How did you attract/address your audience?
In order to captivate our audience, we would have to find out the conventions of a thriller, and how these would attract our audience. We therefore researched the typical conventions used within the thriller genre which can be found in the mindmap below.
Thriller Genre Mindmap
Of these we wanted incorporate as many relevant conventions into our video to ensure that it was as effective as possible. We incorporated many of them into our final piece, such as but tension, fear, plot, violence, power and several others. However we chose to focus on the idea of a person feeling like they're being watched, incorporating the male gaze, voyuerism and also sexualisation of the woman.
We chose to show the feeling of a person being watched through the use of a camera. This prop was essential to creating this feeling, as people are often on
camera without realising (e.g. CCTV in public places) and find it disturbing that not only is there privacy being invaded, but having it recorded means that a person can watch it several times and share it with other people. We therefore thought that having the footage of the victim in our video was effective as it
helped to build caution and tension, and the audience were able to empathise with her discomfort.
camera without realising (e.g. CCTV in public places) and find it disturbing that not only is there privacy being invaded, but having it recorded means that a person can watch it several times and share it with other people. We therefore thought that having the footage of the victim in our video was effective as it
helped to build caution and tension, and the audience were able to empathise with her discomfort.
We created voyuerism through cinematography; we incorporated shots of the females assets to make her appear as nothing more than an object. This aspect would especially attract a male audience, as they would be consuming a visually pleasing product without feeling guilty, as it has been
purposely done for impact, and all of the viewers would be experiencing the same thing. |
We also showed voyuerism and objectification through the costume, which was made to be tight and revealing, captivating the male audience. We also showed passion through red lipstick and promiscuity through hoop earrings, making the female seem desired, but only as an object belonging to a male.
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To attract our audience we cast young adults, which meant that throughout the video the audience are able to emphasize with the characters. Our audience research told us that the majority of people watching our film would be teenagers/young adults, so we therefore decided our cast would consist of two young people, meaning the audience can relate to the characters easily due to their characteristics and appearance (e.g. fashion, hairstyles, make-up etc)
A big part of our mise-en-scene was the colour red, as it is representative of many things in our narrative and visually is quite bold and captivating. It was used to illustrate sex and lust, as we have objectified the woman and made her into a desired object. References to phallic objects are used in our video, and having a visual connection to the deeper meaning behind the narrative helped the audience to pick up on the objectification of the woman and shows the motive behind the kidnapper. Red was also incorporated into the mise-en-scene to represent pain and violence, which is a key feature in our thriller. The mans aggresion is obvious throughout the narrative, as he enters the kitchen and immediately turns violent. Again the use of red helped the audience to understand the piece and can almost predict the events that will occur from the presence and boldness of the colour.
Mise-en-scene, consisting of (RED:) Tea-towel, Jars, Kettle, Pillows, Lamp, Lipstick, Hair colour, Ladder, and various other products.