EVALUATION: A QUESTION OF IDENTITY'S PLACE IN THE FILM MARKET

I read Mark Kermode's summary article, published in the Guardian newspaper, on the best films of 2015, summarising the audience admissions of Hollywood blockbusters, franchises and superhero films of 2015. The most successful feature of 2015 cinema includes strong, feisty female protagonist driven storylines covering women's issues, in films such as Brooklyn (John Crowley, 2015), Inside Out (Peter Docter, 2015) and Girlhood (Celine Sciamma, 2015). This was a feature that I noticed having a strong relation to my own film trailer: a strong, female lead and storyline.

My film trailer of A Question Of Identity is slick, fast-paced and gripping creating suspense and jeopardy, in turn attracting and addressing my target audience (18+ male and females). It can compete with the current and continuing audience fascination for the high production values and slick continuity editing of Hollywood blockbusters, franchises and superhero films, due to its strong gripping, female leading storyline, high quality production values and relevant storyline to the current affairs of migration in Europe.

Due to my film trailer being a small scale, independent production it is far less likely for it to be exhibited at the cinema; bypassing traditional cinema release or having simultaneous release, as Netflix did with Beasts of the Nation. Smaller, independent productions use a range of media platforms, such as official Instagram pages, official Twitter pages, official Facebook pages and an independently made and managed website to raise awareness of the production. These platforms then provide their target audience with the means to view the film streaming it via YouTube, Vimeo or hyperlinking the audience to a page where they can buy individual copies of the production. Ben Wheatley’s ground-breaking A Field in England, released simultaneously across a range of platforms (free-to-air TV, video-on-demand, DVD, cinemas) “enabling viewers to decide how, where and when to view the film”. I intend on following this trend when releasing my film's trailer in the cinema, on YouTube, Vimeo and social media platforms, allowing my target audience to view my film trailer both at home, on the move or at the cinema. Kermode advocates that this trend is going be continued into the future. Ultimately this creates synergy between parts of a film, like mine, package of interconnecting social media platforms; available on both computers, smartphones and iPads. Viewing productions on different pieces of hardware is a common choice for audiences as viewing productions at the cinema is cost prohibitive and time consuming compared to a quick, high definition computer, smartphone or iPads screen; in turn giving 21st Century audiences' this option presents them with choice.

For Kermode, the steady presence of women in film has been a trend in 2015. Biopic Amy focusing on Amy Winehouse's rise to stardom in the early 2000s earned over £2million at the Box Office in 2015; becoming the highest grossing British-made documentary in UK cinemas. Suffragette was a high grossing film at the Box Office in 2015 covering historical women's issues, featuring a near all female cast including Meryl Streep, Helena Bonham Carter and Carey Mulligan, and an all female production team; enforcing that film in 2015 was a year of female domination. Films as diverse as Bill Pohlad’s Brian Wilson biopic Love & Mercy, Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre, and Kornél Mundruczó’s White God were all successful, however they were edged out by Todd Haynes’s Carol and John Crowley’s quietly powerful Brooklyn starring Academy Award winning actress, Saoirse Ronan and Julie Walters. Like Suffragette,  A Question Of Identity has a near all female production team and has strong, female principle cast members, establishing that the majority of our audience will be female viewers.

According to Kermode, as well as blockbusters, franchises and superhero films, independent/ arthouse cinema also played a key role in the success of film in 2015. Thanks to Kodak 35 mm film stock can be saved so independent film makers can upload their footage onto present technologies, making consumers producers including popular YouTuber and HBO film maker Casey Neistat who has gained nearly 2 million subscribers in the 6 years he has had a YouTube account. Trends such as animation: more than other area of movie-making, animation demonstrates how the old and the new/past and future, can co-exist - Inside Out was a success at the Box Office in 2015 grossing nearly £14.5 million. Aardman’s Shaun the Sheep finding a firm foothold in the multiplexes, Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea taking inspiration from the hand-crafted 2D artistry of Ghibli , and Laika studios continuing to blur the line between the physical and the digital with scrungy delights like The Boxtrolls, it’s hard to remember a time when ancient skills and newfangled advances were so intertwined.