2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?
The audience is engaged in a way where they are inconspicuously forced to think. Throughout my journey of various researches about audiences, the one which I strongly agreed to was the Uses and Gratification Model. The theory suggests that audiences are a complex mixture of individuals who select media texts that best suits their needs. The users and gratifications model suggests that media audiences are active and make active decisions about what they consume in relation to their social and cultural setting and their needs. Keeping that in mind, my film opening engaged my audiences by making them think what actually happened in the film, and by showing them a side of the story which a character wouldn’t be able to know. This makes my audience feel part of the story, solving theories and guessing alongside the characters. Showing compassion and empathy without any dialogue is task which I had to tackle in a way where the meaning was there, out in the open to reach but not exposed fully, my audience having the hunch but not having the whole idea just given to them. The feeling of belonging, the feeling of knowing something not disclosed yet makes my audience feel engaged and close rather than just viewing a film and being distant. Based on the results of the questionnaire I conducted for my targeted audience, the most liked genre was thriller and mystery and the time people watch a movie was once or twice a month, which meant that once they watch my movie, they will either think about it for a while or will forget about it soon, so I added an element of disbelief and surprise for my audience (the sudden death of one of the two characters, which also is not clear in the film opening) to think about it for a while, engaging them without asking much from them, or without making them use much of their brainpower. After the initial shock factor, the audience gets intrigued on their own, and constructs a meaning most meaningful to them by themselves, engaging them yet again unknowingly.
Since my audience will have so many questions about the mysteries and the Easter eggs in my film, they’ll either rely on the director and writer to answer their questions or will make groups and communities on social media platforms to discuss their own views, feeling yet again a part of a bigger picture. The first step to distributing my media would be having a premiere for the film, with my whole cast and crew and different media distributors. This will be my first step to launch my media for the world to see, and I will invite social media influencers to view my movie and tell their audience about the film if it matched their taste. After my initial distribution of my media in cinemas and online platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Now and Hulu, I will make various social media platforms and pages, such as an Instagram page and a Facebook page, for my audience to interact with me. By posting various behind the scene footage, the audience will have even a deeper understanding of the making of the film and will have more exclusive footage of the film, this will also be a place where the fans would be able send their reviews and fan art, and I will show my gratitude by showcasing their talents. After the initial release, I’ll do promotions via different platforms. First by giving exclusive interviews with well-known and respectable hosts so the audience of those hosts also give a look into my work and then holding a Q and A session for the consumers of my audience which will help the audience understand my media better. With the interviews, I will simultaneously create an ad in the form of a trailer of course, which will still have the element of surprise and suspense, thus it will attract the viewer to view my media just out sheer curiosity. These ads will be distributed at various platforms, like different media partners and distributors, one example being placing an ad before YouTube videos. I would release a limited stock of my film in DVD as Blu-Ray, which makes the buyer have exclusive never-seen-footage and bloopers, hence converting it into Blu-Ray. The reason why the stock of my DVD’s would be limited is because there are still audiences who likes to collect hardcopies of media, but since I know more viewers feel comfortable to consume a media in the comfort of their own home, I’ll keep the stocks limited only to 100, making it a collector’s edition. Lastly, I will use the help of textual media, such as magazines and newspapers, to promote my film. These tactics would hopefully make the audience feel more engaged and would help me distribute my media more widely- locally and globally.
Eesha Saeed's AS Media Blog 