1. When identifying an audience which would conform to my film, Viral Terror, I have analyzed various
demographics, psychographics, uses and gratifications and general audience elements.
Demographics
From observing audiences occupations and the film’s they’d watch it is clear that certain job statuses, can
influence the type of film an audience would watch. For example audiences watching Saw, are likely to be under
demographics D, and predominantly E. This is because the film has a cast of mainly young people/teenagers, and
as demographic E is made up of students, and casual workers they are more likely to watch the film as they can
easily relate to the young people within the film. In addition the audience being young has been specifically
chosen by the director to give an impression of innocence, and vulnerable to the dangers of the killer, Jigsaw,
within Saw, as if the audience were to be under high employment, such as a doctor, in demographic A, then it
perhaps wouldn’t of been as effective when giving an impact of them suffering within the film, as this demographic
is mostly of a middle aged audience, 45-59 years old, which would mean they could potentially exert their status,
against the villain.
Viral Terror
When observing our film it is clear that Viral Terror would be under demographic E and D as similarly to Saw, the
cast of the audience is made up of young people apart from Charlie’s character – David, who we portrayed as
much older, and bigger character. This is because alike Saw, a young cast would attract a young audience of D
and E, who are between the ages 15-22, and of male and female audiences, as the film is equally balanced
between genders. These audiences would either have a part-time/weekend job, and be studying at college, sixth-
form, and even school, and therefore would like the fact within the film the young characters are similar to
themselves. We portrayed this using costumes which appeared to be seen as normal clothing for the average
young person/older teenager so this would reinforce the cast being similar to the audience.
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2. When identifying an audience which would conform to my film, Viral Terror, I have analyzed various
demographics, psychographics, uses and gratifications and general audience elements.
Psychographics
We can interpret from our film that as we’ve identified demographics E and D, the psychographics for our
audience would be mainstreamers and aspirers. This would be because mainstreamers typically value branding
and follow the way others around them behave, and their attitudes which in turn makes them the largest group.
This would relate to our film as the group being young people/teenagers as the audience are likely to be the
largest group of people conforming to mainstreamers, due to the fact they’ll typically follow new trends within
fashion, and film and would use social media. This means in turn they are likely to discuss Viral Terror with
friends face to faced, or even online; giving their own opinion of the film to others, which conforms to mainstream
audience.
When focusing on aspirers my audience would relate to this psychographic, as students and young people aspire
towards the future, and seek a status with a certain appearance; e.g. upper class look of wealth with designer
clothing. This would relate to my audience wanting to keep up with the latest trends, which are seen with the
clothing and items celebrities would own, and my audience of young people would be attracted to this. My
audience would relate to the film under aspirers, as they’d see young people within the film having their lives taken
away from them, and losing their future. This would cause them to potentially value their own future even more.
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3. Here is a specific detailed audience profile with what a
typical member of my audience would be like, their lifestyle
and personal interests.
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Age: The age range for my audience already stated would
be 15-22 year olds, as the cast of the film are made up of
young people/teenagers, so teenagers watching the film
would be able to build up their own personal relationship
with the characters, and understanding as they are still fairly
young their lives have almost been taken too early.
Gender: Our gender for our audience would be mixed
between male and female due to having a mixed cast so
again gender references would be favored by both males
and females.
Income: Our audiences income would be either none or
very little in either a small part-time job, or casual work. This
is typical of demographic E and a young/teenage audience
which would assume the character’s seen in our opening
would probably have the seem type of job or a low income.
Personality: Our audience under mainstreamers and
demographic E are likely to go to parties like most
teenagers would, or social events such as the cinema or
bowling. Again our audience would assume the characters
within our opening would do the same.
Likes/dislikes: The teenage audience likely to watch our film
would favour to watch films which are full of action and
excitement leaving you on edge. However they are less
likely to watch films which are dramas are love stories,
typical seen under demographic B and A who are more
likely to watch these films being an older audience, and this
would suit them.
4. From observations made on our film, Viral Terror, we have addressed our audience using various techniques, to
conform to their demographics and psychographics, along with uses and gratification.
One of the ways we met our audiences interests was by using sounds which are typically heard in most horror
films. However for our horror film to be a Psychological thriller, and appeal to our audience we used various
combinations of sounds to create a fearful backing track; creating tension and the ‘on edge’ feel which comes with
most horror films. This tension can be heard within our sound as there is a rapid pace of sound when David begins
to attack Laura and Carl, along with the pitch quickly getting higher which is typically heard in most horror films, to
portray fear to the audience. We wanted to create this effect as it related to the uses and gratification of
‘entertainment’ which fits within our young audience’s profile, as they conform to this idea of being young, and
wanting to watch exciting films with friends at the cinema and experience that ‘unknown’ horror feel.
Below is a sample of what we used in David’s scene of him killing Laura and Carl, which just shows using sound
the impact of how fearful and disturbing this music sounds.
In addition to the sound we used characters linking to our audience which has been discussed in question 4. We
originally picked teenage characters to relate to our audience of being made up of young people/teenagers,
however we were still specific in which teenagers we would choose. As a group we decided to use an older range
of teenagers from 16 onwards, as we felt a younger selection of teenagers wouldn’t be appropriate for this type of
film, for example 13-15 year olds. This is because our audience being teenagers themselves may of found the use
of younger teenagers being killed in the film a bit graphic, and couldn’t relate as well to someone who is roughly
the same age as them. In addition we chose for our characters to be dressed in relatively normal clothing, which
most teenagers would wear, so that they seemed no different to our audience. This would cause our audience to
5. When creating our film we specifically picked out key things which the audience would see on screen, which made
up the mise en scene of our film. We can use the Carl and Laura scene to show how we used mise en scene to
address our audience. Within the shot the camera is given a ‘Rasta’ effect as if it were recorded footage on CCTV,
which is where we wanted the shot to come from, and take the role of a CCTV recording.
In addition we placed the characters within an apartment block as being from a low demographic E, the audience
would be able to relate to this idea of a small income and therefore not being able to live in some where such as a
house which would cost a lot more, than an apartment block. In addition we placed Emily’s character of Daisy in
one of the flats with items such as a bottle of Coca-cola on the side. Now we specifically chose for Emily to reach
in the fridge and grab the Coke bottle, as our audience of teenagers can relate to this as they are most likely to
consume these products within their lives, as a teenage audience like the idea od having fizzy drinks and sugary
foods within their diet, to create excitement and being hyper. This makes our opening seem even more relatable
and realistic to a degree as we as a group wanted to portray Daisy as if she were just another ordinary teen.
Finally we focused on which camera angles we’d use within our film to shoot the story line. We used a high angle
shot to portray the shot as if it were being filmed from CCTV when Laura and Carl are killed. This shot to our
audience showed the two characters to be seen as weak and vulnerable along with the low, underlying sound
which created a sense of uneasiness which the audience would’ve felt. In addition we decided to make David
come towards the camera shot, as if he knew it was there and he wanted the footage to be recorded. To the
audience when David approaches the camera it seems as if he’s coming for them, which will create even more
tension amongst the audiences watching.
6. Starting the process…
When I first started our project to create an opening title sequence, I had little experience when it came to editing
the film, applying sound and choosing vaious shots. I had one advantage however which was i’d previously used
imovie but on a very basic vague scale, without using it in depth. Within our group although we all filmed together
and the others contributed to the editing process I decided i’d take on the main lead role to edit the footage and
place myself in a new field i’d never properly entered before in detail.
With little experience when we filmed our first cut of our opening and edited it, we recieved feedback from other
peer groups who gave us feedback which we adopted within our work. An example of this could be we were told to
silent any diagetic sound within Laura and Carl’s scene as its CCTV, and this in turn resulted in giving an unknown
effect due to it being silent, which is typically seen in horror films where the scene is kept quiet before the villain
strikes
Technology
The technology we used within our process of making the opening title varied from cameras to editing software.
We firstly recorded the whole of our opening title using Sony Video Cameras and a tripod, as we felt as if this
would be the most appropriate piece of equipment to film with, comapred to an iphone for instance, which may
end up looking less professional. In addition throughout our filming process we kept a ‘behind the scenes’
recording of make-up and on set moments, which i’ve selected the make-up stages video to be put onto my blog
of David’s character, to show how we applied the make up. To edit our film we used iMovie as it enabled us to edit
and change certain parts of our footage easily, without using any advanced software, which may have been to
complex. I learnt that from using iMovie you can add some effects and cut certain bits of footage to fit within your
film and create an impression or effect of a scene to your audience. An example of this could be when we
7. Technology
In addition to using a blog to upload material onto the blog sites I used online sources such as Scribd. And Slide
Share to upload any which included any text posts on Word or Powerpoint, along with video content which was
uploaded using tools on Blogger. Finally when editing our music to match the visuals we chose a soundtrack
which would be suitable and fit within our genre of horror being Psychological. This wasn’t easy at frst as we first
used a “carnival” like horror sound which you’d typically hear in films such as Stephen King’s, IT the Clown, and
we felt as if alhtough this is another Psychological horror we researched, the tone of the music we had sued didn’t
fit within the style of our villan David being silent, and ruthless and therefore we needed more of an unverving and
distubring tone of a mixture of fast and slow paced high pitched sounds, to create this idea of one minute the
scene being normal, then next death has been brought in, and the music we’ve used helps to enhance this feel
and look towards the audience.
8. Below this final section will discuss my overall findings and improvements to aim towards to for future work within
media products, and how to generally improve my understanding of the media.
Planning and Research
When I completed my storyboard, planning and research at the time I believed that this would be the plan for our
final piece to be presented to an audience, and the plan would exactly correspond with the on screen product we
had created. Firstly I believe although I conducted research into horror openings and especially psychological
horror openings, such as Psycho, I could’ve included reference to the directors motives as to why the opening has
been made this way by doing external research, and comparing their aims to whether as a group our ideas were
similar, or would completely differ, which would allow us to see if our plan for the opening of Viral Terror was of a
typical “psychological horror”.
In addition instead of strictly following our plan through out the creation of our product, we had to divert from
various ideas within our plan and even our script has become effected by this.
Editing Raw footage
When editing and filming our footage we found at first that it fit well together, yet when we started to fully analyze
our footage we found many flaws and scenes which didn’t make much sense within the opening itself. One of the
main problems we faced was cutting out three of our characters within the film which then effected our script and
plan. This is because we first of all filmed Daisy’s, Jamie’s and Carl and Laura’ scene, but once we filmed these
scenes and went to edit them we found the footage to have a time of 3 minutes and 47 seconds, which exceeded
the time limit. This meant as a group we had to much footage, and in turn had to make cuts to our opening. We
asked peers what they felt worked within the opening of Viral Terror, and what didn’t. From this feedback we
received comments such as “Daisy’s scene being drowned works well, perhaps not in a bucket as this seems to
set up” along with “Jamie’s scene seems a bit forced within the opening; as in it not fitting the opening”. As a group
after discussions we decided to not film the other two characters of Robbie Andrews and Antonio Borelli, along
9. In addition to this we also decided from our plans of having Daisy being drowned in blood in a bucket of some sort
we would get David to drown her in a sink as this seemed more realistic, and less set up as if the bucket was just
there, which in turn made our opening seem more believable. Along with this from our plan where by we stated
we’d have a split screen of CCTV into four recordings, we decided this idea wouldn’t be possible on a basic level
of editing software, compared to what is available in the large film industries, e.g. Black-magic editing software.
Instead we got rid of this idea seen below, and decided to use the same idea of CCTV, yet just two different
recordings, as this still fit within our plot line.
What I’ve learnt…
I’ve learnt from the early stages of editing within film is that plan what is realistic for the resources you have to
work with and how effective use of iMovie can still give the professional, realistic look we wanted within our film. In
addition i’ve learnt recieiving feedback from peers is a good source of improvement outside of your own group, as
it allows outsiders to view your work, of some who belong under your audiencem and comment on what they felt
the film could do and bring to them, which gave us a much better understanding of how to edit and shoot our film
to meet our audiences purposes.
10. Group Organisation
As a group I feel as if we were organised relatively well on set as we managed to complete all filming before
deadlines, and we used communication through messenger chats, and face to face to help organise filming times
and sessions, where by everyone could film without any setbacks or things getting in the way. We all managed to
be on set for the filming processing and each had our own input into helping the characters understand what they
needed to do and always keeping a script near by to follow it. In addition we had set roles for each team member
within our group which we decided, which made it far easier to film as it saved time as each of us knew what to
do. These roles are listed below:
-Myself/Jack – Editing/Camera/Lighting
-Haydn – Editing/Camera/Hair styling for Charlie’s character, ‘David Donnell’
-Tia – Editing/Camera
-Alannah – Editing/Makeup
However if I were to improve our group in the future, I’d perhaps consider letting others take hold of the filming
process by encouraging them even more to get involved as it times I felt as if it was select individuals in the group
who took the leadership role, where as in the future I believe we could encourage one another even more to help
create an even better opening. What I’ve learnt from group organisation is that in order for the filming to run
smoothly and stick to a well planned time schedule the communication must be high, and as individuals within the
group everyone has to be open minded to allow others to put forward their ideas, which was seen in our group in
the editing process where even though the opening was on my computer, others in my group made good
suggestions which improved the overall look of our work.
Camera shots, movements and angles
From using various shot types I’ve learnt that certain shots within footage can depict a certain image of a
character. Within our opening we used a low angle shot on Daisy walking up the staircase on the CCTV footage to
her apartment which portrays her as vulnerable and weak, which links to this idea of her being young and
innocent. To add too this we used a long shot to reinforce this idea of Daisy being vulnerable, which resulted in the
11. Overall
When reflecting back on our preliminary task I felt as if my understandings of how shots can be used effectively
have progressed through to achieve a fairly realistic opening scene, which seems convincing. This is because the
choice of shots and camera movements effectively displays the theme of vulnerability, along with dominance
within the shots, which has been highlighted on the previous slide when Daisy’s scene is discussed.
Along with improvements with using the camera, I believe our choice of music and sound has improved. This is
because with the preliminary task it was only one soundtrack played throughout, and other peer groups actually
found it quite comical when the plot was meant to be on a serious matter. To solve this not only did we use various
soundtracks within our opening to create a more interesting impression of what was going on to the audience, but
we chose appropriate music, which would reflect the plot of the film.
In addition our editing has also improved since our preliminary task as we’ve used certain cuts with static within
our opening, at quick intervals. We did this because compared to our prelim task where the cuts where there to
simply show the scene continuing, in Viral Terror the cuts are there to create a sense of the killings David
committed to be quick and not having an explanation, which this quick static does along with portraying this idea
of distortion, which we can relate to David being a psychotic killer, and being ruthless with his actions.
In conclusion I believe our final opening has improved from our preliminary task in various ways, and the above
state the main examples of where improvement and progression has been identified.
