Q5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Q5) How did you attract/address your audience?

When creating our opening sequence we took into consideration what our audience said and wanted to apply what they expect to see in our production from the research we obtained. From the research we obtained we gathered a range of expectations but also similar expectations. We obtained our research from asking our target audience via a Vox Pop. We found that our audience expects to see violence and some sort of excitement which is thrilling. We took this into consideration and ensured we included some violence and some excitement which would attract our audience as we wanted to make our film pleasing for our audience. It is important to please our target audience to improve the sales and reputation of the film.

From the images you can see on the left they are from the first scene and a graphic match is present. The graphic match is the car key to a knife and we felt this would attract our audience due to the knife having strong connotations with violence and this is presenting what the audience asked for. The shot type we used in this sequence was the midshot to keep the identity hidden of the killer, only showing his bottom half. This shows that the killer is still the same but it also creates tension and brings that thrilling

theme to the film which the audience expected to see. This will create the excitement for the audience as they will be itching to know the identity of who the killer is. When it came to editing we used jump cuts and flashes of black and white. This helped attract of audience as we gave them tiny snippets, around a second flash of violence. This is effective as the audience can sense there is something going on but they only see short snippets which will keep the audience excited as to see what is going on and also confused. This will create excitement for them as they will be looking forward to see the full story. We felt this was an effective piece of editing as it keeps the narrative exciting and continues to create tension as the narrative continues. The sound in this scene helped with the excitement and brings a thrill to the audience as during the flashes of violence the music would turn to a higher tempo. The costume in this scene will also help attract the audience as it is quite clear that the victim has torn clothing which makes the audience presume a torture has taken place. There is also blood that can be seen over the clothing which suggests danger and violence and also the colour red has connotations with danger and violence so this has worked to our advantage by pleasing our audience as violence is present.

The images on the left show the next scene and strangulation occurs in this scene and shows brutal violence. Throughout this sequence we wanted to keep the identity of the killer hidden till the end to keep the audience on the edge of their seat and excited to see who it is; so again we used a close up shot so his identity was hidden. In the top image on the left where you can see the strangulation taking place we added the sound effects of a man coughing during the editing stage and this was used to show him struggling. When researching

our audience likes to see violence and this was brutal violence on screen and this will please the audience. We increased the tempo of the music during this scene creating more tension. This will appeal to our audience as they asked for something to excite them and thrill them. The lighting we used in this scene was very well thought about; this was produced from the lights we used to bring the face of the victim to life. The picture on the left shows, the top of the two pictures, shows the shadow of the killer. This is showing a shadow of dominance and power which will strike fear into the audience, and the dark colour shows the danger the killer possess due to the colour black having connotations with danger.

One of the final scenes we have is when the killer is going into his boot to get the victim. This shot again is a midshot of the killer and is done in the victim perspective, known as first person’s perspective. The midshot is effective again as you can see the woods in the background of the killer. This is effective because woods are a place that is a stereotypical place of where a body gets buried in thriller films. This shows that we have done our research and carefully chose our location. The shot also shows the end of a weapon and this show that violence is expected and this will please our audience as the majority expect to see violence. During the editing stage we added the non diegetic sound of somebody breathing heavily. This is to show the fear that is present of the victim that is tied up in the boot. The use of the weapon that can be seen in the shot but the use of it being hidden as well as the killer’s identity helps create tension as the audience will be wanting to see what’s being used, how it’s going to be used and the use of it being hidden will help keep the audience excited and keep them watching.

I feel we did carry out what our audience expected of us as we created a very good thriller. We felt this as it consists of violence, thrills, tension and excitement throughout the thriller. We felt our narrative was exceptional after a rough time trying to figure out what to do. Although it was in fact our audience who gave us the inspiration for our thriller, they gave us a solid foundation for our production.

 I feel we did stick to the conventions of the thriller genre, by producing tense moments, using weapons, lots of violence and blood, creating moments of danger. We used the music of a thriller by using a fast tempo beat and used sinister sounds and louder sounds when violence was on screen as when researching we found this was common in thriller films. We also found when doing our research that the action on screen reflects the speed of the cuts. The use of jump cuts that were added during editing helped bring a fast paced look on the screen when violence was taking place. This helped attract the audience as it would build tension and excitement. The mise-en-scene would have attracted out audience, because of the use of makeup and costume. We used little make up but the use of fake blood helped shows the brutality of the torture and creates tension and unnerves the audience. The costume also would have attracted the audience, the victims costume is torn all over and this shows how brutal the violence has been and shows the power of the killer which will strike fear into the audience due to the authority the killer holds. We also think the killer’s costume will attract the audience as he is wearing a suit which creates a sense of normality and sophistication and it gives the audience something to relate to as they will not expect a killer to wear a nice suit. Also the colour of the suit will create tension as the colour black holds connotations with danger and evil which creates messages about the killer and the audience can hammer into this idea.