Who was your target audience for your thriller film opening?
My AS production 'The Unhinging' was a thriller set in 2015, involving a protagonist, India McKaine who is desperately trying to escape the threat and brutal assaults committed by mentally unstable antagonist, Jack. The protagonist, India, is unexpectedly 'grabbed' and kidnapped whilst walking home alone by the antagonist Jack; this leads to India being confined to surviving in the squalid, cramped and dark basement of Jacks large period house. Living on little sustenance hesitantly provided by Jack, India slowly and painfully becomes 'mad', using a bloody shard of mirror to cut herself free from the tight thick ropes tied around her wrists and ankles to a wooden chair. Quietly India creeps out of Jacks house thanks to a door being unlocked and frantically escapes running through large clearings of forest to 'freedom' - however it ends tragically for India being shot by Jack unexpectedly.
HERE is a link to my AS Production.
I used a variety of different social media platforms to attract and address audiences to my film opening. Having studied how real distributors attract and address their audiences, I knew I had to device a social media campaign (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) as well as employ standard strategies such as creating a film website, Facebook page and poster for our P&A campaign. I also discussed how I would use interactive tools on our film website in order to engage our audience and create a buzz pre release (a Tshirt giveaway with scratch cards having the chance to win prizes and tickets for the premier). In sum, in order to attract our audience, we used the same techniques that a professional distribution company would use. All these platforms are linked, creating a synergistic whole. Our target audience is young adults. Young adults would be attracted to our film opening due to our protagonist of our film opening being a young female. I took responsibility for updating my The Unhinging Instagram page (@the_unhingingmovie) with photos from shoots, videos taken behind the scenes of filming of make up being applied on actresses and videos of live action shots. I updated my personal media studies twitter page with The Unhinging related information such as photos from shoots, videos taken behind the scenes of filming, location recce photos and tweets with film related hashtags such as '#theunhingingmovie' or following films of the same genre as mine.
From completing this research, I learned that the Internet is an extremely useful and powerful resource of connecting with a films target audience. For example around 2 days after the release date of the film (film was released on 20th November 2014 in UK with the trailer uploaded on YouTube around 15th September 2014) the trailer of the film had over 5 million views and over 24,000 likes. This shows the level of high success and demand the film has on the public/target audience of the film. Information can be released to the world, globally via the internet and be witnessed/rated (popular or unpopular) in seconds. Agreeing with Maslow's Theory of the Needs of audiences, the rating of the film can be decided in seconds - audiences deciding whether they want to spend money going to see the film or even buy merchandise. The internet is powerful and an extremely precious, quick and demanding resource for film distributors.
Using social media network platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and our own films website allowed promotional news advertising our film opening to a wide range of people across the globe. I found it fascinating that photos I took on my Iphone and uploaded onto my film openings Instagram page were being viewed by people in the UAE and the USA. This made me realize that our small A level Media Project had a global audience who followed every stages of the making of the film to the release (planning, research, filming, editing, promotion and exhibition) thanks to social media platforms. Social media platforms are taking over the world thanks to smart phones such as Iphones and Android phones; these phones are easy to use with quick internet access allowing followers of our film opening to view related information instantly. We looked at a variety of different films produced by different production companies; for example I studied the distribution of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and What We Did On Our Holiday or Tortoise in Love, looking at the scale of audiences they aim to reach, either vast international audiences (The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1) or niche national audiences (What We Did On Our Holiday and Tortoise in Love). I chose Warp Films to distribute my film opening because they distributed films of the same genre as mine, we agreed that this was appropriate. I learn about the distribution company, Warp Films, on my A Level study day at the BFI Southbank on UK Cinema: Audiences and Institutions on Wednesday 11th February 2015 presented by Matthew Hall. I learned about the distributors Warp Films and Vertigo, this influenced my choice of distributors for my film opening.
My films target audience was males and females aged 18+. India, the protagonist is a similar age to our target audience age of 18+, this would attract our target audience. This is known as the 'reception theory'. The target audience would also be likely to relate to the characters and sympathize with India situation or see her point of view. According to the cultural theorist Stuart Hall, the 'reception theorist' is a textual analysis that focuses on the change for "negotiation" and "opposition" on the perspective of the audience; meaning that a "text" is not passively accepted by the audience, instead it the reader interprets the theory of the text based on their personal cultural background (gender, class, age and ethnicity) and life experiences. Basically, the meaning of a text is created within the relationship between the text and the reader.' By using recognised codes and conventions, audience expectations of the genre and celebrities involved, the producers can position the audience and create a meaning of the code. This is preferred reading.
A variety of different codes were used in my film opening suited to Stuart Halls reception theory. In the establishing shot of an extreme close up of India's wide, scared looking eyes makes the audience feel as though they are being stalked or watched; making them feel uneasy. The use of casting young, attractive victims makes the audience feel sympathetic towards them; possibly relating this to their own personal experiences or feelings. The use of close up shots of the antagonist Jack grabbing a piece of broken mirror and cutting India's face exposes him as a mentally ill abuser, exposing the brutality and anonymity. This shapes the audience's hostility towards the antagonist. The use of close up, tracking shots of Jack slowly creeping up on India walking home alone makes the audience feel wary of India's safety and Jacks personality, fearing for India's safety. This also makes the audience feel that evil is afoot. The sound codes in my film opening such as the fast paced computer generated music/soundtrack makes the audience feel on edge in relation to the safety of India; therefore making them 'anti' Jack and his abusive behaviour. Due to the change in pace of the soundtrack (the music tends to get faster when India is slowly gaining her 'freedom' escaping Jacks property) the audience are likely to feel positive towards India. The scenes showing two news presenters reporting on India's missing case (this is further changed into a voice over temporarily whilst showing shots of India using a shard of mirror to untie her free from a wooden chair) makes the audience feel positive and eager for India to be found and rescued by the police. However the in depth description of the young girls appearance and statement of the time she was pronounced missing could also influence the audience to feel worried for her safety and sympathetic to her family. This could be seen as an oppositional reading of the text; known as the reception theory. The fast paced, quick editing of India hurriedly escaping Jacks property and running through large clearings in the forest makes the audience feel relieved, hopeful and reassured for India having now gained freedom; making it appear that there may be 'light' at the end.
In the 1960s it became apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts. Audiences were made up of individuals who actively consumed texts for different reasons and in different ways. In 1948 Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions for individuals and society: surveillance, correlation, entertainment, cultural transmission. Researchers Blulmer and Katz expanded Laswell's theory and published their own in 1974, stating that individuals might choose and use a text (uses and gratifications) for Diversion (escape from everyday problems and routine), Personal Relationships (emotional and interaction), Personal Identity (finding yourself reflected in texts, learning behaviour and values from texts), Surveillance (information useful for living such as weather reports, financial news). The audience will be provided with a strong narrative in the perceptive of the protagonist, India. We provided the audience with a strong narrative by having extreme close up shots of India's eyes and fast paced editing of India escaping Jacks property to freedom. The audience will experience suspense, tension and jeopardy whilst India is being abused in Jacks basement resulting in her having cuts and a bloody face with bruises. This makes the audience feel worried for India's safety and health; turning against the antagonist Jack. The audience will be provided with this through close up shots of India's face showcasing her bloody face and sound effects of India screaming or crying at the raw pain.
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