Bellow is an example of a profile of a audience member that we tried to aim our sequence towards and who we agree would enjoy the film the most.
When looking into what our model audience member was, we had to take into account numerous pieces of research, such as our audience survey and our research of average thriller genre fans through the use of YouGov. Our first focus was the gender of our audience member. Whilst our survey showed that the majority of respondents were female, YouGov contradicted the idea that the majority of our audience was female by showing that for the thriller films we searched the majority was, instead, male. For this reason, and as YouGov takes into account a wider audience than our survey did, we decided that it was more accurate to have a male as our model audience member - although we are aimed our film towards both males and females due to the majority being different on our survey and YouGov. We then analysed the different interests, financial statuses and careers audience members of the thriller genre had on YouGov, and found that the majority of the thriller audience were working class and had careers in typical jobs such as manufacturing. In addition, as the majority of the audience was male, we found they had typically masculine interests. We ensured that all of this was taken into account when creating our model audience member, and this therefore resulted in the profile seen above.
This is our audience feedback video for the opening sequence, we asked 5 questions relating to the sequences storyline or shots to see what could have been improved and what was good about out opening sequence that was clear to the audience. The audience found the opening sequence intriguing and knew what type of genre we were trying to link the sequence to from the variation of shot techniques used and the sound which was overlaid on the opening sequence.
Did you notice the dark figure in the background?
All of the audience members stated that they were able to see the dark figure within the shot and that he could be seen easily, however one audience member said that his appearance and positioning in the shot was "subtle leaving us to wonder who he was and why he is important in the sequence"
Although two of the members stated that they were able to see the dark figure and gave an explanation as to what his appearance did to the mood of the sequence one member was only able to say yes and not give a reason as to what effect it had on the shots, this shows that not all of the audience viewers will recognise the meaning or purpose as to why we involved him in the background and can be improved on possibly by incorporating a sound which makes clear that he is not supposed to be there.
Do you think that the soundtrack suited the footage, if so state why?
One member of the audience stated that the soundtrack which was played over the top linked well to what was going on within the sequence, as a result of this I believe that it helps to make the audience relate to the footage as it will seem more realistic to them because there is a radio talking about an event which has happened locally to the characters area. they also said that the sound played over the top of the burning house was good as it related to what was in the shot and that it also increased the tension. Furthermore they claimed that the childish giggle in the nightmare sequence is relatable to that of a horror genre which made this sequence more affect as it helped to foreshadow what was going to happen later on in the opening sequence. this was done intentionally for this purpose as we wanted to make the audience believe that something bad was going to happen in the next scene which allows for the audience to be kept in suspense which is an ideal component of a thriller opening sequence as it provides us to build up a climax with ease making the audience overthink things that are going to happen later on. in relation to the radio soundtrack played over the top none of the audience members were able to relate it to the mood which we wanted to portray towards the audience as it gives the opening sequence a more eery mood to it, also linking back to the house fire none of audience members mentioned the gradual build up of the fire crackling which we wanted to make clear so that the audience get a sense of anxiety as they expect for a big ending to happen which doesn't happen as they are supposed to feel nervy for the rest of the opening sequence.
What did you think about the broken picture frame?
it left them wondering as to why the picture frame was broken, which was the purpose of the shot as it left the audience asking themselves question and lead them into anticipation of what the answer was. the audience will be intrigued as to what the meaning of the broken picture frame is meaning that they have to carry on watching leaving them gripped throughout the opening sequence. secondly the use of the broken picture frame implied that the man had been there before without the main character knowing so, it also comes as a shock to the audience as one member stated that "its scary and comes across shocking", another member said that the broken picture frame leaves the audience to wonder about the story in there head since they are not sure why the picture frame has been broken or who it has been done by. However none of the audience were able to speak about how the shot was fluent and used a shallow focus from the glass to the picture frame to show that it was broken, we used a shallow focused so that the audience would gradually realise what has happened however this didn't prove to be as affective as none of them felt that it had much relevance to the sequences mood
that was trying to be implemented into it. a way we could change or make this more clear is by showing the picture for a longer period of time so that they are left in shock to build up a bigger climax for the ending.
Did the lighting establish a tense atmosphere in the sequence?
The audience said that through the use of low key lighting contrasted a tense mood and atmosphere, the reason as to why they thought it created a tense atmosphere was because the shadows of objects were clearly seen which made each scene seem "eery and spooky". an example that was given of when the low key lighting was effective was in the various close ups at the beginning of the opening sequence as you could see objects but the setting around them was too dark to see where it was. from the feedback we were given I believe that the low key lighting was successfully in contrasting a tense atmosphere as the feedback stated that they found scenes eery or spooky which was the atmosphere we wanted to create for the audience. None of the audience members mentioned how the use of low key lighting helped to portray how early in the morning it was which is vital in our opening sequence since it helps to show how the main character is young working class man who has a stressful life waking up early and having to go to work for most of the day, it also shows how he is living a normal life like other people which we hoped the audience could feel repeatable to.
Did you have a basic understanding of the stories background?
The feedback that we got given back was that all of the members who watched the opening sequence understood what was happening in each scene, they understood the part which we wanted them to understand such as the flashbacks being linked to the main character which one person said. also that the sequences made sense, they didn't seem to be in a mixed up order where they didn't make sense with one another instead the scenes made sense when switching from one to another which gradually built up the storyline allowing for the audience to understand what relevance each shot had to the sequences story. although all of the audience members were able to have a clear understanding of what each scene was about not many of them could state what was happening in the flashbacks only that they had a relevance to the main characters past life, as a result of this we could try to make it more clear that the main character is related to the man in his flat but believes that he died in a house fire which was shown in the flashback. A way we can do this is by showing an object or image of both the main character and the dark figure with an object in the picture which can be seen on the dark figure to make clear who he is or what they thouhgout happened to him,
On Thursday 3rd March again at Jack's house during lesson time at periods 1 and 2. In this filming session we filmed a few new shots for the dream sequence. We returned to school for period 3 in which we viewed our new shots and decided which ones we wanted to use. The ones we decided to use can be viewed below. We used shots of children's toys and a stove, in order to give further hints to the audience of the protagonists age at the time of the fire and to keep the theme of fire running throughout.
