HOW DID YOU

ATTRACT/ADDRESS

YOUR AUDIENCE?

By Jumana Ismail

ATTRACTING MY AUDIENCE

The above pictures depict two females within the range of my target audience

who are watching the opening sequence of my film. I was able to attract and

address them, as well as the rest of my audience through the wide variety of

settings as part of Mise-en-scene, varied Camera techniques, diverse sound

added in and the effects I added in as part of my editing skills.

ACTORS

The Actors we have used in our opening sequence appeal to a wide variety of people, however, they mainly address teenagers due to the age of the Main character, who is also a teenager.

The main character in our opening sequence is 18 years of age which means that teenagers are able to relate to her or may enjoy watching her. According to the Male Gaze Theory, males may also be attracted to watching my film due to the fact that the main character is a young female who is very attractive.

Additionally, in one of the scenes which was a flashback, the main character appeared as a child in which younger teens can relate.

At the end of the opening sequence, the audience is introduced to the villain who looks much older. As the villain is 30 years of age, middle aged people can relate and therefore this may excite them to carry on watching the rest of the movie as they may feel as if the opening sequence is not dominated by young people.

Although the main character had make-up on

which made her look possessed, she is an

attractive young female. This may attract young

men to watch the rest of the movie due to the

fact that she is attractive.

Further on in the opening sequence, there was a

flash back scene of the main character which was

dressed as a young child. This enables parents that

are watching to focus on the scene and somewhat

relate as they would know how it feels.

According to the ‘focus group’ task, we gathered from the questionnaire that

the audience prefer the protagonist to be a girl which is approximately

between the ages of 18-30. Therefore, we decided to use a young female to

be the protagonist in order to attract the audience to watch the movie.

ACTORS- PROTAGONIST

SETTING AND LOCATION

We as a group filmed our opening sequence in a grave yard, St Pauls cathedral, a dark alley way in London and on top of a building

to get a view of London. The wide variety of places we filmed in helped engage different target audiences.

When people think of a graveyard, they

usually associate it with scary thoughts.

When I looked at different opening

sequences, I realised that many horror

movies were filmed in graveyards or in parts

of it.

Additionally, the fact that its also filmed

in St Pauls cathedral allows many

people to relate to the area and

recognise it as it is one of London’s

main tourist attractions, as well as it is a

very old building which is also

associated with haunted thoughts.

The fact that we filmed the villain in an

unknown place which is in a insignificant

place in comparison to the other scenes

shows the audience that we don't know

where the villain comes from which

increases the build up of suspense and

mystery throughout the opening sequence.

The audience is then encouraged to know

where the Villain has come from and how

she has entered the protagonists life. It

gives the villain less of a value which makes

the audience wonder through the

characters lives and therefore keeps them

attracted. Furthermore, the fact that there

is no clear location of where the villain is

portrays the fact that its hard to find the

villain, and therefore gives the villain more

power as he follows the protagonist, but the

protagonist is unable to reach her.

According to our audience research task,

more people paid more attention to the

surrounding in horror movies. Therefore we

decided to film in different places around

London in order to attract the audience more

and captivate them. Some of the places we

filmed in for our opening sequence are

touristic or famous in London which allows

most of the audience to recognise them,

especially audience in the UK. For example,

St Pauls cathedral.

DEATHDeath is an unfortunate everyday occurrence that everyone around the world will come across it, or witness it.

Many films touch upon this subject as any target audience will be able to relate to it, specifically films within the horror genre.

In our opening sequence, the audience is introduced to the scene where the protagonist visits her mothers grave which is typical of an older person passing away in most movies. The fact that her mum passes away has a possessive effect on the main character throughout the rest of the movie, however towards the end of the film, she comes back to life ad saves the protagonist. This is explained in m treatment.

The audience would therefore want to see what happens next as they may relate to it, as death is an ongoing cycle of life.

According to the ending in my treatment, the hero turns out to be the protagonists mother, which has a

big impact on the audience due to the twist that occurs. This attracts the audience more, as it builds up

suspense which the audience find interesting, and therefore the are more attracted to the film.

COSTUMES

This outfit keeps up with the

traditional horror characters

that allows the audience to

think about why she looks like

that and what may have

happened to her after. Also, it is

clear that it is a horror and

therefore my audience who are

into horror would be attracted

through the gothic costumes.

When seeing the protagonist

dressed as a child in one of

the scenes, this attracts the

audience more into knowing

how the change in her

character occurred as well as

relating to it, due to the fact

that change is a common thing

in society.

The use of blood depicted draws

the main idea of a horror that is

used in many horror movies. This

engages the audience as it is

associated with

murder/death/negativity. Usually

the audience that would want to

watch a horror would expect to

find these aspects in a horror

film.

KEY PROP

The stone has come up a few

times in the opening

sequence and is very vital

throughout the rest of the

film. At the end of the opening

sequence we see the

protagonist with blood all

around her hand after holding

the stone which highlights the

fact that this opening

sequence is a horror.

The stone subverts the

typical conventions of a

horror opening

sequence, as in most

horror movies, the key

prop is something scary

in itself, such as

weapon, a scary mask

or an actual outfit.

The fact that the key prop is a stone is very mysterious and it doesn’t inform the audience what may

happen with it apart from the fact that it causes trouble due to the blood. A stone is usually associated

with many things, however, it is very mysterious and the colours and textures all overlap each other in a

stone. The stone will therefore reflect what happens in the rest of the film. The fact that I have included a

key prop in my opening sequence attracts the audience, as it is an expensive stone, and therefore it

would grab the audiences attention. Additionally, the audience would want to know what ma happen

throughout my film, in relation to the stone. Due to the fact that my opening sequence is a horror, having

a key prop like the stone would make my film more interesting and therefore more appealing to the

audience. The stone is magical and has the ability to harm others, which would make m film scarier, and

therefore a successful horror. This would attract my audience, and address my target audience that enjoy

watching horror movies.

HOW DID WE ATTRACT/ADDRESS OUR

AUDIENCE THROUGH CAMERA WORK?

The use of my camera shots and angles was very vital as it emphasised on the fact that

this opening sequence is a horror.

The use of high angle shots gives the audience the impression that the

character is being watched by someone, perhaps someone more

superior. In my opening sequence, the protagonist (Niamh) was being

watched by an unseen Villain. It is common in other films with a horror

genre to include high angle shots to give the impression that someone

is watching. The audience, and horror fans in particular will feel as if

something negative will happen to the protagonist later on in the film as

she is being ‘watched’.

The use of the Mid-shot on the protagonists face during the flashback

allows the audience to clearly see her facial expressions and see that she

is unhappy because she is visiting her mothers grave. The audience

therefore sympathises with the protagonist. This keeps the audience

attracted to the opening sequence and encourages them to carry on

watching as they have seen two sides to the protagonist. They see her as an

innocent young girl in the flashback, and then as a possessed character in

present times.

HOW DID WE ATTRACT/ADDRESS OUR

AUDIENCE THROUGH SOUND?

In the first scene of my opening sequence, we as a group had used ambient sound of

wind as it was the view of a grave yard. However, I decided to make my own sound on

garage band and it was the sound of rain mixed with wind which I thought was more

scary. This attracted my audience as just by watching the first scene of my opening

sequence, it is clear that it is a horror movie.

Additionally, I added the sound of a violin in the scene where she was going into the

church. This makes it more obvious that it is a horror movie as in most horror movies

I have looked at have used this type of music.

As a group we also added in a voice over of me speaking in Latin, which was very

interesting to the audience as they did not understand what the voice over meant.

While I was speaking in Latin, I put on a different voice to emphasise that I was

scary. This builds up some sort of mystery, as although the audience don't know

what the voice over is saying in Latin, they can get an idea that the person behind

the voice over is not good due to the tone of voice. Mystery and suspense is common

in horror movies as it draws the audience in more to watch the rest of the film.

HOW DID WE ATTRACT/ADDRESS OUR

AUDIENCE THROUGH EDITING?

The use of the dissolve cuts from the present scene to the flashback scene emphasises on the flashback scene,

whish shows that this protagonist is going back in time. This addresses the audience in a way that

encourages them to focus on the film as they go back in time with the protagonist. Moreover, having a

flashback gives this horror opening sequence more of a realistic sense to it as it shows the audience that this

girl has had a past which led her to be the way she is now.

The use of the jump cuts during the third

scene helps build up suspense and

keeps the audience alert, wanting to

find out what happens next throughout

the film. Although our film is aimed at

16-25 year olds, the use of the sepia

effect to show the flashback may attract

audience within older age groups as it

also allows them to relate to the past.

Additionally, the audience within our

target age group may relate additionally

as they may reminisce about their

childhood.

We included dark lighting in our film as

according to our audience research, there

was a much higher amount of people who

prefer dark lighting in horror films.

Therefore, we have filmed most of our

opening sequence in the dark including

places like St Pauls cathedral and the

setting of where the villain was. This would

therefore be more appealing to the

audience as this is what they like to see

according to our research.

However, we still filmed in the day light in

other scenes to show a variety of different

places and make the opening more

interesting.