Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

   Once I had finished the edit for my film, I was required to hand out questionnaires to other students in order to gain feedback for our thriller opening. Furthermore, I decided that the best way to get specific feedback that was relevant to our production, was to ask our target audience; therefore, I asked mainly males, aged 16-21. However, I additionally decided to ask two females aged 16-21, as I wanted to see how the results may differ based on gender. Therefore, my sample consisted of 3 male participants and 2 female. 

Audience Feedback - Thriller Film

   From the results of the questionnaire, there were both positive and negative parts of feedback that I received in the response to our group's thriller opening. In terms of positives, most participants found the narrative very easy to understand giving it either 4 or 5 out of 5, with only one person giving as low as a 3. This is most likely because of our use of a linear narrative, whereby, events take place from the beginning, going through the middle, and ultimately reaching the end in a sufficient order. Therefore, the audience may become more fixated within the action of the film as they are constantly anticipating what is going to happen. An example of a thriller film with a linear narrative would be "Essex Boys", as we are placed at the beginning of Billy's story and follow it right through to the end.

      Furthermore, when it came to a question of how participants would rate the camera work and editing, all included in the survey rated this aspect of the highest ability, giving it either a 4 or 5 out of 5. This is most likely because of our group's decision to use DSLR's in manual focus, as shooting with these types of cameras gives the film contrasting depths of field, which in turn allows a cinematic look which may have appealed to the audience in terms of the more professional feel, perhaps reflecting a film they have seen made with a higher budget. Additionally, we decided to colour grade the film by decreasing saturation and adding a green tint, this may have captivated the audience as it gave the mise-en-scene a more gritty and dirty feel, which in turn, could add to the menacing action.

   Thirdly, all participants agreed that the soundtrack was an effective reflection and enhancer of the mood/action in our thriller opening, with some participants going on to describe the soundtracks relation with mise-en-scene as "very grim" and "excellent". The soundtrack may have been great appeal to the audience as the particular track we used introduced faster playing instruments as it went on. Therefore, in collaboration with the action occurring within the mise-en-scene, created a strong build up of tension which kept the audience gripped, edging to see what was going to happen next. Additionally, audiences may have enjoyed the soundtrack as it reflected crime thriller such as "Drive". 

The scene in our thriller opening, that lacks
clear meaning through not considering lighting. 

   However, there were a few criticisms and suggested areas for improvement. Firstly, although the overall majority rated the standard of mise-en-scene (i.e. colour, figure, lighting,objects) to be of a high standard, a few participants rated this aspect as 3 out of 5, which seems a pretty average mark. One of the participants went on to say that "lighting" was an aspect that could be improved, and in a further conversation they brought up that they couldn't see  John properly when he went down to pick up the watch. This particular scene is an example of how if the mise-en-scene is dark and unclear unintentionally, it can throw off audiences interest within the action. Therefore, to hold audiences' fixation with the film, we should  have considered using additional lighting during the shoot.  

A still from our opening, showing Hanna dead in
the elevator. 

   Furthermore, although all males that participated within the questionnaire answered that the opening would inspire them to watch the rest of the film, both female participants answered that it wouldn't. Additionally, one of the female participants then went on to write in a question about the offensiveness of the film "why was the girl killed off first - stereotype". This result suggests that the female audience for the questionnaire lacked appeal whilst watching our thriller opening, and that the reason behind it could potentially be due to the fact that Hanna, the female within our production, was ultimately the only person murdered within the opening. Furthermore, if our group had another chance to shoot the thriller opening, we could alter the cliffhanger in order to make the film more attractive to a female audience. For example, instead of just having Hanna dead in the lift, we could have had her in a bad state, whereby, John attempts to resuscitate her.    
   In addition, the film that we produced is primarily dominated by male roles, this could be another contributor to why the female audience wouldn't consider watching a feature length version of our opening. However, the fact that all of the males that participated in the questionnaire agreed that they would like to watch the rest of the film, suggests that utilisation of specific characters and techniques reflects the target audiences interests well. For example, the use of a predominantly male cast and portrayal of the main role as an ethnic minority (aged 17) could have hooked the male audience as they are able to identify with the characters.

   A few other points were raised when particpants were asked to note anything they thought was confusing or hard to understand. Firstly, a participant wrote in response that it "was a bit confusing as to why the girl was killed", and another participant commented saying "who was the girl?". These comments identify that we may have not made it clear enough that the female role within our film (Hanna) is meeting up with John for an exchange; if we were to shoot again, we could have instead used a close-up on Hanna's mobile phone showing a text from John regarding the meeting time. However, although this may make the girl's presence less confusing, I would deem that the introduction of this aspect in a re-shoot would take away some of the enigmatic tones from our opening.

   Furthermore, another participant commented regarding "the association with the watch" as a confusing/hard to understand aspect of our thriller production. Moreover, the watch was intended to be an important part in evoking fear and building suspense within our thriller opening, and if the audience were unable to understand the association then some of that tension is taken away. Therefore, when our group were shooting or if we were given the chance to shoot again we could have introduced more relation between Hanna and the watch. For example, a flashback of John giving her the watch as he picks it up within the car park, this would have portrayed a stronger connotation as to what had happened and additionally shown a stronger bond between John and Hanna as characters.    


   In terms of addressing our audience, we have positioned their involvement with the film in a very detached way. This is as there is no specific character that the audience can immediately identify with as there's no real introduction to the character of John, this differs from how some other films address their audience. For example, in "Essex Boys" the film opens with a voiceover from Billy Reynolds, therefore audiences are positioned with this character and begin to identify with him. Furthermore, our thriller opening relies more upon the use of action in a combination with diegetic and non-diegetic sound in order to communicate the storyline. The reason that we decided to address the audience in this way was so that we could throw them straight into the action, allowing for tension and grittiness to be our main advocators. For example, our soundtrack begins whilst the production credit is present in order to immediately address the audience via the use of non-diegetic sound. This credit then quickly cuts out and the audience are introduced to a tracking shot of John, whereby, he is walking up a rather decrypted stair case. The combination of consistent camera movement, non-diegetic sound and aspects of location within the mise-en-scene all address to the audience that they are being told the story as an interpretation of visual and auditory composition, eliminating the need for dialogue via narrator.
        

   Furthermore, we used specific conventions of the thriller genre in order to attract our audience, the reason being that conventions are expected from an audience and therefore we had to utilise this idea. For example, creating tension is an imperative notion to inflict within the thriller genre, as it is what keeps audiences on the edge of their seats wanting to see what happens next within the film. Moreover, we applied this convention to our thriller opening via the use of a soundtrack that built tempo through the introduction of different instruments in a combination with close-ups cutting together quickly in a linear sequence. This allowed the pace of our opening to gain speed as it went along and further increase audience fixation as the motion is evidently connoting a climatic point. An example of where we have inflicted this idea is apparent between 0:50 - 0:58 seconds, whereby, a short a sequence of close-ups occur in rapid succesion in sync with the soundtrack.   

   Another convention that we utilised within our thriller opening was the use of enigmas. The purpose of enigmas are to create mystery and get audiences speculating as to what they can be perceived as, this in turn creates a more developed interest within the action of the production and therefore a more attractive appeal towards the overall film. We applied this convention via a few enigmas, one of them being the assumption of what Jon is carrying in his bag. The introduction of this enigma gets audiences asking questions such as, what is actually being delivered between Jon and Hanna? Why does Bill have such an interest? How does it relate to the wider story?. 

   Moving on, the cliffhanger is important in hooking and inspiring the audience to continue with watching the feature-length film; we have utilised this aspect within our thriller opening in order to create attraction of our film for audiences. For example, at the end of our film Bill's boot stops the elevator door from closing, leaving John trapped with him. As seen from the target audiences' response within the survey I conducted, the cliffhanger that we have created seems to be effective in inspiring the male audience to continue watching the film. This is as it leaves many unanswered questions at the end of the sequence, and as a part of an audience's nature, if they are captivated by the opening then the cliffhanger will evoke curiosity making them want to watch on.
   
   Overall, the surveys seem to reflect that we have been effective in addressing and attracting our audience. This is as none of the participants gave a mark lower than 8/10 when rating the overall production, and therefore it seems that we have appealed to the particular demographic. Additionally, although the female audience weren't to attracted to the idea of the female role being killed off first, they still rated the overall production highly, showing how although some ideas can be off putting and perhaps offensive to specific groups, other aspects of mise-en-scene can bring about a balanced opinion.