Research into our chosen genre

We felt it was important to research into several different film genres before choosing one specifically to work on. As we are a mainstream company, we are more focussed towards the more mainstream film genres, such as horror, action, adventure, kids, and sci-fi films, rather than smaller, more niche genres such as documentaries and sport films.

One piece of research we did was find out what films similar to ours, in our chosen film genre did as advertisement techniques in order to attract their chosen target audience, as we would look at what the top family films are, what they did, and what we could do which is similar to attract our target audience, which is kids and parents. The Toy Story (TS) films all used the same advertisement techniques, however due to the fact that the first TS released was such a success, for number 2, and even more so for number 3, they didn't have as many tecnhiques and campaigns to spread awareness about the film, as millions of people all over the world would've wanted to see it plainly for the fact that number 1 was a massive hit. For the first TS released, a massive amount of advertisement was used. One of the biggest things that it did was the merchandise related to the film. A massive amount of shops had lots of products which were related to the film, for example toys for kids, lunchboxes, footballs with TS pictures on them, clothing, bags etc. This was one of the main reasons why it was such a success with kids, as the merchandise that was released before the film came out made the target audience aware of the film, and made them want to see it.

Another piece of research we did was to what upcoming films were coming our from each of the mainstream genres, and work out what genres were releasing the largest amount of films over the next year, in order for us to pick a genre with the least amount of films being released, so we would have less competition; therefore have more of a chance of creating a more successful film. The genres with the largest amount of films being released were horrors, and actions, making these two genres very competitive, however although the family adventure genre also had a lot of films in production at the same time, the majority of them were animated. This meant that making a non-animated film would be a good idea as there are not many in production anymore, as the majority of films that have been released from the family adventure genre over the last few years have been animated; therefore a non-animated film has less competition and is more likely to be a success with the specific audience.

Existing family adventure films and why they have been successful:

The Goonies

Storyline: The audience follows a group of 4 children (all male) and 3 teenagers (1 male, 2 females) and they follow a treasure map that they found, in order to discover a lost pirate ship, and the treasure within it. It starts with the group coming across a lost treasure map in an attic. They then do everything that can in order to find the treasure, as they need the money/treasure to prevent a golf course from being constructed over their hometown, however they encounter some villains on the way. The antagonists are portrayed as greedy characters, as they are also prepared to do anything they can to get to the treasure, including killing the kids to do so. The Goonies end up overpowering the antagonists and find the treasure first.

Representation of social groups:

Age:

• Children are shown as protagonists - stereotypical for family adventure films.
• Antagonists are all adults - stereotypical for family adventure films.
• Children have lots of indedependance which is unrealistsic yet stereotypical for family adventure films.
• Teenagers look down on the younger kids due to the fact that they are older and stronger.

Gender:

• Males are portrayed to be more dominant and the females are portrayed to be a lot more vulnerable, which is very stereotypical.
• Males seek attention and approval from the females, and everything they do is to try and impress them.

Ethnicity:

• Asian child (Data) is portrayed as the most intelligent of the group, which is very stereotypical.

Jumanji

Storyline: while their parents are out for the evening, Judy and Peter Shepard are bored and don't know what to do, so they go to the park. There they find a jungle adventure game called Jumanji, which seems to have been abandoned. They take Jumanji home and find a warning message: "Do not begin unless you intend to finish." They start playing, only to discover that the game is alive: any dangers encountered in the game spring to life somewhere in the house. When Peter rolls on a lion, a real lion appears, which Judy and Peter trap in their mother's bedroom. Judy rolls on a stampede, Peter rolls on a monsoon, Judy rolls on an explorer—each appears in real life to wreak havoc in the house. Still they continue to play, hoping that by finishing the game everything will go back to normal. The game finally ends when Judy rolls on a volcano and yells "JUMANJI!" In an instant everything is back to normal, and the siblings quickly return the game to the park before their parents finally return. The story ends when Judy and Peter look outside and see their neighbors, Danny and Walter, excitedly returning from the park with Jumanji in their hands—two boys who never bother to finish the games they play.

Representation of social groups:

Age:

• Adults are portrayed to be more dominant, and have a lot more power over the younger people in the film, which is very stereotypical.
• The older boys try to take advantage of the younger boy as they believe that they are stronger, which again is very stereotypical.

Gender:

• Males always seem to have more control over the females, and the women do whatever the men tell them to do, which is stereotypical.
• Males always sort out the problems. For example when the animals run through the town, the males are the ones who try to look after the females, which is very stereotypical.