Evaluation of Reservoir Dogs

Audience Profile

Age
Our thriller is likely to appeal to and audience around 17-35. This is due to the cast being in the age group of 16-18 but the structure of our storyline and background of our film may appeal to the higher age group. The film would be certificate 15 due to the drug references and large amounts of violence.

Gender
Our gender target audience is female due to the lead femme fatal seen in the opening shots of the film. Also when carrying out our survey it was found that males generally prefer a male lead role within a thriller however the violence and action which occurs in our opening sequence of our film would be likely to also appeal to a male audience.

Occupation
Our film is likely to appeal to students in either sixth form, college or university. However it also targets the more superior film viewer due to the suspense within the opening as well as reference to more classic thrillers such as Psycho. Targeting the more superior film viewer is also due to the fact that our film would likely be viewed in cinemas such as cinema city due to its art house production. Therefore viewers watching the film would be interested in the use of location and mise-en-scene.

Aspirations
Aspirations of the target audience of this film is likely to be high with the film mainly appealing to students attending sixth form, college etc therefore could gain insperation from this production and discuss the actions and messages portrayed within the film.

Simliar films to appeal to target audience
Our film is based around the more classic thriller such as Psycho as it doesn't use so many special effects and CGI. Our inspired director was Quentin Tarantino as he often uses the lead femme fatal who is strong and independent. Therefore our audience would likely to be interested in Jackie Brown and Kill Bill which isn't a thriller but follows the similar conventions.

Interests
Our film uses a soundtrack of classical music therefore our audience is likely to be interested in how it is used and contrasts with the violence which is seen. Our audience is likely to be interested in photography and film making and therefore would be interested in the use of cinematography and use of mise-en-scene. The use of costume is also very striking and stylish and therefore would appeal to a modern fashionable audience.

Character Stereotypes

The Dumb Blonde

Pandora from Skins.
Pandora plays the role as friend to Effy the popular girl with attitude, who gets all the guys, drinks and Pandora does whatever she says.

Pandora's the innocent character out of the group in Skins and basically drinks and takes drugs because she knows that's what will make her cool, but not in the peer pressure because she actually thinks it's true.

The series began with her taking Hair and beauty because she's not clever enough to take the other courses at college.

She's stereotypical as she has the similar attributes of dumb blonde as she's so vague and not very clever. She also see's the best in people which is why she looks up to Effy as she can't see that Effy just uses her to make her look good.

However she's not as vein as most dumb blondes are in series such as Blair in the american teen drama clueless who's always shopping and is the poplular girl in her school who everyone wants to be friends with.








Carmel from Hollyoaks
She's considered the dumb blonde of the program due to the fact that she is quite vein about her appearance and doesn't have much ambition other than passing hair and beauty and opening her own beauty salon where she works.She's one of the Mc Queen sisters and is the most innocent out of all of them in her personality. She's married to Calvin who is the local police officer to the village and since marrying him Carmel has changed her amibtion to wanting to do something more challenging and becoming a police officer. None of her family thought she could do it as she's not considered clever.
She adds a humerous quality to Hollyoaks in how she can be quite "dim" and she when it came to her wedding day it was really over the top as she wanted everything romantic and over the top like a celeberity.

Preliminary task

Analysis of Gender and death of Max from Hollyoaks death.

How are Gender and Death presented at the death of Max Cunningham during an episode of Hollyoaks.

There are many techniques used within the scene of Max’s death which present the different aspects of gender and death and how they are viewed. This is down to Micro and Macro analysis and how it is the smaller details which make up the picture as a whole.

Gender representation is shown in the close relationship between Tom, Max and OB. Just before Max is about to die they all gather around his body. Max tells OB he loves him and OB responds to how he shouldn’t be so ‘gay’. This homophobic attitude is down to the fact that these characters are trying to come across as the traditional strong male, through having a tough exterior and hiding their true emotions. However it is their positioning that lets the audience realise their true emotions and close relationship as they are all gathered very close to Max, and even though OB responds in a brave manner trying to appear brave he is actually crying when Max tells him this as the camera transition uses static shot between their two faces which intensifies how fast Max is dying creating a deeper emotion between the two characters as well as the audience.

There is also the scene before Tom is hit by the car and the camera shows a medium close-up of the panic on Max’s face and he runs to save him. This hero quality in Max shows his love towards his brother and allows the scene to be viewed in a different perspective of a tragedy, creating sympathy to those who witnessed the event and the audience watching it.
There are no females at the death of Max until he has actually died. This shows the scene to be very male orientated and manages to create more emotion that way as it is often a female who will cry rather than a male. This different type of cast setting for a scene as emotive as this makes it seem all the more realistic as we witness the loss of a true friend to OB and a brother to Tom as well as see the response of Niall who caused the crash which wouldn’t normally be focused on.

Niall character within this scene shows the dark aspect the situation. Having him dressed in black represents him as a villain and makes his reactions appear false. The mise-en scene of his car being grey and his costume makes him appear negative and evil. He is also shown coughing as he gets out of his car after he has hit Max, then Max also coughs. This can be pursued as Niall inflicting this death upon Max.

When the female finally comes into the scene she is very stereotyped, dressed in a pink over the top dress she makes the event appear a tragic fairytale. This scene is very gender biased towards females and Steph is witnessed as a vulnerable female with a lot of emotion, but all adds to the emotive effect as we see her reaction so intense and dramatic it makes the viewing hard to watch.

Death is presented positively within this scene through use of lighting and sound. Just before Max is about to die the music is very heavy with lots of use of strings to build up the tension. A heartbeat monitor can be heard in the background letting the viewer know that someone’s life is in jeopardy at this moment. This moment is also felt in the car revving at the point before it hits Max emphasising his danger and last moments of life.

Just as Max is hit by the car there’s a close up of the Max Mission toy hitting its head on the curb. This is a representation of Max being hit by the car as there is never an actual shot of this which makes the death seem less gory. When Max is about to die there is use of heavy wounds or him really suffering which makes his death seem more emotional as rather than focusing on the special effects on a massive wound the scene can focus more on the reactions of his friends and family around him. The music throughout this scene is classical which dramatises the events making it appear much more serious. As Steph arrives, the music is much more ambient making Max’s death feel more romanticised due to Stephs costume and the situation of the death occurring on their wedding day. At the last moments the camera pans into the trees above giving the feeling of Max’s spirit going into heaven. This allows a release within the audience as the bright lighting emphasising the green of the trees represents a positive end to Max’s character.

Working Title

Working Title was founded in 1985 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radcliffe. When they first started out their films didn't make much profit with more going out than coming in. They found a corporate backer to fund their films which was Polygram.

The first film they made was My Beautiful Laundrette which tackled many contreversial issues such as homosexuality and racism.

Their films would often try to push the boundaries on regular films.

It was after this that Sarah Radcliffe left and Eric Fellner joined.

Their first success was Four Weddings and a Funeral which was released in 1994. Their other successes have been Attonnement, Bridget Jones, Elizabeth and Bean. Universal in America have given a lot of money to Working Title, in 1999 Working Title signed a deal with Universal at $600m giving Tim Bevan and Eric Felner the power to commision films with a budget up to $35m. This has allowed them to make more mainstream films such as Nanny McPhee this has caused their audience to also become more diversed.

What has made Working Title so successful is there ability to take risks for example the film they put most of their money in was Captain Corellis mandeolin and which was predicted so successful managed to flop.

Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner where listed the most powerful figures in British History in 2002.

This is due to their success and broad spectrum of Working Title.

Due to their success they have managed to go back to their roots and appeal to their original audience which was more 'art house' by creating Working Title 2. This deals with the lower budget films of Working Title and is run by Natascha Warton since 1999. It has produced successes such as Billy Elliot and Calcium Kid.

It is now thought that Working Title have grossed more than £1.12 billion in the last 12 years and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are worth £20m each.