Task 2
- 1. Task 2 In the targetaudience researchtaskI used www.business.pearlanddean.com tofindexistingstats aboutthe audience of filmsinourgenre.Specifically,Ilookedat‘Paranormal Activity’,‘The Purge’ and ‘Cabin inthe Woods’.The mainthingI noticedwasthat all three filmshada dominantage bracketof 15-24 years.Thisquicklybecame ourtargetaudience forour film, asitwouldbe appealingtoexistingviewersof filmsinthe genre. We decidedtorepresentthisinthe filmbyusing a teenage character.We feltthiswasappropriate,asthe characters age wouldbe similartomajority of viewers,creatingaconnectionbetweenthe viewerandthe character.Afteranalysingthe audience profile again,we sawthatfemalesheldahigherviewershipin‘Paranormal Activity’.With thisfilmbeingthe firstfilmwe lookedat,we chose to have our mainteenage characterfemale.This wouldimmerse femaleviewers,astheycan imagine themselvesinthe situation.Aswell asthis,the character can be seen inthe male gaze.Thrillerfilmsoftenuse thistechnique todraw ina male audience. The social classwe chose todirectour filmto,is the workingclassbracket.Thisis because otherfilmsinthe same genre hada highviewershiplevel of working-classpeople. An example of marketresearch,from the film‘Paranormal Activity’. Mise En Scene Our maincharacter, Evelyn,hasbeen representedthroughmise enscene. We approachedthisbyconsideringthe clothingshe wasto wear.After watchingthroughbothParanormal Activity1 and2, I came to the conclusionthata female characteris typicallydressedextremelycasually.Isharedmyconclusionwithmygroup,where we conferred. Afterdiscussing,we decideditwouldbe appropriate forEvelyntobe wearingablacktopand a beige skirt.The reasoningbehindthisdecision, wasthatthe colourblackrepresentsdeath, negativityandgenericthemesassociatedwithThrillerfilms.The skirtwasan ideabasedon
- 2. secondaryresearch,where we askedforotherpeople’sideasregardingathrilleropeningsequence. From one of our responses,we heardanidea basedonoldfashionedclothing.Itookthisideainmy ownhandsand decidedtoresearchthrillerconcepts.The ideaof athrillerfilmbeinginthe pastisa conceptusedinmany popularthrillerfilms,suchasThe Silence of The Lambs& Cape Fear, which bothreleasedinthe early1990’s. Camerawork We have usedcameraworktoshowoff the representationsof the thrillergenre. Asseeninthe image above,we usedamediumshottodisplayEvelyn’sfull figure.We didthistoelaborate the characters age and representationinthe genre,aswell asgive usspace inthe frame to playwith lighting.The lightinguse alongside thisshotfocusesonthe charactersface,and makesthe restof the scene black.Thiscreatesa shadowthat makesthe character more apt to the genre,as itadds a layerof creepinessoverthe storyline.The shotabove alsomakesthe audience wonderwhatthe character couldbe holding,asthere lookstobe an objectthat stretchesfromhandto hand.Other camera shots,suchas the shotof the gravestone infrontof the church, wasusedto furtherlydisplay the locationusedinour production.We feltthatwe couldshow off boththe negative thrilleraspect of the locationbyshowingthe gravestone,aswell asincludinganextremelong-shotof the church. Thisgivesthe audience anideaof the storyline andwhere ittakesplace,andfurtherlyaddstothe thrillergenre effect. Editing& Sound We usedquick-cuteditingto intensifythe flowof the openingsequence. Aswellasthis,we useda transitionoverthe productioncompanylogotogive the clipa more professionalfeel toit. The quick cuts were anideathat came fromour primaryresearch.We discoveredthatmanyfilmslike Paranormal Activity,ArlingtonRoadandCabininthe Woods usedveryquickcuts to intensifythe openingsequencesatmosphere. We chose touse sounds,suchas the church chime and the slight humin the background.Thissoundwas providedbythe editingsoftware,whichwasroyaltyfree. The representationsfoundinouropeningsequenceare reinforcementsof ourtargetaudience’s social stereotypes.We usedafastpaced editto satisfythe up-beatattitude of teenageviewers. We have satisfiedthe social stereotypesbasedaroundmales,byincludinganaspectof male gaze.This was achievedbyshowingoff the female characterinaskirtand casual clothing.
- 3. A comparisonof casual clothingbetweenThe Cabininthe Woodsand Evelyn.