EVALUATION: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Audience Profile and Research

In order to help establish the correct target audience for our thriller, I conducted some research into how age and gender affect the movie preferences of a viewer. Below is a sample of the ages and genders I questioned:

Having conducted my research it became apparent that certain features are appealing for varying viewers. On the whole, young male viewers found comedies and stories with less of a gripping story-line more appealing; they enjoyed laugh out loud comedy or extreme scenarios that just ‘look cool’ more than complex human relations; of course, there are exceptions.

In young girls, and middle aged women romance was a common theme. The younger viewers tended to enjoy more chick flick style films, with the women liking more of an emotional attachment; however, as the video above shows, not all girls feel this way.

The older views I surveyed preferred classic style films; like Westerns and musicals. Films that aren't too challenging to watch and appeal to what makes you feel good.

When observing thrillers, it is the action that is more appealing to younger males, and this trend continues on into middle aged men. They enjoy predominantly action based films, particularly if conflict is a strong thread throughout. However, all people questioned said they like an element of mystery and suspense; they find enigmas or climatic events engaging and enjoyable. They expect a predominantly male cast, with the antagonist often being foreign (they also said they expect fairly dark and militaristic clothing and urban or foreign settings).

External research provided similar conclusions:

http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/reports/nielsen_howteensusemedia_june09.pdf says that 80% of teenagers like action and adventure while only 51% like thriller style films. As the age goes up, the desirability of a thriller film increases and combined with crime/action peaks at around 24-25. 

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Our opening sequence is likely to attract a fairly wide audience; it’s adherence to common thriller conventions such as growing pace and action and the enigma and confusion throughout will generate viewers looking for a classic thriller; however, with our experimental concept we should also attract viewers who often perhaps overlook thrillers. Our leading woman ‘antagonist’ breaks from the convention of a male led production, and the fairly open and bright setting with no military connotations is also something not often portrayed. I feel it is important for these counter-types to be implemented as it creates a more exciting and intriguing viewing experience; however, as we still adhere to certain basic thriller practices it doesn't lose its thriller appeal.

Our film will be rated 15+. This is a suitable rating as some of the themes in our opening sequence could be troubling for people under this age. I feel people in their 20's upwards are more likely to enjoy the production as the concepts will be easier to understand, especially as it lacks violence (the action you see is fairly mild). A lot of the tension is created by the audience assuming what's happening and this mental enigma is the driving force of the sequence, therefore younger viewers are less likely to understand the concept (having said that, within our opening sequence we hope that even more mature viewers are confused as this is what we're trying to appeal to).

Audience Profile: Ryan, someone open to change.

Screenplay and opening sequence credit appearance

Opening sequence credit appearance:

Throughout the opening sequence, titles will appear on the screen as the footage plays on in the background. Initially we will have the name of our company 'Balance Productions presents'; the actors names will then follow in order of appearance on screen:

'Starring Connie Meek, Christopher Gladding, Sophie Mathieson, Jake Williams, Lydia Murray'

Following on from this, the roles of each person who produced the film will appear on screen: 

'Costumes by Connie Meek, Sound and lighting by Kiara Eley, Camerawork by Lucy Tomlinson, Editing by Jake Williams, Directed by Lucy Tomlinson'.

Urban Teenagers in the media

Urban Teenagers in the Media

For our opening sequence we will be featuring an Urban Teenager. We will create a youth stereotypical to media representation, and below is some research into just what this entails.

Pre-production Planning

Pre-production Planning

Actors:

Main Anti-hero (Girl) - Connie Meek

Businessman – Christopher Gladding

Stuck up Girl – Lydia Murray

Urban Teenager - Jake Williams

Cyber-bully Girl- Sophie Mathieson

Person that Businessman bumps into (minor) - Kiara Eley

Locations:

Introduction of Anti-hero - Torquay Pier:
This location should allow us to generate some good establishing shots; the symmetry of the benches that stretch out across the pier will allow us to generate a sense of calm and normality before the upcoming intensity, and we will have space to play with for our extreme long shot.

Businessman Introduction - Costa Coffee entrance at Palm Court Torquay:
We just wanted a building in which our businessman could leave; by having it as a shop we don't reveal what his job is, just to stop the audience presuming that it affects his attitude. By having him come from a shop with an appealing beverage his rudeness has more impact as it's unexpected.

Stuck up girl Introduction- Torquay High Street:
We will use the High Street area for several shots. We hope it will allow us to generate a busy atmosphere that will add to the growing pace and intensity of the opening sequence. We should be able to get some effective focus pulls with people walking past the camera.

Urban Teenager - Stairway outside Green Ginger, Torquay high street:
These steps will allow us to generate some effective angles; we should be able to use the camera to portray the teenager as someone disrespectful by showing him from a lower angle. However, by  having the steps near the street we still have enough space to work with.

Cyber-bully Girl - Bench Shelter Torquay:
Using the shelter will give a simplistic shot. This will add some variety as the majority of shots take place in busy streets, and this contrast will provide more interesting viewing.

Lift - Torquay High street lift in Car Park:
We chose to use a lift as it seemed a realistic enough place for five 'strangers' to be in the same place at the same time. It's also a good place to build up tension as the tight area will make the viewer feel uncomfortable; however, the lift is large enough for us to film effectively.

Costumes:

Anti-hero - Normal teenager clothing, but well presented (smart casual): We don't want the audience to assume anything out of the ordinary until the end of the sequence. 

Businessman - Business suit (school trousers/shirt & tie (loose)/blazer from home): to address that he's a businessman of some sort and is going to/leaving work.     
    

Stuck up girl - Smart casual (blazer/ Chelsea boots (potentially)): we want her to appear normal, but well presented so that it justify's her feeling above everyone else.

Cyber-bully girl - Normal teenager (Jeans or skirt/ top/ jumper etc): her use of the phone will be her most important feature, we want her to appear normal.

 Urban Teenager - Tracksuit (Loose joggers and jumper): We want him to appear like he doesn't look after himself and this will encourage the viewers to dislike him.

Props:

Main girl - Mobile Phone

Businessman - Briefcase and Costa Coffee cup

Stuck up girl - Chewing gum

Urban Teenager - No props required

Cyber-bully girl - Mobile Phone

Timing:

As we're using actors who aren't in our media classes, finding times we can all film will be difficult. Our main days to play with will be Wednesday afternoon, and weekends. It is likely, to be effective in time management, we shoot with different people on different days if they're available; however, we must make sure that we keep continuity (e.g. with weather conditions).

Time Plan: