My Adaptation:The Hunger Games

My Adaptation

The title of the film I am adapting into a video game is ‘The Hunger Games’. Firstly a trilogy adapted into a series of films, I will be keeping the name of the original but making a minor change, therefore the title of my video game will simply be ‘The Hunger Game’. Keeping the original title of the film within the title of the video game is more suitable as there is a clear relation, therefore appealing more to the target audience; the fans of The Hunger Games film.

I believe this adaptation will be successful as it will appeal to the large fan base of The Hunger Games trilogy and may attract new audiences also. The Hunger Games has been adapted to a very short online game already on the official website, which attracted small audiences, I wish to attract a wider audience with this new adaptation.

Genre and Narrative

‘The Hunger Games’ is a science fiction adventure film with a sub-genre of war. It is about a country named ‘Panem’ which consists of twelve districts in states of poverty and a wealthy Capitol. Every year, children 18 and under are chosen to participate in an annual death match called The Hunger Games, which is televised across all of Panem.

I will be keeping this genre, as I am not making dramatic adaptations to the narrative within my video game. I will include cut scenes from the film within my video game to reinforce the story line. The main characters within The Hunger Games are named Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, whom are entered into the Games leaving them to fight for their lives. Katniss and Peeta will be the main characters of play within my video game, and gamers will be able to play out the events in which each individual get into in their own way, therefore partly choosing their own narrative.

Target Audience

The Hunger Games film is based on a series of young adult (YA) novels, YA fiction having a typical age range from 12 – 18 years old. The Hunger Games strategy was to target males but not to neglect their pre-built female core audience they had from the books. The Hunger Games was created to be a four-quadrant movie, therefore targeting boys, girls, men and women.

The target audience for my video game will be young males and females as a higher ratio of those who play video games tend to be within the younger generation. Those of my core audience probably regularly play video games and have most likely seen The Hunger Games film and/or read the trilogy of books. They are likely to be science fiction or adventure film fans therefore having collections of books, films and/or video games.

However, The Hunger Games novel is a 2008 text therefore people who enjoyed the original novel will now be in their mid to late 20’s and early 30’s, creating a secondary audience that are likely to have more spending power.

Constraints and OpportunitiesConstraints

What could get in the way of making this adaptation successful is the budget, technical issues and a very specific audience.

Budgets may limit the chances of it being successful as there will be many cut scenes from the film in my video game, characters, scenes and costume changes. This requires a high standard of technical ability to create these successfully and up the standard, therefore costing a lot more. Audience may affect the success of this video game also, as video games are usually aimed towards teenage – middle aged males stereotypically. Although this stereotype is changing, video games are mostly still aimed towards this audience. The Hunger Games film has a wide audience of teenage – young adult females, therefore the video game may not appeal to this audience and may not make many sales.

Opportunities

This adaptation could become successful because of the non-stereotypical, wide target audience. As video games aren't commonly aimed towards teenage – young adult makes and females, new audiences may be intrigued and buy the video game. As The Hunger Games is a very popular film, audiences of the film may become interested in the video game and purchase the game, therefor boosting sales.

Cinematic Ideas

The look and feel for my new adaptation of The Hunger Games is a science fiction action war film. Within my adaptation I will enhance the war aspect within The Hunger Games to make the game more enjoyable for the player. I will try to make my adaptation as high quality and realistic-looking as the film, using cut scenes from the film will enhance this.

My adaptation is distinctive as it has a clear connection with the film and I am able to gather feedback from audiences for information and opinions on any new features or scenes I may insert into my adaptation.

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