Target Audience

We identified the target audience by using the actors who were roughly between the  age 15-20 who were both genders. However because we have used a complexed film title for our trailer we have widened the range of our audience to 15-24. I believe that this age range also like camping and working problems out intellectually.

   I believe our trailer appeals to the target audience by using characters roughly the same age as the actors so they can relate and emphasise with them. I also believe because there are mostly girls in the trailer they can relate more to the characters that they usually would in a stereotypical horror film.

  The target audience will recognise the genre of the film due to the soundtrack, non diegetic sounds such as 'boom' lighting, establishing shots such as the protagonist overviewing the party and vunerable shots of the victims.

The audience thought the setting  was appropriate as the location was a forest lake conventionally represents isolation, fear and darkness, as well as the water can represent calmness and it being an effect of characters death

   

                                                   

Evaluation of the film trailer

The film trailer we have produced is successful in ways that we have followed conventions of the genre, horror. We have also followed theorists such as 'Todorov's' which is when a state of equilibrium was always at the start of the trailer, and then problems are stated disturbed. We have also left a code of enigma of a 'red herring' effect which is one of the effects that we found when we were researching into horror trailers. We did this because we wanted to leave  the audience unknown of who the killer was and what was going to happen next which is what we wanted so they would go and see the film.

   I believe that we have used specific codes and conventions through our trailer such as dark lighting, long shots of isolation, panning of the mise en scene to show vunerbility and isolation.

 

How the trailer would be consumed

The target audience would find the trailer using a veriety of digital technology for example, TV, radio, internet and cinema making the audience known as 'Technofiles', I believe this is the case because the target audience is the range of 15-24 they can control what they do and what they want to see they could do this through the internet, you tube and see the trailer under the genre of trailer that they have been watching previously.

 

A way of the trailer being consumed would be through watching other films at the cinema or on DVD where you would pay to watch the film but get free advertisment.

About the focus group

1/5/2012 We asked eight students, four boys and four girls between 15-24 which was our target audience for our trailer to come and watch our trailer so we could get feedback from the audience. However due to people not being able to make the focus group we had two boys and four girls between the age group of 15-18 to watch the trailer. Through out the focus group we asked the six students to fill out the questionnaire that consisted questions about the film. We then asked open questions about the film posters and magazine front covers that we made as well as having a general discussion about all three texts. 

   The results from the questionnaire and the discussion were generally positive. As 100% of the group said that the trailer was the genre horror, 90% of the group said that the target audience is for both genders which is also what we wanted to hear. Everyone out of the group stated the basic plot of the story and 80% of the group didn't know who the protagonist was. I believe that because the majority didn't know who the protagonist was they would go see the film because they stated that 'they want to know what happens' 'it was a great storyline' and 'it left me shaken' i believe that we had a positive feedback and it was an advantage to us as a team to see that our  package of the three text's had worked. 

Audience Feedback Questionnaire

1. What genre do you believe the trailer is?

• Comedy
• Horror
• Psychological Thriller
• Action
• Sci- Fi

2. Which gender does the trailer target at?

• Female
• Male
• Both

3. What age group do you believe the target audience is for the trailer?

• 13-19
• 16-23
• 15-24
• 18-53

4. What 3 images stood out the most for you?

5. Can you reveal the basic plot of the story?

6. Who do you believe the protagonist is? (Killer/main character)

7. What are your emotions after watching the trailer?

8. Do you think the trailer reveals too much?

9. Would you go see the film in the cinema?

10. Do you think the soundtrack goes well with the shots in the trailer?

My film magzine front cover

Here is a first draft of my film magazine, i have used other film magazines such as Total Film and Empire to use as guide lines on producing my magazine so it would follow the conventions.

• For my poster i have used a close up image of the protagonist making eye contact with the audience to make there attention draw to the magazine. I have used iconography of the reference to the water to relate back to the film and the character rising from the water to also relate back to my film poster 'Karma lies in the depths beneath' which emphasises the fact that the protagonist wants to get revenge on her 'friends' and names
• To make my front cover look conventional i have used subsidiary images  that relate to the genre of the film magazine and also eye catching titles such as 'full access to' 'the uk's top selling magazine'. I have also used the masthead of my title to relate to film 'Caption' so the audience can relate the meaning of getting images and looking at the footage
• I have used red, white and grey as a colour scheme as i believe it works well together and is appealing

• For my front cover i have used the same conventions as 'total film' by a close up of the main characters focusing on the eye contact to attract the readers. I have also used banners, titles and a bold masthead.
• from the total film magazine and my front cover it is evidental that the film the magazine is focusing on is in bold white writing that can stand out the most so the reader can relate to the film the most

My final draft of film poster and explanation

 

• My poster focuses on the mise en scene and iconography most i believe this is a key issue to show where the location of the film and also because water is one of the main focus in the trailer
• I have used the image of a blacked out figure standing by the lake to show hidden identity with a reflection of a shadow which references to a 'ghostly effect' floating on the water rising to the surface, I have also got a ripple effect in the water to suggest movement from below.
• I have used a bold black and red title which the colours emphasise darkness and death and highlighted the word HATE because it relates to one the trailers themes.
•  I have used conventions from other film posters such as a tag line, billing block and date. I have put the tag line just above the surface because it relates to the water and can relate to something coming above the surface.
• I believe that my film poster follows the same conventions as 'friday the 13th' as there is figure of a person over viewing the lake. The mise en scene is roughly the same containing trees, and water.
• The main images are both long shots with dark lighting to emphasising fear and isolation
• From looking at 'friday the 13th' poster i have followed the same conventions such as the billing block and website