Final Submission

Here is the link to our new final product of our film Point of No Return.

Creative Critical Reflection

I created a Prezi.

CCR Draft #4

Question #4- Our film Point of No Return was edited on two mobile editing applications called Splice, and Video Shop. With both of these editing software's, Jaxon was able to utilize effective  editing techniques offered through the two apps. The titles spaced during the beginning with the names of the actors matched up as the characters make their first appearance in the scene. The font size and color was chosen to easily be seen for the audience with bright white color and font design as it was large text for the same reason. The movie had many aspects of found footage added to it through editing making the film seem more dated as it had been laying out in the forest for awhile. Also we added filters to certain scenes so the viewer would notice a camera shift from Oscar Baxter to a camera planted on a tree. The film overall has been edited four times and going through all the processes of film producing multiple times has made me feel like I have some what mastered the craft as our movie has altered greatly through scrapping the entire plot, adding new scenes, new dialogue, new setting, and even more camera angles.

CCR Draft #3

Question #3- Before even being introduced into this project or course Jaxon and I had already had a fascination with the film industry. Thus, we signed up for the class. I believed I had a good idea of how the whole industry and how it worked before I joined the class, but I was wrong. As I went through the course I began to truly realize how rigorous the industry can be to create a well done quality film. My production skills developed greatly throughout the course as Jaxon and I went through all the steps of creating what we thought was a quality film. Starting with the picking what genre, actors, and story we were trying to convey. Picking actors was quite as we only had three actors performing during the first 2 minutes. Then getting to the genre we were going to start with was easy as Jaxon and I are very into scary/thriller movies so we went with that, however deciding how our story would develop was difficult as we changed the plot multiple times while writing the script, planning, filming, and even after done filming the first time. We took our audiences criticisms and reflected on them to try and make a better film that would appease the audience more, so we created an entirely new film with creating a new story line, brainstorming more ideas and writing more scripts.

CCR Draft #2

Question #2- Our films target audience was mainly focused on the millennial's as they had a chance to see The Blair Witch Project as a kid. Point of No Return engages our audience by setting a movie in present time with the idea that something is lurking in the forest. With the opening scene having a distressed manager discussing the two missing filmmakers disappearance it creates a large sense of wonder and suspense on what could've happen and what did happen that night in the Skin Walker Forest. The dialogue between the filmmakers is very casual so the viewer wouldn't be bored and they can relate to the two more. Another way our target audience was engaged into our film or interested was through the use of trailers and media posts, both of which would entice our younger audience as a large majority use social media to discover the posts on platforms such as Instagram and they surely us YouTube to see our trailer within the recommended tab.. Distributing the movie would be quite hard as we would be creating a lower budget film that would only allow us to distribute through some lower level film streaming sites and then hopefully build up to some larger sites like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

CCR Draft #1

Question #1- Jaxon and I's film followed the basic traditions set influential films in the past such as Blair With Project, and Paranormal Activity which were both very successful films. We took their ideas and put them into work in our movie. The biggest idea we took from movies like them are the idea of a found footage film. Found footage film is still relatively new and can still be considered as challenging the normal conventions was  by other more basic films.  Point of No Return was recorded from a point of view shot from the camera man Oscar Baxter. The entirety of the film was shot in a P.O.V. and the camera work was done by no other than me. We used a variety of camera shots to show the forest and the frightened look on the actors faces. The establishing shot with Jaxon aka Nathan Rees in front of the forest I believe was by far the most important as it established the main setting of the film and allowed Jaxon to introduce himself and I while the audience was able to take in the immense dark forest. Another example of how our film followed the basic traditions set was through the use of costumes with all of our actors dressing accordingly with Jackson Mooney dressed very formal as he was set as a depressed friend on the two fellow actors who are missing.

3rd Quarter Submission

YouTube Link- Point of No Return Version 2

Distribution Plan

Jaxon and I's plan for the distribution of our film was to solely release our film digitally as it suits that form of release. However, we were thinking about putting the movie into a contest to gain more attention the film and add that with our marketing through trailers and media posts, so once we release the movie on a smaller platform digitally it will have a larger likelihood of people viewing the movie and hopefully spreading the word about how great this smaller more low budget found footage style film really impressed them. Then hopefully after gaining enough attention we could create  contract or deal with Amazon or Netflix to sell of the movie to one of them to release it there too.

Distribution Research- Digital

Digital- Manchester By the Sea was released as an Amazon Prime Original and much like Bird Box the movie gained massive attention even without being released the traditional way through the theaters. However, the movie could not be anymore different than that of Bird Box the two's genres lead to completely different stories and emotions felt throughout the films, with Bird Box being more suspense and thrilling, while Manchester By the Sea was a serious drama that gained an Oscar for the lead actor. Both showing that releasing solely digital is not such a bad idea with both gaining massive success and recognition in different ways with Bird Box inspiring countless videos on social media and Manchester By the Sea winning various awards for their explore film.

Distribution Research- Digital

Digital- Bird Box was released solely on Netflix and was watched by over forty five million Netflix accounts. The Netflix Original became an overnight success with millions of fans posting it on social media and even an entire challenge was created after the film named "the bird box challenge". The movie was marketed through various social media platforms showing trailers or movie poster pics on Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter. The movie was a low budget film with just under 20 million going into the production of the film. Bird Box did far better than any other Netflix Original had ever done and set a new precedent for all direct digital releases to come.

Distribution Research- Traditional

Traditional- The Avengers Infinity War followed the basic guidelines set for movies released into theaters. It sat in theaters for roughly seventeen days and gained a box office of about two billion dollars globally. Some theaters chose to keep the film in their run for longer as it was doing so successful. After the initial release of the movie they waited around ninety days to then release their DVD and Blu-Ray editions of the film to gain even more money from those of whom wanted to own a copy. The traditional way the Avenger Infinity War followed however, would not be a bright choice for our film as theirs is a far lager budget film compared to our small budget found footage film.

Marketing Plan

Point of No Return- 

First idea to market our film, was to create a social media account and make a post relating to the release of the film. This would be a great way to awareness of the film to the youth of the population as many of whom use large social platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. Considering that our target audience many focuses on millennials the fact of marketing through an Instagram post seems very beneficial. With Instagram having an aspect that allows you to promote your post to a general audience for a small fee was a huge reason why we decided to choose Instagram as our specific platform.

Another one of our ideas for marketing would be to make a newspaper ad of the missing persons (Nathan Rees and Oscar Baxter). Of course we would have to disclose the fact that it's an ad, but we would try to make it look as authentic as possible. The purpose of the missing persons ad is to draw attention to the found footage film making it look that much more realistic than other films. A perfect example is The Blair Witch Project where they created an entire cite pertaining to the idea of the Blair Witch. Changing that idea from 1999 and creating it into a missing persons ad would give our film that much more of an edge on other movies of the same genre.

Our last idea was that we are going to make a trailer. We would be using a point of view shot from Oscar's perspective continuing from where the film ends. The trailer will open up with camera on the ground looking through the grass out into the distance. This will give the viewer a drastic urge to view the movie, as the trailer will give very little information, while at the same time giving a lot. This also leaves it open to conspiracy theories for the viewers to engage in others who share the same interest.

Official Trailer: Point of No Return Trailer

Target Audience- Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity- This movie had a similar projected audience as our film did. They mainly focused on the younger portion of the population from around young pre-teens to younger to mid twenties. The movie was widely successful with a box office of nearly 200 million it is obvious that they produced a quality movie and marketed it well enough to get young people out there to see it. The movie followed the conventions set by none other than The Blair Witch Project, just like the other two movies we would also like to scare our viewers but also make them wonder what would lead after the end of the two minute first couple of scenes.

Target Audience- The Last Exorcism

The Last Exorcism-  This movie is fairly new compared to The Blair Witch Project as The Last Exorcism was released in 2010 but was far less successful. With that The Last Exorcism still had a similar target audience compared to our film. With a large majority of the viewers being teenagers to early twenties (millennials). The niche target audience who enjoy different horror/thriller films would also be our main audience focus. The movie was marketed through a series of trailers with two taking place and they really made the viewer squirm in their seat while watching, leaving the viewer in major suspense and wondered how scary the film must be.

Target Audience- The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project- This movie set a precedent like no other for movies within the same genre of our film. The movie created such a realistic atmosphere with the film makers even creating a website called https://www.blairwitch.com/project/main.html. The site fooled some audience members into truly believing the found footage film was legitimately from those of who died within the movie. Based on the massive success of the film the marketing used with the website and the trailers put out, created very much enticed audience and viewers who were ready to pay. Blair Witch Project's target audience is similar to ours as many of whom had seen The Blair Witch Project (millennials) who would probably be enticed to see a movie similar in style. Furthermore Jaxon and I would like to share the common aspect of creating an original

Conventions/Social Groups/Revisions

Conventions- All in all Jaxon and I's movie successfully followed the conventions set in movie making. Presenting our movie through the eye of the camera, somewhat breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging the audience was a stretch but I believe we succeeded with it, gaining great feedback from our test audience. The P.O.V. conventions set forth by past horror movies was a great template for us to follow. Another aspect we used throughout the movie was the idea of a found footage film, these movies began to get popular through the 1990's.
Social Groups- Our movie represented

Revisions- After we introduced our movie to the test audience we received very positive feedback but we did receive a few critiques that we read over and brainstormed how we could implement them in our movie to better the film as a whole.

The launch of the film was absolutely POSITIVELY phenomenal with a gross of nearly 300 million dollars within the first night it was released. The feedback gained from the test groups was completely necessary for the making of this KILLER film. The introduction to the main characters was within the first 30 seconds and