Audience and Institution: The Martian Case Study

The Martian Case Study

The Plot: The Martian is an adaptation of a book with the same name by Andy Weir. It's a story about Mark Watney (Matt Damon), a botanist of the Hermes crew, a group of astronauts sent to Mars to collect samples of the red planet. But during the manned mission, a storm unexpectedly hits and the crew are forced to abort their mission and leave the planet. It is during this evacuation, that Mark Watney is injured and presumed dead, giving the crew no choice but to leave him behind. But Mark survived the storm and is now left alone on Mars to fend for himself.

With communications cut off, food running out, and another four years until the next Mars mission, Mark must find a way to survive on the seemingly inhabitable red planet. This means he must combine his knowledge as a botanist and also various other things he has learnt in the past to survive. Meanwhile, NASA have received clues on Mark's survival and are working out a way to bring him home. 

Genre: The film's genres are adventure, sci-fi, and drama. Because of the general setting in the film and the way it has been written, I believe it is aimed towards male teens and adults. This is because most sci-fi films have a market of males due to the popularity of this genre amongst that gender.  

Rating: The film's rating is 12A (PG-13) which would make it suitable for young teens though I think the target audience for this is older teens and adults due to the more sophisticated story line. 

Budget: The Martian has an estimated budget of $108,000,000 (£76,230,812)

Director: Ridley Scott directed this film and his most popular works such as Alien and Blade Runner, are also sci-fi films. Though due to these films being released in the 70s and 80s, his directing style has changed since then. Recently, Ridley Scott has directed the Alien prequel 'Prometheus' and although this film was given bad ratings by both critiques and movie-goers, the filming style is similar to The Martian. Things such as the camera shots used, effects, and even costume designs seem to be heavily recycled from Prometheus. 

Actors: The film stars Matt Damon (Mark Watney), Jessica Chastian (Melissa Lewis), Jeff Daniels (Teddy Sanders), Michael Pena (Rick Martinez), Sean Bean (Mitch Henderson), and Kate Mara (Beth Johanssen).

Matt Damon is very well known and has previously been in films such as Interstellar, The Bourne franchise, The Departed, and Saving Private Ryan. Sean Bean is also very well known and critically acclaimed, his most popular roles being in Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, and Golden Eye. 

Jeff Daniels is also a very well known actor with his most recognised film being the comedy 'Dumb and Dumber'. Jessica Chastian is currently not as well known though she is a rising star with films such as Interstellar and The Help. Kate Mara is also a rising in actress with her most well known roles being TV shows such as House of Cards and American Horror Story. 

Producer and Distributer(s): The Martian's main producer and distributer was Twentieth Century Fox which is owned by 21st Century Fox which is a mass media corporation. Other producers include TSG Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, Genre Films, International Traders, and Mid Atlantic Films. Other distributers include Big Picture 2 Films, Centfox Film, Warner Bros, Westec Media Limited, KVH Media Group, and SF Film Finland.  

Technology Involved: The film was filmed digitally in 2K, 4K, and 3D format. The film would have used CGI for scene touch ups on lighting and perfection of every shot. Green screen would have been used for certain scenarios such as character against background shots and when the actors are moving in zero gravity around the shuttle.

Release Date: 

UK: 24th September

USA: 27th September 

Screening: The Martian was released on around 21,538 screens mostly in the UK, USA, and China. 

Marketing: The Martian was marketed through a teaser trailer and trailer released mainly on Youtube, billboards, various interviews with the cast and several posters. Another viral marketing campaign involved NASA astronaut Michael J. Massimino sharing video diaries talking about the film.