Explain the methods you used to attract your audience in your AS coursework.

When we were planning our coursework we had to consider what audience it would be that our Thriller opening would appeal to the most. We decided that it would most appeal to males aged 18-30. University students were one of the main focus’s we had, and we had to think about what appeals to students, because of this we tried to include as much technology, modern themes etc. as we could.
Using modern themes in the Thriller opening, allowed our target audience to be able to relate to it more than a film with older themes, as it is what they are familiar with, we tried to incorporate modern themes, not through the Mise en Scene, as we first thought of doing, but instead through the editing techniques, sound, music and camera angles we used. For example we used an upbeat, fast tempo modern soundtrack. We were going to use an editing technique which made everything black and white, but with certain colours in colour, for us we were going to use red, as it went with the themes of the Thriller, we wanted to use this technique because although black and white is associated with old films, this technique appeals to the modern age, it also went in conjunction with the surveyed title which was ‘Viewpoint’. Unfortunately we were un-able to use this method due to a complication with the steady and hand-held cam and the fact it is only possible to use the method if the camera is completely still, and the fact that we wanted to use large amounts of hand-held camera to help with the realism. We used camera angles typically associated with Thriller films to make the associable to Thriller film fans, as they were the main basis for target audience.
We tried to appeal to the male part of our audience, through the adrenaline rushing music, and also the Mise en Scene we used, such as the bloody body and tools ranging from a hammer to a chainsaw, which in general is more relatable to males than females. We aimed to make the film as relatable to the audience as possible; through this the audience would be pulled into it more than something that is un-relatable to them. We made our film a niche market film, and by doing so we could focus on being able to attract our audience by concentrating and things specifically associated with them, rather than trying to appeal to a mass audience which we would have to consider elements of what everyone watching would like.
The audience reaction to our film was somewhat positive, however I know that this could have been greatly improved if we were to have planned the audience attraction methods in even more detail, and allowed to much more of the surveyed suggestions to have been put into the film, because although we gathered quite a large amount of information about what to place in our Thriller opening, we were un-able to fit everything in, due to time limits and resources.