RESEARCH: AUDIENCE THEORY

 

Hierarchy of needs from MillieWyatt2

RESEARCH: AUDIENCE QUESTIONAIRE

 

I have used Google Forms to create my audience questionnaire to send out to my peers, teachers and family. It is useful as it is easily accessible and the simple layout allows for the receiver to answer the questions quickly and clearly. It was very simple to set up and was not complicated.

The aim of my questionnaire is to gauge greater knowledge of our target audience’s interests and more desirable features in a horror/thriller film. By having knowledge of our audiences’ desires, we can cater our film for their needs which will mean that our film will be the most successful it possibly could be. We have decided to publish it on our blogs, after we email it out to the people who we want to fill it out.

My questions began with personal questions about the person filling out the form which started with asking their age of either ‘older than 35’ or ‘younger than 35’ as we would like our film to attract many age groups if possibly. By asking their age and gender we can categorise people and discover the patterns which occur in different genders and ages so that we can make sure to include everyone’s’ needs. I then go on to ask about their like for horror and thriller films and in turn which they prefer. We have decided that our film is to be a mixture of elements of horror films and that thrilling element of a thriller film. Our target audience is people from the ages of 15-25 as this is the age where horror films are the most popular as young adults and late teens enjoy the thrill more than the older generations. However, we do not want to exclude the older generations as the wider the audience, the better. By discovering which genres our target audience prefer, along with the older generations, we can decide which elements we will implement in our film and which ones would not be as popular.

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeF-bVDLTYYJIqHKuRfAXXYYSVNwdUm5Pm12_Kz9XdbuapyoA/viewform

PLANNING: TREATMENT

                            

My Group's treatment:

In our story, we follow the life of a woman called Sarah and the journey her stalker takes in weaving her way into the different aspects of her life whilst continuously taking and producing pictures of her. Sarah is a prominent player in her Lacrosse team and is excelling at her new position in a photography company as an assistant. A mysterious figure continues to appear as Sarah and her share various encounters which develop into meetings and even one on one exchanges. The distinctive features on her hand, such as a ring and a birthmark are constantly shown without her face being revealed to identify the stalker. Slowly Sarah begins to realise an unsettling presence in her life and she becomes warier of her surroundings. Although she doesn’t pin-point a person, she sees a camera flash from outside her bedroom window. Sarah begins to discover various pictures of herself with constructive comments written at the bottom. Finally, towards the end, Sarah is using the developing room and a picture which she has previously received is lying in the tray as the door opens and footsteps are heard. 

Top line and big question:

We decided our top line to be: 'Jealousy transforms into an obsession which leads to an unknown woman producing photos and film of her aquaintance as she stalks her everyday activities.'

Our big question for our opening sequence is: Will she discover her stalker's identity?

 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

1.      Who is my primary target audience?

Our target audience would be 15-25-YEAR-OLD British boys and girls. This main age rage is due to teenagers and young adults being the most likely to watch horror films as they enjoy the thrill more than the older generations. It might attract a larger female viewing due to the lead character being female.

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

They would enjoy thrilling television series and action based dramas as our film opening is based around the suspense of a psychopathic stalker’s journey with the victim. The realism of the film would also attract people who watch horror films based on true events as we have chosen to base our ideas around psychopaths rather than the supernatural threats such as ghosts and demons.  For example, the Netflix series YOU is based on a psychopathic stalker as he narrates through his life as a stalker and how he targets his victims. This encompasses the fear of the unknown as he is presented as a normal person who his victim interacts with, unknowing of his dangerous natures.

 

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

Our viewers would be in the younger generations of late teens and Netflix is the most popular viewing platform at the moment. They may also watch films or television on Amazon Prime as that is a popular alternative if the film is not available on Netflix. They are most likely to see information about films through the various social media sites that they use. For example, Instagram is commonly used to promote films along with Facebook for the older generations.  

4. What brands do they prefer?

The brands that younger people prefer would include brands such as Nike and Adidas as our film has a sports element in it which could entice a sportier audience. Women from ages 15-25 also shop in shops such as Urban Outfitters as it is a popular clothing brand which also incorporates different brands which include Adidas and Nike.

 

 

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

Our film is going to have a female lead which is not often the case in the film industry, however, women are more likely to be portrayed as the victim so we have made sure to make the stalker a woman too which is less common.

6 . Why should my audience watch my film? 

Our target audience should watch our film because it incorporates many popular elements of a horror film and combining this with popular elements of psychologically thrilling TV series. It also has a female lead which promotes female power in the film industry along with challenging the stereotype of having a male stalker. The realistic style of our film also maximises the shock and tension as it is a regular, relatable situation that the stalker and victim meet.  

PLANNING: AUDIENCE PROFILE

 

Continuity Exercise

  

Continuity Exercise:

 Aim: To create a storyboard and a brief film which occurs between two or more individuals.

During our discussion of the continuity exercise we were able to think ahead and plan out the basis which we wanted to create our filming on. We watched some table-top filming from the films 'To kill a mocking bird' and 'deliI had recently watched some horror films and I did one of my ‘Art of the Title’ pieces on one so this was the genre I wanted to use. We discussed it as a group and all agreed. 

We chose some typical props which we could use such as a black cape, a Bible to combat the demon and a wooden figure to mimic my movements like a puppet for the demon to control. We went to the tunnel because it has dim lighting for the spooky effect.

We decided on our plot line by discussing our basic idea as a group. We started filming and the camera person and other person would be directing from behind the camera and then we edited appropriate sound over it to cancel out our speaking if necessary. 

We also cut the clips to fit with some transition shots. 

We did the editing and filming in the app iMovie on my phone.

       

          

Our final video is below:

                                                            

Table-Top

Our Table-Top Exercise:

My brief is to create a title sequence using a table top and probs in order to create a small part of live action as the end of it. We also had to choose an approptiate soundtrack. 

To introduce us to the idea of a table-top exercise we watched some table-top filming from the films 'To kill a mocking bird' and 'Delicatessen’ which helped to provide different ways of introducing elements of a film through the symbolism of items. We discussed the key conventions as a group which included the birds eye view filming angle and the importance of having appropriate music to accompany the theme of our items. 

We were presented with many items which were typically ‘old’ in their appearance. We chose an aged picture of a man to use as the centre of our story as he was the love interest. The camera’s point of view shot was of a woman rummaging through the possessions of the fiancé of this man.

We used the song ‘Heather’ by Conan Gray which has a melody of a guitar strumming accompanied by his soft singing. We timed the lyrics ‘I wish I were Heather’ with the opening of the letter which is addressed to Heather. We thought that this gave some clarity into the feelings and desires of the person whose eyes we are seeing the items through.

We decided to edit it into black and white once we put our clips into iMovie. We thought that this would exaggerate the ‘old’ element to our items and scenario.