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.
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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