Evaluation Essay - Answering the Four Questions About the Marketing Campaign for 'The Receptionist'

Here is my evaluation essay for the marketing campaign for 'The Receptionist', answering the four questions.

The issues that my film explores are grief (the central protagonist has lost her daughter to suicide), sexual harassment and misogyny (the daughter's suicide was because of advances made by her male boss), and the concept of revenge (the central protagonist, Liz, kills the male boss because he drove her daughter to suicide). At the start of my teaser trailer the female protagonist, Liz, is presented in a haggard way, on Death Row for murder, and I have purposely chosen to subvert the typical femme fatale figure common in films from the noir genre, in terms of her appearance. Instead of a young ingenue, she is an older, wiser lady, and she wears prison fatigues instead of the seductive outfits or expensive dresses found on female characters from the genre. In some ways, however, she does have characteristics associated with the femme fatale character type; she is smart, calculated, has plotted revenge and is capable of murder. The male character of the boss, is presented in stereotypical ways in the sense that he is brutal, unfeeling and misogynistic, yet despite being duped by Liz so that she can lure him to his death as revenge, I decided not to include more conventional masculine character types often found in films from the genre, such as the world-weary detective figure or a male patsy. Liz's daughter, in the teaser trailer, is presented as young and full of life, but Liz's narration mentions her in the past tense and she cryptically suggests that they 'will be together soon', implying to the spectator that the daughter is dead. I wanted to present Liz's daughter as vulnerable, like the young victim in Rian Johnson's neo-noir 'Brick', with her death giving Liz the motivation to pursue revenge. In my TV spot, the representation of Liz is slightly different. Here, Liz is presented initially in a more stereotypical way as a female worker under the control of a difficult male boss. The montage shows her doing menial tasks and her voiceover (and accompanying shots), show the boss as a challenge to work for (we see him screaming down the phone and throwing files at his underlings), but I have hinted that there may be more to Liz than simply being a stereotypical receptionist with the final line of her narration, where she shockingly confesses to killing her boss.

It's really important that the audience can tell that all the marketing materials for ‘The Receptionist’ are advertising the same film, and there are a number of decisions that I have taken to keep the branding consistent. For example, because of my chosen genre, film noir, I have chosen to use black and white cinematography. I have therefore chosen to retain this aesthetic throughout my other marketing materials, using black and white images on my social media page and sticking to a stylistically black and white colour palette for my poster. I felt that the bleak black and white cinematography would evoke a sense of realism and reflect the film’s serious issues, whilst also reminding audiences of the 1940s and 1950s film noir movies, such as ‘Double Indemnity’, ‘Detour’, ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘Sunset Boulevard’, which all inspired me when creating ‘The Receptionist’. Another branding element that is the same on my all of my marketing materials is reference to the film’s cast and crew (shown in billing blocks on my poster and trailers and referenced in the reviews on the same materials). My taglines are also consistent on all of my marketing materials - 'Working 9 to 5. Can be a Real Killer'. My font is also the same throughout (PORTIA), which also has an aesthetic that is reminiscent of the old film noir movies that I based my concept on, and I have used the same social media hashtags and the same production company logos (for Warner Brothers and Open Road). My social media page on Instagram features many of the elements found on my poster and in my trailers, which was something I noticed was common during my analysis of film social media pages.

My target audience is likely to be slightly older than the 15-24 demographic that are typically targeted by the makers of mainstream Hollywood movies. ‘The Receptionist’ belongs to a relatively niche genre, and one generally popular with older audiences and will, therefore, appeal to a more niche market. Fans of film noir will be attracted to the gritty, realistic storyline, which features sexual violence, suicide, revenge and a number of real-life social issues, such as toxic masculinity and misogyny, but also intrigued by the plot twists and my decision to subvert the representation of the female character Liz, who is an updated, 21st century version of the conventional femme fatale figure. 

Before I came up with the idea for my film, I did a lot of research into existing trailers, social media sites and posters to get an idea of the common conventions of these types of media, but also to get an idea of the different purposes of trailers and posters. I purposefully looked at trailers, posters and social media pages from a range of different types of genres, because it would help me get a clearer indication as to whether conventions remained similar regardless of genre, but also to see if some of those conventions changed because of the genre of the film. What I noticed was that the trailers frequently introduced characters (the protagonist, but occasionally the antagonist) and the setting where the rest of the narrative action will take place. In my trailers for ‘The Receptionist’ I decided to follow this convention by introducing the main character from the film, Liz, but also the antagonist (and the film’s ultimate victim), Liz’s brutal, violent and controlling boss. I also indicated the character traits of both characters – she is smart, confident, determined and vengeful, whilst he is violent, powerful and abusive. During my research into trailers and posters, I also noticed that a popular convention or purpose of trailers and posters was to create enigma (particularly in those from the conventional film noir genre such as 'Double Indemnity' and the neo-noir 'Brick'). I have attempted to create enigma in both of my trailers as a means of encouraging the audience to see the films, firstly by beginning 'in media res' in my teaser with the protagonist already on Death Row, and secondly with the cliffhanger final line of my TV spot, where Liz reveals she has killed her boss. I have used a number of techniques to position the audience with my protagonist, including the frequent use of close ups/medium close ups and medium shots (in both trailers) and through the use of voiceover. To a degree the narration delivers exposition, but the real purpose of it in both trailers is to allow the audience access to Liz's thoughts and feelings so that spectators will align themselves with her, rather than the male boss.

I also noticed during my research that production company logos, or idents, appeared at the beginning of trailers, and that titles or billing including names of actors, the name of the director and the title of the film were all common features in trailers and posters. I included all of these elements in my trailers and posters, to make them feel as authentic as possible (using production companies associated with making films from the genre (both traditional noir and neo-noir films), including Warner Brothers and Open Road. I also attempted to attract audiences to the film through the use of positive reviews and star ratings, but also by suggesting on my poster that the film had been nominated for a series of awards (also referenced in my trailers through one of the reviews).