Evaluation Question 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
Because of the nature of the horror/thriller genre, I wanted to attract people based on the element of fear. Fear is something that runs through these films but is also something that attracts an audience to watch something. I
I picked the subject of abduction because it is relevant to many people and is something that many people can think about - if it were to happen to someone's family member, for example. It has also been in the media a lot, and is reported very often. The abduction and murder of Milly Dowler is the story that set off the phone-hacking scandal that currently is talked about a lot in the media. Stories about abduction are still very relevant and crop up in the media over and over again - most recently in the discovery and release of three young women in Ohio who were kidnapped over 10 years ago. These types of stories are often brought back into the media so I think that something related to this would be very popular and would attract a large audience.
I also addressed my chosen audience by focusing on the child involved in the story rather than on the adults, as I think this draws more emotion and fear from the audience. This is why I think the film Michael was so effective, because it showed the effect on the child as well as the effect on the adult. It is interesting comparing the viewpoint of the father whose child has been abducted and the child, and I think that in the future I could do some more market research to find out which storyline would be more powerful and more popular for audiences.
I really tried to get the element of surprise into my film, and I think this is something that really attracts audiences. When we first see the two girls we assume they are related or friends or something similar, but it becomes clear towards the end of this 2-minute film that there is something strange going on, and this is the hook that grabs the audience's attention. Many other films have used this unknown and surprising element, and it is obvious especially in Michael where we see the boy being brought out of his locked room for the first time.
Also the idea that a woman is doing the kidnapping is very interesting as in most of the media stories that we hear about kidnapping, more often than not it is a man who has committed the crime. Therefore I think this role reversal might be quite an interesting thing for audiences to be attracted by.
The main reason my film is attractive to audiences then is the uncertainty of the situation - this draws in people and grabs their attention.
I really tried to get the element of surprise into my film, and I think this is something that really attracts audiences. When we first see the two girls we assume they are related or friends or something similar, but it becomes clear towards the end of this 2-minute film that there is something strange going on, and this is the hook that grabs the audience's attention. Many other films have used this unknown and surprising element, and it is obvious especially in Michael where we see the boy being brought out of his locked room for the first time.
Also the idea that a woman is doing the kidnapping is very interesting as in most of the media stories that we hear about kidnapping, more often than not it is a man who has committed the crime. Therefore I think this role reversal might be quite an interesting thing for audiences to be attracted by.
The main reason my film is attractive to audiences then is the uncertainty of the situation - this draws in people and grabs their attention.