AS Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

A target audience is important as it will allow you to market a product properly. As certain age groups share the same hobbies and interests. So forming your film on the basis of a specific target age range (audience) will allow you to find out what your audience like and then include that in your film. Which will mean that the age group will most likely enjoy your film. Choosing a target audience makes it easier to find out the methods of how you can market the product. Finding out your target audience will help you make sure your film is aimed at them and that they enjoy it. As you wouldn't want a target audience of 16-25 year olds for a Victorian history film as stereo typically that is not what teenagers/young people enjoy. So tailoring your narrative/film genre to age is critical. As it can increase or decrease your sales depending on if there is a link between your film and target audience.

My target audience are young teens and young adults. This is because generally young people are the target audience for thrillers, and enjoy the element of thrill from films that include suspense. The narrative is focusing on young people and the sounds used are exciting and anticipating. Young people like this, and the mise en scene and camera shots create pace and suspense. Which a lot of young people like to see.

Mise en scene refers to everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement—composition, sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting. - Wikipedia

    In my thriller film I tried to appeal to our target audience by using mise en scene that they are use to and can therefore relate to. Firstly the setting, the setting was in a home which is very important to young people as home signifies peace, love and comforting. A place to relax and feel safe. So for a home to be used in our thriller it put a twist on the codes and conventions around a home. This was a good idea as it will increase the anxiety of the audience as they will form a realistic view. Causing them to feel paranoid and change their perceptions of home. This will increase the scariness of the film and increase audience anticipation. 


For mise-en-scene we also created tension through lighting. I used generic low-key lighting. Low key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film or television. It is a necessary element in creating a chiaroscuro effect. Traditional photographic lighting, three-point lighting uses a key light, a fill light, and a back light for illumination. - wikipedia.The lighting will connect with our audience as it will create mystery. And young people tend to like mystery and are entertained by shock and surprise. Low-key lighting also creates tension and shadows and gives the audience a sense of paranoia. That something is going to happen in the scene. It also distorts the audiences view on space, as you can't see everything in the frame. This is more terrifying for the audience as they do not know what to expect. Creating shock and surprise when something does happen. Which is great, as it creates exhilaration and anxiety.
Actors and costume also played apart in appealing our audience. As the characters were young and this would allow the audience to relate to their situation more. Also the costumes, the costumes were casual and normal. As the main character was wearing white, this gave the code of purity and innocence. Which impacted the view that she is in fact the victim. 
The soundtrack and sounds used were taken from freesound.com. The sound used was non diegetic sound (e.g. the scream) and the diegetic sound (e.g. the high pitched sound effect). This sound once paired with cinematography increased the impact of the film as it made the surroundings seem eerie, scary and dangerous. It also made the audience nervy and excited for what was to come. The sound would shock the audience as there would be between parts of the scene with minimum sound so when the scream came it created suspense. 
The cinematography used were close ups, mid shots and log shots. The shots that I feel appealed to our audience were the close ups as they made the audience wonder why it is focusing so much on that object. And also made the audience feel sympathy for characters. This was good for my target audience as it made them wonder and allowed them to form their own opinions on what was going on in the film.

  Editing such as fast cutting and slow cutting connect with pace and adrenaline as that keeps the target audience at the edge of their seats keeping them entertained. This is what our target audience (young people) want.

To conclude all these elements put together. Create a exhilarating and scary experience for our audience but also appeal to them through different aspects that we know that they can relate to as we carried out detailed research to make sure what the young people wanted was proved.