Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience is primarily young educated males and females (15-35) who enjoy psychological thrillers and view them as delicious food for thought. 

The audience will experience confusion and tension like no other, but at the end of it all they will feel much more satisfied when they understand what happened in the story. 
This film would definitely not appeal to sci-fi/action fans, because there will be hardly any violence or explosions in this film, or huge beautiful landscapes for that matter. 

The film will feel very claustrophobic and cramped to create tension among the audience. It isn't suitable for children because it is far too complex for most children to wrap their heads around. Also the low-key lighting, along with the desolate setting of the school and eerie drone sound in the opening are not suitable for children as it would probably frighten them too much; if it didn't frighten them, it certainly wouldn't be an enjoyable experience for them.

This is one of the thriller films such as 'Fight Club', 'Donnie Darkow' and particularly 'Inception' where you have to watch the film two or more times to fully understand what happened throughout the film. One film that made many people question what was really going on was 'Memento (2001)'.  

This film (directed by Christopher Nolan) begins at the end of the film, and goes backwards, instead of chronologically. Our film along with these others can be very confusing, but we decided to make it like this because it is so much more satisfying when you figure out what's going on, and much better than watching a predictable film. 

For this reason, this film will attract a smart audience, people that want their minds to be challenged, and will cast away the typical 'Hollywood fanatica' who only watch films for explosions and stunning visuals. 

                                                                     
                                                                 Memento (2000):

Inception (2010):

• The decision to cast a handsome young male is much more appealing to the female audience, but at the same time it doesn't completely put off the male audience from the film.
•  In various films, casting a good-looking character means it's easier on the eye for the audience, and makes the films more watchable. This runs the risk of attracting multiple 'fan girls' who won't even know what happened in the film; all they would know is that there's a handsome man in it.
•  Film such as 'Casino Royale' with Daniel Craig and any film that Johnny Depp/Leonardo Di Caprio/Tom Cruise are in inadvertently attract a female audience. It may not mean that they value the film for the cinematography or plot, but they still pay money to see it, which garners more value to the film.
•  An example of a film that garnered an extremely female heavy fanbase is 'Twilight' because of the attractive male characters Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson, who was actually named the 'most attractive man on EARTH' at one point..

Taylor Lautner:

 Robert Pattison:

• The audience of our film would be drawn into the film and keep wanting to watch because of the amount of questions that are raised in the first 30 seconds of the film. Who is he? Why is he alone in a classroom? Why does one room lead to another? Who is watching him? Why is he being targeted?
• The fact that the protagonist himself is clearly unaware of what is going on raises tension, because anything could happen to him at any moment. Also, the fact that he is venturing through doors and navigating this somewhat paradoxical world grips the audience because they want to find out where he'll end up.  
• The audience are asked to relate to the protagonist because he's a young man clearly working in an office or as a teacher.
•  The fact that this is a UK independent film means we are asking a British audience to relate to this character, as many people who work in London work in a top-class business, because London is a multi-cultural, business city. 
• The audience can relate to this character, making him more likeable, and easier to feel sympathy with him. 

FEEDBACK FROM VIEWERS:

                             

As shown in this video, our media project is clearly a thriller, the girls recognised the conventions of thrillers and thats why it is clearly a thriller. However, in the beginning the girls said that the second shot of my face doesn't fit the thriller genre and momentarily breaks the tension.

On top of this, we asked Jason Burkesfield - another media student- to review our product while we were still in post production and he gave us the idea to change the font of the title to make the film opening more eerie and build more tension.

A particular point in the film where most of the people said stood out, was the static tv screen scene, which then cuts to the first cctv scene. This revealed that somebody is watching and toying with the character, which amped up the tension and enigma. The very low-key lighting in this scene gives off a dark feel and conveys the evil or corruption that will be in the film.