How did you attract/address your audience?
When answering this question I have included a director's cut, where I have recorded myself speaking over the film and pausing it in appropriate places, to highlight key features in our decisions to keep our audience captivated and many ways in which we related to them.
What did you do to make people keep watching and what built suspense?
The thrill that kept the audience intrigued was the use of enigma in the narrative. The chilling thought that someone or something has somehow got into her house when she is home alone is enough to keep the audience wanting to know more. They can presume that it is the killer as the protagonist is clearly the victim however they don't get chance to witness because the narrative is left on a cliff-hanger when her bedroom door creeps open slightly. The narrative keeps them captivated as the situation is one that everybody can relate to whilst stimulating a common and realistic fear.
We used conventions such as...
-a vulnerable, innocent teenager 'Ivy'.
-a familiar environment that the audience can relate to...which is also isolated as she is home alone.
-low-key lighting to enhance the fact its at night; this symbolises danger.
-repetitive, sustained, dream-like music to act as a tense undercurrent which conducts suspense.
-diegetic sound to create a realistic quality and make it more believable.
-long takes and sharp cuts to create continuity which builds suspense and makes it more believable as you can follow the protagonist.
-camera movement that pans to continue the continuity and realistic element.
-different angles and shots used to create the sense that someone is watching her.
-contemporary props and school uniform to link the audience to the genre and allow the audience to relate to the characters and surroundings which intensify the fear caused.
All the features above built suspense mainly due to the naturalistic features, pace and music used as they could relate to the character and share the fear.
Modern school uniform and props attract and address the modern audience. It means they can relate to what they are seeing on screen which make the film believable and contemporary.
The character 'Ivy' attracted our target audience and created our audience to mainly consist of teenage females as they can share the characters emotions. It is a psychological horror which doesn't contain gore so the female audience prefer this. As the character is a teenager and so is the audience, it not only attracts the audience but addresses them through the modern appearance and similar age. |
Low-key lighting attracts and addresses the audience as it is a convention of psychological horror, so they are expecting a dark and creepy atmosphere. It immediately presents a sense of danger which introduces the thrill of being home alone late at night. The audience can relate to this and therefore get more of a chill form the narrative; the lighting helps enhance the danger factor and create the mood.
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The dream-like, repetitive and eerie music address and attract the audience as it keeps them captivated from the suspense it builds. It shapes the piece on a whole and intensifies what they watch on screen. It addresses the genre in a quirky way but is also a contemporary choice of music which ages the film which attracts and addresses the teenage/young adult audience.
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The use of long takes and a variety of camera shots concocted the notion that someone is watching her. The long takes built suspense through the pace and including the camera to pan which made the audience follow her every mood. It meant that the audience had chance to study everything in the frame and stimulated enigma. The cinematography and camera movement played an important part, as well as music and other conventions shown above, as it influenced the pace and what the audience would read from the film to cause fear.
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