Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

After taking all of our research into consideration, we used the information we had gathered to make our opening appeal to our audience.



The use of the cut away shots of the train would have grabbed the attention of the audience, as the diegetic train sounds were set louder than the rest of the production. Also, this broke the chronology of the scenes, which would have made the audience have to concentrate more on the plot, something our market research said people like doing.
 
In our production, the victim was made to seem vulnerable at points, which is something that would have attracted our audience. Also, it at times, the victim was able to break away from the killer, which would also have shown the audience that she has a violent side to her personality.


 
The shot on the left is a good example of how editing techniques have been used to portray violence. We took a shot of  the rock in James’s hand, and then quickly moved onto a shot of his hand moving towards Annabelle’s face, which made it appear as though she had been hit with a rock.


The shot on the right makes our victim seem very vulnerable, which could make our audience feel anger. Furthermore, the shot composition also made our killer seem in control of the situation, and as our predominantly male audience are more likely to side with a male character, this is a good thing.


In our questionnaire, the audience wanted an element of mystery and surprise in the film, and liked films where not all of the detail is given at once. Therefore, when our killer is introduced, at this point, they have no idea of the relationship between these two people, or why the man is trying to kill the woman. This leaves our audiences wanting to know more about their relationship, which means they remain interested, and want to continue watching. 
 
 
In our production, we also used a close up shot. This conveyed the emotion of the character to the audience via the character’s facial expressions, which would make the audience feel nervous, and from the audience research we carried out, I feel that the audience like to feel fear and anxiety when watching the film.
 
I feel that the non-diegetic sound that we used for our production would also satisfy the audience, as it was written in a minor key, which stereotypically creates fear and tension. Furthermore, violin and string instruments were also used, which also worked well to make the audience feel nervous and on edge at certain points. Furthermore, the costume of our killer would also serve to make the audience anxious, as black is often a colour associated with danger and dangerous members of society. In addition, black is often associated with complex issues such as blackmail, and black hole, but can also represent social class and standing along with wealth, as those who are of a higher class are more likely to be rich and wear a black suit/dress. All of these issues are ones that could be represented in our film – social class is something that is very important, as one cousin could be in a higher social standing than the other, and blackmail could occur between the two relatives.
Overall, I feel that our thriller opening fulfilled our audience’s expectations, based on their feedback on our questionnaire. Our audience indicated that they liked films such as the new Bond film Skyfall, which involves lots of action, something that we tried to build into our production. Our audience also indicated that they liked films where the plot is not always immediately apparent to them, and so in our opening, we were careful not to give too much information away too early on, using narration of a poem to ensure this. If we continued to produce more of this film, we would of course be careful to keep the time of the production to between 1.5 and 2 hours, as again, this was indicated to us in our audience feedback.
 
When we showed this film to a few people, they responded very positively. They liked the cut away shots of the trains, as this kept their attention, and hinted at how the storyline would end, without giving too much information away. They also liked the location of our film, and also felt that the narration worked well, as it hinted at how the plot might develop, but still left some areas down to the viewer’s imagination. Our audience also liked our choice of non-diegetic music.
Above: Kingston Capes giving Feedback
Although our film didn’t include much comedy, like the audience suggested they liked, we had to bear in mind that this was just the opening of the film, and so as the film developed, we could try and include some elements of comedy into the film. The audience also commented on our use of continuity editing during the chase scene, and how well the shot where our victim is hit by a rock was edited. From this feedback, I feel that our film definitely met the expectations of the audience.
 
I feel that in some ways, our film is very similar to the opening of Se7en, with the techniques that we have used to attract our audience. The Se7en film started with a death, in a similar way that ours did, which grabs the attention of the audience. The non-diegetic music that this film used is also very similar to our film, as it is relatively fast-paced, and adds suspense to the film. In addition, the shots in the opening of Se7en are edited together quite quickly, again, in a similar way to our film. The running time of Se7en is 128 minutes, which is around the time that our audience said they would want the film to last.  
Furthermore, I feel that our film opening is similar to Se7en because of the way the chronology is mixed up. The title sequence of Se7en appears to be set at a different place/time to the opening section, and in our film, the graveyard scene is set after the train station section. I feel that again, this is something that would attract our target audience.


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