AS Evaluation- Question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The research helped me during the planning stages for my thriller opening such as planning mise-en-scene, characters, cinematography, sound, editing styles and opening credits, as it told me what my audience wanted to see. The various films I analysed to help me in my research inspired me; For mise-en-scene, I learnt that you don’t need a variety of settings or iconography as by keeping everything relatively simple, you can build the most suspense (Asylum clip). For cinematography, I learnt there are a variety of ways to portray a specific character, such as by using a high angled shot to present the killer, making him look weak (Red Eye clip). For editing, the jump cuts and slow editing used in the clip ‘Here’s Johnny’ from the film The shining, inspired me as to how effective and engaging they made the scene, as well as how nervous they made the audience feel from the build of tension. As well as this it helped me to decide on my target audience and age certificate; 15. It told me how important sound is to an audience as this is what adds meaning and suspense to a scene. and It also taught me the conventions my audience think are most important, such as using a canted angle or handheld footage to build suspense. This research was helpful as it allowed me and my group to gather our thoughts and decide on which elements worked best. It helped me to understand how to make my thriller opening more conventional and also unique. 

Overall, the primary research I carried out, such as the questionnaire results helped me to understand what my target audience wanted in a thriller opening sequence. The secondary research I carried out, such as the research into mise-en-scene etc, allowed me to understand the micro-elements better, which assisted me in the making of my thriller opening.