'London's Finest' - Evaluation Essay

Here is the evaluation essay for my marketing campaign project for the crime film 'London's Finest'.

'London's Finest' is a British crime film where a retired gangster who is trying to go straight is sucked back into a life of crime, forced to undertake a hit on his wife for a ruthless mob boss. Typically, male characters in gangster or crime films are presented as aggressive and violent, but my trailers show the protagonist in a way that subverts these stereotypes. In the trailers, specifically the teaser trailer, the protagonist is shown in a number of domesticated scenarios including doing the washing up, carrying home and unpacking the food shopping, emptying the bins and filling the fridge (I even filmed a number of scenes of him cleaning the bathroom, but I had to leave these out of the edit for pacing purposes). Whilst many of these chores are commonly undertaken by men in reality, this is not the case in crime films where men are presented in a hyper-masculine way, as misogynistic and reliant on stereotypical female characters (long-suffering wives or lovers/girlfriends) to fulfil these roles. I thought it would be interesting to reverse these conventions with my protagonist who, whilst clearly capable of the stereotypical violence usually associated with male characters from the crime genre, shown through the prop of the gun he holds (in an early shot in the TV spot) and through some of the language he uses in his voiceover in both trailers, he is clearly reluctant to re-engage in this behaviour, despite being bored of domestic life. He acts as a contrast to the mob boss, seen in the TV spot, who orders him to do the hit, who is shot from a low angle, is menacing and uses threats of violence and death to get the protagonist to comply.

The elements of each marketing product, the trailers, the poster and my Instagram page, worked together to create a sense of branding. This is mostly seen through the consistency of the use of fonts (ITC Grouch Regular), colours (black and white for the title cards, the poster and the social media pages) and iconography associated with the genre, such as the prop of the gun. To begin with, I made the title a priority so that the audience would remember it. I also needed the title to fit within the crime genre, which is why I referenced an urban city 'London' and used a font which I felt indicated genre. Then I decided the positioning of this title was key across all of the marketing. For example, it’s the heading of my Instagram page and one of the final things we see in the trailer, alongside taking a prominent central position on my poster (being the largest copy on the page). Because of my challenging norms of social groups, with a protagonist who does not completely conform to the stereotypes of men in the genre I felt it was key to include my lead actor in all of the elements of the marketing campaign, which is why there are multiple images of him on my Instagram, as well as shots of him on my poster and throughout my trailers. I also created a link across my marketing by referring to my taglines. I used the same song in both of my trailers, 'Firestarter' by The Prodigy and the same reviews across all elements of my campaign. I also used mise-en-scene to further the branding, by using the gun in each element. Finally, the social media links are the same on my social media page, my poster and in my trailers.

As part of my marketing campaign, audience engagement was a key factor in my decision-making. This is done in a couple of ways, for example, my lead protagonist is specifically constructed by how much of an ‘everyman’ he has become, shown through the tagline which refers to him as 'one ordinary man'. More specifically, I have engaged audiences through the ways I have used conventions of trailers to create excitement and enigma, and through the use of specific elements of film language. The teaser trailer creates enigma for the audience, particularly as a crime film, as his behaviour (domestic chores) and the mise-en-scene (the suburban house, his regular clothes, the props of the shopping bags and washing up) do not appear to match what audiences might expect from a trailer for a crime movie. I have also created enigma with the final shots of him taking the gun, as the audience will want to see what it is he has been dragged into. In the TV spot I have engaged the audience with more elements of eye-candy, such as the cars and the action scenes, but also by using enigma again by not revealing who the woman is the protagonist has been ordered to kill. I hoped that this mystery, and the worried look on the protagonist's face, would encourage the audience to want to see the film so that these elements could be revealed. I have also used the narrative device of voiceover to position the audience instantly with the protagonist as it is as if he is talking directly to them, sharing his personal thoughts, and dilemma.

Research into British crime films was key to me understanding the conventions of the genre, which settings would be appropriate, and which props and music might work. I looked at a number of crime films which were quite stylistic and which also had, in part, a comic tone, such as 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' both directed by Guy Ritchie. Initially, I researched each type of media, regardless of genre. For posters, I identified all of the separate common conventions and included the following in my poster: film title, billing block, production company logos, reviews, social media hashtags, a dominant image of the protagonist and the name of the director. I then looked at crime film posters and incorporated typical elements of the genre from the font I used to the iconography of the gun. I took a similar approach with the trailers and the social media page, first looking for the general conventions regardless of genre, such as idents at the beginning of trailers, taglines broken down across the trailer and credits and release dates at the end. Then I looked at crime film trailers and realised that the editing was quick and that enigma was often created. I feel that my marketing campaign, particularly my trailers, are a very authentic replication of the real thing.