I decided to create my case study on the 2013 crime/thriller “The Call”, directed by Brad Anderson. This film falls along the lines of “The Vanished” due to the fact that they both have to do with a child/teenager being kidnapped by a middle-aged man. We were inspired by this movie so much that we decided to base our genre and some ideas off of it. This film is about a former 911 operator who chooses to take a life-altering call from a young teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) who had just been abducted. The 911 operator, Jordan, who is played by Halle Berry must confront the kidnapper/killer in order to save this girls life.
History/Intended Audience: This 2013 film does not have a novel that it was based off of so there really is not much history on it. It is pretty much based off of true events of kidnappings that can happen in our world today. The characters were made up, however the events and ideas that took place in this film are things that can actually happen in real life. As for audience, “The Call” is rated R which means it is intended for viewers nineteen and up. This is mainly due to the fact that there are many violent scenes along with strong language throughout the movie.
Production: “The Call” was produced by Bradley Gallo, Jeffrey Graup, Michael A. Helfant, Michael J. Luisi, and Robert Stein. In this process, the initial story was created, which I stated at the top for the summary of the movie. The screenwriting was also created which played out everything that would take place in the film. The characters were also created, along with the selection of actors who fit these roles the best. Sound recordings were made, along with the edits that had to be performed in order to perfect certain events and acting in the movie.
Distribution: This film was distributed by TriStar Pictures. “The Call” was released by this company into theaters on March 15, 2013. This film was given great reviews and was said to be a commercial success, from grossing over $68 million over a budget which was only $13 million.
Marketing: This movie was promoted on T.V. with commercials, persuading other people to come see it in theaters. Movie posters were also made to help the film get more popular and get out to the world. Theaters also advertised the cover of this film so when people went to see other movies in the cinema, they would hopefully see this film cover and want to watch it. Their estimated domestic DVD sales came out to be $10,921,604. The estimated domestic Blu-ray sales came out to be $3,855,998. Both of these amounts added up to a whopping number of $14,777,602.
Cross-Media Convergence & Synergy: “The Call” does not seem to have any cross-media convergence and synergy. However this is a great tactic filmmakers can use because better technology can be more useful in which the films quality will be higher. Synergy is also a great tactic because more profit would be able to be made.
Sources:
“The Call.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 14 Mar. 2013, www.imdb.com/title/tt1911644/
“The Call.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt1911644/companycredits
“The Call (2013 Film).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Jan. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_(2013_film)
“The Call (2013) – Financial Information.” The Numbers, 14 Mar. 2013, www.the-numbers.com/movie/Call-The#tab=summary
The Vanished 