKJIfhR35XcGv7sgQnJ-at23KU4Ba_Tk/viewform  


Asking these questions and using an online form makes it much more concise and people are able to edit their answers. From asking the basic questions about gender and age to favourite type of drama allows me to get a wide spectrum of the sort of movies different people like.

After having the link posted for almost half an hour, these are the results:



https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1InQFcrqDlhlHKJIfhR35XcGv7sgQnJ-at23KU4Ba_Tk/viewanalytics?usp=form_confirm


After this research, I finally want to target age 15-30 year olds because my movie is about a young girl who dreams about having a successful career, in finance. With the stress from school to the older audience maybe not establishing their career yet I believe the age range is most suitable because they will be able to relate to the audience. I'm thinking of having an age rating of a 15 because I want to include violence and obscene language; emphasising on the realism.  

Title Sequence Research

As a class, we were told to look into research of many types of title sequence designers. This will enable us to gather more of an understanding of how creative designers can alter their production depending on each genre. For example, Saul Bass has approached many genre of films but still keep his iconic style prominent.
Saul Bass:

With Saul bass, he uses a lot of simplistic and abstract lines that aid him in conveying his story line; paying close attention to the genre. Not With My Wife, You Don't! is a comedic drama so his approach for the title sequence isn't very serious, mostly hinting that the imperfect fonts and sporadic lines connote the type of story that's approaching; Not With My Wife You Don't! immediately suggests there's conflict which, again, is suggested through the red on the commanding sentence, "You Don't" the red emphasises danger etc.

 Karin Fong:
Karin Fong is a more modernised graphic designer, I looked at her because she has done title sequences for dramas which is the genre I wish to do. However, she also has influence from Saul Bass which is key to realise that many present designers still look back for a foundation for their recent work, especially with "Pink Panther". She doesn't take work far too seriously, Fong lets her creative imagination have no boundaries which is evident in her title sequences for adaptation of, "Rubicon".

Target Audiences for a Drama

Aspirers preferably aged 16-20 who seek status and dreams, by showing the main character reach her goal through determination and endeavouring attributes they will see they have to work for their dreams.

Resigned - typically 30-50 - Seeks survival. Rigid and authoritarian values. Interested in the past and tradition. Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy.

Succeeders - Seeks control. Strong goals, confidence, work ethic, and organisation. Supports stability. Brand choice based on self-reward and equality. Typically higher management and professionals.

Strugglers - Seeks escape. Alienated and disorganised. Few resources beyond physical skills. Brand choice involves impact and sensation.

Reformers - Seeks enlightenment. Freedom of restrictions and personal growth. Social awareness and independent judgement.

By researching all these different types of target audiences, it will allow me to finally pick one I specifically want to target. I may even add a secondary audience. Looking at this, it will aid me into heightening my knowledge about which audiences watch a dramas. 

Genre film case studies

Submarine
Juno

Genre : Drama

Why a Drama?

By committing to the Drama genre, it enables me to have the passage to broadcast an influential storyline, that also will contain  decoded message in which the audience will decode to obtain a message or a moral.

A drama gives an insight to lives of people who may not be reachable or in the public eye, by showing light on these people it doesn’t just serve the purpose of entertainment but also a lesson of a new culture and way of living; by heightening the knowledge of the audience it will leave them to feel appreciative of what they have in life or, in this case, aspire to be.

My purpose is to enlighten knowledge of social realism, enabling the audience to seek confinement and to an extent - entertainment. 

How can I use it for my audience?

By following the Uses And Gratification Theory, I will aid me into projecting my purpose furthermore; for example, the cognitive needs I will not cut out what really happens in the life of unfortunate people, I want to shed realism and emotion so the audience can see what actually happens in different cultures - for the integration of society.

As well, affective needs using emotive and impactful scenes to gain sympathy for character roles will keep the audience engaged; and to an extent, enabling to seek confinement within these character roles, being able to take advice from them to help rebuild confidence and their life.

Finally, personal needs - a social realist drama will help establish character, helping the audience know they aren’t alone in their situation and can follow the advice characters will give.

Films with a similar story line:

Billy Elliot (2000)- How his disintegration of his dreams and family affect him.  Also based in England and how rough it is. It got turned into a musical in the West-end and Broadway.

Kidulthood (2006) - Showing light on teenagers growing up in West London, with the difficulties that appear. Widely popular with teens of London and its catch phrases online.

Rollin’ With The Nines (2006) - A group of friends determined to set-up a successful underground urban garage act that will aid them to leaving their struggling lives behind. It earned:

Focusing on the idea of terrible backgrounds that are holding back teenagers, which is also the catalyst for them to succeed and achieve what they desire and set out to do. Closely relating to the values of the characters of the environment they live in; such as, family, friends, status and respect.

Title Sequence Study: Juno

Juno, released in 2007, is a feel-good coming of age story about a young girl, Juno, played by Ellen Page who is struck with an unexpected pregnancy. Being a comedic and witty movie, I like the stylistics of this production because it quirky title sequence to the funny one-liners is where I seek influence from.

Initially doing fantastic in the box office, with a production budget of $7.5 Million it obtained an amazing $143,495,265. Being popular amongst the younger audience, it's hilarious to see the common stereotype of how young teens are just being "knocked-up" and not getting as far in life. From drinking a gallon of Sunny-D to getting pregnant, really shows dramatic irony between a child and adult. The protagonist 16 year old, conceives the child with her best-friend, Bleeker, but whilst in the controversial abortion clinic; Juno dramatically changes her mind and wants to give her child up for adoption and carry on with high-school. This is where the story line takes off. 

Title sequence -

The title sequence for "Juno" starts off in reality, showing the protagonist in a red hoodie and jeans whilst holding a gallon of juice. This immediately indicates to the audience, she's a young and average girl due to her costuming as well as drinking juice straight from the bottle. Also, she's wearing black converse trainers which is joint with the stereotype of the youth culture. The medium long-shot, tracks left whilst the main character is walking - showing her journey.

Whilst she's walking, you see the main character walking past average and every-day shops, such as a barbers, nail shop and a music shop. This indicates she is living a normal life within a normal and working class setting. Even her body language even proves her age, walking like a "common" teenager, throwing litter and playing around.



The camera changes to following Juno from behind, she alters from walking normally to playing around and pretending to balance. This reinforces how the audience will gather the young age of the protagonist. Furthermore, the point of view show from Juno proves this story is a narrative from her angle. The shot then ends with Juno throwing her juice and walking into a drug store. Emphasising her youth.

The soundtrack is very uplifting and quirky, the lyrics are relating to a love narrative "if you are the floor, i'd be the rug" this indicates that there may be love within the storyline; leaving an enigma for the audience to feel curious about who she will fall for.