Our film opening ‘Attraction kills’ is an obsession based thriller about a man

who kidnaps and kills blonde females. Our thriller opening is full of suspense

and enigmas and I believe it would entertain many; however, the target

audience for out product are both male and females from the age 15 to 25. In

my opinion our thriller opening would attract females over males as the

opening is based around females being kidnapped and they may be able to

relate and even see themselves in the characters.

QUESTION 4; WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR

YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

As you can see my mood boards both are based on teenagers. The mood boards are both for male and females and are founded around older teenagers. The females mood board shows what teenage girls are interested in for example: make up, fashion, perfume and glamour magazines. The mood board has pictures of what a teenage girl would be interested in or find intriguing.

TARGET AUDIENCE MOOD BOARDS

The male mood board shows what a older teenage boy

is interested in for example; consoles, console games,

football and girls. The mood board has pictures of

shops that a older teenage male would shop in like JD

and Topman.

Our thriller film opening is similar to ‘Kiss the girls’ as

they are both kidnap thrillers based around obsession.

‘Kiss the girls’ is based around a man who kidnaps

talented college girls, this then attracts females around

the age of 15 to 25 similar to our thriller film opening as

the target audience can then relate to the film and even

see themselves in the characters.

If our thriller film opening was to proceed into an entire

film, we would want to keep the identity of the character

following our murderer hidden similar to ‘Kiss the girls’

however their murderer’s identity was hidden instead.

This would create suspense and enigmas for the audience

to keep the on edge and watching.

Feedback from our

target audience.

The film

opening is very

interesting and

kept me

wondering what

was going to

happen next.

Wow! I loved it I

wish it was a whole

film! The music was

creepy and made the

film better.

It wasn’t

really my

type of film

I prefer a

film that

gives away

more at the

opening.It was really

interesting the range

of shots defiantly

make the film better.

It could have had

more shots but it is

a good film

opening.

Before filming our thriller film opening we had no concerns apart from the locations; however

we did have some locations in mind. To conform that the locations we had chosen were

appropriate we put a question about the location when we pitched our film idea in our

questionnaire.

Feedback

The first set of feedback we got from our target audience was when we pitched our film idea to

our media studies class and other people that fit into our target audience which is 15 to 25. We

had all positive feedback from both pitches and our target audience agreed the location we had

chosen was appropriate which was our main focus on our feedback. After pitching our film idea,

our target audience thought that our storyline was intriguing and full of enigma’s and that

nothing had to be changed.

After making our thriller film opening and producing our final product we then showed the

opening to our target audience and asked them a serious of questions and what they thought of

our final product. The questions we asked included, ‘Do you think our storyline is appropriate

and catchy for our target audience?’ We received all positive feedback, as the majority agreed the

storyline was appropriate and extra comments such as ‘the opening is very exciting and kept me

intrigued’.

FEEDBACK AND HOW WE

ADDRESSED ANY ISSUES RAISED

In my opinion, thriller is a very popular genre amongst teenagers as the genre

is full of thrill and enigmas which keeps them entertained and continue

watching. Therefore to create a successful thriller opening for our target

audience our aim was to tick four main criteria's which are;

1. Genre conventions.

2. Media Language.

3. Music

4. Similarities with other films

QUESTION 5; HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS

YOUR AUDIENCE?

Genre conventions consist of four sub-sections which are; characters,

iconography, narrative and themes. Firstly I will be discussing characters and

how they appeal to our target audience.

GENRE CONVENTIONS

The first character is introduced

without their identity being

revealed. He is staring at a wall full

of photographs of blonde females

with red X’s through their faces.

This creates an enigma and shows

this character to have some kind of

obsession to the audience. This

appeals to our teenage target

audience as this reveals nothing

about the films and keeps them

speculating.

The next characters introduced

are pictures of the blonde

females with their faces crossed

out this creates an enigma to

the audience as they are left

questioning, ‘why they have

their faces crosses out?’, ‘why

they are being stared at?’, etc.

The audience are then introduced to

another character ‘the girlfriend’ who is

calling the unidentified male character,

there is also a picture of her with lines

of cocaine over her face. This appeals

to the teenage male audience as she is

an attractive female character.

Two characters are then

introduced together, 'the

girlfriend’ and the

unidentified male. We are

presenting the characters

together as a couple which

appeals to the teenage

female audience as there is

a theme of romance.

The male character who was

unidentified is then identified

to the audience he is shown as

a typical thriller character as he

is a white male and dressed in

dark colours. This attracts the

female teenage audience as he

is an attractive male with a

sense of excitement.

While ‘the girlfriend’

is being strangled by

the male character

the camera pans to

somebody

overlooking what is

happening. For the

audience this adds

more enigmas code

as they are left

speculating who this

over looker is and

will he help the

damsel in distress.

Iconography are the visual elements to the thriller genre. These elements include; settings, props, costumes, lighting, etc.

In my opinion we used iconography very affectively in our thriller film opening. For the opening and end scene we use a dark location and low key lighting this creates a tense and isolated atmosphere, this makes the female character vulnerable and helpless. We also used an isolated alley way which adds to the vulnerability when the girlfriend is being strangled, the isolation of the alley way makes her look defenceless. This appeals to the teenage audience as it adds suspense and thrill and keeps them wondering whether she will be okay.

In the murderers lair we use props such as; cocaine, knifes and blood. The knifes and blood add danger and are typical iconography for the thriller genre. The use of cocaine shows the addictive and obsessive nature of the male character. This attracts and entertains the teenage audience as these types of things happen in everyday society now and teenagers can relate.

ICONOGRAPHY

The narrative is the storyline and what takes place in the film. As we just

produced an opening not much takes place. However in our opening a kidnap

and assault takes place, if we was to make a whole film, these events in time

would lead to other incident. As someone was seen watching the assault and

then a hand knocks on to a door, this arises questions and suspicion to the

audience and this therefore means our teenage target audience will stay

engaged and want to watch on so they know the outcome.

NARRATIVE

This thriller opening is heading towards being an obsession based thriller film

and therefore we see indications by the opening as the opening scene is a lair

with lots of photos up of blonde females. However I think there is more than

one theme as a kidnap takes place and therefore could lead to the film being a

kidnap thriller. This is why our thriller film opening suits both male and

female teenagers as it is not just one individual theme it also has many sub

genres, for example one could be drugs as our main male character is seen

sniffing cocaine in the opening.

THEMES

obsession kidnap drugs

Media language is how the ‘text’ gets it’s ‘message’ or meaning across to the

audience. This is through;

1. Types of shots

2. Editing

MEDIA LANGUAGE

In our thriller opening we use a variety of shots, the types of shots we use differ depending on the scene, to create an effect. For example in the opening the camera pans on the photos of the girls to emphasis their vulnerability and highlight the amount of victims there is.

We used a point of view shot when ‘the girlfriend’ is falling to the floor unconscious, this adds effect as it is as if the audience are in her shoes.

The very first shot is a medium shot which establishes the dark and isolated location and also shows that the man is staring at the numerous photos on the wall this immediately means the enigma codes start for the audience and in result keeps them watching.

TYPES OF SHOTS

In our thriller film opening we used skilful editing techniques such as fading in and fading out,

shot-reverse-shot, slow motion and a cut away.

We used fading and fading out to show the audience a change in time from the lair to the alley

way. The fades clarify to the audience there has been a change in time or location and avoids

confusion.

Shot-reverse-shot is used when the two characters are having a conversation down the alley way,

we followed the 180-degree rule also to avoid confusing the audience.

Slow motion is used from a point of view shot when the female character is falling to the floor

unconscious, this appeals to the audience as this creates suspense and realism.

A final twist is achieved through a cut away from inside the lair to a knock on the door outside.

The final twist to the opening would keep the audience watching, to find out what happens next.

EDITING

Fade

In our thriller film opening we use a voice over at the beginning of a news

report informing people about the missing girls this appeals to the audience as

they are then educated of what is going on and whether the photos of the

girls are the same girls being spoken about on the news report.

We use a non-diegetic soundtrack that goes perfectly with what occurs within

the film, for example when the male character is strangling the female

character the soundtrack fastens up create suspense and thrill for the audience.

MUSIC

SIMILARITIES TO OTHER FILMS

Our thriller

opening and ‘kiss

the girls’ both use

the titles the whole

way through the

opening. This

shows the

audience who does

what and because

they are at the

bottom of the

screen this doesn’t

interfere with the

film.

We took a unique twist to obsession, as we made our male character not only

obsessed with blonde females but also drugs. We leave a lot open to the

audience as the opening is vague yet understandable and easy to follow. Our

target audience which is both male and female teenagers who are open minded

and excitement chasers which means they are likely to enjoy the enigmas and

follow what goes on.

UNIQUE SELLING POINT