AS Evaluation Question 4 - YouTube

Question 4

Target audiences can be identified through different methods such as;

Personal Interviews – Used to ask personal questions and get specific answers back.

Identifying a target audience for my film was a critical decision as it would change the dynamics of the thriller.  Without a strong mind of a target audience it is hard to realistically expect success. It was important that as a group we decided on my target audience early on because we were then given, ideas on what we needed to included within my thriller to make it appropriate for my target audience. Furthermore it was good that we thought of an appropriate target audience early on because it allowed us to come up with ideas which would be appropriate for the chosen target audience.

The target audience that we decided to choose was 15, mainly because we believed it would enable a larger target audience to watch my thriller. We had a decision to make on whether or not we should make my target audience 18+, or 15+. Finally we came up with the decision to choose 15+ as we believed it wouldn’t restrict some teenagers from watching my thriller and also the audience would be re-assured that the film doesn’t involve aspects of an 18+ film such as gore, and violence.

My narrative would appeal to the audience because there are signs of suspense and tension throughout which would suggest to the audience that my thriller will be engaging throughout. The narrative idea of a young girl being possessed would immediately create empathy amongst the audience as they can see that she looks innocent and therefore, my narrative would help build a relationship between the audience and the characters. For example in the editing stage we incorporated sound of eerie music which would again reiterate her innocence and vulnerability.

Also I used mise-en-scene in order to make my thriller appeal to the audience, because aspects of mise-en-scene would enable us to introduce and create new atmospheres. For example I used low key lighting in order to make the audience feel suspended and tension throughout my thriller. The fact that low key lighting is used would make my thriller more appealing as more people are likely to watch my thriller if it makes them feel on the edge of their seats.

My group and I also tried to incorporate many different sound techniques such as eerie music and contrapuntal sound. Mainly because we thought that eerie music would create suspense amongst the audience as they’re constantly hearing the same repetitive tone which would make the narrative more serious as girl is being possessed and the music will match her emotion. We aimed to use contrapuntal sound as we thought it would be good for creating a contradictory mood amongst the audience, would also be good for making the girl seem more innocent and  therefore help create empathy amongst the audience and help build a relationship between both the audience and the characters. If there is a strong relationship between both the characters and the audience then it would help my thriller seem more dramatic as the audience has a strong feel for the characters and therefore do not want anything bad to happen to them. So therefore we would be achieving many thriller conventions such as shock as they feel strongly affected by anything that happens to them.

Another factor of mise-en-scene that we wanted to strongly stress was camera angles. We were hoping to use camera shots such as high angles and establishing shots to make the girl seem innocent and smaller than she actually is which ultimately makes her seem more vulnerable.  Furthermore this would help contribute to the relationship between audience and characters as the audience are constantly reminded of her vulnerability. This is a strong factor which would contribute to successfulness of my thriller because it would create suspense and tension which are conventions of good thrillers.