Evaluation Question 5

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

In today’s industry there are so many ways to get your film noticed and much of this is to do with new technologies. The use of internet has become a massive way to promote films and their narrative image with interactive film sites, YouTube and Facebook all of which were useful to us. However, it is also important to address your audience within the film.

We attracted our audience by doing the following within the film:

• We shot it a night, meaning the film had a dark and fearful image. This was important when trying to create a feeling of enigma.

• Had action and violence in the opening drawing our core target audience in from the start. In the last shot with the gunshot we wanted the audience to jump when they heard it, and during our test screening most people did.

• Stuck to the conventions of film noir by using lighting which created intimidating shadows on walls. An example of this is when the killer leaves the house and enters the garden to make his escape.

• Used 2 very different locations: a house which people are familiar with as it seems realistic and a dark alleyway which people are not so familiar with. The alleyway could put people in the audience out of their comfort zones. This further creates enigma as the audience has an expectation that something is about to happen.

• Used eerier and atmospheric music to anchor all the feeling of tension and mystery.

• A seamless, linear editing allowed the viewer to focus on the tension and mystery which was being created through music, location, lighting and narrative structure.

• The gunshot at the end creates an enigma which cannot be satisfied without seeing the rest of the film, this draws the audience in and makes them want to see more.

In order to address our audience properly it was important for the use of internet to prevail above all else. Due to the film being a more independent film and low budget it wouldn’t be possible to put adverts on bus’s and bus stops. However, through the use of Facebook and showing our film opening on YouTube it would attract our core target audience. The younger years of our target audience would relate to this kind of promotion as it is being shown through media they understand.