Tasha's Question 5 Answer

Question 5- Audience

How did you attract/address your audience?

In the early stages of planning our thriller one of the first things we did was choose our target audience. This then helped to plan and construct the storyline and narrative around what would appeal to this particular audience. I think when deciding on who you want your target audience to be is very important as this then allowed us to make certain filming decisions to appeal to what the audience would be engaged by.

 For example, as I stated in question four; ‘our target audience are 17 - 25 year old males and females. To appeal to this audience we have used actors who are in this age range so that the issues and topics portrayed are more realistic. We also felt that in terms of our storyline the audience will be able to relate to the situations the characters go through. As well as being able to sympathize and also emphasize with the feelings and emotions the characters express.

The reason why we have chosen an audience of this age group is due to the fact that the dilemmas and circumstances that our characters face our mainly centred around relationship issues which children of a younger age would most likely be too young to understand and emphasize with’.

Overall, I think the decisions and choices we made have successfully helped to attract and appeal to our audience. Below is some audience feedback from an individual who fits the criteria for our target audience.

Connor, aged 18:

When asked what he liked about our thriller opening Connor said “I enjoyed the immediate suspense that was set up with the panic of the main character and the mystery of who the true murderer was”. This shows that the structure of the narrative was convincing and engaging for the audience. He also commented that “The victim was very convincing in the roll, as the panic displayed really played out. It showed the understandable sense of fear for the given situation”. Suggesting that the structure of characterisation and identity was very relatable.

Another element that we succeeded in was making sure the thriller opening appeals to our audience, when asked if it does Connor stated “It does due to the opening mystery (who is the true murderer) presented.”

The type of characters that Connor said appealed to him are relatable ones; “A seemingly ordinary character thrown into the scenarios of the film”. I believe that we have achieved this due to the fact that the main protagonist is just an average women who’s having marriage trouble. However, she is thrown into a whirlwind of chaos and madness. We have made the character relatable as she reacts to the events that take place in an understandable way, that any person would react similar to.

I also asked Connor if the narrative appeals to him; “It does to a degree due to the opening suspense and the unanswered questions given during the course. However, with the key mystery of the murderer being revealed early on it leaves me curious as to how it would continue”. When taking this feedback into consideration, I think that if we were to go back and recreate the narrative we wouldn’t reveal so much prime detail in the beginning of the film. Although I do feel that as the criteria was to make a thriller opening that we wanted to put as much drama into it as we could to keep it engaging.