Evaluation of my thriller opening: Question 5

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

The audience is attracted to my thriller by the use of similarly aged characters that can be related to. The characters’ attitudes may be appealing to the audience as teenagers of the same age may be able to understand them. The audience can also identify with the characters and issues such as theft and mugging. The film also communicates what it is like for ordinary people living in contempory Britain.

Another aspect of the characters that might appeal to the audience is the costume. The three characters wore different types of costume: Eve White in recognisable high street fashion, Will Block in a costume associated with skateboarders; hooded jumper, jeans and trainers, and Scarlett Fraser in a costume that connotes the “gothic” or “emo” style, for example the leather jacket, hooded jumper and skinny jeans, suggesting she has an edge.  

The city location would address those in the target audience that live or work in the city. It might reinforce their views of what a city is like. The British city location would be familiar to the British audience.

The cliff hanger at the end of the thriller opening would encourage the audience to watch further into the film. They would want to know whether the same situation would occur for Scarlett Fraser, or if she would challenge and defeat Will Block.

The research I conducted previously indicated that my target demographic of 16 – 24 year olds enjoyed the action genre. The pie chart below shows ‘action’ scoring highly amongst the participants. 

Following this, I conducted a short study on 10 non-media students, ranging from the lower age of my target audience (16) to older audiences. I asked them to view my film, and then give a rating out of 10 on 5 separate aspects (music, costumes, location, editing, and how well they understood it). Below are my findings:

The results show that the lowest score was an average of 8, and the highest score was an average of 9.2. This shows how the audience were most attracted to my film. Qualitative responses from the study suggested that the aspects of mise en scene that the viewers liked the most were the ATM and underpass locations, because they felt more anxious and tense whilst the action took part in these places. 

In addition, I asked for feedback from 5 year 12 media students. The questions I asked were:

1. Was it easy to understand the narrative?
2. Did the sequence hold your attention?
3. How do you rate the camera work and editing?
4. How do you rate the standard of mise en scene, to include colour, figure, lighting and objects?
5. Is the production clearly the opening of a thriller?
6. Would the opening inspire you to watch the rest of the film?
7. Can you suggest anything that would improve the appeal?
8. Were there any aspects that you find offensive? 
9. Was there any part that you found confusing or hard to understand?
10. What were the best features of the production?
11. Does the soundtrack effectively reflect and enhance the mood and action?
12. Rate the overall production

The results from the questionnaires show a general score of 4 or 5 (out of five) for the first five questions. 4 of the students said that they would be inspired to watch the rest of the film after watching my thriller opening.

The aspects of my film that the students said appealed to them the most are the camerawork, editing and soundtrack, as well as the performances and the ethnicities of characters.