Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

 

This shot is featured early on in our production as well as having it as the final shot; this is an effective technique as it emphasises the fact that we used flashbacks. By doing this we also create a sense of mystery surrounding our plot, when we use it at the end we slow the scene down; this accentuates the fact of loss and mourning which will be prevalent throughout our production – it gives the audience a taste of what to expect further on in the film. The flowers twinned with the gravestone symbolises death and the feeling of loss; we included this at the very beginning to foreshadow that death will be inevitable in our production, and by including it at the end we hint to the audience that further death may be occurring – this leaves it on a cliff-hanger and encourages the audience to carry on watching.

  

We filmed this shot with the dolly, we did this to use a point of view shot from the killers perspective; this is effective as the audience feels like they’re in the killers shoes and this also allows them to witness the impending danger that the victim is blissfully unaware of. We also slowed the shot down slightly to build tension, this allows more time for suspense to grow as the audience don’t know when the killer will strike, then he’ll suddenly attack, making the audience feel uncomfortable; this is a common technique used in thrillers.

Throughout our production we continuously used cutaways of trains at high speed; this attracts the audience and keeps them gripped by alerting them to the impending danger. We also amplified the sound of the trains to increase the intensity of the tension, this carried on in-line with our music to create the effect that we wanted. We also took different shots of trains from different angles; this ensured that the audience could view them from every perspective whilst the intensity of the danger increased.

 

This is our groups’ favourite shot as it represents the balance of power in our film; it emphasises the male dominance that we wanted to assert to the audience, we did this to follow the conventions of a typical thriller. However, this is an unconventional shot as upward shots are rarely used; we used it to make our production unique. The rope indicates that the victim is trapped and defenceless, whereas the killer is in an open environment which suggests that he is free; we did this to convey a sense of irony as he will be inevitably punished for his crimes.

This shot illustrates the killer revealing himself for the first time, with the victim appearing to recognise him; we did this to add a sense of mystery to our film; the audience will be intrigued to know how she knows him, this will encourage them to carry on watching to find out. We used these cliff-hangers quite often to keep the audience gripped. By using an over-the-shoulder shot we could encapsulate the reactions of both protagonists, this is effective as the audience can see how both characters react to this situation – with the killer being calm and collective, whereas the victim is confused and startled; we did this to emphasise the contrasts between the two characters.

Our questionnaire informed us that our audience wanted a fast-paced thriller with plenty of action, which also effectively builds tension. We delivered this by using music which gradually builds in pace mixed in with intense train noises and a calm narrative; these three combined ensured our music contributed vastly to making our thriller extremely tense. We also used quick shots and editing to make our thriller fast-paced; we went beyond what was expected of us by introducing daring unique shots which are rarely attempted.

Jack Coley, year 13 student, commented on the effectiveness of our narrative and how it challenges the conventions of traditional thrillers. Sam Gandy, year 13 student, said he really enjoyed our production and highlighted the effectiveness of our flashbacks and how they make the story more compelling.

The opening of a film is key to its success and can often be the most memorable part, we realised this and took inspiration from Goldfinger. Goldfinger is remembered for its iconic opening where Shirley Bassey sung the opening titles; this emphasises the importance of music in opening title sequences, we used this as inspiration and used our music as an integral part for our opening.

Another iconic opening sequence from which we took inspiration from is Jaws, where it perfectly builds tension and sets up the rest of the story effectively with sudden music changes and quick editing to emphasise pace changes.

We effectively followed and challenged conventions to attract our audience; we were told by numerous people that the way we challenged conventions by including a narrative overlapping our music was very effective and unique. Our props followed and challenged conventions as we had the murderer wear a balaclava which is very common for criminals and is often associated with them, but we also used a train and train tracks which could attract our audience with its uniqueness. Our editing was also attractive as we kept cutting back to the train, which gained lots of positive feedback as it raised the tension. Our plot was quite conventional with the stereotypical man killing the woman, but we added unconventional twists which made it attractive to our audience.