Intended Institution Analysis

Once the group had determined our chosen “psychological/thriller” genre, we were faced the demanding task of getting our short film shown on an institution. Since there are no real ‘specific’ institutions that exhibit short films, we had to calculate how we could reach our intended target audience of male- aged 15-40.

After some careful research, I discovered as a whole that there are a multitude of different platforms that can showcase our work, ranging from the proverbial Film Festival, to new media technologies and even television, such a Film4 and Shorts TV- the first television channel dedicated to short films.

Potentially, this intended institution could work wonders for our short film in terms of promotion, as the film festival is predominately renowned as a haven where budding talents can make a name for themselves. However, with over 300 features of all diverse genres, I would assume that if worse comes to worse our film would hardly be noticed, and with the film festivals growing dramatically year by year, our chances of finding recognition seem somewhat sparse. Also, one may argue that the proverbial film festival would not appeal to the younger segment of our intended target audience.

This derives down to the fact that most adolescents may not live remotely near London (or even in a foreign country altogether), which could therefore make the festival somewhat inaccessible to those without suitable transport. So in terms of ‘global reach’, we would most defiantly be limiting ourselves, opposed to Television and the Internet. Another negative when considering our target audience would be the average film festival demographic, with over 35% attending with secure disposable income. In the current age of substantial university fees and job cuts, this almost slashes the target audience between the ages of 17-23, as money will be sparse. Therefore, we would need to consider a cheaper medium to exhibit our film.

On investigating Shorts TV, I discovered that there are an array of pro’s and con’s into presenting our short film. Initially, one could argue that a platform such as this would work significantly well as an intended institution, as most people by now have left terrestrial television and have now subscribed to digital. Secondly, Shorts TV presents “Shorts Midnight”, a segment repeatedly dedicated to thrillers, both edgy and controversial, which thereby homes back to our hybrid genre.

However, it has occurred to me that prior research I have never once heard of Shorts TV, despite the fact that I frequently watch Sky Movies. Other than the fact that it hides in the shadows of the Sky Movies index (channel 342), it is still notably important that not everyone has the privilege of owning a Sky Dish as a medium of watching television and films, despite the fact that digital switchover will soon be mandatory. However, as I am banded within the target audience bracket, and I myself have never seen the appeal of Shorts TV, I feel we need to step up the intended institution to a means of new media technology.

Thereby, through careful reflection, I have pinned it down to a final tangent to use as an intended institution. Since its birth over 12 years ago, the internet has become a wellspring whereby people have been able to thrive promoting in whatever department they please. As a direct result, short films are now easily promoted over the internet. Such examples would include “Across the Hall”, which was solely distributed over the internet. Along with “Youtube”, “Britfilms” and “Newgrounds”, communities have been able to sprout all over the internet, where people can give advice, creative criticism, recommendations etc.

Through my research, I have decided to use “Openfilm.com” as my intended institution. What made my decision fundamentally derived down to the fact that I want to home this short production to the target audience as effectively as I can. As I have rightly stated, more and more people, predominantly between the ages of 15-40 use the internet for personal generic use on a day to day basis. Therefore this medium, whereby people can discuss, rate, watch and discover films around the world seems a universally good idea, not to mention the fact that the internet has a substantially bigger global reach than the competitors I have previously studied. Similarly to “Shorts TV”, the site is split up into specific genres including generic “Horror”, which could be somewhat of a hindrance, as our ‘short’ is a hybrid.

One particular element which surprised me on the “Openfilm” website however was the fact that they openly promoted film festivals through an interactive calendar. Therefore, the intended institution may not stop there, whereby we could use “Openfilm.com” as the roots of our promotions, and branch off through the site through their film festivals.

When considering both our intended target audience and genre, I truly believe that this medium of promotions would enhance the ‘shorts’ global reach and success rate to new infinite levels opposed the previous mediums I have discussed.