Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Evaluation: Question 5) How did you/address your target audience?
Question 5) How did you attract/address your target audience?
As well as carrying out a variety of secondary research into
thriller movies and audiences, I was also required to find an alternative
source of research to allow my group to find out our preferred target audience
in thrillers. To do this we created a questionnaire as we felt that this was
the best manner of receiving constructive feedback from our audience. Our
target audience were given a questionnaire specifically made for them by my
group in order to help us research their preferences within a thriller film.
My questionnaire contained questions regarding what my
target audience enjoyed in thriller films. For example, one of my questions was
“Who would you prefer to be the victim in a thriller move?”
I also asked the audience “Do you judge a movie by its
opening sequence?” out of 20 people, 14 replied yes and 6 replied no. Do to
getting this response, my group made sure that all our best efforts were put in
to make our opening sequence as best as it could be.
Overall, this primary was highly beneficial to my research
and planning due to the fact that it enabled my group to make our film relate
to our target audience’s responses. Furthermore, the questionnaire supported us
in making our thriller movie conventional to the genre as we were able to
utilise the questionnaire to create our thriller around. For example, the
subgenre we chose is a psychological thriller. Moreover, when looking at the
response from the questionnaire, it became clear to my group that our target
audience was people of the ages 16-25 year old people of a mixed genre who wish
to see a thriller film containing suspense, tension and surprise. This
information was essential to our group as we then knew who our target audience
were and what they were looking forward to seeing in our film.
Target audience
details:
Age: 16+
Gender: Unisex
Ethnicity: Diverse
Occupation:
Students, Unemployed
Hobbies:
Socialising, cinema, playing sports
My questions:
Do you enjoy thriller
movies?
What is your
favourite thriller sub-genre?
What emotion do you
most experience when watching thrillers?
Who would you prefer
to be the victim in a thriller movie?
Which theme do you
prefer within a thriller movie?
Where would you most
expect a thriller movie to be set?
The
questionnaire was vital as we got more information about who the target
audience was and what their interests were. This also allowed us to get quick
feedback, and the information we wanted was specific. My results were
beneficial to me because I got a better understanding of what my audience’s
expectations are of a thriller and what they were looking forward to seeing in
mine.
In addition to this, to make sure all conventions were followed and our thriller appealed to our target audience, I created a focus group to showcase my production.
In addition to this, to make sure all conventions were followed and our thriller appealed to our target audience, I created a focus group to showcase my production.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Evaluation: Question 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Question 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or
challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
The task:
Our task was to create a thriller opening in a small group
where every member has to take up a role such as acting, editing and location
managing. Before we started filming, we had to do some research into the
micro-elements and how they were used in thrillers to create meaning and
response. After this we were then put into small groups with people of
different abilities and put our ideas together. We then explored different
ideas which then helped us to create a questionnaire to find out what our
target audience would want to see from us. The questionnaire helped us on our
decisions as we found out what people wanted to see and all their preferences
within a thriller movie. We then decided on our final idea and agreed on which
parts of each group members ideas we would use. We put these ideas into a
storyboard and commenced our filming. After filming we edited our footage and then
implemented our original soundtrack.
Does my thriller
follow conventions of a thriller?
I believe that my thriller does follow conventions of a
thriller. The audience can automatically identify our film as a thriller due to
the manner in which we incorporated mise en scene. Generic conventions of a
thriller movie can contain various factors such as iconography in the weapons
used and locations or could follow a certain theme such as obsession, which is
what my group utilised. Carrying out
research and analysing other successful thriller films has helped me to see
that many thriller films contain the same generic conventions in order to have
a significant effect on the audience. Moreover, thriller films tend to depend
on their micro-elements in order to inflict a great impact on the audience.
Generic
conventions of a thriller
The use and following of generic conventions helps the
audience to determine which genre a film belongs to. My group followed the
generics of a thriller therefore the audience could identify it as a thriller
due to many factors such as the manner in which we incorporated mise en scene.
These conventions are the reason for the use of many themes such as iconography
such as weapons or following a kidnap scene which my group followed. The
research and analysis of other successful thriller films has supported me in
seeing that in order for a thriller to have a big hit on its audience it has to
follow the generic conventions of the genre. Moreover, a thriller film also
relies on its micro-elements to inflict a significant impact on its audience to
product a range of reactions and emotions amongst them. With the inclusion of
jumpy and fast-paced scenes as well as edits, the audience are able to
empathise with the characters within the film. My thriller being based on
obsession and kidnap is conventional due to some of the footage being set in a
family household and garden. This makes the audience empathise with the
characters.
Generic
conventions within my thriller
The usage of low key lighting within my thriller helped the
audience to determine if it was a thriller or not. This was present to help
create a mysterious and spooky atmosphere which helps in building suspense and
tension within scenes. Moreover, having some of the film set in a house helps
to build suspense as the audience would originally feel that a home should be
safe. This follows a thriller convention as the audience now feel that their
views are being twisted in the film. Furthermore, the cinematography we chose
to import in our thriller film adds to the genre’s generic conventions. Whilst
filming we used various camera angles such as close up sots and long shots.
These were used to produce a range of effects and responses within the
audience. For example, the close up shot was used to depict the victims’ facial
expression and emotions which means that the audience can then be empathetic
towards the character.
Conventions of
target audience and opening credits
Before the filming process in our thriller occurred,
research had to be carried out in order to help us create a highly conventional
and successful thriller. In order to achieve this, I was obliged to analyse
other thriller scenes and opening credits. This task was carried out to help my
group with ideas on how to make our thriller opening conventional to the genre.
Part of this was looking at the various micro-elements that contribute to a
thriller films and carry out analysis on them. This helped to understand the
effect that these can have on the audience which is something we were focussing
on incorporating into our own project. After this task was carried out we then had to
look at the reasons behind age certificates and film censorship particularly
within thriller films. This helped us to be aware of what would be suitable to
include within our thriller. Furthermore, in order to complete this research we
looked at popular thriller films such as Scream and analysed its opening scene
as well as taking a look at its age rating, why this age rating was chosen and
how it was combined with the films narrative. During this task we found that
most conventional thriller films have an age rating of either 15 or 18. The
content found in some thriller films limit the age that the film can be exposed
to. Age certificate 15 films can contain fairly adult scenes and themes, use of
hard drugs, strong language, moderate violence and sexual references without
detail. My thriller film will be labelled age rating 18 due to the fact that it
may disturb younger viewers and has a very vogue theme.
My thriller
following a conventional narrative structure
In order to create effective thriller we had to carry out
deep research into which narrative theory thriller would be based around such
as Vladimir, Propp, Tzvetan, Todorov and Aristotle who all have different
theories as well as ideologies on the narrative structuring that goes into a
thriller film. The narrative theory that my group decided to use is Aristotle’s
theory. Our narrative is a psychological thriller and we decided to use this as
we wanted to the audience to relate to our thriller and be very affected by
what they will witness in the film.
Female victim
Location
Low-key lighting
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