Question 5 for my evaluation

1. WilliamAdams
AS Media
Question 5 – How did you attract/address your audience?
For my film, I tried to attract my audience via the use of various Media design elements
which helped to attract the audience’s attention to the film.
One of the ways this was done was via the use of camera angles as I worked hard after the
preliminary task to ensure that each camera shot and angle was detailed efficiently in order
to tell a story visually and make the audience aware about the characters and their
personality traits. This appeared to be very successful as the camera angles were the aspect
of the film most praised by my audience, with one response saying that there was a “good
variety of shots” in the film, while others mentioned that there was a “good use of camera,
nice detailed shots.” This shows that the camera angles/shots that I used in the film
completed the aim which was intended for the film, as it helped to create a visually exciting
film and captivated audiences into my film, hooking them into the “narrative.”
This relates to another key goal of my film which relates to my narrative of the film. With
crime thriller films, the narrative generally has to have a tense atmosphere with mysterious
connotations, with clues spliced throughout the filmin order to get the audience involved in
the mystery. Due to this, I used the various technical elements in order to match the
conventions of the narrative, with the dialogue of the filmbeing filled with exposition at
certain points in order to explain parts of the film. As well as this, the use of mise-en-scene
also helped to achieve my goals with the use of location helping, as generally crime-thriller
films focus on an event that happened in an abandoned area, with my film’s main mystery
taking place in a forest which is located far away from other urban areas. The use of the
technical elements appeared to be successful, as in the feedback, the audience was asked to
describe the film in one word. Two words that were commonly used by my audience to
describe my film were “intriguing” and “mysterious” showing that the narrative of the film
helped to engage and interest the audience, making them intrigued to find out what would
happen next in my film, thus attracting them to consume my film.
Furthermore, I also tried to attract my audience in by the use of the characters in my films.
Commonly, the main character of a crime thriller film would be an adult in his early to mid-
40s who would have less hope over the life he currently lives. Whereas, in my film, I
deliberately aged my character in his early 20s and who would be adored by the public in
order to go against common conventions. This was done in order to create a role model for
the audience as it would show that characters who are aged of a similar age to the target
audience can succeed and be adored by the public giving them a more positive outlook and
aspiring them to be like him. The feedback I received for this idea was positive with one
person noting that they “really liked the introduction of Ally” (the main character) showing
that the audience were pleased to have a role model of a similar age to them and attracting
my audience into the film due to having the main character be of a similar age to my target
audience.
However, not every aspect of the film attracted my target audience. One of these elements
was in regards to the sound used in my filmwhich appeared to be a hindrance towards the
dialogue in the film as, at times, the wind appeared to block out the dialogue in the film.

2. WilliamAdams
AS Media
This was noted by the audience in the feedback for my filmwith one person noting that the
“dialogue was sometimes lost in the wind.” This served to help take my audience out of the
cinematic experience and remove some of the tension which is a clear convention of a crime
thriller film, as it helps to keep the audiences captivated in their seats and immersed in the
experience. Whereas, by having the dialogue hindered by the wind, it means that the
audience may struggle to understand exactly what is happening in the film, removing
tension as a result of this.
I have also tried to address my audience as well by using common conventions often seen in
crime thriller films. One of the ways this has been achieved is through the use of an enigma
in my film. This is because a crime thriller filmwill often have a narrative enigma – a
McGuffin – to help create intrigue in my film and create excitement within the audience to
find out what the enigma means. In this film, it is the titular “Videotape” which contains a
video that will explain why the person at the beginning of the film has been murdered. This
helps to create excitement within the audience as it fascinates themto find out what the
videotape is and what it means for the film. As well as this, the fact that it is a videotape
goes against common conventions and further intrigues the audience as it makes them
confused as to why this is the case. This appeared to be successful with one person noting
that the filmhad a “nice narrative setup” showing the sense of intrigue and excitement that
the enigma has made and allowing me to address my audience through using typical crime
thriller conventions, whilst mixing them up at the same time.
Finally, I have also addressed my audience through the use of the detective. This is because
crime thriller films will often have a detective who has had a tragic event happen to him in
his life, or who has an intent on having justice served to the villain in a typical good vs evil
battle. In the filmwhich I have produced I have also used a detective who is made clear by
the formal and elegant clothes that he is wearing. The detective in the film also has to solve
mysteries in an intelligent manner, with this being shown by his thoughts as he stares at the
footprints and is easily able to decode what has happened, showing the high intelligence of
the character and allowing the audience to see how the character thinks and giving an
explanation for the audience over how the events have come to be, placing full trust in the
audience over his skills as a detective, and matching up to typical conventions by portraying
him as highly intelligent and skilled and matching up to typical conventions seen in crime
thriller films. As well as this, the age of the detective is important as the detective is aged
younger than normally seen in crime thriller films, and has genuine respect and a positive
outlook on life, which helps to alleviate tension in a dark scene such as the first, thus helping
to make the character a more engaging character to the audience and making the audience
care and trust the character as well as giving someone to look up to and admire, and
addressing the audience by challenging conventions of the detective, while also matching up
to common tropes seen in crime thriller films.