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

Audience Relevance

• My target audience is for people aged between 15 and 24. It is an age range where most are working out their identity and learning about themselves.

• My chosen genre deals with identity crisis and mental illnesses which are commonly apparent in the target age group which would meant hat it is relevant to them. They may look to the media for reassurance about their identity whether that is sexuality, mental stability, gender and various other opinions that may surface at this point of life.

• I created the character Harriet to fit in with the audience as she is of a similar age and has the qualities I have aimed for my target audience.

• She is there for them to relate to which is where the reformer section appears.

• The actor, Leoni, is 17 years old which means that she suits the character and this would be appealing to the audience.

Narrative Devices

• The narrative devices would greatly attract my audience. Harriet speaks in first person narrative and is incredibly emotive which intrigues yet unnerves the audience as they are expected to be part of the reformer section which means that they sympathise with the protagonist at the same time as wanting to know more about her.

• Her internal monologue will engage the audience as it captures her strongest and most troubling thoughts which would hugely interest the audience.

Theme• The theme of mental instability is key in psychological thrillers and

from the target audience research I found that audiences like to relate to the characters and are more engaged if they see themselves in the person on screen.

• This gratification is supported in my piece as it gives a clear insight to Harriet’s life and how she feels about the world and everything in it.

• As most of her problems are in her head the piece includes the sue of a dramatic monologue of her personified emotions. This easily conveys her though patterns and how her ‘personalities’ affect her everyday life.

• If an audience member ahs experienced a kind of mental health problem they may look at this to see if there are similarities between themselves and Harriet.

Message• The message I am trying to convey in my film is that

people who feel like they are alone with mental health illnesses should be made aware that they aren’t and that there are plenty of others experiencing similar situations.

• 1 in 10 young people in the UK have some sort of mental health problem in their lives.

• My opening sequence begins to portray the journey that the protagonist will have in order to help herself deal with her issues and in turn this could help the audience members who are unsure on what to do themselves.

Communication• I am hoping to communicate support through my

opening sequence. Because of it being a thriller there will be uncomfortable moments within it but it is present in order to entice the audience and leave them wanting to watch/ know more.

• Psychological thriller are a less known genre and are therefore catered to a niche audience however they are still widely enjoyed. I wish to attract a large audience however my target one will certainly enjoy it and they are an age group who are most likely to go and watch a film at the cinema or buy the DVD which could prove popular for my media product.

• As one of the conventions of psychological thrillers is having a darker colour palette I chose to add a custom filter to the outside shots. This gives it a grungy faded look which conveys mystery and uncertainty in the piece.

• This would attract my audience as it isn’t bright and as stood out as other film genres may adopt (e.g. comedy).People would be more interested in this as it is different and this particular aesthetic is popular currently because it adds character instead of being a bold statement.

• People are inherently nosey and suspicious so something shaded or cool toned would attract their attention.