The document discusses how the filmmakers aimed to attract their target horror film audience through the use of plot twists, strong female leads, and unconventional elements. They conducted audience research to learn what viewers found cliche or wanted to see more of. This informed decisions like including two independent female protagonists. Low-key lighting, realistic costumes, and a dark wooded setting were used to create an immersive and unsettling atmosphere for viewers.

1. Question 5
HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE
https://youtu.be/9zrA2gwMynk

2. Storyline/Plot
We hoped that our storyline would entice the audience because we have a lot of
plot twists in it to confuse the audience and keep them interested. We decided that
we would have a plot twist because we didn’t want our media product to be boring
and we wanted to confuse the audience and add enigma. I think this is a good way
to attract the audience because it is more exciting and adds to the horror effect. The
twist in our film is that the mother who is trying to find out why her daughter got
possessed is doing an investigation with a young woman and the young woman
turns out to be her daughter in the end. This plot twist is unexpected and will leave
the audience confused and will cause a lot of enigma. Often plot twists are seen as
cliché and boring and predictable but we hoped that with ours it would attract and
entice the audience. A great plot twist guarantees your storyline will never really
leave its audience. Decades after they’ve watched your film they’ll still look back on
that moment the truth was revealed and feel a shiver of satisfaction which is why we
wanted to incorporate a plot twist into our film.
A young girl goes missing but her
mother finally discovers her in an
abandoned house surrounded by miles
of woodland, the woman's relief is short
lived. Crazed by what she’d seen of her
child, years later the mothers mental
situation is evaluated by a young woman
interested in the psychological
supernatural - who confirms that the
woman's condition is certainly of a
malevolent kind and poses threat to
everyone she comes into contact
with. After a series of events revealing
the mother’s troubled past, revelations
unfold for the young student who finds
hints of her own heritage as well.
Our Pitch

3. Target Audience Interviews
From our target audience interviews, we found some
likes and dislikes of our genre and what people
would like to see more of. For example, they said
that they wanted to see the woman being portrayed
as a strong character so that is what we aimed to do
rather than always having a man being the strong
character and it being stereotypical. They also said
that they liked it when the films get into your head
so we added different creepy sounds to do that. The
target audience interviews helped us to find ways to
attract our viewers because we found out what they
thought was too cliché and what they thought they
didn’t see enough of and we tried to incorporate
these things into our media product.
Here we can see that both of the
main characters are female and the
rest of the plot involves these two
characters too. We listened to our TA
and decided that we should
incorporate two strong female
characters with different motives and
personalities to make it interesting
and original.
We decided to make sure that both of the
female characters were a bit different from
each other – otherwise this would have
been boring. We felt like having a strong
independent woman in our film opening
makes it more interesting because usually in
Horror films there is always a man
protecting a woman and our TA found this
cliché and they said they had seen it too
many times.

4. Marketing
If we were going to market our film, we would use social
media to do so. We could make a Facebook page and put
trailers/little clips of the film so the audience want to
watch it. Also, we could create posters or put adverts on
TV. This would be a good way to attract the audience and
since society today is very media based a lot of people will
see it, especially because our demographic is under 35 – a
lot of teenagers use social media so it will spread very
quickly on the internet meaning it will attract our audience.

5. Casting
To attract our audience we decided to cast a young girl – who
looks very innocent to confuse the audience when they find
out that she is the opposite and is possessed. We also casted
a motherly character who fits the demographic so it is
relatable for the audience and keeps them interested. Also,
our primary target audience is females which is why we casted
both characters as female so that the main target audience we
want to attract can relate more to the media product than the
secondary target audience.

6. Titles
We used a font that has been used in "American Horror Story" to
add to the scary effect of the film. Also the title "Heart of
Innocence" connotes purity however this is the opposite because
the young girl is possessed and dangerous. This attracts the
audience because it is visually interesting and different.
For the Studio Logo we decided to make it more horror themed
than a general studio logo like 20th Century Fox, we wanted it to
be specialised for our own particular genre to make it more
interesting. When the Studio Logo comes on, it has its own noise
which coincidentally is a creek because our logo is “Creaky
Floorboard Productions” which makes the audience intrigued as
to what will come next.
The rest of our titles fade onto the screen as the film opening is
playing because otherwise our product would have been too
long and it wouldn’t have fit the correct time scale. We feel that
if we had more time we could have spread them out more or
kept them in one scene.

7. Camera
We used a variety of different shots to make the audience feel disorientated and confused.
The high angle shot we used was done to make the mother look small and vulnerable
compared to the dark and scary woods. This helps the audience feel emotionally attached to
the mother because they can see how big the woods are compared to her and see the
struggle she is going through to find her daughter.
The POV shot was done to make the audience feel included and feel like they are actually
there looking for the daughter because all they can see is the darkness of the Woods which
makes it look scarier and makes the audience feel a part of the opening. The other POV shot
was when the mother was reaching out to her daughter and again this makes the audience
feel involved but also adds tension because the audience do not know who she is or why she
is possessed.
The Zoom was done in one long shot but then cut down into 3 for the young girl. This
creeps the audience out because they know they are getting closer to the girl but do not
know who she is and this adds enigma and makes the audience feel paranoid whilst
watching.
The tracking shots were done to make the audience feel like something is following the
mother and to make them feel scared and paranoid. Also this enables the audience to see
where the mother is going.
The establishing shot of the door enabled the audience to see where the mother was and
enables the audience to jump to the conclusion that the daughter is in there.
The mother looks vulnerable and
you can clearly see she is
isolated and surrounded by
darkness.
Makes the audience feel like they
are going through the struggle with
the mother with this POV shot.
The zoom makes the audience
feel paranoid and nervous
because it gets closer each time
and they do not know what to
expect.

8. Costume
We used realistic costumes in our film opening so that our
audience would think our characters were believable and
so it would be easier for the audience to immerse
themselves into the action, linking to the escapism rom the
uses and gratifications theory.
The mother was wearing pyjamas because she is in a rush
to find her daughter who she has realised has gone
missing all of a sudden so she doesn’t have time to get
dressed properly.
The daughter was wearing pyjamas too because it was late
and she was supposedly meant to be in bed – we decided
to make sure she was wearing long socks like the girls do
in The Shining.

9. Lighting
The lighting for all Horror films is usually low key. We
have made sure that our film opening is in low key
lighting and non-naturalistic lighting. This is typical for
a Horror film and it attracts the audience because they
cannot see the surroundings properly and then feel
paranoid – they do not want anything to jump out at
them so they are on edge throughout the film. The
low key lighting also makes the film scarier because
for some people darkness is scary and can connote
evil and danger. The fact that the audience cannot see
properly will make them pay attention to any sudden
movements or anything that looks out of place and
this attracts our audience and keeps them interested.

10. Actors
The actors in our film opening attract the audience because they fit the demographic
and are young and our primary target audience will be able to relate to these
characters because both characters are female and under the age of 35, the two
actors were aged 5 and 16 and we felt like the age gap made it look more realistic for
the two to be playing mother and daughter hence why we picked them.
We felt that because our primary and secondary target audience was under 35 that it
would be necessary to have actors who are young and under 35 to make the
audience feel more involved and we hoped this would attract the audience.

11. Make up
The only make up we used was blood on the mask but you could not see this
properly because it was dark but later on in the film you would obviously be able to
see it clearly. Blood is iconic horror make up, it attracts the audience because it is
what you would expect to see in a horror film and adds enigma to the film e.g. how
did it get there? What has happened?
The blood connotes danger and death which may foreshadow what happens in the
rest of the film which entices the audience and attracts them. By using blood the
audience can see that something bad has happened previously – blood is in pretty
much every single horror film because it visually tells the audience someone is hurt or
in danger and it attracts them

12. Props
We had two important props.
The mask – which was used so that the audience could not see the childs
face so that they were paranoid and intrigued so they keep on watching.
Also, a mask is an iconic prop in Horror films, films such as “Scream” use
masks to make the audience wonder who is underneath it and it plays in
the back of the audiences mind. We used a mask for this purpose, the
audience wants to know what is so bad about this girls face. This attracts
the audience because they want the girl to be unmasked.
The sign is an important prop because it states “liberos tantum” which is
Latin for “children only” – the audience are not going to know what that
means so they will be confused but they will remember that specific prop
because they do not understand it and it will always be a question they
won’t know the answer too. This will attract the audience because they will
keep watching in order to find out what the sign means and what the
significance of it is.
Usually in Horror films, they
use Latin when someone is
possessed because it is the
“language of the Devil” which is
why we used it for our sign.

13. Setting
Our opening was set in the dark woods and a derelict house. This
appeals to the audience because it adds enigma and makes the
audience feel scared because a setting like the Woods is so public
and open - more realistic. The setting is more of a working class
setting so this fits with our demographic because our primary
target audience is working class and under 35.
This will attract the audience because they will be able to relate to
it and this will make them want to watch the film more. Within
horror films we expect to see a gloomy setting like a haunted
house or a spooky forest – we aimed to include these settings in
our film because it is a typical horror convention and also settings
like that are used in the Woman in Black which is another horror
film.

14. Barthes’ Narrative Code
 Enigma – we have used enigma throughout our opening especially when we zoom
into the girl but we do not see her face. The audience want to know who she is
and why she is there.
 Action – the action in our media product is a journey to find out about the past.
 Semic – every time the young girl was shown creepy whispers were played over
the top to identify the difference between the girl and the mother.
 Referential – we decided for our setting we would film in a dark woods at night
and most people would find this scary in real life.
 Symbolic – our theme is good vs evil. The mother is good and the child is
possessed and evil.

15. Conclusion
In conclusion, through the use of camera, lighting, actors, make up, props and setting
we have tried top attract and address our audience. By doing this we are increasing
the amount of people who are going to be watching our media product which if we
were actually distributing this – would be an advantage.
The range of technical elements we have used are to ensure that we can attract our
audience. We aimed to attract the audience primarily by using Mise-En-Scene and
CLAMPS.