One of my AS Media evaluations. Refer to my blog to see the stages of production.

1. Who would be the audience for
your media product? and how did
you attract/address your
audience?

2. The main audience for my media product is people aged 15 and above .This is mainly due to
the genre of my product which is a thriller. My text involves images of violence and other
psychological aspects which do not permit a younger audience.
The usual audience convention for a thriller is classified at a 18 age rating. I decided not to
stick to this convention as being 16 myself, I believed that the product I made had suitable
audience for people like me. However, having a low age rating doesn’t effect the older
generation to watch - my audience is also older people who have a general passion for thriller
genres.
AUDIENCE

3. HOW TO ATTRACT AN AUDIENCE?
As my production is only a small company we cannot draw in the audience by casting a main star. For this
reason I attracted an audience by making sure the film has a low budget so that people can watch it for
free.
I Advertised my product through social networking sites as my audience is familiar with social media. The
majority of my audience is students so putting posters around campus' would be beneficial and using
Facebook to create a page will help everyone to be aware of this production. The final outcome was
uploaded onto YouTube so people all over the world can watch it for free and promoting it through adverts
could be a future prospect. Overall, I will be using the media world to get this opening out there, so people
will be drawn into watching the full film when it is established.
A good example of a production which has used this type of advertising is the Blair Witch project. The story
line is based around a story of three student filmmakers who are investigating the supernatural legend
known as the Blair Witch. They disappear into the Black Hills with their film camera. A year later, their
footage is found and created into a movie.
What I think was the most successful achievement out of this project was due to the fact no well known
actors or scriptwriters were involved in the production. This suggests that you don't need familiar faces to
make a film good and in my production this will be the same case.

4. HOW DID I ATTRACT AN AUDIENCE?
To attract an audience I carried out a questionnaire as primary research before I made my media
product. The questions within this were varied and considered all aspects of information that I wanted to
know.
I uploaded this Survey onto Survey Monkey and got over 20 responses at a random sample.
I observed what each individual responses were and applied their desires to my product, especially since
the majority of the respondents were between the age of 15 and 20 which is my chosen target audience.

5. GENDER
Gender also affected what audience I would have. In my product the only protagonists
are woman. The use of female representations as both the victim and the villain go
against traditional codes and conventions of a thriller. This challenged the audience as
they were unaware of what actions would happen next.
Usually one would expect the main character of a thriller to be a man, as "masculinity" is
a physical strength of power compared to femininity. Going back to theorists,
Freud positioned the genders as active male and passive female and this has been
utilised in many narratives. I know from my questionnaire responses that audiences
always enjoys twists in plots and this gives explanation to why I reversed the roles of
passive female active male.

6. The majority of my audience said
that they enjoy watching young girls
the most in thrillers. This is mainly
because they represent an
embodiment of innocence and evil.
I went along with what my
respondents said and chose my
main protagonist to be a young girl
as this ensured me that my
audience would enjoy my media
product.
QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES

7. 100% of my respondents claimed that a cliff-hanger
like a death in an opening scene would entice them
into watching the film. In Alice, I included the death of
her mother . By sticking to what my audience enjoys
watching this will attract my suited audience.
Another question I took into consideration when
creating my media product was; “What do you find
builds up suspense within films?”. I found out that the
majority impacted most on music and sound. Due to
this I constantly made changes to my main soundtrack
of Alice as I wanted the music to follow through the
genre of a thriller which is to create panic and
suspense.

8. AUDIENCE THEORY
I Initially researched audience theory to develop my understanding of the relationship
between the audience and text and to see if I could challenge my knowledge to use a
theory in my own opening.
I used the effects model which states that the consumption of media texts has
a influence or even an effect upon the audience. I wanted to gradually deep feed to the
audience the notions of fear and unease so by the end of the opening they would be
enticed to see the full film.
In addition, II used the reception theory that placed the spectator in an active position.
This creates a cultural psyche. I thought this was appropriate as the sequence plays
with emotions that are very personal.