Question5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Following on from the previous prezi, Im going to elaborate more on the different aspects shown on the audience pleasures mind map and how this relates to my own thriller, expanding more on the brief notes on the second mind map for Grip. Firstly we start with the first mind map of Audience Pleasures. Within this we have five different sections: Narrative, Genre, Style/aesthetics, Thematic and Representational.

Narrative Pleasures Starting with the narrative pleasures we have many sub sections, firstly we have the hook. The hook is at the very start of the opening where we see the introduction of Edward gripping the bag, with the non diagetic sound of the wind and the street. The importance of the hook is that its the first time you grab your audiences attention and make them want to carry on watching. With the first image of Edward, we have created an atmosphere of worry and enigma about this one character, so much so that the audience want to know whats going on with him? Why hes there? Whats in the bag? The next sub section goes hand in hand with the hook, this is enigma. The mystery of the hook that when put together creates a fantastic start to a thriller. Enigma is a commonly used convention within thrillers. It is the main aspect in many especially the genre of Noir. Although my own thriller doesnt follow the noir genre it definitely takes the role of British Gangster which heavily uses enigma throughout the whole movie more revolving around characters. This is an aspect that we have taken from commonly known British gangster movies and applied it to our own, so that you never find out the reason why Steve is running for Edward or how Edward got into this mess in the first place. The whole content of the thriller is a big unanswered question. The strengths of this is, throughout the whole movie the audience will be intrigued on when theyre going to find out this unanswered question, and the fact that it isnt answered leads to the possibility of a sequel. The climax of the thriller is not at a particular moment, however rises progressively throughout the thriller. To the right is a diagram showing the gradual increase of climax. However, instead of having the audience constantly tense (as you may see in any common horror movie) we let the action simmer down and come at a nice little drop as we see on the graph it happens two times throughout. This is an essential aspect within thrillers as a Bulgarian structuralist linguist, created a Narrative Theory which suggested stories began with equilibrium where any

potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored in the world of fiction. With this theory in mind we wanted to use this structure however manipulate it a bit so that instead of having one climax and settling with this for the whole opening we have two. This leads on to the cliff hanger. As, the last thing we see in the movie is Steve raising the metal above Edwards head before it blacks out. This is the last climax which represents a cliff hanger. By using these two techniques together it creates an effective and stylish ending that may not normally be adopted by a normal thriller. This would potentially become more exciting for the audience and therefore attract them more to wanting to watch the movie again, just to see the surprise ending. Style/Aesthetics The focus on the style/aesthetics for our thriller was for the minority of the audience that enjoy the visual effects and the beautiful images/scenery within a film. When choosing the setting we were looking for a really powerful area that could fit the many requirements we were expecting. The choice to use Anglia Square was a smart one as, within the first shot we have this rich setting of the fence covering the graffiti wall behind Edward. The colours on the graffiti contrast against the grey wall quite bluntly giving a very sharp background for Edward to stand in front of. This is complimented by the colours that we put on Edward, with the rich maroon red and light blue jeans. The colours are sharpened and therefore stand out against the steel fence. For any viewer, not just aesthetic pleasers, this is a very powerful shot with lots of vibrant colours. The cinematography is really at its finest. Leading on from the setting, elaborating on the slight reference to costume, by keeping the colours simple but bold we were able to get a nice contrast. As you can see Edward is positioned in the centre of the wall, where the least graffiti is shown. This was to position the character on the blankest part of the wall so that the focus could be of him. By using the dark maroon of the jacket, he is noticeable against the white of the wall and the light grey of the fence. Moving away from the visual, we also made the character wear quite simple clothing due to the target audience. By using quite common/fashionable clothing we are able to hit a niche target audience of men. For just by seeing the costume, they may be intrigued to see what kind of costume the other characters may be wearing. This is a very small target audience I am mentioning, however although small, theyre still there.

Representational Within the representational pleasures, firstly we have the clear genre of classic gangster. With the combination of enigma, archetypes and scenery we have created a British Gangster genre within our thriller. The reason why we went for this genre is because it is highly celebrated among many thriller films and in distributing/marketing terms a project likely to be taken on due to the niche market that already follows this

type of genre. Not only this but with the British gangster genre there is a lot to play with and manipulate so to not make our thriller the same as everyone elses. However, one aspect we did change was the age of the characters. In nearly all gangster movies (with the exceptions of Bugsy Malone) the characters are older, late 30s early 40s, yet we have made our characters noticeably younger using 17 year olds instead. This was to let the imaginations of our audience run wild, allowing young adults to imagine a double life theyll never have. Another representational factor is the common archetype used within many thrillers, the: fallen into trouble character. This is a common aspect within many thrillers and one that we used within ours. The great thing about this archetype is that anyone can relate to it and in many different ways. For example: someone may have been in a situation that spiralled out of control and they found themselves in something they wish they hadnt got involved in in the first place, or they may know someone else who had gotten into a rather similar situation (maybe not as extensive) as Edwards and therefore when seeing this character, understands his situation a lot more. By being able to relate to the character we see a stronger relationship/acknowledgement/attachment to the movie and one thats going to help the audience to remember it.