Evaluation - Question 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdt7B-g67d8

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

A target audience is who a product/service is aimed at, this is important because it helps to structure the features and content allowed in it. Therefore, deciding on a target audience has massively helped to shape and structure my thriller. This is because there are certain things that are not suitable for younger people; therefore I had to choose an appropriate target audience. Choosing a target audience would also allow me to decide what BBFC age classification my film would have. Different aged people have different content that appeals to them, I saw this when I conducted my survey and produced my results as the older people I asked tend to say that they enjoyed a gory/horror thriller, which is a common sub-genre in many older thrillers. Whereas the younger people I asked said they enjoyed a psychological thriller which is the sub-genre I chose for my sequence.

I decided that my target audience would be 15 years old plus. I came to this decision by closely anaylsising the BBFC age classifications and seeing what content was allowed in each classification. Also I reviewed the survey I conducted and saw what things people wanted and expected me to include in my thriller sequence. Additionally, I knew what sort of features I wanted to include and the allowed me to see what classification and age group would enjoy my thriller most. Because I am a similar age to my desired target audience I could see that the content and features that I wanted to include would be suitable for me and would cause tension and suspense.

The main reason that my thriller would appeal to my target audience is that they would be a similar age to our female victim, a female victim is a key thriller convention.  This means they would be able to relate to her and put themselves in her shoes. This would increase the tension within the sequence. As a result my thriller would be more successful as they would be more engaged with her emotions. 

Also the low key lighting used throughout would engage them and causes suspense because everything on the screen is not always clear, which mirrors our narrative as the outcome for the girl is not always clear. An example of low key lighting used in my thriller would be at 1:45 when the killer is walking towards the camera and it is a close up shot of his face/mask. 
 The target audience will further be able to relate to the teenage girl victim as most people would have been somewhere where they feel completely alone, which means they will be able to relate to how the girl would feel and the house being in an isolated setting. This builds the suspense as they know that there is nobody around to help the girl. They will be able to compare what they were feeling to what the victim must be feeling.

Also because of the hidden identity of the killer, which is a thriller convention, the victim never knows whether it is a personal attack or general, which allows the audience to relate to situations they have been in, as they are of a similar age. Also this convention will keep the audience engage in the sequence as they will be guessing who the killer is.



I used many close ups of the victim so that the audience can follow her emotion in the sequence and it also allows the audience to see that she feels scared throughout, which builds tension as it shows that she feels danger all the way until the end of the sequence.


Also the micro elements such as, sound and editing helped to keep the audience engaged. At the start of the sequence the house is introduced along with a eery soundtrack in the background, this shows the audience the house is quite a dangerous place. Which engages them straight away into the sequence, so that can find out why the eery music is layered with the house. At the very end of the sequence we use silence to add tension. The victim falls over and the screen goes black, and there is just silence. Which adds tension as the audience are waiting for something to happen. It also makes them want to find out what is happening next so they keep watching. 
At 0:54 slow editing is used when the girl is escaping from the house, this makes the audience feel on edge because they want her to get out of the house, it also appeals to them as they will feel like they will be going on a journey with the victim.