This document discusses various narrative and technical techniques that could be used to engage an audience in a film opening sequence. It begins by discussing narrative techniques like disequilibrium, binary opposites, flashbacks, and cliffhangers that could attract viewers. It then covers how characters could engage audiences through representation, body language, facial expressions, and character types. Next, it discusses how technical elements like camerawork, sound, lighting, and editing could attract viewers. It concludes by mentioning how intertextual references to other films could also engage audiences.

1. Q5: How did you
attract/address your
audience?
By Connor Southwell

2. Mind Map of things that could appeal to
our audience
How can we attract
our audience?
Narrative
Mood
Characters
Technical codes
Flashbacks
Equilibrium/Disequilibrium
Cliff hangers
BinaryOpposites
Fear
Create
suspense
Thoughtful
Scaring
Juvenile
Delinquent
Characterisation
Facial
Expressions
Body Language
Sound
Camerawork
Editing
Lighting

3. How does narrative engage your audience?
Disequilibrium
This is a narrative technique we use to create a sense of imbalance at
the beginning of the film.The use of circular narrative structure leaves
the audience excited for the main body of the film. Also, the film is
creating a fight where it has to get back to equilibrium, but will it? We
have done this because the character of Josh Masterson due to the
vulnerability of him. Creating disequilibrium doesn’t allow the audience
to settle into their seats. Disequilibrium is achieved through Josh
Masterson’s obvious vulnerability and mental fragility in the woods of
our scene.Whereas the antagonist,Tom Rush is a character who has,
not only a psychological advantage over Masterson, but a physical and
spiritual advantage due to Masterson’s state and physique.
Disequilibrium allows the audience to think from the start of the film,
and makes them uneasy. Disequilibrium relies on a disruption in some
sense. In our sense, the character of Josh Masterson creates a
disruption to the narrative which, according toTodorov’s narrative
theories, meant the narrative would be fighting to get back to the
normality of everyday life.
Masterson is vulnerable due to his mental
illness.The repeated action of the scratching
of his face presents the idea of a tortured
mind.

4. How does narrative engage your audience?
Binary Opposites
Our film conforms with Levi-Strauss’ binary opposites
theory in our films. Strauss was an anthropologist who was
born in France in the early 1900’s. Binary opposites are used
often in the horror and psychological thrillers.The main
example of binary opposites is good and evil or hero and
villain, and these roles are often used as a basis to
understanding a story as equilibrium, however, we use
binary opposites to create disequilibrium as there is
question over to who is the villain, Rush or the thoughts that
escalate in the mind of Masterson?An example of binary
opposites is the story in the TheTwlight Saga as the
Werewolves battled theVampires. Binary opposites are
used in our film effectively and help enhance feeling
towards our characters but also creates opposition and
conflict which requires the audience to pick a side.
The ‘protagonist’-
Josh Masterson
The ‘antagonist’-
Tom Rush

5. How does narrative engage your audience?
Flashbacks
Flashbacks are a narrative tool which enhances engagement
and characterisation for the audience to interact and immerse
themselves with. During the sequence as Masterson walks
through the woods, fast paced editing is used to show a clip of
running.This shows a past event for the character which
enhances characterisation and provides a broader knowledge 0f
the event. Also, it reinforces the idea of disequilibrium by
showing there is history between these two sets of characters
which makes the film more immersive and easier to follow. It
helps us encourage a greater sense of character, thus making
our character more insightful.The purpose of a flashback is to
either progress the narrative, or to reveal more of the character
to the audience. For our production company, it is most
definitely the latter as we use it explicitly at the start to aide
characterisation and also to create disequilibrium as mentioned
previously.
Flashback of
running as seen
in our film

6. How does your film opening entice your
audience to keep watching?
Cliff Hangers
Cliff hangers are a narrative device used to entice the audience to
come back and enjoy the film. Using a cliff hanger at the
conclusion of the opening sequence creates tension. Cliff
hangers are essential to engage and attract the audiences
attention, and if your opening is exciting and creates tension
then your audience will be engaged.To create an incomplete
scene is something we wanted to achieve because it frustrates
the audience as they have unanswered questions going into
the film. By using a cliff hanger, it leaves our narrative room to
develop and breathe, whereas a one dimensional scene which
answers questions is one that means the narrative is only
going in one direction. In our film, cliff hangers attracts the
audience as it allows the plot to develop and grow.
The cliff hanger used in
our film at the closing
sequence

7. How does your film opening entice your
audience to keep watching?
Also in our film, we use suspense and fear
to create mood in our film. Creating mood
allows a naturalistic approach to acting
which draw emotion from the audience in a
more interactive way which entices the
audience to immerse in our film.The
emotions we are creating in our film allows
for a connection with our characters which
helps with the binary opposites. By
creating fear and suspense, we are playing
with emotions to entice our audience into
watching and enjoying our film.These are
emotions created by technical codes such
as underscores. Underscores are used to
helped crank up the suspense.The
suspensefulness is attractive to the
audience because it provides a narrative
engagement and attraction which keeps
the audience enticed in a manner that is
engaging and exciting. Using The Sixth
Sense, we decided to show how narrative
can change and be dynamic. For our film,
we would develop the narrative to twist
and turn into something that creates
suspense at multiple points.A
suspenseful
moment in
our film

8. How does your film use mise-en-scene?
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene is something we thought about significantly during the
production process of our film. It was highly important that all aspects
of muse-en-scene had purpose and significance. For example, the use
of the candle was use to symbolism the hope of our protagonist being
vanished by our antagonist. Costume wise, we ensured we conformed
to stereotype and connoted ideas of stereotypes which makes our film
relatable to our primary target audience which allowed us to use it in a
way which manipulates the audience to think subconsciously so they
relate to the material they are consuming which in turn, makes them
engaged.The representation of characters and social groups attract
our audience because our production company finely balance the
difference between conforming and challenging stereotypes in one
film. For example, we conform to the 1950’s media opinion of
teenagers in the character of Tom Rush, but with the character of Josh
Masterson, we portray the delicacy and vulnerability of young people
in modern society.
This shows a Nike
trainer, which is a
stereotypical shoe for
a teenager

9. How do your characters engage your
audience?
Character types
Tom Rush’s character is a juvenile delinquent. Being big fans ofTV
Drama, Skins influenced our character representation of Rush as
we wanted to show how stereotypes shouldn’t be listened to and
that young people are humans. It would engages our primary
audience because they recognise the stereotypical viewpoint which
is held by society. It makes it engaging because our target audience
is keen to see the development of our stereotype which is engaging
for our audience.
For Josh Masterson, we opt for a character who is challenging
stereotypes. Masterson suffers from a mental illness and shows the
fragility of younger people in a society with ever increasing strain of
pressure due to a range of factors. This is perhaps more relatable to
our audience. Balancing issues of the lack of consciousness and
provision for mental illness in people who are of a younger age. For
our primary target audience, this will be relatable and make the
issues of mental illness relevant, particularly in modern Britain. Our
character are verisimilitude, and present the idea of reality.
Juvenile Delinquent
Tom Rush playing with
fire

10. How do your characters engage your
audience?
Body Language
In our film, our characters are particularly expressive through the
use of body language. Tom Rush’s body language is strong and
powerful to show he is the dominating character in this moment in
the film. Rush’s shoulders are broad and wide to connote the idea of
strength, both physically and socially. When he strikes the match in
the film, this is slow and almost ritualistic, this is show how he is
control of the narrative but also symbolises the hope that Josh
Masterson feels.
Masterson’s body language is enclosed and confined to show the
psychological illness which he suffers from. We decided to portray
Masterson in a way which makes him seen vulnerable and weak.To
do this, we decided Masterson’s body language would be enclosed
and draw up with tension to show how scared he is as the narrative
is progressing. The body language shown by Masterson is crucial to
our scene because it enhances characterisation and allows an
interaction with our audience which draws emotion.
Tight body language
to show vulnerability
and fear

11. How do your characters engage your
audience?
Representation
Representation of the two characters allows an immersive
relationship with our primary audience who may or may not
relate to our character types. Rush’s character is someone
who we decided to conform with stereotypes, whereas
Masterson challenges the conventional stereotypes of
younger people. For younger people, this makes our film
engaging as the character of Rush is dramatised and
stereotypical, whereas the character of Masterson is
relatable and engaging due to the dependability of this fact.
Representation of characters is something we thought
massively of when constructing our narrative.
Representation of characters is huge when attracting our
primary target audience as it becomes more relatable and
consistent. In modern media, young people feel they have
lost identity and purpose, we wanted to give that relatability
and challenging the stereotypes which is engaging for our
primary target audience.
Josh Masterson is
challenging
stereotypes of
younger people

12. How do your characters engage your
audience?
Facial Expressions
Our naturalistic approach of characters means that
facial expressions are another element of characters
which engage our audience because it strengthens
the relationship shared between characters and
audience.This is noticeable particularly through the
character of Josh Masterson. His character relies on
the use of facial expressions as it is a key factor of his
portrayal as a vulnerable and a character drowning in
his own thoughts due to his mental illness. It is also
important for helping reinforce this idea of
disequilibrium in our opening sequence, as
Masterson is considerably lower toTom Rush.We
opted not to show the facials ofTom Rush because it
creates intrigue and mystery around his character
which reinforces his power and dominance, as he is in
control of the narrative.
Masterson’s use of facial
expressions engage the
audience due to how
drastic and frantic they
are.

13. How will your use of technical codes
engage your audience?
Camerawork
Our camerawork is attractive and engaging to our audience due to the variety of
shot types we use. We follow the traditional conventions of film making by
conforming to the 180 degree rule and 30 degree rule. We did contemplate
breaking these rules to disorientate the audience but didn’t think this would be
the best way to approach our thriller. In terms of shot types, our thriller conforms
with the conventions of thrillers as we involve shots such as tracking shots, close
up and mid shots which gave our thriller a clear identity and recognisability.The
tracking shot of Masterson at the beginning of our sequence engages the
audience because it creates a sense of mystery and curiosity around his character
through the use of camerawork. Also, the tracking shot presents the connotations
that Masterson’s mental illness is constantly following him and torturing him
through his everyday life.The use of close ups allow us to give Masterson’s
character greater texture and personality where as a mid shot would add less
identity and less personality to his character as a whole.The use of mid shots
allow us to show the scene in a wider perspective adding further detail, texture
and information to the audience which will enhance the narrative. We complied
with the rule of thirds the majority of the time, however, in the shot shown on this
slide, we break this rule on occasion to highlight the psychological illness being
suffered from by Masterson.The camerawork is something we wanted to improve
upon from feedback from our preliminary task, and I think we were more
inventive and used a greater range of shots which will attract our audience as it’s
more exciting and immersive as a final product.
These shots
showing the
tracking shot
and close up
we used in our
film
Close up
used in our
film

14. How will your use of technical codes
engage your audience?
Sound
Sound is a key technical aspect of how we attracted and engaged our
audience.The use of score creates an atmosphere which draws an
emotional response and makes them feel. When Rush’s character shuts
the door, a burst of sound (score) is introduced which wracks up the
tension and draws the audience to an emotional response. Sound is
used also in a diegetic fashion (the match being struck and the stick
being snapped) which was used to not only increase the realism of the
sound but also they are sounds which are sudden and attractive as it
creates an intensity and curiosity around the scene, which without
these burst, simply wouldn’t be threatening. The effect sound has on
our film allows us to create more nervous and tense scenes. Sound is
one of the most important technical aspects of engaging our audience,
and conforming to the sudden bursts of sound through using
underscores and creating tension through those. Another sound
technique we used was silence. Our use of silence and frantic heavy
breathing creates tension and carries the ideology that something or
someone is lurking beyond the camera.
Diegetic sound from the
match being struck

15. How will your use of technical codes
engage your audience?
Lighting
In the section of our film which takes place in the woods, the lighting
used was diegetic lighting that was natural to the location and we
didn’t tamper with it at all due to the difficultly of manufacturing light
in a large location. However, it created a nice contrast.The brightness
and naturalistic light seen in the woods allowed us to see the depth of
field in the shot which provides an interesting question to the
audience as it hints at mental illness due to Masterson’s heavy
breathing and franticness even though we, as an audience, can see
the depth of the woods and can see nobody is lurking around any
corners, Masterson seemingly cannot, and this is achieved through
the naturalistic diegetic lighting present in the woods.
In the secluded garage, our lighting is more manufactured and
planned. In the garage, our lighting is low key and conforms with the
conventions of psychological thrillers which enhances the identity of
our thriller even more.We used a bright lamp to create hard, bright
light which only lit half of Masterson’s face.This effect present the
split of personality he is suffering from, due to his schizophrenia.This
light also allowed us to use diegetic lighting through the candle and
match, which would become a motif throughout the film.
Lighting in the
woods
Low key lighting
in the garage

16. How will your use of technical codes
engage your audience?
Editing
Our editing is key to how we engage our audience. If editing is too
slow, then shots can be long and tedious, but if editing is too fast, it
can cause disorientation and not allow an emotional connection with
the audience. With this is mind, we studied how psychological thrillers
use editing, particularly films like Inception, due to the popularity and
success of films such as these. So having conducted research, we
decided to use frantic, fast paced edits which match the mental state
of the character of Masterson. In the woods scene, Masterson
dominates the editing and the audience let him dictate the film,
however, a clear shift of power become present when the stick is
snapped by Rush.We comply with continuity editing to allow the
realism of our film to be professional and evident throughout. Our
editing is simply cuts but when Masterson gets punched by Rush, it
dips to black as he is knocked unconscious or is seen to be waking up.
The fast paced editing that takes place in the secluded garage is
engaging as it highlights the frantic mental state of Masterson.The
slow editing around the character of Rush shows how he is the more
dominant character in charge of the edit and thus more dominating.
The editing shifts when Rush enters the garage to symbolise the shift
in power being experienced in the opening sequence.
The key shift in
power in our opening
sequence.

17. Inter textual References
How do inter textual references attract
your audience?
Inter textually, our most noticeable reference is this
one.We drew inspiration on quite a few things from
Inception. This shot is noticeable and famously from
Inception, a film that shares the same genre as our
film, so both psychological thrillers will be similar in
audience which makes it engaging to be able to
witness the comparison between the two films.The
character ofTom Rush was inspired by the film
Harvey, a comedy from the 1950 inspired our
character representation ofTom Rush, as the
invisible 6ft rabbit isn’t visible to other characters,
but is to his best friend and audience, is Rush a
figment of Masterson’s tortured mind?
Di Caprio in
Inception vs me in
Torpidity
The film Harvey,
whom the
character of
Tom Rush is
based around

18. How is the audience positioned? Whose shoes
are we in? How does that increase the film’s
appeal?
How are the audience
positioned?
For the majority of the film, the audience are placed in a
third party placement, but with emphasis on the
character of Masterson designed for them to side with
him, because he is almost always seen in shot, and the
focal point is on him being the protagonist.The
positioning of the audience is dependant on the
camerawork. Our camerawork places the audience
comfortably behind the fourth wall, which isn’t tested or
broken throughout the opening sequence which makes
the audience comfortable.This increases the films
appeal because the positioning of the audience allow for
different perspectives. In the garage scene, we are
placed at the same angle as Masterson, showing we
should relate and side with him. In regards toTom Rush,
the positioning is less intimate and less personal,
showing the distance between character and audience.
Audience
positioned
level with
Masterson
Distanced
from Rush