Evaluation Task 5: How Did You Attract/Address Your Audience

Interviewer: How have you attracted/address your audience through genre?

Me: We have attracted audience through the use of genre by using a very popular genre, crime/ thriller, we have used conventions of a thriller so the audience knows exactly what genre this is. For example quick cuts, shadows and diegetic sounds of breathing are all conventions of a thriller that i used in my opening sequence. Characters in thrillers are also very similar to the ones i have used i.e the protagonist is often a brave male who seeks to restore equilibrium and the antagonist will have a secret identity and won't be clearly seen in shot. In our opening sequence this is exactly what we have done with the antagonist you can only see over is shoulder and his eyes in the mirror of the car. Films that have heavily influenced ours include Heat, The Town and elements of The Dark Knight. These films have influenced ours because a huge part of the story involves organised crime, heavy action and robbery.

Interviewer: How does the setting of your film attract/address your audience?

Me: From our opening sequence you can tell that the film is set in Britain because of the white van that they are driving in. The one guy who speaks also has an English accent which backs up that it is set in England. Due to it being in England this will attract an English audience because people will be interested in what the criminal side of life is like in England. People from other countries may be interested as well because they want to see what the culture is like in the UK when it comes to criminal activity. There is also people speaking foreign languages such as the bad guys, this adds a whole other element which would help attract a foreign audience.

Interviewer: How does the narrative attract/address your audience?

Me: The opening sequence has a clear narrative to allow the audience to follow the story but with subtle hints to the later story in the film. From the beginning we know there is a group of criminals in the back of the van getting ready to do something, we don't know what. The subtle hints here is that there is a focus on the man with the mask up and will probably be key to the narrative later on. The kid is important and helps define they have good intentions because they are saving a child's life and that the kid is important to the later story line, from this we realise the criminals are actually good guys but throughout the film there are going to be blurred lines between good and bad. This all attracts our audience because our characters ahem interesting story and issues, The opening sequence also is heavily action based which lets the audience know that a lot of the film is going to have action elements. The main protagonist who is a criminal is the hero which is very uncommon in crime thrillers, normally it is a policeman, this opposes the standard conventions of a thriller.

Interviewer: How does the music and editing attract/address your audience?

Me: To create more tension which helps convey the thriller genre we didn't use a soundtrack, instead no music was used which keeps the audience involved in the action rather than drawing them away, this also makes it feel more real. We also have the noise of the van in the background which slowly builds tension as it gets louder and more aggressive. When it came to editing we used very fast paced cut shots when the action picks up which is very common to find in action films. Before all of this we have used long shots to help build up the tension. This all attracts the audience by using conventions of a thriller and is what people would want to see if they were going to go watch a crime/thriller.

Interviewer: What sort of age groups did you appeal to and how?

Me: In our thriller we used heavy action elements to attract a young male audience because stereo typically males prefer car chases, guns and violence. To let them know that what they were about to watch was going to be action packed we made sure the first scene was exhilarating and fast paced. To appeal to another audience we have the father and son element which would hopefully bring in a father and son audience because they want to see how that dynamic works when the dad is a criminal.