2. Who is my audience
My specific target audience is the English working class, this is because of the
nature of how my film would be promoted and the genre it would be placed
in. Looking at NRS social class system I believe my target audience would fit
into E to C1. This is because the stereotype of people who have experienced
the narrative or those who have interest would be associated with lower
middle class or working class. Setting is something I used to intrigue the target
audience, for example during the 2nd half of my film opening we see a train
station this will start to pose questions for the audience to speculate. Where is
the train station? Why is he going on his own? This would be seen as
unconventional as films with a similar narrative and genre have a heavy focus
of friendship. However this may appeal to the audience as they will understand
the seriousness of the situation and the risk the character is taking. Doing this
will create tension which is crucial during the first 15 minutes of a film, the
audience needs to be hooked to continue watching the film.
3. Audience expectations
Because of the genre I have found that many of the films which are similar have a
closely related formula. This is something I followed with during the first couple of
scenes. Films such as “Quadrophenia” and “Green Street” attempt to introduce the
character in their opening scenes. When analysing the “Quadrophenia” opening I took
inspiration from how the character acts and the scenes he is displayed in. I followed this
convention to appeal to the audience to ease them in to the film giving them a
somewhat false sense of what the film is truly about. By using costume and setting I
conformed to the stereotypical genre. But when we get to the final scene we see that
the main character was running from himself leaving the opening on a cliff-hanger,
hopefully this would imply some shock factor and confusion especially because the
opening up until then was a conventional youth culture film. This will director audience
expectations which is a risk that I have taken, typically the audience like to feel like they
are in control and understand what is happening on the screen. This will either appeal to
my audience or they will not enjoy the twist I have decided to take. Using this
unconventional method would further emphasise why a distribution company such as
Warner Bros would not produce my film.
4. How did I address my audience?
By using costume, setting and music I have engaged with my audience.
Costume was something I researched and made an effort to include into
my film opening. By using brands such as “fred Perry” my audience will
relate and understand that this is a film that will have subculture
references. The hypodermic model would suggest that I have done this to
make the audience automatically want to view and consume my media as
they would see their own life and be hooked on seeing themselves on
screen. By implementing Audience Reception theory I have attempted to
engage with my audience fully. Hopefully my target audience will agree
with how the main character reacts to certain situations, the audience will
have to emphasise and support the main character for the film to be
enjoyable for the audience.
5. Because the function of a film opening is to intrigue the audience I have
included numerous enigma codes in the opening. Because the character
was running from himself the audience would want to know why he is
doing this, I wanted to disorientate the audience to possibly think it was a
dream or some form of other reality. Again this being highly
unconventional specifically for the genre may perhaps intrigue the
audience more than going the conventional route. This should make my
film a success as they will have found the answer to their questions later
on to not feel dissatisfied. The mode of address is in first person and
without narration as I believe this would detract from the films hard hitting
raw feel.
