EVALUATION 5) How did you attract/address your audience?

Every decision made throughout the planning and production was made with our target audience in mind. We made each decision with the goal of attracting our audience to make it a product that they would enjoy.

Our core target audience is men, aged 16-25. This is our chosen audience as it is the demographic that makes up the majority of film audiences, and an available group of people for us to collect audience feedback from. Our genre, action-thriller, is very popular among this group of people and a genre that all members of our group are very familiar with.

Our secondary audiences include:

• women aged 16-25, as the film contains admirable female characters 
• fans of technology, as the film is heavily technology based and relates to a specific interest of theirs.

Why does our opening sequence/film appeal to our audience?

Themes: action, technology, danger, suspense, friendship.

Protagonist: He is someone admirable (brave, intelligent) yet at the same time manages to be average and believable.

Soundtrack: An upbeat, modern track that fully encapsulates the mood of the film. The rock style, being a very popular genre, will appeal to the male audience and the sci-fi style adds a dash of individuality.

Editing: The sequence begins with wide, slow shots, allowing the audience to take in the setting.  The recognisable setting allows the audience to suspend their disbelief, giving the shock of the unexpected attack more impact. The montage style has the purpose of creating a mood and familiarising the audience with the concept the film is built upon.

Uses and Gratifications: Firstly, the film provides the audience with a sense of escapism. The audience will enjoy getting caught up in the film's suspense as it offers a distraction from reality. The use of webcams in the sequence also allows the audience to look in on other people's lives and satisfy their curiosity. As with most films, our audience will also want to watch as  it allows them to be social. If they have seen a film that others have seen, they can discuss it with others and have a sense of inclusion. Finally, and most importantly, the audience would choose our film as a method of entertainment. The suspense and mystery leaves the audience with the desire to learn more and discover how the narrative concludes.

Once we finished our opening sequence, we advertised a preview screening around the school using a poster that was made from scratch, providing the date and time of the event. This screening allowed our audience to watch the opening two minutes of our film, and in return we provided some questionnaires for the viewers to fill out. Using web 2.0, we also advertised this event on Facebook, as the audience we were hoping to encourage to attend are avid users. We set up a group, inviting a large group of people:

We created a questionnaire for each audience member to fill out after watching our clip. As we did this session in school, the demographic of this audience was both genders, ages 14 - 18, which is a core part of our audience. Here are some samples of the questionnaires that were filled in:

 Please click the above image to view the content!

Here are a few things I noticed when looking through our feedback:

• Everyone was able to name the title of the film. This tells us that our titles are clear and easy to read.
• All audience members were able to identify the genre as thriller, action, sci-fi, or a combination of all three.
• All audience members successfully identified the target audience, with varying degrees of accuracy.
• Most were able to identify our protagonist and the boss hacker, with a few identifying other secondary characters.

• Many people liked the music in the sequence; they felt it really help to establish the genre and build tension
• Many people also want to know "if the kidnapped guy is alive and what happens next."
• The audience were also impressed with the graphics, claiming that they look "realistic" and "really professional - conveys the message really well"
• One of the main points of improvement was the attack of the boss hacker.

"kidnap could be more realistic/sudden"
"the attack at the end could be clearer and more exciting"

From our audience feedback, we appear to have successfully targeted both male and female audience members. As expected, the film appears to appeal to more males than females.