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

    Our thriller opening 'Beach Comber' attracts and appeals to it's potential audience in a number of ways, especially through aspects of mise en scene such as location and characters, as well as our use of sound; encouraging them to consume, enjoy and engage in the text.


    One way we attracted our potential audience is the use of locations in our thriller text, such as Weybourne beach in North Norfolk and a shed in an urban street in Norwich. The use of our interior location of the shed would appeal to our audience as it is a location that isn't usually that heavily featured in films of the thriller genre, instead some thrillers use locations such as garages and car parks, much like Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight'. The use of a setting as common as a shed also helps to reinforce the fact that anyone could have been in the victims position, building tension within the audience as it could just as well have happened to them; as well as suggesting that it could be happening in their local area and they would never have known.

Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' (2008)

    Our exterior location of Weybourne beach would also attract our production's potential audience as a beach could be seen as a less conventional setting for a thriller, so would intrigue them and possibly influence them to look into our production; as well as the fact that our production is set during mid-day, which makes our antagonist Ian Moone seem more intimidating and threatening. Similarly, in the episode 'Trou Normand' in series 1 of 'Hannibal' a totem pole of human bodies ranging from freshly killed to decades old are found on a beach location during the day. As this popular thriller series is aimed at audiences of the same age as our potential audience, the inter-textual reference to it may encourage our target audience who recognise the similarity to consume our product. 

Totem pole from the episode 'Trou Normand' from the series 'Hannibal' (2013)

    Another way in which we attracted our potential audience is through the characters featured in our narrative. Both the antagonist Ian Moone and the victim Sam are British teenagers, meaning that our primary target audience of British teenagers/young adults would be attracted to our production as they would be able to relate with our characters as they are of the same age group and ethnicity; and therefore would be more interested and invested in our media text. Also, the costume of the characters is reflective of contemporary fashion and trends which are recognisable to the audience, allowing them to relate to the characters further. The fact that our victim Sam is a female character will help attract our primary audience of females as not only will they be able to further relate to the character, but they will also sympathise with her and therefore be more emotionally invested in the production as they will want to see how -or even if- she overcomes the issue explored within our narrative.

The victim Sam from our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

     Another way we attracted our potential audience is through the use of a linear narrative structure, a generic narrative structure that our audience would respond well to; much like that seen in David Michôd's Australian thriller 'Animal Kingdom'. This would attract our audience as a linear narrative is easy for the audience to follow as it doesn't require the audience to follow or remember aspects of the film due to  a complex narrative structure, putting less pressure on the audience and making it a fairly easy and accessible text for audiences to consume.

David Michôd's 'Animal Kingdom' (2010)

    The use of a variety of camera angles is another aspect of our thriller text that would attract our potential audience. By using a plethora of different camera angles and movements, especially in regards to our aerial shot on the exterior beach location, helps to attract local audiences as they would enjoy seeing the scenic yet eerie representation of Norfolk as a setting in our production. The Quick pace cuts of our antagonist Ian Moone following Sam into the interior shed location adds pace within the production, therefore building the tension and suspense - a generic convention of thriller texts. 

Aerial shot of Weybourne beach from our thriller opening 'Beach Comber'

    Another imperative feature used to attract our potential audience is the use of lighting within our production. The use of ambient light for the majority of our thriller text reinforces the plausibility of the film opening whilst reinforcing the realism that we intended to portray. This could possibly increase the appeal because the potential audience may be able to put themselves in characters position who are in a setting which they will recognise and be able to relate to. The use of chiaroscuro lighting in our production when we see the antagonist's face for the first time is a generic thriller convention seen in classic thriller texts such as Carol Reed's 'The Third Man'. This would help attract our potential audience as they may recognise the inter-textual reference to 'The Third Man', and also as is helps to signify that this is a pinnacle point within our production's narrative.

Harry Lime from Carol Reed's 'The Third Man' (1949)

    Our use of sound is another feature that helps to attract our potential audience, in regards to both the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound. In our production, we used the diegetic sound to reinforce the sense of authenticity and realism that we wanted to portray in our thriller opening, which would attract our potential audience as it would seem that our production had character rather than being a carbon-copy of other productions; further attracting audiences to enjoy our production. In regards to non-diegetic sound, we used a minor key drone which crescendos, with the instrumentation gradually building up. This helps to create an unsettling atmosphere to our production, therefore attracting our potential audience as they would have an interest in more obscure and strange subjects and productions. Unsettling and unnerving the audience is a response that many thrillers aim to achieve, as seen in James Wan's 'Insidious'. Non-diegetic sound similar to that which we used for our production had been used in the opening credits of the thriller series 'Hannibal'. 

Opening to the series 'Hannibal' (2013)

    Finally, the most important factor of our production that was used to attract our potential audience was the cliff hanger. In our thriller opening the cliff hanger is where the antagonist in our narrative Ian Moone has followed the victim Sam into her shed, where the audience see Ian Moone's face for the first time, as well as see that he is holding a hammer. This disequilibrium in our narrative would attract our potential audience as they are left without a definitive conclusion of what Sam's fate will be, intriguing the audience and making them want to resolve the tension set up by this cliff hanger and find out what happens next.