Audience
What audience are you targeting your thriller for? Age? Gender? Occupation? Interests?
- I am targeting my audience at 16-25 year olds, both male and female. Although I have found that most thrillers are aimed at young adult males, trying to target my thriller at both males and females gives it a wider audience and does not alienate others into thinking the film is aimed at only one group of people. I chose to aim my thriller at 16-25 year olds because I feel this age group is more likely to go to the cinema to watch a thriller. Also, the majority of 16-25 year olds are students, who may be more inclined to watch a thriller as it is intellectually stimulating and not the kind of film you can just sit back and relax to. However, I do realise that a vast majority of teenagers/young adults will not be interested in a thriller film for this very fact.
My target audience will most likely be interested in films where there is something to figure out and not everything is as it seems, such as a thriller, drama or a horror film. The audience will be into mysteries with a twist, they will like to try and work things out for themselves but sometimes never quite get there. Possibly a person who never gives up trying and will always give it a shot on working out what is happening, and loves the element of surprise.
What certificate will you give your film? Why?
- I have given my film a 15 certificate. I chose this because 15's have proven to be the highest grossing films at the box office. It also allows my film to include some strong language, scenes of a sexual nature and strong violence, possibly making it also appealing to an audience older than my target audience. I decided this would be a good certificate over all as it is just below the age of my target audience, making it easily accessible to them.
How have you planned to meet the expectations and interests of your audience?
- I have planned to meet the expectations and interests of my audience by casting young (16-18 year old) actors as the two main girls. This makes the girls more relatable to the audience, making them seem more real and people will find themselves identifying themselves with them. I have also made my first 2 minutes and my film plot full of hints and twists, appealing to my audience as they would be interested in mysteries and puzzle solving.
Why would this particular audience be encouraged to watch your thriller?
- This particular audience would be encouraged to watch my thriller as I have tried to create a great deal of mystery and suspense in the first 2 minutes, which would entice them and make them want to watch more. I have also used young actors and a realistic setting that the audience can identify with, making the film more believable and adding to the eeriness and suspense.
Genre Conventions
What makes your thriller stand out as unique or original?
- I think my thriller is original as the first 2 minutes that I will be filming is not a typical thriller title sequence. I have chosen a realistic home location, most thrillers I have seen have at first been set outdoors (Face Off) or in a bigger location such as a plane (Flightplan).
I also have a story going in my title sequence, in some I have seen there have just been random images (Seven) or a scene of digitally created images (Hostage).
Also, in my title sequence I will be using more than the usual amount of dialogue that is usually found in title sequences as I want to be able to get into the story straight away instead of just confusing the audience and making them wonder what that had to do with the film. Although confusing the audience is a convention of the thriller genre, I really wanted to focus more on the suspense and mystery aspect of the genre, making my audience want to know what will happen next and why certain things happened like "Why did the intruder drop the picture?" or "Why was he even there in the first place? What is the significance of the two girls?" making them eager to find out more.
I feel my thriller is also more of a psychological thriller rather than just a contemporary thriller, as there are many different layers to the plot and it has elements of horror to it, for example I chose to set my thriller around a murderer whereas in some thrillers I have seen there have been more kidnappings, bank robberies, hostage-taking, etc.
How does your thriller meet the conventions of the thriller genre?
- In my title sequence I use many conventions of the thriller genre. I have used a build up to the action, as it starts of with just a girl (Rachel) sitting in her house on her own reading a magazine, and then her friend comes over to hang out. A series of shots flicking back and forth between the intruder and the girls builds up the the action to where eventually the intruder is then standing in the dining room with a knife.
Fear is created in my thriller by using unsettling, eerie music. This makes the audience immediately think something bad is going to happen and builds the suspense.
I have used a dark shadowy atmosphere in the outside shots and the first living room shot, this will add to the creation of fear and in most thrillers they will try and use natural lighting and then subtley introduce colours such as red, black and white. I will be doing this by having all of my characters dressed in some form of red, black and white, foreshadowing the events that are to come.
I have also used the convention of murder encourraging a suspecting audience but letting the audience know early on that the intruder is there, even when the girls in the film do not. This lets the audience know something bad is going to happen even if they are not sure what.
A realistic setting was chosen as it will make the audience feel uneasy because it shows something unusual happening in a normal every day place. This makes the audience feel uneasy as it makes them feel like this could happen to them.
I have used twists and turns, such as in the beginning we think the girls are just home on their own and then you see the shot of the intruder walking round the side of the house. There is also the shot later on where the girls see the intruder has escaped through the study window, they then turn to go back into the dining room to call the police and he's standing there with a knife. Using twists and turns like this keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, making them never know what will happen next.
How does the planning of your thriller idea match the thriller openings you have watched and analysed?
- I feel like my thriller idea doesn't completely match any other thriller opening I have seen, however I have sampled different aspects of these thrillers that I decided I would like to use in my own. My thriller is similar to that of The Sixth Sense as it set in a house and there is already a build up to the action with some back story of the characters/events leading up to the present day.
However it is also like Seven as I plan to break up the shots of what is going on in the house with black title scenes with white font moving across the screen. I feel like this will make the audience feel uneasy, along with the eerie music (eerie music was also used to create a sense of fear in the title sequence of Seven). I will also use another one of this films features as my thriller opening may come across as having horror aspects to it, which I noticed in Seven too.
I decided against using any digitally made shots like in Hostage as I have no experience in creating digital images and believe it would take a very long time to make. I also did not use any flashbacks like in the opening of Face Off as I didn't feel it was beneficial to the plot just yet and although I originally liked the idea and would have liked to use it, I thought by adding a flashback it would make my thriller opening too long.
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