Target Audience Research - Audience profiles

When producing and marketing a film, it is really important to research your target audience. This audience can be responsible for feedback in terms of what the like or dislike about the chosen genre. This enables you to make something made fit to the target audience taking into account the feedback. By observing the chart below which i got from the pearl and dean website, we can see that 39% of the cinema audiences are aged between 15-24, which is within the range of our target audience. Secondly, in the gender collumn, we can see that males and females are almost the same in both the population and cinema audience, this shows that our target audience of males in terms of gender do go to the cinema and make an appropriate target audience.

 From this table of ratings for se7en from the IMDB website. We can clearly see that there is a heavier concentration of male ratings in comparison to females. This also fits in with our target audience as between the ages as of 18 and 29, the males dominated the females in terms of ratings.

BBFC Ratings

After viewing the BBFC website, we have come to a conclusion to rate our thriller as a 15. This means that nobody under he age of 15 can rent or buy media products given a rating of 15.We decided this because it contain scenes of strong violence and unacceptable behaviour which we feel may influence the younger generation. Secondly, our film contains strong language such as swearing. Additionally, within the film there are drugs and the use of a kitchen knife as a weapon for murder. We feel that young children may be very frightened of this and also may possibly try to imitate the behaviour i.e using a knife as a weapon or replicate the swearing used in this film. On the other hand, the audience ages 15 and over are more mature and know not to be influenced by the violence or the strong language portrayed in the film.

Ou thriller opening pitch

thriller opening pitch on Prezi

Narrative Research

The narrative of a film is generalised these days by simply saying it has a begining, a middle and an end. Howver, there are more stages of films have been stated in more detail. The basis stages are:

• Exposition - This gives us the simple introduction to the story 
• Disruption - Here there is an obstacle, in the story
• Climax - At this point there is a turning point
• Resolution - Everything is restord and there is balance once again.

 Todorov's theory of narrative is made up of five stages, this conists of the following:

• The equilibrium is the point where characters are introduced (major and minor) and the story commences.
• Disruption- The antagonist(s) would be introducedand the story starts to divert slightly.
• Recognition- The disruption has been recognised. The effects of the disruption start to take place mainly on characters.
• Attempt to repair- At this stage, the disruption is repaired and resolved.This i would say is the peak of the film.
• New equilibrium- Here, the diruption is gone and effects of it have eased away. There story usually ends on a high note. 

Roland Barth sayd that all narratives share structural features that are brought together in different ways. Even though there are differenenes between individual narratives, they all have a limited number of organisational structures that affect our reading of the text. These are called narrative codes.

• Enigma Code - A narrative device that teases the audience with a puzzle or riddel
• Action Code - Events we know that will be significant in the development of the narrative.   

On the other hand, Vladimir Propp also concluded that all the characters could be resolved into 8 character types:

1. The villain  - Who struggles against the hero.
2. The dispatcher  - The character who makes the weakness known and sends the hero off.
3. The (magical) helper  -  helps the hero in the quest.
4. The princess or prize  - the hero deserves her throughout the story but cant to marry her because of an unfair evil, usually because of the villain. The hero's journey is mostly ended when he marries the princess,also beating the villain.
5. Her father  -  gives the task to the hero, shows the false hero, marries the hero.
6. The donor  - prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object to help him.
7. The hero or victim/seeker hero  -  reacts to the donor, weds the princess.
8. False hero — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Lastly, when looking at Claude Levi Strauss, he studied hundreds of myths and legends from around the world. He stated that we make sense of the world, people and events by seeing and using binary opposites. He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between binary opposites such as:

• Good vs Evil
• Boy vs Girl
• Humanity vs Technology

Todorov's Equilibrium and Disequilibrium Model

Above, i have written down the different stages of the Todorov narrative structure for two films, Star wars and Se7en.

Narrative Notes

This image on the left shows the notes we wrote on narrative in the lesson. It consists of a basic narrative format, todorov's narrative format. Secondly, i have wrote out the different stages of the narrative for little red riding hood using todorov's method. Moreover, i mention Roland Barthes and his enigma and action codes. To conclude, i stated different ways in which the narrative can be manipulated.

Inspirations

Just as i have i have mentioned in previous posts, this shot from se7en is the most inspirational shot i have found. This is becuase we are shooting a crime thirller and we want the room we are going to film in to be scary and gloomy like this. The room is in a mess, it is very well lit in terms of making it scary. Whats really good about this shot is that it is dark and the light pretuding from the window and also given off from the lamp. This is something we are actually going to employ into our film. This use of light focuses the audience on that part of the room.

I have noticed that in Thriller films the shot composition is very important  as it can add mystery to certain characters or objects.The mystery aspect in thriller is very important as it keeps the audience guessing on whats going to happen, and also builds up tension within the scene. This is inspirational to me becuase in our film the antagonist  does certain things which builds up a mysterious element within our opening sequence.

The use of Focus as a camera technique is important and significant in a Thriller as it can add to the mystery and suspense of a certain scene. Here we see the of lack of focus has hidden the identity of the character, this adds to the intensity of the scene as we dont know who he is and what he is doing. This technique is going to be key in our film as we do not want to reveal our antagonists face so this shot will do exactly that.

The camera technique of close ups and using zoom is used commonly in Thriller films. By showing a close up of a person, object or place. At this moment the audience is in thought as they are wandering what this is and what links/significance it has in the film. Here we see in Se7en a close up of a person slicing the tips off  their fingertips. This is creepy and the audience wonders why is he doing this.

Uk film production comapany research

Hammer Film Productions:

Hammer films was created in 1934 by theatre entrepreneur and actor William Hinds (stage name Will Hammer) and Spanish born Enrique Carreras owner of film distribution company Exclusive Films.Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies – and in later years, television series. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Bros. It was the only British company with a guarantee of US distribution and in 1968 it picked up the Queen's Award for Industry for its success in bringing in American dollars.

Thrillers:

Alongside production of the Gothic horror films, this company also made a series of what were known as "mini-Hitchcocks." These very low-budget  thrillers, often in black-and-white, were made often compared to the later Psycho. This series of mystery thrillers, which all had twist endings, started with Taste of Fear (1961) and continued with Maniac (1963), Paranoiac (1963), Nightmare (1964), Hysteria (1965), Fanatic (1965), The Nanny (1965), Crescendo (1970), Straight on Till Morning (1972) and Fear in the Night (1972).

Thriller opening analysis - Hannibal

The opening starts with a non diegetic soundtrack. This soundtrack is very echoy and and gloomy. After while the soundtrack is still playing, a male voice is speaking over it. This gives a slight indication that perhaps that this particular scene could be a flashback of something that happened prior to the actual storyline, the visual at this time is just a black screen, this shows that this could be a serious moment and the director/producer wants us not to focus on the visual but draw our attension to the audio of this scene.The soundtrack now is a slow piano, this sounds very calm and relaxing in contrast to the opening soundtrack.

The camera then zooms slowly into a shot of what seems to be a semi lit posh like room with shiny glass tables and desinger lamps. When we observe the lighing here in this scene, we see the man sitting on the seat to the right has little light shining on him and if we look to the left, we see two men, one disabled in a wheel chair and a man standing up dressing in a suit. The light shining on the two men on the left is considerably more than the man on the right. This provides the hint to me that the character on the right maybe a protagonist or someone that the audience should keep a watchfull eye on.

Then while the two men are having a conversation, the camera shows a close up of the face of the man in the wheelchair. This portrail of him is that of something you would also see in a horror movie, this imediately has an impact on the audience as they get a slight shock and feel slightly scared just by this image. The audience's predictions have now changed as now this character with a deformed face now maybe be the actual protagonist. This can be supported by the very dark background of the image, only little light is showing his face, also his scars and deformation of his face clearly conveys that he might be the protagonist.

Overall, the camera work, soundtrack and most significantly the lighting has given a excellant insight to this film and has conveyed its point effectively. This opening has left the audience in deep thought as they are thinking, what happened to this man?, what/who caused the deformation of his face? The director/producer have engaged the audience and left them in thought

Research and Planning

This is a brainstorm of our chosen sub genre and our film open ideas. We have drawn a picture at the top to show a rough idea of what our opening shot will be, on the left we have listed different sub genres and different fimls that represent that particular genre.

Our plot summary:

• There is a phycho main character of whom we have roughly drawn in the picture above.
• He is lonely, and has a fetish for hair and is a serial killer
• He has commited several murders, and is wanted by the police.

The main convention of a phychological thriller:

•  Danger on a mental level, rather than physical

• One solitary character in mental conflict with their own mind

These two conventions are i have picked present elements which are within our film opening. The phycho character is in fact danger on a mental level and is in fact in conflict with his own mind.

 These are the two themes of this particular genre which i think illustrate our fiml opening:

Perception – A person's own interpretation of the world around him through his senses. Often characters misperceive the world around them, or their perceptions are altered by outside factors within the narrative 

Mind – The human consciousness; the location for personality, thought, reason, memory, intelligence and emotion. The mind is often used as a location for narrative conflict, where characters battle their own minds to reach a new level of understanding or perception.

This screenshot from the film se7en is really inspirational to our group because of the setting. Firstly, it is set in a dark eerie room that looks really old. Secondly, there is very little light entering the room apart from the one lamp. Lastly, when an audience see this shot, they instantly think of a horror/thriller genre and are at the edge of thier seats becuase of the elements i mentioned previously. This is exactly how we want the audience to feel when they see our film opening.

Thriller Sub Genre Research

The thriller genre can include the following sub-genres, which may include elements from other genres:

Action thriller -  This sub genre can have certain features such as a race against time, violence, fighting and an antagonist. The film would most probably have things such as guns, explosions and car races etc. One example of a movie based on this particular sub genre is, The Bourne Identity/Supremacy/Ultimatum.



 In the movie, the antagonist is simon ross, and as explained above the movie contains fighting, guns and explosions. 

                                 

 These two shots are from the movie depicting the aspects found within this sub  genre, the fighting and the guns

Crime thriller - Is a fusion of both crime films and thriller films, and it offers a mysterious view of a crime - successful or failed. This type of thriller usually focus on the criminal-characters. Central topics of these films include serial killers/murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, heists and double-crosses.  E.g: A crime thriller that includes murder is the silence of the lambs.

In this movie, foster is in the pursuit of a serial killer nicknamed "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims' corpses.

This shot above is from the movie silence of the lambs. This shot shows a murder by the serial killer, " Buffalo Bill."

Political Thriller -  This is where the hero/heroine must ensure the stability of the government that employs him/her.They usually involve various extra-legal plots, designed to give political power to someone, while his opponents try to stop him. They can involve national or international political scenarios. Political corruption, terrorism, and warfare are common. A movie which fits in with this type of sub genre is the Interpreter.

In this movie, U.N. interpreter Silvia Broome has overheard a death threat against an African head of state, spoken in a rare dialect few people other than Silvia can understand.

This shot above from the movie, The Interpreter. The man in the centre of the shot is the african head of state, Zuanie. This is the man to whom which the death threat is directed to.

Analysis of Momento

In the first shot we see a hand holding a square shaped photo. When examining the photo further we see that that it seems to be a blood splatter.This immediately has an effect on me becuase it instantly gives us an indication that this movie could be based on a horror/thirller genre. Also in unison with the shot we can hear non diegetic sound in the background. The sound is slow and mellow, this gives an eerie and gloomy feeling towards the movie. This also enhances the idea of a horror/thriller genre. When observing the credits, we see that the movie title momento is written like this, M O M E N T O. The spacing between each letter spaces the word out and make it bold and broad to stand out. I think this is made like this because its in the centre and wants to grab everyones attension and moreover show its importance.


The shot then comes into a medium shot of a male actor. By observing his face we see that it is slightly bruised, he has two distinct cuts on his cheek. He's holding a camera and wearing a baige colour suit. Yhis shows the audience that this particular chatacter has been through alot recently probably a fight hence the cuts. His facial expression looks quiet serious,this puts the point across that he might be a bad character who drives the story forward.

After this we start to hear digetic sounds as he flashes the camera and hear hin put it away.The camera then focuses on an extreme close up of a part of a wall drenched in blood. An effect has been used here as we see that the blood is not dripping downwards as we expect but it is flowing upwards, its like the tape is being rewinded. Additionally the camera then goes to a cloe up of a bullet, this shows that the bullet has been fired and we can now tell what the movie might to be about. Secondly, the camera gives a close up of some old fashioned glasses next to a wall with blood drip stains on it. This to me is looking like a crimescene were someone was supposedly hurt/murdered.

The shot then turns into a high angled shot of a blonde haired man from the shoulders up lying down still on the floor. We see blood around his head and hes dead. Then suddenly we see a high angled shot of the male actor with the camera standing over the body sticking his arm over the body. From thi high angled shot we see the power this man has and the audicence is aware of this now. As he sticks his hand over the body a gun flies into his hand from the floor, the bullet returns to the gun, he crouches doen next to the body and the dead manis alive and screams. This is complex editing technique is very effective as it shows us what has happened and also makes the audience appreciate the editing. This highly complicated editing technique makes this unique and draws the attension of the audience.

In conclusion, the opening sequence is very interesting with its uses of diegetic/non diegetic sounds, camera angles, shots and editing. All these factors contribute towards creating tension and suspense within the audience.I think the producers/directors have successfully achieved there main aim of this movie to create a tense atmosphere and get the audience hooked to the film.

Genre

Genre can be important e.g. when telling the difference between a horror movie and a thriller. Most films have certain elements which portray its genre. For example, westerns always have cowboys, whether they are set in the present day or the 1840s. Audiences have a set of expectations as to what a genre text will contain in terms of transportation, what actors wear, character, setting, mise en scene and soundtrack etc.

The main question is, why is genre important?

Gives a pattern for construction, a template

Genre pieces have an audience which like this genre so therefor can make money out of it

Actors can associate themselves with a particular genre e.g. Adam Sandler usually acts in rom-coms such as just go with it. For poeple who like adam sandlar, they might wanmt to see movies in which he is apart of, so again recieving money becuase of the genre and actor(s)

An important part of Genre theory is knowing at which period a film was made. This is particularly important when considering what technology was being used. With today's high speed films (shorter exposure times) films may be shot with very different lighting from those of twenty years ago. Secondly, genre theory is a very good way of marketing a film both for the producers, secondly for the audience. It has become a logo of sorts marking which films certain people may want to see. In particular we may notice this with the teen movie genre. It is a genre which is divided into many sub genres such as spoof etc.

Film genres are similar to musical genres or literary genres in many ways. A filmmaker understands what elements are expected in a specific film genre. Certain actors are generally associated with a specific type of film genre, as well as scriptwriters and directors. The director John Ford, for e.g , worked almost in the Western film genre. The actor Hugh Grant is best known for his work in the romantic comedy genre. Lastly, producer Jerry Bruckheimer specializes in the action film genre.

Genre Film Conventions - NICCS

Bourne Identity

Narrative: It Is a typical chase narrative, where somebody is being chased or trying to be captured because of what he’s done or what he has. The storyline definitely depicts action as seen by the violence portrayed within the trailer. The structure is typically planning to find to track him down, then actually people go out to search for him.

Iconography: Things within the trailer that depicts action are fighting scenes, hit and run violent driving, glass shattereing. The presence and use of guns, the sound of cars skidding on the road are things we also expect in this type of genre.

Characters: Matt Damon (Victim, highly trained detective)

Camerawork: lots of close ups of matt, sweeping paoramic shots of setting. Also some extreme close ups of important physical actions.

Settings: City, snowy forest, hotels, offices

Just go with it

Narrative: This film is a comedy - romance genre. They storyline is tpical of a rom-com as it has love and romance between characters, aditionally the trailer contains funny scenes which enhance the comedy side of this genre.

Iconography: Two characters who have fallen for eachother but something is resgtricting thier relationship from going further. Romantic scenes, comedy scenes. Also what we expect to see is that the relationship works out in the end.


Characters: Adam Sandler and Jeniffer Aniston, these are the characters that were together and now has found somebody else.


Camerawork Medium and close ups of the characters in romance. Over the shoulder, low angle and long shots are used repeatedly.


Settings: Beach, classroom, restaurant

Silence of the lambs Analysis

Firstly, the music is mainyly played by an orchestra. This has an immediate effect as it is slow, dramatic and has an almost paranormal sound to it. The first shot a medium shot of leafless tree with broad branches, in the background we see clearly more dense forest and trees. Just by the first shot we see that the weather is dull and gloomy, additionally there is a slight mist in the background. The soundtrack really complements this shot well as they both convey the idea of suspense and get the audience engaged.

As the credits rise and camera pans slowly to the left again showing the dense misty forest. The eagle call we hear two times in this opening suqueence indicates that the setting is in a rural place, and also the sound seems to have an echo effect, this gived the impression of a wide open space. After this the camera moves slightly downwars to a long shot of a women surrounded by trees. The first instinct you get is that this girl is alone and something terrible might happen to her. The camera focuses on the women as she pulls herself towards the camera by a rope, she is panting heavily suggesting that she has been involved in some physical activity.

The camera then switches positions onto a medium shot from behhind the women as she joggs through the forest. The camera follows behind her. The soundtrack at this point has increased in texture showing development of the track and also the scene.

Later on in the scene the women comes a climbing frame, this shows us that she was in fact engaged in fitness hence the heavy panting. Just after she finisheds climbing the camera shows amedium shot of the women talkin to someone man perhaps from the FBI and she is told that somebody would like to see someplace else. So she deroutes and joggs away. The soundtrack is now calm slightly calmer and consistent. The camera then does a a ful panoramic shot of her jogging into a police/fbi base where there are other people present.

Moments later, the women comes out of the elavator in a medium shot. The women then walks out of the shot and the camera turns and focuses on the plaque saying behavioral science services and an arrow pointing in the direction of where the women just walked. This shot shows us where she is going or what she may be in terms of profession. The women now snakes through various corridors and the camera follows behind her at the same pace. By this time, the music has stopped and now what we hear is what the woem is hearing: people talking, papers shuffling etc. The camera then depicts match on match action and over the shoulder with the women talking to mr crawford. Within that very scene the women looks at pictures on the wall, they seem to be of some dead people and picture of one house and some leaves. At this moment a slow sad soundtrack starts to play and then stops when she starts to talk with mr crawford. The soundtrack illustrates that those pictures have a deeper meaning to them, perhaps that they have something to do with the women? Or it is something that the movie revolves around?

Overall, in the begging the slow movement of the camera, the soundtrack and the setting give an idea of drama and has a scary feel to it especial with the fog and mist in the forest. The opening sequence builds up tension as we see the scene where she focuses on those pictures which by now, the audience should have realised

Editing: Enemy Of The State

The main aim of his sequence is to create the sense of tension within the scene and also get the audience more engaged. This sequence employs a few effective techniques to promote tension. Cross-cutting is an editing technique most often used in films to show action occurring at the same time in two different locations. This can suggest the simultaneity of these two actions. Also, suspense may be added by cross-cutting.


Close ups are used in a film to show detail and secondly, indicate the importance of object/person the shot is focused on.

In this close up from the actual film, we see the close up shot of the actor inserting a chip into a reader or drive. This illustrates how important that very chip could be or how significant the information already on there or the informaion about to be strored onto it is. Additionally, the background of this shot is blurred, this further enhances the foreground image the actor inserting the chip; therfore again showing significance.



This is a medium shot also from the film showing   both characters in one shot. The shot has been taken from outisde a barrier/cage. This conveys the idea that are concealed within a small space, this also shows vulnerabilty as portrayed by the cross cutting. A medium shot also depicts emmotion, by looking at their faces emotions, we can clearly see that they are intrigued by something and are looking quiet serious aswell.



3. Choose 15-20 seconds from anywhere in the sequence and describe each shot in detail, explaining its effect / function for the audience, as well as commenting on how the cuts (the editing) add to the meaning.
4. How far does the editing of this sequence fit in with the genre of the thriller? Justify your opinion.

My Preliminary Task Evaluation

This is the shot of the match on match action of when rahul walks through the door. From the rear view of rahul we can see him entering the door, and from the other shot you can clearly see rahul entering the door from my eyes in my point of view.

This is the shot, reverse shot showing the conversion between rahul and I. This camera work is commonly used in alot of conversation scenes.

This is the shot of crossing the corridor from different point of views. The first shot from behind me, this shows location, space and the way he crosses me.

 This is our shot list of our preliminary task which clearly illustrates the numerous different shots and camerawork which were required to produce this video.

Snehal - "No call, no text, where've you been?"

Rahul - "Im sorry, I've been quite busy right now."

Snehal - "Thats not acceptable. You cant delay me like this, I'm on a tight schedule."

Rahul - "I've just been a home, I've got a lot of problems with my family right now."

Snehal - "Still doesn't solve it."

Rahul - "Look I don't wanna argue, lets just go out for a drink. So I'll see you at seven then?"

Snehal - *Nods head, wait for Rahul to leave the room, the sighs in shame.*

What i liked about this task is that we worked really hard together and came up with a range of ideas that were shown within this piece. We managed to film this within half an hour, this was purely becuase we got organised prior to the day and also produced the shotlist/storyboard above to guide us throughout the production.

Things in in which we could have improved were using more effective camerawork from different angles. And also in the shot were rahul enters the door, there is not enough suffient light. This area is slightly dark in the video and is a factor in which we could have made improvements on

In the first picture, we can see james bond in the centre of the frame which is infact a sniper/gun hole. This shows the importance of his chacter. Also the blood dripping from the top shows the violence.
The second picture shows a name in the centre again drawing our attension, and also there are spades in the background showing maybe a fiml to do with cards.
The third picture shows the title of the fiml in the middle of the shot in clear font.
The fourth picture shows another name with a cartoonised james bond sitting.
The fifth picture shows again a name surrounded by guns. This illustrates the violece in relation to the movie.
The sixth picture shows a group of names but with animation in the background of fighting.
In the seventh, there is again a hand holding a gun with a green colour background with wavey lines.
In the 8th, there is no names but the main focus is on a 7 of hearts, and also a aim mark on the top right corner corner.
Lastly, the ninth shows a name with cartoonised bond in the middle with patterns and waves surroundin him. The font is again white and readable.