Question 5:How did you attract/ address your audience?

Mise-en-Scene• The Mise-en-scene should be appealing to my target audience,

therefore Ellie and I decided that the costume should remain very laid back, causal and relaxing – something that teenagers are often known to lounge around in. I typed ‘winter fashion’ onto the web 2.0 and what came up was baggy jumpers and leggings.

So Ellie and I decided that Ameerah’s costume would be similar to this to attract our audience as we felt that some could relate to the main character fashion style.

Appearance• Knowing we would have some younger viewers, Ellie and I

wanted to keep the hair and make-up pretty simplistic, as we did not want to portray how every girl needs to where make-up.

The only make-up she has on is an eye brow kit, some winged eye liner, mascara, and subtle false lashes.

In this scene, as she’s at home, we left her hair naturally wavy.

Sound• Ellie and I decided on having an narrator

throughout the film opening. We felt that it was a prime way in order to engage with the audience in what is happening. Having a narrator will make the audience feel as if they’re directly being spoken to, hence engaging them.

• In the film opening, there is diegetic Christmas music playing from the tablet. ‘Jingle Bells’ is a vastly known Christmas song which intentionally will attract audiences as they may even sing along to the music.

Setting and Character.• The majority of the film openings setting was based in Ameerah’s

bedroom. It was a very girly bedroom: lots of bright colours, blankets, photos with friends on the wall – a typical female teenage bedroom.• Ameerah’s body language and actions were very laid back, something relatable and engaging for audiences. Her costume and setting display her social class as the working class, her family are wealthy and therefore she c an own tablets, phones etc. A stereotypical teenager is known to have mood swings or a little attitude, therefore we intend for our character to throw a diary across the room in order to show attitude and emotion.

• Due to a stereotypical romance film would be associated with females in their teens and above, this is due to the actors used within the film. They are usually young adults, the audience being at a similar age means they can easily relate and engage with the characters.

Social MediaKnowing that Our Last Christmas is being targeted at ages between 12-30, Ellie and I knew that social media accounts like Facebook would be a prime method of attracting our audience. Creating a social media account enabled us to connect and interact with our audience, engaging them in everything we possibly could. We were firstly able to build up an audience, so we could gain their feedback on our ideas, and even decide on our films title.

Facebook

The amount of likes informs me of many people are viewing the page’s posts.

Ellie and I are able to post status’, photos, video or even events in which our audience can view.

We could post behind the scene photos from shooting in order to get our audience excited for our product.

Simply searching ‘Our Last Christmas’ on Facebook will bring up our page, so it is easy to find.

There are methods in which Facebook allows you to promote your page, however this costs and we were not willing to spend money.

The page could be customised with images from the movie itself.

The page is listed under ‘Film’ so therefore will show up when people are interested in Films.

There’s even a way where people can directly message us if they wanted to.

Attracting the Audience

By receiving positive feedback on our Facebook page from our audience, I knew that Our Last Christmas had definitely attracted my audience. Seeing the first two minutes left consumers wanting to see more and they expressed this on the comments. Knowing that my target audience enjoy the film opening, confirms that my media product is attractive.

Polls• In order to engage with our audience, Ellie and I

created polls in which we posted on our Facebook page for our target audience to view and participate in. We left the film title and the film story line completely down to the audience decision because they’re the one’s consuming my film. Without an audience, there is no film; hence why engaging and attracting them is extremely significant.

Other Films• Another way in which Ellie and I knew that our product

would attract an audience as that it has similar themes to other romance films. If I Stay and The Fault in Our Stars are romance films that both have illness and medication themes. The Fault in Our Stars made a gross of $124,868,837 and If I Stay with $50,461,335; displaying how popular these types of films are. Ellie and I originally had a terminal illness themes in one of our initial story ideas, and this is the idea that our audience chose out of the three initial story ideas that we displayed.

The Importance• Engaging your audience in the opening scene is

extremely important. The first few minutes are what leaving audiences either wanting to watch more, or to turn it off altogether. It is crucial to hook the audience in. They need to feel engaged in order to connect with the characters and enjoy the rest of the film. The opening must include things like an enigma code, a question that is not immediately answered, thus drawing an audience into the film waiting for the question to be answered. For example: in Our Last Christmas, Ameerah receives a Christmas card from her ex saying ‘I need to see you’ – and the audience have to watch the film in order to find out why.