q5

How did you attract/address your audience?

In order to make our opening appeal to the audience I used a strong detailed narrative that adds to the suspenseful atmosphere and leads to action in the climax of the opening. I also used camerawork, editing, Mise-en-Scene, and sound alongside this to make it more entertaining.

I fulfilled my audience’s expectations of my thriller through using feedback I received through polls, vox pops, and questionnaires. One thing that I knew I had to include was a lot of action as nearly everyone who gave feedback mention more action, as I don’t think our thriller was fast paced and “thrilling” enough. So to fix this we had a build-up suspense throughout the opening that led to the murder of the protagonist. Another thing that people were expecting from my thriller was an intricate, detailed narrative that they could relate easily to. So I planned out the basic plot of the rest of the film and had the opening relating closely to what would happen then as to the opening.

I received some good feedback comments about my thriller opening when show to a focus group of my target audience. Many gave the generic comments of “it was good” and “I liked it” but some were more specific saying how they liked our use of Mise en scene, such as the props like the pictures, in order to relate the rest of the film to the opening and give meaning to what was going on.   They also liked our use of setting, with the forest adding to the suspenseful atmosphere. Another point given was our good use of camera work, with the large variety of shot types used. One other  point was that our editing was good with the continuity of shots and visual effects used. So overall we received a lot of good, useful feedback.

My opening links to many other recognisable thriller openings with how it appeals to the audience. One example is the opening to the dark humoured, thriller/drama series “Dexter”, where in their opening sequence they used Mise en scene to link subtly to the plot in a gory way, using close ups to create mystery. In my thriller I used props to link to plot as well, however I was more direct with what I wanted to show them. Also I used a lot of close ups and extreme close ups to create mystery and suspense  through showing them specific things, and build up the tension. Another thriller opening that is similar to mine is The House at the End of the Street. Although its no an opening sequence, the narrative of the opening is still similar to mine with a suspenseful atmosphere through the progression of the narrative, which is building up to the climax of a murder, which is intended to shock and entertain the audience so that they will watch the rest of the film.