2. Audience research was a highly important factor
for me as this is what will determine who will be
watching our film. Knowing that we wanted to
produce a crime thriller film meant we have to
narrow down the mass market to a niche market.
The niche market being an audience who enjoy
crime thriller.
3. We produced a questionnaire which was asked people to complete in
order to narrow down those who prefer other genre’s and those who like
thriller films. In the questionnaire that we produced we equally handed
them out, 5 to females and 5 to males in order to retain the equality
amongst
the answers. In the
questionnaire we asked
simple question such
as ‘How often do you
watch thriller films’
and ‘what are you top
three genre’s’. As you
can see these are un-
biased and not specifically
focused on our coursework
as this is the mass audience,
not the niche.
4. Once we received all of the responses we analysed the answers
to find out what we needed to. Things that really stood out to me
included that thriller or crime were in the top 3 genre’s of 75% of
participants, they clearly labelled that music, use of lighting and
a twisted plot was the most
relevant codes and conventions
and also that storyline was
what appealed to them most.
Now that we knew this it abled
us to implement all of this into
our film as this is what the mass
audience expected to see in our
thriller film. This was beneficial
to use as we also noticed that
most answers were similar.
5. Knowing what we had learnt from the audience
questionnaire we felt confident that we wanted to
use new line cinema as the participants were
aware of this film studio. Furthermore, the films
that the participants noted including ‘Taken’ were
films that I have analysed highlighting that we
effectively chose the right films for the genre. The
kidnapping storyline, something that we knew
was important felt adequate as this would keep the
audience attracted and appealed in the opening of
the film.
6. We also looked at secondary research after
conducting our own primary research. This was
done by looking at further cinematic sources such
as the MPAA.
From these graphs we were able to
interpret the success of our film. The
graph showed us that there was a 1%
different between females and males
viewing of films underlining that our
film was likely to be viewed by both
sexes. Another graph showed that the
ages between 14-24 years are most likely
to watch a film potentially due to the
spare time and social commitments that
they have.
7. Due to the sensitive plot that we was covering
(kidnapping) we was unsure to either choose a ‘15’
or ‘18’ age rating. Looking at the BBFC guidelines
we decided that ‘15’ was the most suitable as our
film didn’t display large amounts of sexual or
violent scenes therefore it was decided a ‘15’. We
also compared our age rating with similar films
such as Taken which age rating was ‘18’. This was
because of the aggressive violence, sexual scenes
and bad language that was used, which we did not
have.
8. Knowing what we knew:
Our audience was mixed gendered
They knew the typical conventions
Focused more on lighting, music and storyline
Aged 15-25
Enjoyed other films such as Taken, Spiderman
Favourites Thriller and Crime films
Recognised and trusted New Line Cinema
We was knew what exactly what are audience wanted and
what they wanted see. The age also allowed us to know
what we was ‘legally’ allowed to see in the film and what
they wasn’t so we didn’t go against the BBFC guidelines.
9. The uses and gratification theory being one of the most
important theories about the audience highlights that an
audience watches the film for information, personal identity,
entertainment and social interaction.
The plot of our film being kidnapping will give the audience an
insight into how this process happens and how it can affect
characters. Although this is not common in most places, it does
happen to some unfortunate families as it happens. I think that
this will link it with the social interaction and personal identity
as some people may be able to associate themselves with the
grief that the characters are feeling. The audience may also feel
sympathetic towards Lily and Spencer, whereas they may feel
resentment towards Joseph.
Moreover, I think that the audience will be able to use ‘Round
The Bend’ for entertainment purposes, for example social use,
something to watch and just to discuss with peers. Often by the
use of media promotion audience and peers can discuss the
success and comments of the film. This will help to build a
judgement amongst peers and help promote the film.
10. The film may also be looked up to for an informative
perspective. For instance a person may look to why Joseph has
kidnapped the child and look for clues in order to help them
understand reasoning.
OTHER THEORIES:
These are other theories that we have
implemented into our film in order to
keep the audience engaged.
The Whammo Theory- actions every 10
minutes In order to keep the audience’s
attention. From our opening two minutes
Lily gets kidnapped which will keep the
audience interested in the film.
Hypodermic syringe theory- Accentuates
that what we show in the clip the audience
believes what they are seeing is true. This
is because we have chose a realistic and
common plot which id often constructed
on the news etc.
