Question 5How did you

attract/address your audience?

By Alice Childerhouse-Boulter

When I was editing my film I tried to make it as realistic and relatable as possible, I did this through the soundtrack, editing, and effects. I didn't use any music in my thriller, instead I used the sound of Lyndsey being dragged as this felt more effective as it puts the audience in the situation and the sound surround them. I used diagetic sound of a phone ringing when there were shots of Robin in the toilet to create a sense of Robin being overwhelmed with the thought of Lyndsey being killed.

In these two shots Lyndsey is being dragged through the snow, and Robin in the bathroom running his hands through his hair.

I think these shots really show how connected the two characters are connected and allows the audience to relate to having that kind of relationship with someone.

The mise-en-scene I used in my thriller was all quite simple as I didn't want to rely on objects to make the opening interesting and instead focused more on the characters and locations. I used a bracelet that falls off Lyndsey as she is being dragged through the snow so that when Robin finds it the audience can identify with his character. The bracelet represents Lyndsey as a character and may give the audience a clue as to what kind of person she is, as well as connecting with our young target audience as its a fashionable accessory within this age group. I also used a phone that Robin calls Lyndsey on to link the two characters and show that they have a close relationship, it also relates to our audience as most people have a mobile phone. It may also add to the audiences fear as it can be very worrying when someone doesn't answer their phone, so this attracts our audience as they can relate to that feeling.When I was editing my film I used lots of fades and dissolves in-between shots to establish a sense of uncertainty as to what was reality and fantasy. This may confuse our audience but also grab their attention as they will want to know more about the story and to find out what's going on.

I asked several people to fill out a questionnaire of what they thought of my film, the results are as follows. 

Age and gender

Q1 – Was the film easy to understand?

Q2 - Did the sequence hold your attention?

Q3 – How do you rate the camera work and editing?

Q4 – How do you rate the standard of mise-en-scene, colour, figure, lighting and objects?

Q5 – Is the production clearly the opening to a thriller film?

Q6 – Would the opening inspire you to watch the rest of the film?

16, femaleParticipant 1

4/5 5/5 4/5 5/5 4/5 Yes

32, maleParticipant 2

5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 Yes

36, femaleParticipant 3

5/5 5/5 5/5 4/5 5/5 Yes

17, maleParticipant 4

4/5 4/5 5/5 4/5 5/5 Yes

16, maleParticipant 5

3/5 3/5 4/5 4/5 4/5 Undecided

16, femaleParticipant 6

3/5 5/5 5/5 4/5 5/5 Yes

16, maleParticipant 7

3/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 5/5 Yes

16, maleParticipant 8

4/5 4/5 4/5 5/5 5/5 Yes

Age and gender

Q7 – Can you suggest anything that could improve the appeal?

Q8 – Were there any aspects that you found offensive?i.e. representation of race, gender, age, culture

Q9 – Was there any part you found confusing or hard to understand?

Q10 – What were it’s best features?

Q11 – Does the soundtrack effectively reflect and enhance the mood and action?

Q12 – Rate the overall production out of 10(1=low, 10=high)

16, femaleParticipant 1

N/A N/A N/A Camera work, soundtrack and cliff-hanger

Yes 9/10

32, maleParticipant 2

No No No Camera work, good use of angles particularly shots of girl in snow

Yes 9/10

36, femaleParticipant 3

No N/A No Camera work, editing, and cliff-hanger

Yes – very bare, like the footage

10/10

17, maleParticipant 4

N/A N/A N/A Action, cliff-hanger

Yes, effective use of diegetic sound

8/10

16, maleParticipant 5

Move the title as its too dark against the boys black coat

N/A N/A Lighting, action and editing

No soundtrack

7/10

16, femaleParticipant 6

No No Wasn’t sure why the girl was in the bath

Editing Good use of diegetic sound

9/10

Age and gender

Q7 – Can you suggest anything that could improve the appeal?

Q8 – Were there any aspects that you found offensive?i.e. representation of race, gender, age, culture

Q9 – Was there any part you found confusing or hard to understand?

Q10 – What were it’s best features?

Q11 – Does the soundtrack effectively reflect and enhance the mood and action?

Q12 – Rate the overall production out of 10(1=low, 10=high)

16, maleParticipant 7

No No When the girl was in the bath

Everything Yes, good use of sound

10/10

16, maleParticipant 8

No No No The realism Yes 10/10

I think this feedback is relatively positive apart from a few comments mostly about the ending when Lyndsey is found in the bath. The people I interviewed didn’t understand why she went from being outside to being in the bath. I had to explain that Lyndsey being in the abth was Robins imagination as his conscience is constantly being haunted by the idea of Lyndsey being killed. If I was to go back and remake my film I would make sure to have some more shots of Lyndsey being in various places to suggest that it’s Robin’s mind playing tricks on him as opposed to her really being there.