Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Action, Character and Costume

When referring to the actions in our thriller, we attracted our audience by making Billy a photography student. This may attract audiences as it can be reflective of the hobbies that real teenagers of Britain have, thus making audiences keen to watch a film that bases its characters on realism. Also, we addressed our audience by making both of our characters Billy and Danielle from the same age demographic, making it apparent that our primary target audience is the 15 20 age group due to the representations of teenagers in our production being relatable to the audience. Alternatively, the topic at hand in our thriller being a murder occurrence may attract fans of crimedramas such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation due to the cliff hanger giveaway in which Billy is strangled, establishing our production as one which presents crime and murder. In terms of characters in our production, we attracted and addressed our audience by presenting two teenage characters; one male and one female in which the female dominates the clip, appearing strong and determined to seek revenge on a rather vulnerable looking Billy, furthermore presenting females to be powerful and independent which addresses females as our primary audience as they may be keen to consume a media product with this challenged representation. Also, the costume of Billy and Danielle may address our audience as they both wear modern contemporary fashion; Billys khaki green parker and Adidas trainers, both items of clothing very popular in todays young society can be appealing to the male members of our audience, whilst Danielles black zip-up hoodie and Timberland boots, another two items of clothing very popular in todays young society can appeal to both male and female members of our audience.

Lighting, Soundtrack and Camera Angles

The lighting in our thriller remains ambient throughout. Our production avoids the use of popular thriller convention chiaroscuro lighting and relies on natural daylight as it creates a raw and bleak impression to the clip. The ambient lighting in our production attracts and addresses the audience as it is also notable In other thriller productions such as the 1994 release Heavenly Creatures, thus making our film reflective of other major media products, allowing fans of these films to be attracted to ours and notice the development of this common convention in modern media products. In terms of sound, the soundtrack in our thriller addresses the audience as the track itself entitled The Eternal Forest sounds dark and mysterious, gripping an audience of 15 20 year olds who prefer the alternative side of media consumption. This is due to its darker, more intimidating presence it adds to Billys journey around the lake, which contrasts with the more bubbly and upbeat soundtrack used in other teenage media productions such as E4s Skins, establishing our production as an independent one with an audience to match. Also, the soundtrack in our thriller attracts our audience as it begins with slow, spaced out piano chimes with silence between each chord, coordinating with the slow panning shots of the lake and tracking shots of Billys face which eventually builds up to a heavier and faster melody as the antagonist, Danielle approaches her victim, gradually building excitement and suspense for the audience. In reference to the camera angles and movement in our thriller production, we used multiple common camera angles featured in several genres of media production in order to make our character types appear easily established, furthermore addressing and attracting our audience. For example, a total of four high-angle shots are used of Billy to make him appear vulnerable, whilst a total of four close-up shots of Danielle are used in order to make her appear intimidating, especially the ones of her boots pacing along the track. These camera angles helped to attract and address our audience as it is immediately clear to the audience just from viewing the opening to our thriller that it is an alternative film due to the switched up representations of males and females, thus ensuring we received the correct audience.

Intertextual References
The first and most apparent intertextual reference made in our thriller production is the location itself which acts as an intertextual reference to the 1994 biopic Heavenly Creatures. Like Heavenly Creatures, our thriller is filmed in a vast, natural outdoor location, in our case, far away from civilisation. We chose to include this reference by filming In the location of Whitlingham Lake, located in Trowse, Norfolk as it appears secluded and emphasises the character of Billys separation from the rest of society; he is wrapped up in his own thoughts which contrasts with the intimidating space around him. This is reflective of the fate of Paulines mother in Heavenly Creatures as the large space which surrounds her disconnects her from the danger which awaits, thus, if the audience of our thriller notice this connection then they too, will be provided with a sense of shock and empathy for Billy as his fate approaches. The second intertextual reference included in our thriller production is much less obvious in comparison to the last one; certain aspects of the image of our antagonist Danielle is reflective of The Brides from Kill Bill. For example, the over-the-shoulder shot used at the beginning of our thriller indicates that Danielle is a blonde, much like The Bride, suggesting that Danielle may be seeking revenge. Another intertextual reference includes Danielles ringed fingers which act as a reference to Bills of Kill Bill from the opening scene in which Bill wipes blood from The Brides face. The use of this reference emphasis Danielles strength as a powerful and intimidating archetype, and also suggests her masculinity; Danielle challenges the stereotypical representation of females in thriller films as she is dominating as supposed to dominated and contains aspects to her image which can be linked to previous male antagonists such as Bill himself.

Cliff Hanger
The cliff hanger in our thriller production would encourage our potential audience to watch the rest of the film as it effectively increases fear and suspense. Throughout our thriller opening, a sense of tension and ambiguity is already heavily provided through the use of a daunting soundtrack and establishing shots of the location. Because there is such a limited eyesight for the audience when meeting the character of Danielle, with the pure focus made only on her hands, shoes and hair, the audience may feel gripped by this lack of familiarization and demand to see more of the film, making it possible to learn exactly who she is as a character. Also, there is no apparent reasoning in our thriller opening as to why Billy is being followed by the antagonist Danielle. The audience may be desperate to understand exactly what Billy has done wrong to deserve this victimization; Billy appears to be walking alone, minding his own business and causing no disruption at this point, yet we know that Danielle seeks pain on him for a reason that the audience are completely unacknowledged to, suggesting that an explanation would become apparent later in the film if the audience were to watch it. Also, our thriller opening does not specify whether the event taking place has happened in the form of a flashback, suggesting that the films plot would be based upon the relationship (or perhaps not) the characters of Billy and Danielle shared, or if the opening foreshadows a murder investigation to come, where all is explained to the audience on the death of Billy.

Audience Feedback
From looking at audience feedback, I have gained an understanding of the way people from our targeted demographic view our thriller production. Overall, females of the ages of 16 18 years old from Norwich have responded to our production very positively, with all four samples stating that it was very clear to understand, and was obvious that it was an opening to a thriller film. All four samples also stated that they would be interested in watching the rest of the film, indicating that our production was both gripping and suspense building. The audience feedback has also displayed that no participant found any offensive elements to our thriller production, meaning that we have presented character types clearly and confidently. One area of concern which appeared twice in my data collecting included the answers to Was there any part that you found confusing or hard to understand? in which two samples stated that the gender of the murderer was confusing, perhaps indicating that more focus on Danielle could have been made through specific camera angles and shot types, however, this can be viewed as positively as we purposely presented Danielle in a mysterious and limited way in order to attract audiences into viewing the rest of the film.